Stop the Extinction Crisis in the Bay

Governor Newsom is giving water handouts to California’s industrial agriculture at the expense of a healthy Bay and the people who depend on it.

An entire ecosystem is unraveling bit by bit before our eyes.”

JIMMY TOBIAS, The Nation: The Extinction Crisis Devastating San Francisco Bay

Water-intensive crops like almonds, walnuts, and pistachios get irrigated while toxic algae fills the Bay's tributaries and salmon die. This puts Bay Area residents and our local fishing businesses in peril, while leaving vulnerable communities without safe and affordable drinking water. What's worse, the state is using bad science from the Trump era to justify it.

The State Water Board has developed a plan, based on actual science, that would require increased river flows into the Bay and require both industry and cities to use water sustainably. But Governor Newsom has actively blocked this science-based plan.

Tell Governor Newsom to reject Trump-era “science” and say no to greed.

Read Full Background >

Please join us by signing the letter below to ask the governor to direct the Water Board to complete its Bay-Delta plan now, for the health of the Delta, the Bay, and everyone who depends on them.

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Dear Governor Newsom,

San Francisco Bay is in the throes of a man-made crisis. Six Bay fish species are officially listed as endangered, and the state’s salmon fishery is on the verge of collapse. If you don't take action soon we will lose fish and wildlife populations that have lived here for millennia. In some rivers, the water flows are so low that toxic algae make the water unfit for drinking or swimming.

The cause of the crisis is clear, and so is the solution. Too much of the fresh water that once flowed from rivers in the Sierra Nevada to the Delta and Bay has been diverted. In some years, more than 90% of the flow in rivers like the Tuolumne is diverted for human use—and about 80% of that goes to industrial agriculture. So much water has been diverted this year that our reservoirs did not retain enough cold water to protect wild spawning salmon—those populations will be destroyed.  
 
Our fish need cold, flowing rivers to survive. And many other creatures need fish to survive. People are also affected. California’s fleet of small fishing boats, which depends on production of Chinook Salmon in the Bay’s watershed, is flailing, and indigenous people and other subsistence fishing communities are being deprived both of an important food source and their cultural heritage. 
 
For years, you have tried to negotiate a compromise with the state’s largest agricultural water districts. And the basis for this compromise is based on Trump-era endangered species rules— rules that defy science, and that were developed in a corrupt process. San Francisco Bay needs a plan that’s based on science rather than the demands of powerful water districts.  
 
Fortunately, there’s already a science-based plan to stop the looming catastrophe. The State Water Board’s Bay-Delta Plan would set guidelines to prevent the ecosystem from spiraling into collapse. The plan would set aside more water to maintain our rivers and fish and force cities and agricultural operators to use water more efficiently.
 
The State Water Board can avert a crisis in San Francisco Bay—in fact, it is legally required to do so. But its work has been delayed as you attempted to negotiate voluntary measures. We need your leadership now, before it’s too late to save our rivers, our fish, and the people who depend on them. Please encourage the State Water Board to complete its Bay-Delta Plan quickly and adopt the strong protections our Bay desperately needs. 
 
Sincerely,

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