The State Water Resources Control Board (“SWRCB” or “The Water Board”) will be hearing testimony and listening to public comment on Thursday, January 23 in the afternoon on whether to uphold and enforce the Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Plan (“Bay-Delta Plan”), a set of science-backed regulatory conditions that center community engagement and guarantee minimum water inflows for the devastated species of the Delta.
Currently, the Water Board is considering two potential regulatory regimes to manage flows and support the recovery of the Delta, and they want to hear from interested stakeholders about their perspectives on the options during the workshops. The first option is a full update to the Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Plan (“Bay-Delta Plan”), a comprehensive, science-backed plan that centers public input. Specifically, the Board will be considering updates to Phase II of the Plan, which protects essential inflows and freshwater conditions for decimated fish populations in the Sacramento River and Delta ecosystems.
The second option is a flimsy, unenforceable plan called the Healthy Rivers and Landscapes Voluntary Agreements Approach (“Voluntary Agreements”), a greenwashed plan devised by the same extractivist water diverters that the Bay-Delta Plan is meant to regulate, without input from Delta, Tribal, and environmental justice partners. Should the Water Board adopt the Voluntary Agreements, Delta communities and the broader ecosystem will be completely unprotected from further collapse.
Bay-Delta Plan updates have been delayed now for decades and the ecosystem is collapsing because of it. Our regulators must stand up for the environment and commit to updating the Plan, and we need your help to convince them of it!
RSVP now to remotely comment at the Water Board workshop on Thursday, January 23 by urging them to update the Bay-Delta Plan and reject the Voluntary Agreements.
Additionally, make sure to sign-up via the speaker card form here by Tuesday, January 21 at 5:00pm to be allotted speaking time during the workshop. All participants must complete the form by the 1/21 deadline if they wish to comment.
Public comments will begin when panel presentations end, which will likely be in the early afternoon (~2:30pm). Plan to log onto the meeting’s Zoom link around then, but I will message everyone who RSVPs so speakers don’t have to attend for more time than necessary.
Here are talking points created by our friends at Tuolumne River Trust to inform your comments. Please try to put the talking points in your own words to not be repetitive of other public comments.
Instructions to Call in and comment:
If you plan to address the Water Board during the public comment period:
- Sign-up via the speaker card form here by Tuesday, January 21 at 5:00pm to guarantee speaking time
- Be on the lookout for an email from the Clerk to the Water Board who will respond to your form one day before the workshop (January 22) with the information needed to remotely comment at the meeting.
Callers will likely be allotted three minutes per comment, but allotted time per speaker may be reduced. You can find the full Notice of Opportunity for Public Comment with more details here.
If you have questions, please contact Layne Fajeau, Associate Organizer, at Layne.Fajeau@sierraclub.org
Thank you for supporting water sustainability in California!
