CSPA and allied groups California Water Impact Network and AquAlliance have filed an Objection to an April 19, 2016 Order that allows reductions of April-June flows in the lower San Joaquin River from the flows required in Water Rights Decision 1641.
In the Objection, Petition for Reconsideration, and Petition for Hearing, CSPA argues that the basis on which the Executive Director of the State Water Board ordered the flow reduction followed from inaccurate arguments by the Bureau of Reclamation and Oakdale and South San Joaquin irrigation districts. The Bureau and the Districts claimed, at a State Water Board workshop on April 5, that the Bureau of Reclamation did not have any water available to meet its flow requirements. More specifically, the Bureau and the Districts claimed in a presentation at the workshop that the Districts were entitled to the “first” water that enters New Melones Reservoir in any given year. In its Objection, CSPA argues that the Bureau can and must rely on water that is forecasted to enter New Melones Reservoir later this spring, since the Districts don’t need all the water immediately.
CSPA asks that the State Water Board order the D-1641 April 15-May 15 San Joaquin River pulse flows reinstated forthwith and also that the Board require the Bureau to meet other D-1641 flow requirements for the San Joaquin River.