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A Roadmap to Achieving the Voluntary Agreements October 2020

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A Roadmap to Achieving the Voluntary Agreements October 2020 A Roadmap To Achieving the Voluntary Agreements October 2020 URGENT CALL TO ACTION State Must Re-Engage on the Voluntary Agreements Public water agencies across California call on Governor Newsom and his administration to re-engage in negotiations with the federal administration and stakeholders to successfully complete the Voluntary Agreements (VAs). To implement this modern water management approach, we ask the state to take the following actions: ACTION ACTION ACTION 1 2 3 Resolve the litigation Convene all parties Support and assist between the state, to complete the water agencies that federal government, VAs and the related have proposed early public water agencies efforts to advance implementation and NGOs regarding the implementation projects to accelerate the Incidental Take of the Water Quality improvements for Permit and the Control Plan through fish and wildlife, Biological Opinion. the Voluntary including with funding Agreements. and streamlined permitting processes. voluntaryagreements.org www.acwa.com 1 A Watershed-Wide Approach Shasta The VAs would encompass Redding the Sacramento-San San Francisco Bay / Sacramento- Joaquin Delta and each of San Joaquin Delta Estuary the following tributaries to improve reliability for Sacramento the 35 million people and River Feather River nearly 8 million acres of farmland dependent on Yuba River the Delta watershed and its water supply. Lake Yuba City Tahoe • American River American River • Feather River Mokelumne River Sacramento • Mokelumne River Faireld • Putah Creek Stockton Tuolumne River • Sacramento River San Francisco • San Joaquin River Turlock Settlement Upstream of the Merced River (Friant Diversion) Deliveries to Central Friant/San Joaquin • Tuolumne River Coast, San Joaquin Valley River and Southern California • Yuba River Background blueprint to meet the water needs of California’s communities, economy, and the environment The Voluntary Agreements (VAs) represent a through the 21st century. It includes several actions collaborative, modern and holistic approach to support the VAs to meet the goal of protecting to improving the Bay-Delta ecosystem and and enhancing natural ecosystems, including water supply reliability. Through the VAs, a to “bring together regulators, tribes, water group of public water agencies are proposing users, public water agencies, non-governmental a comprehensive suite of actions that will organizations, and other stakeholders to develop improve habitat and flows in the Delta and its innovative, voluntary solutions to water supply, Lake tributaries to help native fish and wildlife species. water quality, and ecosystem protection” [Action Havasu This integrated approach presents a historic 9.3], to “identify opportunities to meet legal opportunity to protect and restore the Bay-Delta standards in creative, collaborative ways, such as ecosystem, while improving habitat for native through voluntary agreements that enhance flows species and water reliability for the 35 million and habitat” [Action 13.7], and to “complete the people, nearly 8 million acres of farmland, and update to the Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Plan remaining California wetlands dependent on the for San Francisco Bay and the Delta, as required by Salton Delta watershed and its water supply. law, and implement the Plan, potentially through Sea Imperial voluntary agreements” [Action 18.2]. Reservoir Governor Gavin Newsom’s recently released Water Resilience Portfolio recognizes the VAs ACWA embraces this new path forward to support as an alternative to the State Water Resources a “California for All” and the coequal goals of Control Board staff’s unimpaired flows approach protecting, restoring and enhancing the Delta to updating the Bay-Delta Water Quality Control ecosystem and providing more reliable water Plan and that the VAs hold “the promise to supplies for California. Public water agencies are adaptively manage enhanced flows and habitat actively implementing progressive and innovative to improve conditions for fish and wildlife.” The 21st century water management. Water Resilience Portfolio is intended to provide a 2 The decades old regulatory approach has not • Integrated Actions – The group of public served any interests well. Species have continued water agencies commit to the implementation to decline, and water supplies have continued to of a broad spectrum of tools, coordinated to diminish. The state cannot afford to adhere to a maximize benefits to the Delta ecosystem and regulatory and operational framework solely based native fish and wildlife species. These tools on additional flows which will result in years of include improving targeted tributary flows and protracted litigation, while at-risk fish populations Delta outflows, restoration projects and the continue to decline, and California’s water supply collection of funds from these water agencies becomes less resilient to the increasing effects of to begin building the accounts necessary to climate change. Now is the time to complete the implement the long-term program. VAs to put California on a path of success for the environment, the public, farms and businesses. • NGO Participation in the Governance Framework – Water agencies remain committed to a collaborative decision-making approach Commitment of Public Water that includes non-governmental organization Agencies at the VAs Table participation in the governance structure. ACWA and its member agencies recognize the VAs as the superior approach to achieving the coequal goals Essential Elements of a Watershed- of protecting, restoring and enhancing the Delta Wide Agreement ecosystem and increasing water supply reliability throughout the state. ACWA’s water agencies The VAs hold the potential to achieve meaningful together serve water for millions of Californians, the solutions that comprehensively manage the Delta safest and most productive agricultural economy in watershed as a whole. A Delta watershed-wide the world, the wildlife refuges and ricelands that serve agreement should incorporate the following birds and wildlife along the Pacific Flyway, salmon essential elements. and many other fish, hydro-electric generation, and • Watershed-Wide Coordination – A solution recreation. The public water agencies participating in must encompass a Delta watershed-wide the VAs stand ready to begin the implementation of approach with coordinated operations to the VAs, pledging to contribute hundreds of millions efficiently and effectively protect native fish of dollars and an extensive series of restoration and wildlife species. The VAs would facilitate projects to enhance fish and wildlife habitat. ACWA coordination of restoration, operations, and and its members recognize that more can be research across all participating tributaries and accomplished for California when the state, federal Delta operations to provide improved ecosystem and local agencies work together. The public water functions across major California waterways. agencies which have been at the VAs table are eager to continue working with state and federal agencies, • Collaborative Approach – Partnership among conservation groups, and other stakeholders in an diverse stakeholders must be the cornerstone of open and transparent process to achieve the VAs and this durable solution. The VAs would establish advance California on a path toward water resilience. a 15-year framework that includes participation from state and federal agencies, public water • Early Implementation – As part of the VAs, the agencies, and conservation groups to help guide group of public water agencies is committed to funding and management actions to improve the immediate implementation of a list of “no- water supply and environmental conditions in regrets” habitat restoration and creation projects the Delta. A path of continued litigation would and related flow actions. Some of these actions negatively affect water reliability and ratepayers could begin or otherwise be implemented within across the state, while delaying vital investments the next 12 to 18 months. The VAs have the to restore and enhance the Delta ecosystem. added co-benefit of immediately injecting tens of millions of dollars into the state’s economy at this critical time. 3 • Integrated Solutions – A Delta watershed-wide solution should provide a substantial “budget” of water for the environment, coupled with significant new habitat, an integrated science program, and adaptive management to provide a more comprehensive framework to recover fish populations, as opposed to a flows-only approach. • Coequal Goals – A Delta watershed-wide solution must recognize the coequal goals of increasing water supply in California and improving the Delta ecosystem for hundreds of native fish and wildlife species. • Expedited Implementation – The VAs commitment of functional flows and habitat can help fish populations recover more quickly, holistically and with fewer negative social and economic impacts than traditional regulatory requirements. As water agencies stand ready to implement a comprehensive series of the foundation of any solution. This process ecological restoration and stewardship projects, should be collaborative and informed by a state agencies must also work to increase robust science program. To the extent possible, permitting effectiveness, expedite project the governance structure should coordinate review and approval, and improve cross- with and be implemented through any existing jurisdictional collaboration. management structures in
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