FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 25, 2025
Contact:
Alexandra Nagy, alexandra@sunstonestrategies.org
Tribes and environmental advocates raise alarm over exclusionary “voluntary agreements” and ecological impacts
Sacramento, Calif. — The California State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) released its long-awaited proposed updates to the San Francisco Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Plan (“Bay-Delta Plan”), a critical policy governing water quality and ecosystem health for California’s largest and most imperiled estuary.
The updates and revisions include “voluntary agreements” (VAs), in which powerful water districts commit to provide limited additional river flows and funding in exchange for regulatory exemptions. This approach is drawing sharp criticism from Tribes, environmental justice organizations, and conservation advocates, who argue it represents a step backward for ecological protection and water rights.
The release of the plan updates come despite an ongoing Title VI Civil Rights Act complaint filed by the Delta Tribal Environmental Coalition (DTEC), comprised of the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians, the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, Little Manila Rising, Restore the Delta, and Save California Salmon. The complaint is driven by the State Water Board’s failure to uphold basic environmental protections in the Bay-Delta, disproportionately harming Tribes and other communities of color.
“We’re encouraged to see Tribal Beneficial Use designations of the Bay Delta Watershed still included in the Plan. We would have liked to see both the Tribal Cultural and Tribal Subsistence uses designated but still see the Tribal Cultural use designation as a win for tribes and an important step forward to tribal uses of water being protected should it remain in the final plan,” said Vice Chair Malissa Tayaba with the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians. “We’re disappointed to see the Voluntary Agreements still moving forward. We stand strong in our belief that the proposal is scientifically inadequate. Eight years of an experimental “voluntary” taking and giving of instream flow with questionable oversight is eight years too long that could mean complete devastation for our salmon relatives. Tribal voices and indigenous knowledge was completely and intentionally excluded from VA negotiations from the beginning and now that the Water Board has made it a viable proposal, language has been included to create optics of tribal inclusion with no real mandates for the actual incorporation of Tribal input, Tribal decision-making or Tribal co-governance.”
“It is clear that the State Water Board is continuing its inclusion of the Voluntary Agreements proposals despite the fact that there is a Title VI Civil Rights complaint filed against them, in part, for doing just that.” said Gary Mulcahy, Government Liaison with the Winnemem Wintu Tribe. “The VAs have been in process now for over 9 years, and have failed to include environmental justice communities, Disadvantaged Communities, and California Tribes in their planning and implementation processes. A clear violation of the civil rights of those groups who will be significantly affected by their actions.”
The negotiations leading to today’s Bay-Delta plan draft update have been criticized for being conducted in secret and excluding Tribal and frontline communities. “The Water Board is now saying you need to talk to the Tribes, but that is the old term of a day late and a dollar short – 10 years after the VAs began planning,” said Mulcahy.
The proposed updates also raise fundamental concerns about equity, transparency, and science-based water governance. “The State Water Board is betting on the livelihood of Delta communities and future generations that will be left to live with the consequences of poor policy making,” said Cintia Cortez, Policy Program Manager at Restore the Delta. “The Board’s failure to address these issues is evident by their failure to resolve DTEC’s Title VI Complaint. Instead the Board is aligning itself with a Governor that continues to push an agenda for his personal gain and does not benefit Californians.”
The current Bay-Delta Plan has not been substantially updated since 1995, despite repeated admissions from government fish and wildlife agencies that existing flow standards are insufficient to support native fish species, including Chinook Salmon, Longfin Smelt, and White Sturgeon. Salmon fisheries have remained closed for three consecutive years due to catastrophic declines in their breeding grounds.
“Fish need cold water in rivers, but today’s proposed updates to the Bay Delta Water Quality Plan show that the Water Board still chose politics over science,” said Devon Pearse, Lead Scientist of Friends of the River. “Outdated water quality regulations for the Bay-Delta Estuary have pushed the ecosystem to the brink, yet the Water Board’s own analysis found that restoring flows to protect the Bay-Delta will have minimal economic cost. Instead of solving California’s water crisis, this plan entrenches the status quo that’s bankrupting our ecosystems, fisheries, and future. But, it’s not too late! The Water Board can still change course and publish a scientifically-defensible final plan.”
“This is a sad day for the State Water Board and one more on a long list of bad days for salmon,” said Scott Artis, Executive Director at the Golden Gate Salmon Association. “The Board seems to be collapsing under pressure from the Governor to approve the fatally flawed voluntary agreements. The VAs are a scam that could cost taxpayers billions, enrich water agencies and make the rivers even sicker. The VAs set the stage for even more damaging diversions by the massive Delta tunnel. Commercial fishing in California has been closed for 3 years because of unsustainable water diversions. This looks like a plan to kill California’s most important wild salmon runs and fishing jobs.”
Artis further explains, “the voluntary agreements aren’t a solution—they’re a water diversion tactic dressed up as progress, with consequences California’s natural heritage, salmon, people and communities can’t afford.”
The Water Board’s decision to advance the VAs instead of an “unimpaired flow” (UIF) approach, developed through 15 years of scientific review, has also reignited tensions over the state’s management of one of the most ecologically fragile regions in California.
“Today’s movement on the Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Plan had the potential to make real progress for water policy, but instead it is another lame-duck gesture meant to buy time to address the inadequate and out-of-date water quality standards for the Bay-Delta Estuary,” said Ashley Overhouse, Defenders of Wildlife water policy advisor. “Clearly, this is just the latest attempt by the Newsom administration to promote the woefully insufficient Voluntary Agreements, undercutting bare minimum protections for people and wildlife. The proposal to cut freshwater flows through the Delta during wet and dry years by over 20% will be devastating for species and the overall health of the Estuary. After years of delay, Californians and our wildlife deserve better.”
“Over the past two decades, the State Water Board has admitted repeatedly that its water quality standards are totally inadequate to protect California’s clean water, fish, fisheries, and the people that depend on them,” said Jon Rosenfield, Ph.D. Science Director for San Francisco Baykeeper. “Even with additional protections under state and federal endangered species acts, California diverts over half of the water destined for San Francisco Bay in an average year. Today’s proposed updates to water quality rules for the Bay’s watershed double-down on a status quo that has brought seven native fish species to the brink of extinction, devastated fishing communities across the state, and promoted neon green toxic algal blooms in the Delta. The proposal is a complete capitulation to political pressure from Governor Newsom and powerful water barons.”
With a civil rights investigation still unresolved and the Delta ecosystem in crisis, the State Water Board’s decision to prioritize unregulated voluntary agreements over science-based regulation is drawing serious legal and ethical scrutiny. Questions remain including whether Governor Newsom will continue to attempt to insulate the Bay-Delta Plan from CEQA review, enforcement mechanisms for VAs that fail to protect beneficial uses and how water districts not party to the VAs will be held accountable.
The Water Board will receive comments on the revised draft in writing by September 10, 2025 and at a public hearing on September 8 and 9, 2025.
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