California's State Water Resources Control Board on Thursday approved a long-debated update to the plan that governs how farms and cities draw water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and the rivers that feed it, CalMatters reports. Board member Nichole Morgan, a civil engineer, cast the lone vote against it.
The update to the Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Plan, last overhauled in 1995, centers on Gov. Gavin Newsom's so-called voluntary agreements. Water agencies can sign on, giving up some water and paying for habitat restoration, or they fall under a regulatory backup: mandatory rules on how much water has to stay in rivers and streams and flow through the Delta.
The program attached to the agreements, called Healthy Rivers and Landscapes, carries a $2.9 billion price tag paid mostly with state money, plus funds from water suppliers and the federal government, whose share was originally expected to reach $740 million.
The federal question
The Trump administration has threatened to walk away from the deal and take its money with it, though state regulators said no one has formally withdrawn. In a September letter to the board, Aubrey J.D. Bettencourt, principal deputy commissioner of the federal Bureau of Reclamation, accused the board of "executive and regulatory overreach."
Federal officials objected in particular to a new requirement that operators who cut Delta flows submit a plan to make up the loss.
Board executive director Eric Oppenheimer said the plan can work without federal participation, adding, "But we can't make them volunteer." If federal water managers pull out, they would be bound by the backup rules.