By Heinrich Albert and Sonia Diermayer
The State Water Resource Control Board (Water Board) has just issued a draft ruling that could result in greater freshwater flows for the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. Now Sierra Club members must mobilize to ensure that the Water Board follows through on requiring higher flow levels and doesn’t back down in the face of massive agribusiness opposition.
California rivers, the Delta, San Francisco Bay, and the ecosystems that depend on them have long been in serious decline, largely due to California’s 1,400+ dams and ever-increasing water diversions. The Water Board is charged with setting (and regularly updating) water quality standards for the Delta and SF Bay, and setting minimum flow requirements for Delta tributaries needed to achieve those quality standards. These water quality standards have not been updated since 1995 and Delta water quality and native fish populations have plummeted.
On September 15th, the Water Board announced a draft of new in-stream flow objectives for major tributaries of the San Joaquin River. The proposed objectives range between 30 and 50 percent of unimpaired flow (the natural flow without diversions), with a starting point of 40 percent. This is well below the 60 percent of unimpaired flow that should be left in the river for the benefit of fish species according to the Water Board’s 2010 flow criteria report. However, the Water Board is required to balance environmental requirements with irrigation, residential, and industrial water demand. Flow levels at 40 percent of unimpaired would be better than the status quo, where flows frequently drop below 20 percent of unimpaired.
Sierra Club supports the board’s effort to address the current inadequate flow regime and congratulates the board for setting higher average flows. However we strongly urge the board to revise the targets to the 60 percent of unimpaired flows that fisheries scientists agree are needed for ecosystem health.
The new flow objectives are a draft proposal, not a final regulation. Many irrigation districts (agriculture uses 80 percent of California’s developed water) in the San Joaquin Valley are strongly opposed to the proposals and are committed to stopping their adoption. Some large urban water agencies are likely to join them. If these flow objectives are to have a chance of restoring California rivers, it is critical that the Water Board hears from citizens who value our environment over corporate subsidies to big agriculture.
The proposed flow standards are the first part of a four-phase process that will go into 2017 and likely years beyond. The next step will consider flows in the Sacramento River and its tributaries, Delta outflows, and reverse flows near the South Delta Pumps. The South Delta Pumps move water into the large aqueducts that take water to the Central Valley and southern California. Reverse flows caused by these pumps are a major contributor to fish mortality. A draft scientific-basis report for the Phase II proceeding will be issued in the next few weeks with proposed amendments to the plan to come next year.
WhatYouCanDo
This whole process will have a profound impact on California’s riparian environments. It will be critically important for the environmental community to stay engaged throughout the process. Here’s what we need to start with:
1. Use the form at this link to send a message to the State Water Resources Control Board urging them to set the instream flows at 60% to ensure the salmon and the Delta ecosystem survive.
2. Urge your local water agency (SFPUC, EBMUD, etc.) to send a letter to the Water Board supporting increased flow objectives and asking for 60 percent of unimpaired flows.
3. Write a personal letter to the Water Board asking for 60 percent of unimpaired flows. Please address your letter as follows, and submit it by email, fax, or standard mail. For email, it's best to send your comments in pdf format. Include in the subject line: “Comment Letter – 2016 Bay Delta Plan Amendment & SED”. Comments must be received by January 17, 2017.
Jeanine Townsend, Clerk of the Board
State Water Resources Control Board
1001 I Street, 24th Floor
Sacramento, CA 95814-0100
Fax: (916) 341-5620
Email: commentletters@waterboards.ca.gov
Begin your letter by introducing yourself. Why is this issue important to you? Perhaps you enjoy boating, fishing, swimming, backpacking, or bird watching in California’s watersheds. Do you have information to share about fish and wildlife, recreation, tourism, water conservation, personal observations, or related issues? The Water Board is interested in all beneficial uses of the State’s water.
You can also consider including a few of the following points, but remember that unique letters get more attention:
- In 2010 the State Water Board issued a report titled Development of Flow Criteria for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Ecosystem that determined that approximately 60 percent of unimpaired flow between February and June would be fully protective of fish and wildlife in the lower San Joaquin River and its three major tributaries.
- At least half of the natural flow from the Stanislaus, Tuolumne, Merced, and lower San Joaquin Rivers should make it to the Bay-Delta.
- Historically, populations of spawning salmon may have exceeded 400,000 fish in the San Joaquin River Basin, but in many recent years that figure has plummeted to just a few thousand.
- Low river flows impede fish passage, concentrate pollutants, raise water temperatures, decrease dissolved oxygen, and eliminate migratory cues for fish returning to spawn.
- Flows should be sufficient to inundate floodplains, which serve as critical habitat for juvenile salmon and other fish.
- The commercial salmon fishery in California is on the brink. The salmon population was so low in 2008 and 2009 that the commercial fishing season had to be cancelled, resulting in the loss of more than 2,200 jobs and $255 million in annual revenue.
- Salmon are a keystone species, providing food for other animals and transporting nutrients from the ocean to upland habitats. More than 100 species depend on salmon.
- The Bay-Delta forms the West Coast’s largest estuary, providing habitat for more than 500 species of wildlife. It serves as a major stopover for the Pacific Flyway and as a migration pathway for salmon, steelhead and sturgeon traveling to and from their home streams to the Pacific Ocean.
- Through better management of snowmelt, water-efficient irrigation technologies and practices, and replacing lower-value, water-intensive crops with higher-value, water-efficient crops, we could grow more food with less water. More crop per drop!
- In the Hetch Hetchy service area, water use decreased by 30 percent between 2007 and 2016 as a result of waterconservation. We can accomplish great things when we all work together.
4. Copy or forward your comments to your state legislators to demonstrate that their constituents care about this issue. This will encourage them to engage in the process.
5. Attend a public hearing. The hearings will be held in multiple locations over multiple days beginning on November 29th in Sacramento.
November 29th, 9 am hearing:
Joe Serna Jr. – CalEPA Headquarters Building
Byron Sher Auditorium
1001 I Street, Second Floor
Sacramento, CA 95814
December 16th, 9 am hearing:
Stockton Memorial Civic Auditorium
Main Hall
525 N Center Street
Stockton, CA 95202
December 19th, 9 am hearing:
Multicultural Arts Center
645 W. Main Street
Merced, CA 95340
December 20th, 9 am hearing:
Modesto Centre Plaza
Tuolumne River Room
1000 L Street
Modesto, CA 95354
January 3, 9 am hearing: Joe Serna Jr. – CalEPA Headquarters Building
Coastal Hearing Room
1001 I Street, Second Floor
Sacramento, CA 95814
For more information, contact heinrich.albert@outlook.com.
Photo: Chinook salmon, courtesy of the US Fish & Wildlife Service Hanford Reach National Monument.