Water plan to protect Delta

A makeover is in the works for the state's top water police, one that would streamline operations and may bring more enforcement action to protect the fragile Delta.

The Water Resources Control Board proposes the self-improvement plan in two parts: legislation to overhaul its structure and duties, and a strategic plan to regulate San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

The changes could force water agencies to adhere more strictly to the "public trust doctrine," a legal principle that allows the board to revoke water rights from wasteful users and polluters.

"I have many member agencies that are very concerned about this turn of events," said Tim Quinn, executive director of the Association of California Water Agencies. "For better or worse, there will likely be significant decisions around water rights in the future."

As The Bee reported last week, most California water agencies have not fulfilled their conservation promises, putting them at risk for such challenges.

Critics have long complained that California's water supply and quality have suffered from political influence on the board and its nine regional water quality boards. Its members are political appointees and would remain so under the proposed changes.

The proposal for legislation comes in the form of a "water quality improvement initiative" that could become a rider on a forthcoming state budget bill. It builds on a water quality bill by Senate Majority Leader Don Perata, SB 1176, that is now stalled.

The proposal would reduce the size of the regional boards from nine to seven members to minimize chronic vacancies. Each chairman would become a full-time, paid position to improve accountability and expertise.

It would streamline the now-cumbersome process to adopt water pollution limits by bringing California's system into accord with federal procedures.

To improve enforcement, the boards would be freed of issuing written notices before penalizing polluters, and a requirement to hold a public hearing before referring such cases to the attorney general would be abolished.

City attorneys and district attorneys in large cities would gain the power to seek civil penalties against polluters if requested by the water board. Only the attorney general has this power now.

The second prong of the overhaul package is the "Bay-Delta strategic work plan." It proposes an aggressive regulatory agenda to improve water quality and habitat in the largest estuary on the west coast of the Americas. The plan is scheduled to be presented to the state board Tuesday in Sacramento and could be adopted as soon as July 16.

It proposes an ambitious schedule to review existing water rights within and upstream of the Delta to ensure diverters are following the law. This includes the complex diversion rules governing the State Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project, which deliver Delta water to 25 million Californians.

The plan would evaluate the need for more fish screens on these diversions and whether in-stream flows are adequate to provide quality fish habitat.

The board also would develop a strategy to achieve the governor's call for a 20 percent reduction in per capita water consumption by 2020. This could impose new mandates on local water agencies. The plan would take up to five years to carry out.

Both proposals can be viewed on the water board's Web site, www.swrcb.ca.gov.

"We've got a situation in the Delta of real concern, with water quality and a number of fish species in decline," said water board spokesman Bill Rukeyser. "The direction we're coming from is that we've got a definite role and we hold part of the solution."

Much depends on how rigorously the changes would be adopted and imposed. Bill Jennings, executive director of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance and a longtime critic, said he is encouraged but skeptical.

"The collapse of the Delta estuary is partly a result of their failure to grapple with and deal with these issues," he said. "Is the state board serious about this? That remains to be seen."

Quinn said the plans are likely the most comprehensive regulatory effort in the board's 40-year history. "At first glance, it's a logical framework," he said. "The board may well be asking more of water agencies over time, but that's just something we're going to have to get used to."

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