If California didn’t have enough water challenges already, a trio of environmental groups is adding to the mix.
The Center for Biological Diversity, Restore the Delta, and Planning and Conservation League are suing the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (BOR), the Department of the Interior, and Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt.
The groups oppose the Trump administration’s decision to make 14 of the Central Valley Project’s short-term renewable water contracts permanent. The trio claims the act is a violation of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). In addition to rescinding the 14 permanent water contracts, the plaintiffs seek to restrain the BOR from converting any additional water contracts, including 26 contracts currently in process of conversion.
The total amount of water that would be allocated permanently to water users—including the 14 contracts already converted and the 26 contracts in question—involves about 2,279,879 acre-feet of water per year, according to the lawsuit.
The groups argue deliveries of Central Valley Project water is diverted from rivers and the California Delta, and therefore has adverse environmental impacts on the nearby watershed.
According to the lawsuit, some of the effects include: “reducing freshwater flows and worsening already degraded Delta water quality; further endangering and destroying endangered and threatened fish species and critical habitat; reducing freshwater flows causing and worsening harmful algal blooms in the Delta; adverse impacts on public health and safety in the Delta region; and adverse impacts on agriculture in the Delta.”
The California Farm Water Coalition (CFWC) has voiced its support for the renewal of 231 water contracts for water districts, farmers, and cities who utilize Central Valley Project Water. CFWC said if “critics of California’s farmers” are successful, “the disruption of this process could lead to dramatic impacts in California’s water supply, its economy and environment.” The coalition estimates one third of California farmland, roughly three million acres, relies on the Central Valley Project for water supplies.
Central Valley Project
The Central Valley Project extends 400 miles through central California and is a network of dams, reservoirs, canals, hydroelectric powerplants and other facilities, according to BOR. The network draws on water from the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers and delivers more than 7 million acre-feet of water per year to support irrigated agriculture, municipalities, and fish and wildlife needs.
CFWC said BOR is renegotiating new long-term contracts as required by federal statue. Water rates are set by the Reclamation Reform Act of 1982 and the Central Valley Project Improvement Act of 1992. Contracts require that rates be based on full repayment of project costs by 2030.
Settlement contracts were predicted on historic water use for each settlement contractor. CFWC said challenging settlement quantities would undermine Sacramento River water allocations and cause a need for Sacramento River water basin adjudication.
“This would result in chaos and disputes over water that would last for decades and would disrupt urban and agricultural water plans,” the coalition said.
Suit claims
The lawsuit alleges that BOR has not complied with NEPA by failing to prepare an environmental impact statement or an environmental assessment.
BOR contends it has no discretion with respect to contract conversion because of the WINN Act. The WINN (Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation) Act was signed by President Barack Obama in 2016 and allows the secretary of the interior to convert water service contracts to repayment contracts at the request of any existing water service contractor.
This was included in the act in order to create a source of money to construct water storage projects in the West.
The groups assert while the WIIN Act may require BOR to convert contracts, “Reclamation retains discretion over the terms and conditions of the converted contract.”
The lawsuit continues that using vast quantities of the water directly harms fish, reduces freshwater flows, and also alters the hydrologic flow patterns in the Delta.
“Plaintiffs’ interests in improving water quality in the Central Valley and preserving fish and wildlife in the Central Valley and Trinity River watersheds and the San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary have been and will continue to be harmed by the activities permitted by the contracts,” the suit read.
The groups claim since the Central Valley Improvement Act was enacted 27 years ago, “fish species in the Bay-Delta have declined toward extinction including endangered winter-run Chinook salmon, threatened spring-run Chinook salmon, threatened Central Valley steelhead, threatened green sturgeon, threatened Delta smelt, and state-protected longfin smelt” as a result of water diversions. — Anna Miller, WLJ editor
