Grand compromise on California water wars in disarray. Newsom faces multiple lawsuits this week
From the moment he took office, Gov. Gavin Newsom said he wanted to bring peace to California’s water wars. But now, more than a year later, most of the warring factions are united against his plan for governing the Delta.
Three of the most powerful groups in California water sued the state this week over Newsom’s two-month-old plan for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the hub of California’s complex water delivery network.
A coalition of environmental groups charged Wednesday that Newsom’s plan, released in late March, doesn’t do nearly enough to protect Chinook salmon and other endangered species from the perils that occur when water is pumped through the Delta to farms and cities in the southern half of the state.
On the other side, local agencies that get deliveries from the State Water Project and the federal government’s Central Valley Project filed their own lawsuits, saying Newsom went overboard in setting restrictions on water pumping that will result in significant new restrictions on supplies.
The state contractors, in a suit filed in Fresno Superior Court, said the Department of Water Resources and Department of Fish & Wildlife ignored scientific evidence showing that more water could be sent south “without causing additional adverse impacts to the Delta.”
The hail of litigation, filed in a space of 24 hours, seems to leave Newsom’s vision of peace in tatters.
Lisa Lien-Mager, a spokeswoman for Newsom’s Natural Resources Agency said the administration “stands behind” its plan for operating the Delta. She said it “strikes a necessary balance” between environmental protection and meeting the needs of the water suppliers.”
Some species at brink of extinction
The State Water Project and Central Valley Project pull billions of gallons of water out of the Delta and pump it to their respective customers in the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California, serving millions of acres of farmland and about 25 million people.
But decades of pumping have ravaged the Delta’s eco-system and sent smelt, salmon and other species to the brink of extinction.
Newsom took office pledging to find solutions that would work for all sides. He tried to find common ground with the mostly agricultural Central Valley Project water districts on a plan, known as the voluntary settlement agreement, for allocating water from the state’s most important rivers. He tried to negotiate with the Trump administration, which operates the Central Valley Project, on governing operations in the Delta.
Recently, though, his efforts at peace-making have evolved into familiar strategies of litigation. In February, as President Donald Trump was visiting Bakersfield to discuss water policy, Newsom announced he would sue the federal government over Trump’s plans to deliver more water through the Delta.
Now, Newsom’s own operations plan for the Delta is drawing fire from environmentalists and water users alike. And the voluntary settlement agreement - a far-reaching water-sharing effort brokered by former Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration - appears to be falling apart.
Jennifer Pierre of the State Water Contractors said Newsom’s plan for the Delta “effectively ends the historic Voluntary Agreement process that brought together water agencies, regulators and conservation groups to tackle decades-old water resource problems.”
This story was originally published April 29, 2020 at 4:38 PM.