Public commenters tell State Water Board to reject voluntary agreements, guard Bay-Delta protections

Several residents, conservation groups and fisheries advocates used the State Water Resources Control Board’s public forum on Feb. 18 to press the board for stronger flow protections for the Bay-Delta and to warn that recent political pressure could undermine regulatory baselines.

Bob Gore, speaking early in public forum, urged the board to convene an ongoing funding conversation and said the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and other flexible funding sources should be considered to meet mounting water-infrastructure needs. "Water is a basic human need," Gore said, calling for coordinated state and federal funding.

Multiple speakers focused on the board’s pending Bay-Delta plan update and the voluntary agreements (VAs) under consideration. Dave Warner said the scientific record provides little support for the VAs and used the Tuolumne River as an example to question how responsibilities for required flows are being allocated among diverters. "It seems like you've been set up," Warner said, urging the board to evaluate fairness in allocations.

Martin Gothberg and Julianne Purcell voiced direct support for the Bay-Delta plan’s flow standards. Purcell, a landscape architect, said the VA minimum flows "do not provide enough cold water, fast flowing water to support viable native fish populations," and urged the board to adopt science-based protections and higher minimums for Sierra rivers.

Speakers from conservation organizations outlined specific concerns about recent letters to the governor and federal agencies seeking rollbacks of the D-1641 decision and the X2 outflow standard. Barry Nelson (Golden State Salmon Association) summarized a set of documents, including a February 5 Westlands Water District letter and other letters to the governor, and warned that requests to waive parts of D-1641 are already circulating and would reduce the regulatory baseline that the VAs rely on. "The current Bay-Delta plan update would make the Delta sicker than it is today," Nelson said, urging the board to deny rollback requests and to require makeup water and robust backstops.

Gary Bobker (Friends of the River) defended the X2 standard as grounded in empirical relationships between flow and aquatic organisms and warned that VA parties will likely attempt to erode the regulatory baseline and challenge the board’s backstop. "You're building a house built of air," Bobker said, urging adoption of unimpaired-flow standards.

Regina Chiquizola (Save California Salmon) broadened the concerns to the Klamath and Trinity rivers, urging the board to study instream-flow options, TMDLs, and carryover-storage protections, and warning that federal deregulation could leave the state with few tools to protect those waters.

Chair Joaquin Esquivel acknowledged the comments and reminded attendees that the formal comment period for the Bay-Delta plan is closed; he noted an additional public comment period will open with the next draft. Esquivel thanked speakers for their input and said there would be further opportunities to engage.

The public forum comments did not produce board action at the Feb. 18 meeting; several commenters urged the board to delay or to adopt firmer backstops, funding commitments and science-based flow thresholds before finalizing any voluntary-agreement approach.