Water Leaders Urge Delta Stewardship Council to Revise Plan

ACWA, the Northern California Water Association and the State & Federal Contractors Water Agency on Friday expressed “grave concern” with the direction of the Delta Stewardship Council’s latest draft Delta Plan, saying it far exceeds the council’s authority and would steer the process away from success.

Leaders of the three organizations joined a highly diverse group of nearly 60 water agencies and other entities in a letter urging the council to revise the plan to adhere to the 2009 legislation that created the Delta Plan process. Signatories to the letter included water agencies within, above and below the Delta, as well as regional and statewide agricultural and business organizations.

The letter said the latest draft of the plan attempts to regulate actions outside the legal Delta and includes unwieldy and untenable regulatory policies that would usurp the authority of other state agencies and drive stakeholders away from the process.

Noting that the council represents the most important opportunity in generations to resolve the crisis in the Delta, water leaders said they remain committed to the success of the process and the co-equal goals of improved water supply reliability and ecosystem health. The council’s latest effort is on the wrong track, however, and there is an urgent need for constructive work to bring it back on the right track.

“We all realize the tremendous stake we have in the Delta Stewardship Council process. Our commitment to this effort has not diminished,” ACWA Executive Director Timothy Quinn said. “Because we want this process to succeed, we felt it necessary to express strong objections to the direction the council seems to be heading with this latest draft. We are committed to working with the council to restore stakeholder confidence and return the focus of the plan to the Delta.”

David Guy, executive director of the Northern California Water Association, stressed the need to focus on the Delta. “In the latest draft plan, the council has lost its way. California needs a Delta Plan that focuses on the Delta and the immediate actions that will achieve the co-equal goals of water supply reliability and improved ecosystem health in the Delta," Guy said.

Byron Buck, executive director of the State & Federal Contractors Water Agency, urged the council to avoid duplicating efforts by state and local agencies to further the co-equal goals. “We believe by carefully following the direction given in the Delta Reform Act, the Delta Stewardship Council can advance progress in the Delta, so vital to the coequal goals of water supply reliability and ecosystem restoration,” Buck said. “This must focus on actions in the Delta and coordination of other agency actions, but avoid duplication of other authority.”