State Adopts Delta Plan with Mixed Water Quality Strategies
Stakeholders pressed for changes as the board weighed two compliance paths for water-rights holders, including a voluntary agreement program and unimpaired flows.
- Late Thursday night, the State Water Resources Control Board approved an update to the Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Plan, centering on Governor Gavin Newsom's voluntary agreements after two days of public comment.
- The plan sets water quality goals for a watershed serving 30 million people and 4 million acres, balancing ecosystem needs with competing demands from cities and farms across California.
- Water agencies call the plan 'unrecognizable' micromanagement, while the Trump administration threatens to withdraw $740 million in funding, claiming it threatens water supply reliability for California's agricultural economy.
- Environmental advocates and tribal governments warn the deal guts protections, though Board Chair E. Joaquin Esquivel dismissed the polarized criticism from all sides as 'convenient theater.'
- State water board executive director Eric Oppenheimer remains committed to the voluntary path, noting modeling shows it benefits the ecosystem even as federal withdrawal threatens the $2.9 billion program.
31 Articles
31 Articles
The Toronto Star
Has the Trump administration doomed Newsom’s water plan?
California water regulators have approved a new plan overhauling how farms and cities take water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and rivers that feed it, setting up the next fight over Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to balance water supplies with…
Has the Trump administration doomed Newsom’s water plan? – WTOP News
California water regulators have approved a new plan overhauling how farms and cities take water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and rivers that feed it, setting up the next fight over Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to balance water supplies with the needs of a struggling ecosystem. The plan gives water agencies a choice: agree to...
The Derrick
Los Angeles TimesFierce debate as California changes course in central water hub
For some, it’s a solution to ensure reliable water for millions of Californians while protecting fish and the environment. For others, it’s a travesty that will deprive the state’s rivers of vital water and push its declining native fish closer…
California water board hears competing views on major water plan update
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CN) — People and agencies facing the effects of proposed changes to a major California water plan spoke in waves Wednesday, making their cases to the state’s water board. The State Water Resources Control Board is proposing amendments to the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta water quality control plan. The plan sets water quality goals for the Bay-Delta, a massive watershed that provides drinking and municipal wa…
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