PRESS RELEASE: State Water Board Releases Draft Possible Updates to Bay Delta Plan for Public Review ~ MAVEN’S NOTEBOOK

The options presented apply to Sacramento/Delta plan portions

As part of its ongoing efforts to address an ecosystem in sustained decline and improve environmental conditions for fish and wildlife in the Sacramento River and Delta watersheds, the State Water Resources Control Board decided today released for public review and comment a draft possible options for updating the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Water Quality Control Plan (Bay-Delta Plan) for the Sacramento River and the Delta and associated tributaries (Sacramento/Delta).

The Bay Delta Plan establishes beneficial uses of water in the watershed, water quality and flow objectives to adequately protect these uses, and an implementation program that includes monitoring and reporting requirements. California law requires the State Water Board to adopt and periodically review water quality control plans for all surface waters. These reviews allow the state to adapt to changing environmental conditions and other changes. In December 2018, the Board adopted updated flow targets and an implementation program to adequately protect fish and wildlife in the Lower San Joaquin River and its three salmon-bearing tributaries: the Stanislaus, Tuolumne and Merced Rivers.

“In releasing these potential updates to the Sacramento/Delta portions of the plan, the Board wants to hear important public input that will be carefully considered as we work toward a comprehensive update that provides adequate protection for the beneficial uses of water in the watershed said Eric Oppenheimer, executive director of the State Water Board.

The possible updates include a number of potential numerical and narrative requirements for Sacramento/Delta tributaries, cold-water habitats, Delta drainages, and other minor provisions. While this series of potential updates is referred to as a “regulatory pathway,” any changes adopted by the State Water Board, including changes involving voluntary agreements, would constitute regulatory requirements.

The regulatory path includes in particular the following:

• Year-round inflow requirements to protect salmon and other species on the Sacramento River, its tributaries and eastern Delta tributaries (the Mokelumne, Calaveras and Consumnes Rivers) of 55% of undisturbed inflow, adaptively implemented within a range of 45%-65%, except in dry conditions and to meet human health and safety requirements. The Board is seeking comments on whether this range should be updated to somewhere between 35% and 75%.
• Required tributaries protected as delta drainages to ensure water flows through the watershed to protect fish and wildlife that rely on adequate freshwater drainage for habitat, migration and food.
• New cold-water habitat requirements in the eastern tributaries of the Sacramento River and Delta for salmon species that require cold water to survive and reproduce.
• Adaptive management, monitoring, special studies, evaluation and reporting provisions.

The potential draft updates also include options for incorporating voluntary agreements (VAs), known as a Healthy Rivers and Landscapes Proposal, submitted by public water authorities, other water users, and state and federal agencies as an alternative to the regulatory route. The VAs include voluntary water contributions and physical habitat restoration – both current and non-current measures – designed to help protect native fish and double salmon populations by 2050. The VAs also include monitoring and evaluation provisions.

Additionally, the Board will consider incorporating the definitions of Tribal Tradition and Culture (CUL), Tribal Subsistence Fisheries (T-SUB), and Subsistence Fisheries (SUB) throughout the Bay Delta Plan.

The board has not yet made a decision on how to proceed with the Sacramento/Delta updates and is seeking public input to inform its decisions. Accordingly, it will hold public workshops and accept comments on the draft updates through early 2025. The Board will consider adopting any changes at a later date.

Background:

The Bay-Delta watershed, which includes the Sacramento and San Joaquin River systems, the Delta, Suisun Marsh and San Francisco Bay, is the center of the state’s water supply network. The river systems, including their tributaries, drain approximately 40% of the state’s land area, supporting a variety of beneficial uses. As one of the largest tidal estuaries on the West Coast of America, the Bay Delta provides habitat for a variety of aquatic, terrestrial and avian wildlife in the Delta, San Francisco Bay and the offshore ocean diverse species above the watershed. The rivers and delta also provide part of the water supply for two-thirds of Californians and millions of acres of farmland, as well as a variety of industrial uses and commercial and recreational fishing and boating businesses. In addition, the watershed is important to numerous California Indian tribes, whose way of life, culture, religion and livelihoods are closely intertwined.

Its responsibilities include protecting the water quality of the Delta and all surface waters through administration of the Porter-Cologne Act and portions of the federal Clean Water Act.

In response to deteriorating conditions in the Delta, the Board initiated two processes to revise, adopt, and implement flow-dependent water quality objectives to protect fish and wildlife. These processes take place in different phases. In December 2018, the Board adopted updated flow goals and an implementation program to adequately protect fish and wildlife in the Lower San Joaquin River and its three eastern tributaries: the Stanislaus, Tuolumne and Merced Rivers. The Board also revised the Southern Delta Salinity Targets and the Implementation Program for Adequate Protection of Agricultural Uses. The Board is currently developing measures to implement the Lower San Joaquin River flow and Southern Delta salinity updates.

Also in 2018, the Board released a framework for possible updates to the Sacramento/Delta portions of the Bay Delta Plan, which informed the draft possible updates to the Bay Delta Plan released today. In 2023, the Board released a draft staff report analyzing the potential benefits and impacts of the possible Sacramento/Delta updates.

For more information about the Bay Delta Plan update and implementation processes, please visit the Board’s website.

The mission of the State Water Board is to preserve, improve, and restore the quality of California’s water resources and drinking water to protect the environment, public health, and all beneficial uses, and to ensure proper resource allocation and efficient use for the benefit of the present and the state ensuring future generations.

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