State Agencies Release Draft “California Water Action Plan”

On October 31st the California Natural Resources Agency, the California Environmental Protection Agency and the California Department of Food and Agriculture released a detailed draft “California Water Action Plan.” A final form of the plan is expected to be released in early December. 

In May, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. directed the agencies to identify key actions for the next one to five years that address urgent needs and provide the foundation for sustainable management of California’s water resources.

The draft plan identifies the many challenges facing California’s water resources, including: uncertain water supplies; water scarcity/drought; declining groundwater basins; poor water quality; declining native fish species and loss of wildlife habitat; flood risks; and, supply disruptions.

The plan focuses on ten key actions to address these challenges:

1. Make Conservation a California Way of Life

2. Increase Local and Regional Self-Reliance

3. Achieve Co-Equal Goals for the Delta

4. Protect and Restore Important Ecosystems

5. Manage and Prepare for Dry Periods

6. Expand Water Storage Capacity

7. Provide Safe Drinking Water for All Communities

8. Improve Flood Protection

9. Increase Operational and Regulatory Efficiency

10. Identify Sustainable and Integrated Financing Opportunities

Comments and questions about the draft plan may be submitted to wateraction@water.ca.gov

KMTG Legal Alert: Development Project EIR Set Aside Due To Inadequate Water Supply Assessment, Deferred Mitigation

In Preserve Wild Santee et al. v. City of Santee et al. (--- Cal.App.4th ---, Fourth Appellate District Case No. D055215 [October 19, 2012]), the Court of Appeal for California’s Fourth Appellate District held that the environmental impact report (“EIR”) for a nearly 1,400-unit residential development project violated the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) because it failed to provide an adequate water supply analysis and improperly deferred mitigation for biological impacts. The court further held that not all EIR inadequacies require a project approval and EIR certification to be entirely vacated.

The decision in Preserve Wild Santee addresses a range of recurring CEQA compliance issues, like cumulative biological impacts involving listed species, deferred mitigation and the scope of judicial remedies when CEQA documents are found to be partially inadequate.  For a detailed summary of the  decision, please see the full KMTG Legal Alert here.

Governor Announces Preferred Water Conveyance Alternative For Bay Delta Conservation Plan

On July 25, 2012, California Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr., Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Assistant Administrator for Fisheries Eric Schwaab announced a preferred alternative in the ongoing Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP).

An overview of the preferred alternative is described in the San Jose Mercury News. Under the preferred alternative, two large, side-by-side underground tunnels, each 33 feet in diameter, would transport fresh water 37 miles from the Sacramento River, under the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta (Delta), to federal and state pumps at Tracy. Then, the water would flow into canals operated by the State Water Project and the Central Valley Project from the Bay Area to San Diego, to irrigate three million acres of farmland. The tunnels would cost an estimated $14 billion to build, and would be financed by farmers and other water users that stand to benefit from the project. The preferred alternative also focuses on restoring the Delta.

The preferred alternative’s conveyance facilities would rely on gravity flow to increase energy efficiency and decrease environmental impacts. The proposed total capacity of the water intake facilities was reduced from an earlier proposal of 15,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) to 9,000 cfs. Officials explained that the preferred alternative will be designed to help restore endemic species, protect water quality, and enhance the reliability of water supplied from the State Water Project and Central Valley Project.

All officials stressed the Delta’s ongoing problems, such as habitat loss, threats to levee stability, and reduced water supply. They indicated that resolving these issues required a balancing of economic concerns and environmental interests. Underscoring the need for reevaluating California’s current water system, Secretary Salazar stated, “Through our joint federal-state partnership, and with science as our guide, we are taking a comprehensive approach to tackling California’s water problems when it comes to increasing efficiency and improving conservation.” The comprehensive approach unveiled today includes consideration of science, conservation, governance, financing, adaptive management, sustaining Delta communities, protecting upstream water users, and improving water management State-wide.

The details announced today are not final and other alternatives will still be evaluated in the BDCP process. The agencies intend to issue a draft Bay Delta Conservation Plan and Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement this fall. Once the proposed project is fully defined, it will be submitted for public comment, and review under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA), California’s Natural Community Conservation Planning Act (NCCPA), and NEPA/CEQA.

Additional information regarding the proposed revisions to the BDCP is available here.  For further information regarding the BDCP, please contact Hanspeter Walter, Rebecca Akroyd, or Elizabeth Leeper, or the KMTG attorney with whom you normally consult.

