Plan Continued from Page 1
Authority represents 27 member agen- cies that provide water to about 2.5 mil- lion Californians and more than 1.2 mil- lion acres of irrigated agriculture. Scott Peterson, the authority’s water policy di- rector, said the unimpaired flows approach would result in a 250,000 acre-feet reduc- tion of water. Peterson said that would mean “signif- icant negative impacts to communities, farms and ecosystems.” In discussing potential food-security impacts, Peterson cited a 2022 econom- ic analysis of Wetlands Water District by Pepperdine University that found a striking correlation between water supply and pov- erty in Fresno and Kings counties. “When the water district receives little to no water, poverty levels increase, and when the district receives a higher water allocation, economic stability in that re- gion improves,” he said. “The communities in the San Joaquin Valley are more eco- nomically disadvantaged than the rest of California, and they’re disproportionately impacted by water-supply reductions.” Alicia Rockwell, chief government affairs officer for Blue Diamond Growers, a mem- ber-owned agricultural cooperative repre- senting state almond growers, spoke in sup- port of the voluntary-agreements approach. “We believe the voluntary-agreements alternative emerges as a more promis- ing option for achieving a balanced and sustainable water management strategy,” Rockwell said. “These agreements encour- age stakeholders to work together to find solutions that accommodate both envi- ronmental needs and the requirements of the agricultural sector.” Rockwell said a Healthy Rivers and Landscapes proposal promotes innova- tion and investment. “Participants, includ- ing farmers and environmental advocates, are more likely to invest in modern and ef- ficient water technologies when they’re
actively engaged in the decision-making process,” she said. Andy Fecko, general manager of the Placer County Water Agency, who also represents the Regional Water Authority, said the voluntary agreements represent about a decade of work. Because “much of California’s ecosystem is driven by a drought-flood cycle,” he told the board he is concerned with managing water in such an uncertain environment. “How do you manage around that?” asked Fecko, who called for an adaptive management approach. “This is precisely why we’ve tried to build in both the flexi- bility and the assets, and the science and governance, to make real-time decisions.” Northern California Water Association President David Guy said there is a need to combine flows with function to help the ecosystem. “There is a real opportuni- ty here to reimagine our infrastructure in combination with flows,” Guy said. As the state works to update the Bay-Delta plan, about a dozen lawsuits that challenge the state’s 2018 unimpaired flows plan for the San Joaquin River tributaries (Stanislaus, Tuolumne and Merced rivers) are pending in Sacramento County Superior Court. The cases include a lawsuit brought by the California Farm Bureau that challenges the plan’s adoption and argues the state’s environmental review document underes- timates the harm the plan would cause to
Central Valley agriculture. “In the name of water quality, we’re trying to clamp down entire river systems that have a lot of vested and important and productive human uses of water that have been a feature of California law and policy and history for 150 years,” said Chris Scheuring, senior counsel for the California Farm Bureau, about the pend- ing state water board decision. “Anything that sets aside implemen- tation of the hard path in favor of a more holistic look at the other stressors and rea- sons for fish-population declines is some- thing we’ve been talking about for years,” Scheuring said. Legal arguments were heard this past fall in Sacramento County Superior Court. Scheuring said he anticipates the judge may rule on the matter in January. After evaluating public feedback on the draft report and peer review input on the science report findings on proposed vol- untary agreements, state water board staff could incorporate any changes and release draft plan amendments for public review and comment in early to mid-2024. To learn more or submit written com- ments on the draft staff report by Jan. 19, visit www.waterboards.ca.gov/waterrights/ water_issues/programs/bay_delta/. (Christine Souza is an assistant editor of Ag Alert. She may be contacted at csouza@cfbf.com.)
Voluntary agreements, which received early support from Gov. Gavin Newsom, propose to restore and maintain tens of thousands of acres of habitat in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers that feed into the delta. Early implementation of voluntary agreements is happening, Crowfoot said, with a few dozen habitat projects either complete or almost complete, with more projects in the planning stages. “The state government has identified over $1 billion of improvements—habitat improvements and environmental flow purchases—that would be part of the vol- untary agreements that will provide envi- ronmental benefit regardless of the water board’s approach,” he said. Some districts, farmers and residents have protested the unimpaired flows ap- proach, saying it would do little to restore salmon and other fish populations, while cutting water supplies and causing eco- nomic harm to affected communities. Alexandra Biering, California Farm Bureau senior policy advocate, said under the unimpaired flows alternative, “in most years, an average year looks like the eight drought years we’ve had in the last decade, which is really devastating.” Biering said many state water users, districts and others support the compre- hensive approach proposed in voluntary agreements known as the Healthy Rivers and Landscapes Program. “California’s economy is one of the largest in the world, and much of that is predicated on the availability and use of water supplies that we can move around the state,” Biering said. “When you knee- cap that resource input and prevent it from being available, there is no way to maintain that sort of standing.” The San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water
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10 Ag Alert December 20, 2023
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