The rivers that feed San Francisco Bay are over-tapped. Massive water diversions to corporate agribusiness and big cities, even during droughts, damage the environment and public health.
Due to a lack of freshwater, the Bay’s six endangered fish species teeter on the edge of extinction, harmful algae blooms occur every year in the Delta, and unhealthy water quality persists throughout the Bay’s watershed.
For example, California’s salmon fishing season is closed this year because too few baby salmon survived their downstream journey to the ocean over the past several years.
Despite the evidence that our water demands are not sustainable, Governor Newsom recently proposed legislation that would allow more water to be diverted from the Bay’s watershed and increase the burdens on our fish, wildlife, and communities. Worse, the Governor tried to fast track his sweeping environmental policy changes by offering them as budget trailer bills which bypass thorough consideration by legislators and the public.
Governor Newsom’s trailer bills would have moved California further from a water sustainable future by, among other harmful actions, 1) eliminating strong protections for imperiled species, 2) cutting corners on environmental review of water diversions to expedite their approval, and 3) greasing the skids to approve harmful projects like the Delta Tunnel and Sites Reservoir, which would divert even more water from our rivers and harm fish, wildlife, and communities.
Thankfully, following an intense advocacy effort by environmental and community organizations, including Baykeeper, the legislature pushed back. Although the budget trailer bills passed the legislature, eroding state environmental protections, legislators stripped out the worst provisions of Governor Newsom’s proposals and upheld the state’s core environmental protections.
We are grateful to the legislature for blocking Newsom’s attempt to dodge scrutiny of environmentally harmful projects, including the Delta Tunnel and Sites Reservoir.
And, happily, the legislature is still considering three bills that would actually improve transparency and accountability in California water management, rather than limit or eliminate public, legislative, and judicial review of new water diversions, as the Governor proposed.
Assembly Bill 1337, Assembly Bill 460, and Senate Bill 389 would require documentation of the oldest water rights, give state officials the power to stop illegal water diversions, and penalize those who divert water illegally. And, unlike Newsom’s budget trailers, these proposed bills will be reviewed for their merits by both legislators and the public at large.