Progress and Frustration: A Candid Discussion of California’s Water Challenges

The past week I had the opportunity to participate in Congressman Jim Costa’s Water Managers Meeting. It was a very information packed two-hour session at Fresno State. Key federal personnel from the Bureau of Reclamation, the Army Corp of Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration fisheries office reported on their activities as well as state officials from the Department of Water Resources and the State Water Resources Control Board.

The potential for a wet winter and the preparation for both flood management and maximizing surplus water capture opportunities were major topics. Different agencies with permit responsibility are gearing up to provide those. There is significant effort related to weather forecasting and air flights to most accurately estimate snowpack so the reservoirs can be most efficiently managed. There is increased coordination between the federal, state, and local agencies that have different authorities and flood responsibilities to make sure that their resources can be quickly and efficiently deployed if necessary.

The Golden Mussel (GM) invasion of California’s waterways is fully underway. In about two years, the GM has managed to get all the way from the San Francisco Bay down to Kern County and even into southern California. The general consensus is that there is no way to eradicate this invasive species that plugs up pipes with incredible volume and speed. A permanent and vigilant management strategy will have to be put in place to keep the GM from seriously constraining water movement infrastructure in California.

There were various updates on government investments. Friant Water Authority received $200 million to advance repairs on the Friant Kern Canal and the Delta Mendota Water Authority received $235 million to deal with subsidence along their canal. There are other grants for lesser amounts that were reported.

The agencies also reported on various initiatives: the proposed Sites Reservoir, the San Luis Reservoir Dam raise, and the potential Shasta Dam raise were all mentioned as was a delta smelt recovery effort focused on raising delta smelt in hatcheries and ponds to increase populations. The Endangered Species Act requires us to do all we can to prevent the delta smelt extinction. Millions of acre-feet of fresh water have been sent to the ocean over the past 30 years, costing billions of dollars in water supply to save this fish.

When it was time for the water managers to ask questions and bring concerns, it was amazing to me the unified chorus of concern and frustration the water community represented in that room had about the State Water Board and its regulatory process and decisions. The Water Quality Control Plan for the Bay Delta has been worked on for years. In 2022 a major Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed by almost all of the regulated parties, including state and federal water agencies on a “Voluntary Agreement” approach to meeting the regulatory requirements of the Bay Delta plan. In this approach, the water agencies contribute water supply and significant financial resources to design species recovery and enhancement projects that are adaptable and accountable for actually recovering the fish and ecosystems in the delta. This effort was later rebranded as the Healthy Rivers and Landscapes (HRL) program. Here is a very informative short video on HRL.

The problem is the State Water Board has to approve this program and the draft permit they issued a few weeks ago completely undermines the MOU, according to the water users in the room at the meeting this week. In fact, the federal Bureau of Reclamation went so far as to send a blistering letter to the State Board to outline the deficiencies and pledging to not cooperate with the state program if changes were not made.

The State Water Board is scheduled to have a hearing and vote on this plan before the end of October. Dorene D’ Adamo, the State Board member who was at the Costa meeting, said that there would be some changes made to the draft regulation that would address some, but not all of the water agencies’ concerns. This is just the latest example of conflict and frustration with the State Water Board on issues of major consequence to California’s water and agriculture interests. Time and again, whether it is SGMA enforcement, water rights permitting, water quality regulations or even funding for domestic water supplies, the State Board and their staff are coming under increasing criticism for the way they do or don’t do their jobs. Congressman Costa listened to all this feedback and observed that in a few weeks there will be an election and a new governor with the opportunity to make changes. It is often said that the only thing that stands between an out of control bureaucracy and the people is a politician. At the meeting this week I heard about some very constructive actions being taken by some of our government agencies and also some real areas for improvement and change.

Many thanks to Congressman Costa for his leadership. I have personally known and worked with Jim for over 30 years. While we may have our political differences from time to time, Jim has been a great advocate and effective representative for the Valley’s people and for agriculture.

Geoff Vanden Heuvel

Director of Regulatory and Economic Affairs