Action Alerts

Stand Up for Rivers, the SF Bay-Delta & Water Justice in Sacramento, CA​

Understanding the Bay Delta Plan and Voluntary Agreements (VAs)

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The Bay-Delta is the hub of California’s water system and the largest estuary on the West Coast. It supplies drinking water to nearly 27 million people, supports salmon runs, and sustains communities, and economies This includes Tribal, fishing, recreation and farming based uses. It is the water body that the Feather, American, San Joaquin, Sacramento, and other Northern California rivers flow into, and it feeds the San Francisco Bay. The Trinity River, a Klamath tributary is also diverted into the Delta.

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To protect this watershed, the State Water Board is supposed to regularly update the Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Plan, as it is their job to protect Californians water. But it hasn’t been updated in almost 30 years. When the state began the update 10 years ago, scientists recommended stronger river flows to protect salmon and water quality.

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Governor Newsom has pushed for Voluntary Agreements (VAs), which replace actions to protect water quality, including protecting instream flows, and has held up the update. The VAs are side deals with water users such as almond growers that weaken protections, cut the public and Tribes out of decision-making, and ignore scientific recommendations.

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VAs are also non-binding and lack clear enforcement mechanisms. Meaning, there is no accountability if water users fail to meet flow, habitat, pollution or temperature goals critical to salmon survival and the protection of drinking water.

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The result of years of inaction is that salmon populations in the Sacramento River have collapsed by 65–90% (depending on species), fishing seasons have been shut down, jobs have been lost and water quality continues to decline.

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Now, the Board is considering approving these VAs as part of the Bay-Delta Plan and having weakened protections and water quality standards for non-VA parties. These regulatory protections would set flows in rivers as low as 35% of natural levels, which is far below the 75% recommended by scientists. The VAs are even weaker and allow new parties, like Sites Reservoir, to enter the agreements after the fact, without analyzing impacts and rely on federal cooperation.

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This decision will affect all Bay Delta tributaries and the Trinity River, drinking water quality, salmon survival, and Tribal fishing rights for generations. That’s why we’re calling on the state to reject voluntary deals & adopt the science-based water protections from earlier scientific/CEQA analysis.

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Talking Points​

A Water Quality Plan Needs to Protect California Water Not Big Ag & Water Brokers: The Bay-Delta Plan Must Reject Voluntary Agreements to Protect Salmon, Drinking Water, Jobs, Recreation and Tribal Rights.

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• The proposed Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Plan relies on Voluntary Agreements (VAs) and the cooperation of the Trump administration at a time when they are gutting environmental laws. They are non-binding, lack regulatory teeth, and actually lower flows in some watersheds.

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• Without clear enforcement and actual water quality protections, there is no accountability if water users fail to protect water quality. This could lead to more toxic algae, mercury & chemical pollution, and less water, in our rivers, bays, and drinking water supplies.

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• Decades of existing VAs have failed, resulting in declining salmon populations, warming rivers, shrinking flows, collapsing ecosystems, and pollution in water supplies. California should take action to protect our water.

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• These agreements perpetuate historic inequities by ignoring Indigenous knowledge, cultural resource protection, subsistence needs, and local communities.

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• The VAs sidestepped Tribal Consultation as well as public & science-based processes and years of scientific and public input. This undermines Tribal sovereignty and does not allow the public to have a say.

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• The Plan estimates more water is available for diversion on the Trinity River than exists, threatening the Trinity River, and thus the Klamath salmon.

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• We need quantifiable, enforceable standards for irrigators in order to protect the water supply of 27.7 million people who rely on the Bay-Delta for their drinking water.

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• The plan, which should rely on laws, relies on the cooperation of the federal government (the Trump administration), even though they just re-wrote their water plan so cities and the rivers get more water.

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• 80% of the developed water used in the state is used by agricultural interests. Under this proposed plan, water users can divert water without consequence, leaving fish and communities behind.

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Tell the Water Board to do its job and protect our water. We demand enforceable flow & temperature protections, Tribal co-governance, Science-based standards, and real accountability to restore salmon and water quality for future generations.