California makes its state water right decisions in the CalEPA building in Sacramento, the home of the State Water Resources Control Board. In a water-rights proceeding, you get to speak “on the record” to the Board or it Administrative Hearing Office by “protesting” the new or modified right. In the last year, FOR has protested the water rights of two major water projects…

The proposed Delta Tunnel has reached the water rights stage, and Friends of the River, alongside many partner organizations, submitted two formal “protests” of the Tunnel water rights applications…

It’s silly season in the California legislature. It’s the time for spot bills (bills introduced with the intention of being amended later) to materialize — and some are pretty ugly. One of those is ACA 2, the Water Resiliency Act of 2024, introduced by Assemblyman Juan Alanis (R-Modesto). This bill would give billions of dollars per year to a water project slush fund…

The California State Water Resources Control Board (Water Board or Board) recently released its Draft Staff Report for the Phase II Update of the Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Plan (Bay-Delta Plan or Plan). This report, and the process to update the Bay-Delta Plan, will have critical implications for the health of California rivers and ecosystems. Unfortunately, the Staff Report outlines several options that will fail to protect the Delta and its tributary rivers…

Governor Newsom’s Administration continues to push forward Voluntary Settlement Agreements in lieu of updating the decades-late SF Bay/Delta Water Quality Control Plan…

Friends of the River, along with a coalition of environmental groups have been beating on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to recognize that the federal draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) was fundamentally flawed…

In February 2022 the State Water Resources Control Board controversially approved a petition to reduce flows to and through the Delta despite nature’s bounty…