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.
asserted
that → approve → ecosystem
The plan gives water agencies a choice: agree to forgo some water and restore habitats, or fall under the regulatory backup — a set of mandatory rules for how much water must remain in rivers and streams to flow through the Delta.
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water → give → Delta
But the compromise the Newsom administration reached four years ago with the state’s most powerful water suppliers now faces opposition from unexpected quarters.
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administration → reach → quarters
Powerful water agencies that once backed it say Newsom’s voluntary agreements have become too restrictive.
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agreements → back → it
The Trump administration has threatened to withdraw support and several hundred million dollars in funding.
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administration → threaten → funding
And environmental advocates, tribes, and fishing groups warn that the deal and its regulatory backup gut protections for an ecosystem already in crisis.
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deal → warn → crisis
Opening this week’s final hearings, E. Joaquin Esquivel, chair of the State Water Resources Control Board, said he was struck by the opposing criticism.
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he → open → criticism
He called water agencies’ narrative that the plan has strayed from Newsom’ original deal “convenient theater.”
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plan → call → deal
“Some agencies say we kept too much oversight,” Esquivel said.
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Esquivel → say → oversight
On the other hand, tribes and environmental groups say “we kept too little.
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we → say → little
They are pointing at the same provisions from opposite directions.
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They → point → directions
That doesn’t make the plan perfect.
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plan → make → ?
It does tell me the plan sits where a regulator should.”
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regulator → tell → me
The question is how California’s water regulators will move forward without the buy-in of major water users these agreements had aimed to bring on board, and whether the regulatory backup will hold if they don’t.
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they → move → board
“That creates a world of confusion and dysfunction,” Gary Bobker, program director at Friends of the River, said at a briefing Tuesday.
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Bobker → create → briefing
“And I think the board recognizes that they’re going to be handed an incredible morass.”
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they → think → morass
Supporters say the deal has changed
The Delta is the heart of California’s water delivery system, where state and federal pumps export Northern California river water to Central and Southern California.
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pumps → say → California
It’s also the center of California’s water wars, and in the throes of collapse.
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It → ’ → collapse
State officials have been warning for years that existing rules aren’t enough to stop the precipitous decline of native species like the state’s iconic salmon as they lose freshwater to cities and farms.
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they → warn → cities
Crashing populations forced the recent cancellation of salmon fishing for three unprecedented years in a row.
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populations → crash → row
But the state last overhauled the Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Plan, a keystone document governing water quality and flows, in 1995.
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state → overhaul → 1995
Late Thursday night, after two days of public comments raising concerns with the plan and several hours deliberating last minute changes, the State Water Resources Control Board approved an update centering Newsom’s voluntary agreements.
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Board → raise → agreements
Only one board member, civil engineer Nichole Morgan, voted against the update.
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member → vote → update
California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot told a quiet room Thursday that he knew this path forward was uncomfortable for everyone.
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path → tell → everyone
“We heard yesterday a lot of groups, including tribal governments, that continue to believe that this is not sufficient, and this is the wrong approach,” Crowfoot said.
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Crowfoot → hear → governments
“We have water agencies that aren’t comfortable with the way that their proposal — our proposal — has materialized …
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proposal → have → way
That’s natural.
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That → ’ → ?
Officially known as the Healthy Rivers and Landscapes Program and backed by $2.9 billion of mostly state as well as federal and water supplier money, the Newsom administration touted these agreements as a way to forestall legal fights while balancing competing demands on the Delta.
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administration → know → Delta
But after years of regulatory processes, public comment and environmental review, the original signatories are balking.
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signatories → balk → processes
Water users, including Westlands Water District, a power player in the state’s $60 billion agricultural economy, say the current plan is not what they signed up for.
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they → include → what
“It’s unrecognizable,” said Jennifer Pierre, general manager for the State Water Contractors, which represents public water agencies serving 750,000 acres of farmland and 27 million people.
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which → ’ → farmland
Pierre called the latest version a “complete system of micromanagement” that centers too much decision-making with the state water board’s executive director, and retains too little flexibility.
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that → call → flexibility
“I think everyone’s reviewing it to see, okay, we’ve all acknowledged this is not what we proposed, but is it workable?” she said.
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she → think → what
A second front opens up
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front → open → ?
In a major blow to the voluntary agreements, the federal government — which pumps Delta water to millions of acres of Central Valley farmland — is threatening to jump ship.
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which → pump → ship
If it does, it would take hundreds of millions of federal dollars with it.
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it → do → it
State water regulators clarify that no one has yet officially withdrawn from the deal.
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one → clarify → deal
But the threat hits harder than those from other water users, said Barry Nelson, a senior policy analyst for the Golden State Salmon Association.
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Nelson → hit → Association
“They’re the largest water project in the Central Valley.
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They → ’re → Valley
They have more storage than anyone else in the state of California.
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They → have → California
…and 20 more, not listed.
The Aporia
