• Time to hear from the protestants: Delta Conveyance Project update for July 2025

    Delta smelt survey boat in the Sacramento Delta in 2010, when survey boats were still capturing Delta smelt. Credit: Peter Johnsen, USFWS Last month, the California Department of Water Rights (DWR) concluded the presentation of its case-in-chief for the hearing on the water rights petition for the Delta Conveyance Project (DCP). The next portion of the…

  • Newsom Administration Proposes Permanent Weaker Rules for State Water Project

    Bill if Passed Would Fast-Track Delta Tunnel and Eliminate Deadlines to Use Water On May 14, 2025, the Newsom Administration proposed two “trailer bills” in the State Legislature that would create special rules for the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) and its State Water Project (SWP), eliminating requirements that all other water right holders…

  • CSPA Sues California over Operations of the State Water Project

    On November 26, 2024, the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance sued the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) over the “Incidental Take Permit” (ITP) for the operation of the State Water Project.  CSPA’s Verified Petition for Writ of Mandate and Complaint for Declarative and Injunctive Relief alleges…

  • Adaptively Managing Extinction

    In the never-ending saga of calling a skunk an adorable striped kitten, the proponents of the Voluntary Agreements released, on August 16, 2024, their latest defense of the scheme to undermine the flows needed for San Francisco Bay and the Delta to once again thrive.  A flood of water agencies, headed by the California Department…

  • CSPA Protests Water Right Petition for Proposed Delta Tunnel

    CSPA, AquAlliance, and the San Joaquin Audubon Society filed a protest on May 13, 2024 opposing the Department of Water Resources’ (DWR’s) petition to change its water rights.  The change in water rights would allow DWR to construct and operate a proposed tunnel under the eastern side of the Sacramento – San Joaquin Delta estuary.…