Thursday May 23, 2024
North Bay Business Journal —
Solano County is one of the fastest growing counties in San Francisco Bay Area. But its water supply faces uncertainty because of proposed changes to California’s long-running conservation plan for the watershed that supplies the neighboring Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
County, city and agricultural district water managers are concerned about how a draft update to the Bay-Delta Plan could impact local water reliability, housing growth and the economy. They are working with the State Water Resources Control Board to address the concerns.
Most of Solano County’s water comes from Lake Berryessa in Napa County via Putah Creek. It flows out from Montecito Dam and along the Solano-Yolo county line past Winters until it feeds into a canal and slough in the delta.
The state’s draft Bay Delta Plan update proposes maintaining 55% unimpaired flows in Bay-Delta tributaries like Putah Creek to protect fish and wildlife in the delta by lowering waterway temperatures for key protected species such as steelhead trout and Chinook, and preventing spawning creeks from running dry.