Thursday September 18, 2025
Daily Kos —
Sacramento, California — Yesterday the California State Water Resources Control Board cancelled workshop dates scheduled for next week that were intended to allow public comment on the proposed update to the failed 30-year-old Bay-Delta Plan. This announcement came less than a week after Governor Newsom’s trailer bill that would exempt the plan from CEQA was defeated in the California legislature.
“We are not surprised to see the public comment notice rescinded. The latest version of the Bay Delta Water Quality Control Plan and related Voluntary Agreements are not grounded in reality and contradict what the science and law says should be required,” said Save California Salmon’s Science and Policy Director Efraim Lopez. “Without the CEQA exemptions in the trailer bill- which failed – this plan is indefensible.”
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 on 5 major watersheds, and sustains Tribal, fishing, and farming communities. Bay Delta operations also impact the Klamath River through the diversion of the Trinity River, its largest tributary.
To protect California’s water resources, the State Water Board is supposed to regularly update the Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Plan, but it hasn’t been updated in almost 30 years. When the state began the current update nearly a decade ago, scientists recommended much stronger river flows to protect salmon and water quality. Unfortunately, the current iteration of the proposed plan relies heavily on vague and unenforceable Voluntary Agreements (VAs) with large water users rather than the years of scientific studies and recommendations that the board had solicited.
“The board’s inaction on this update, and insistence on leaning on voluntary flow measures has led to terrible water quality conditions and a crisis for our salmon and fishermen,” explained Regina Chichizola from Save California Salmon. “Our hope is that the Board takes this time to retool the plan before presenting it to the public for comment.”
“The current proposed plan relies on assumptions that more water is available than exists in our rivers, and does not include regulatory actions or safeguards to protect our waters from excessive diversions. This would put the drinking water supply for over half of Californians at risk, harm rural and coastal businesses and negatively impact Salmon runs on nearly every major river in the state. The State Water Board has an opportunity here to rework their proposed plan to better serve California communities and resources,” stated Chichizola.
Save California Salmon has postponed their September 25th rally until a new hearing date is set but will use a scheduled zoom training on public comment and the Bay Delta plan to update the public and let them know about other opportunities to urge the state to protect California’s rivers.