On October 26, 2015 CSPA, as part of a broad coalition of 87 environmental, fishing, and tribal organizations, submitted a letter to the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) supporting the use of a percentage of unimpaired flow as the basis for winter and spring flow requirements into and through the Delta.
The “percent-of-unimpaired” approach was proposed by the State Water Resources Control Board in its 2010 Delta Flow Criteria Report, following a year-long proceeding and based on consensus by a wide variety of experts. Ever since, water user interests have attacked the approach because it will require that some of the water historically diverted for water supply be maintained as instream flow in order to restore to the Bay-Delta ecosystem.
The percent-of-unimpaired approach is the cornerstone of the State Board’s ongoing update of the Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Plan. The letter asks the State Board to reject a change in methodology, and concludes: “We ask the SWRCB to reject the efforts of the water contractors to delay and sabotage the present Water Quality Control Plan process and to move expeditiously in implementing Delta flow requirements needed to protect our waterways and fish.”