(This blog post was drafted by KMTG Summer Associate Jessica Almendarez, with assistance from the blog editors.)

DWR Releases New State Water Project Delivery Reliability Report

The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) has released the final version of the 2011 State Water Project (SWP) Delivery Reliability Report.  The report is the latest in a series of reports that began in 2002, which report the delivery reliability of California's State Water Project, the largest state-built and operated water and power system in the United States.  The SWP provides at least some of the water consumed by 25 million Californians and used to irrigate about 750,000 farmland acres. Of SWP water deliveries, about 70 percent goes to cities and 30 percent to farms.

The newest report updates estimates of current (2011) and future (through 2031) SWP deliveries, taking into account pumping restraints to protect Delta smelt, salmon, and other fish species as well as variations in precipitation and impacts of climate change.  The perspective applied assumes no significant changes will be made to convey water past the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta or to store the more variable runoff expected with climate change.

Due to increased public interest in pumping water from the Delta, a new chapter focuses specifically on SWP exports at the system's Harvey O. Banks Pumping Plant in the Delta. The report documents that the SWP continues to be subject to delivery reductions caused by fishery agency Biological Opinions intended to safeguard threatened and endangered fish.

While the report is very detailed and includes the results of extensive computer modeling, a few basic conclusions in the executive summary include:

1. Estimated average annual SWP exports under 2011 conditions are 12% less than the estimates made for 2005 conditions.
2. Estimated average annual SWP exports decrease 86,000 acre-feet per year (about 3%) between the existing- and future-conditions scenarios.

DWR also states that California's population has grown rapidly in recent years.  From 1990 to 2005, the state's population increased from about 30 million to about 36.5 million. Based on this trend, California's population could exceed 47.5 million by 2020.  By 2050, the population could rise to nearly 60 million -- virtually double the 1990 population -- according to trends cited in the 2009 Update to the California Water Plan.

The final 2011 State Water Project Delivery Reliability Report is available from DWR online here.

If you have any questions concerning this report, please contact Hanspeter Walter or the KMTG attorney with whom you normally consult.

Public Policy Institute of California Releases Report—“Water and the California Economy”

A report released yesterday by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), entitled “Water and the California Economy,” examines the key economic issues related to water management in California and identifies seven priorities that policymakers and water managers must address to support the state's economic vitality. The report, authored by a wide-ranging group of experts, recommends the following actions:

1. Modernize water measurement and pricing with better estimates of water use and prices that reflect water’s economic value.

2. Reduce vulnerability to water supply interruptions, particularly for the large parts of the state that rely on water exported through the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta, where supplies are susceptible to levee failures and measures to protect endangered species.

3. Strengthen water markets by clarifying and streamlining the approval process for the sale and lease of water rights and addressing infrastructure gaps.

4. Improve local groundwater management to facilitate groundwater banking and reduce overdraft.

5. Reduce exposure to catastrophic flood risk by targeting flood protection dollars and making better land use decisions.

6. Improve environmental management through more integrated, coordinated, and accountable approaches.

7. Develop more reliable funding, especially for environmental management, flood pro­tection, and statewide data collection and analysis.

The Report states that “[c]ontrary to conventional wisdom, the primary [economic] concern at the statewide level is not periodic drought or even longer-term declines in water availability from climate change.” Instead, catastrophic supply interruptions that could result from earthquakes and levee failures, along with long-term unreliability in water supplies, particularly in water coming from the Delta, pose the greatest economic risks for the state. In addition, the Report concludes that declining groundwater basins and an increasing risk of catastrophic floods create economic vulnerability.

In general, the Report recommends that California make its water supply more efficient, diverse and flexible and that California take action to protect its water supply from catastrophic disruptions. It also identifies the need for more reliable funding for both flood management and environmental management, and the need for an ecosystem approach to environmental management. In addition, the Report recommends reducing permitting delays for water transfers by preparing programmatic environmental impact reviews (EIRs) for the river and stream systems most likely to sell water.

For more information regarding the PPIC report, please contact Elizabeth Leeper or the KMTG attorney with whom you normally consult.

Related Stories:
Central Valley Flood Protection Board Receives Public Draft 2012 Central Valley Flood Protection Plan

DWR and EPA Release "Climate Change Handbook for Regional Water Planning"

Center for Irrigation Technology Releases Report on California Agricultural Water Use