ACTION ALERT: New Water Quality Standards Needed to Save California Rivers and the Bay-Delta

Nurse Slough, in the SF Bay-Delta, is situated near Hasting Slough, and southwest of Bradmoor Island. September 16, 2022. Credit: Ken James, CA Dept. of Water Resources.

In December and January, the State Water Resources Control Board is soliciting public feedback on the best way to protect fish and wildlife, water quality, and the ecological health of the San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary and the Central Valley rivers that feed it. The Board is also considering a “Voluntary Agreements” (VAs) proposal from the Newsom administration and big water districts that would allow even more water to be diverted. The VA approach means ecosystem collapse and species extinction. Add your voice to the chorus calling for the Board to adopt strong new standards for flow to the estuary and to reject the VAs.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Speak up for the Bay Delta and improved river flows. The Board is receiving oral comments from the public on December 12, 2024, and January 23, 2025. Individual comments are limited to 3 minutes. Virtual speaker cards are due two days before each workshop; in-person speaker cards can be turned in at the workshop. Written comments are due December 19 and should be emailed to SacDeltaComments@waterboards.ca.gov with the subject line “Comment Letter – Draft Sacramento/Delta Bay­Delta Plan Updates”. For more information see the Board’s second revised notice.

MORE INFORMATION

Please use the information provided below, picking the issues most important to you, to create your comments.

The rivers and streams we love in California’s vast Central Valley combine to form the unique inland Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and then flow to San Francisco Bay. The San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary is one of America’s most treasured – and threatened – large ecosystems. The State Water Board’s long-delayed update of the Water Quality Control Plan for the Bay-Delta – begun in 2008 –is the one of the best opportunities to save the estuary, the fish and wildlife it supports, and all of us who rely on a healthy ecosystem. Under state and federal law, the Board must set water quality objectives in the Bay-Delta Plan that provide reasonable protection of beneficial uses of water and a Program of Implementation that achieves those objectives.

But it’s not possible to argue that reasonable protection is being achieved when:

• Native fish and wildlife populations are crashing – some to the brink of extinction.

• The salmon fishery was closed three times in the last fifteen years – and will likely be closed again next year.

• Toxic algal blooms that threaten the health of humans, pets and wildlife are becoming more frequent. 

The water quality standards in the Bay-Delta Plan would set new requirements for how much freshwater flows must flow from Central Valley rivers to and through the Delta to the Bay, and when. Whether or not to restore sufficient freshwater flow to the Bay-Delta is the critical issue being argued before the Board:

• On average, over 50% of the runoff that would naturally flow to SF Bay is diverted before it reaches the Delta or is exported directly from the Delta by the giant state and federal water projects.

• Reduced flows result in lethal water temperatures, facilitate toxic algal blooms, interfere with fish migration, and prevent the creation of suitable habitat for native fish and wildlife.

• The best available science shows that the population viability of native fish populations and the health of the ecosystem is strongly linked to the amount and timing of freshwater flow.

• Large-scale increases in flow to San Francisco Bay (ideally, on the scale of 60-70% of the “unimpaired flow”, a measure of natural runoff) are needed to ensure viable native fish populations, provide suitable temperatures for spawning and rearing, prevent toxic algal blooms, and support sustainable commercial and recreational fisheries. The Board is considering flow requirements in the range of 45-65% of unimpaired flow.

Instead, the Board is considering a plan by water users and the Newsom Administration – the “Voluntary Agreements” (VAs) – that:

• Ignores the best available science – according to analysis by state and federal agencies, the VAs would maintain or even worsen the unsustainable status quo.

• Lets water users off the hook for providing meaningful flow increases to protect the Bay-Delta or for paying fully for habitat restoration projects.

• Would delay attainment of the salmon doubling objective to 2050.

• Excluded tribal, environmental justice, and Delta interests from the table.

• If adopted, would pave the way for the proposed Delta Tunnel and other water projects that would actually allow water diversions from the Bay-Delta to be increased, instead of restoring flows.

• Would be free of meaningful oversight by the Board for eight years or more.

The Board should:

• Adopt a Program of Implementation that requires all water users to meet flow requirements that achieve salmon doubling, native fish viability and other water quality objectives by dramatically increasing flows to and through the Delta to San Francisco Bay.

• Reject the Newsom Administration’s proposed Voluntary Agreements, and any other proposals that would not achieve the narrative and numeric flow objectives developed by the Board that would require flows of up to 65% of unimpaired flow.