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DWR outlines voluntary ‘Healthy Rivers and Landscapes’ alternative to unimpaired‑flow rules
Summary
Department of Water Resources manager Joshua Martinez told the Butte County Water Commission that the Healthy Rivers and Landscapes (HRL) voluntary agreements could deliver up to about 825,000 acre‑feet of new January–June flow, combined with roughly 45,000 acres of habitat restoration, funded through a proposed ~$3 billion plan shared among state, federal and local partners.
Joshua Martinez, an environmental program manager with the California Department of Water Resources, presented the Healthy Rivers and Landscapes program (HRL) to the Butte County Water Commission on Feb. 5, 2025, describing it as a voluntary‑agreement alternative to a State Water Resources Control Board staff proposal commonly called the unimpaired‑flow approach.
Martinez said HRL would pair increased instream flows with habitat restoration and adaptive science rather than relying solely on a high percentage of unimpaired flow. “We can probably do more with smaller volumes of water if we integrate those flows with habitat improvements,” Martinez said during his presentation.
He gave program-scale figures: a sliding scale of water deliveries…
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