The Administrative Hearings Office (AHO) of the State Water Resources Control Board (State Board) has released an amended notice of public hearing for the proposed Delta Conveyance Project, also known as the Delta tunnel.
The hearing is scheduled to begin February 18, 2025. The hearing will address petitions by the Department of Water Resources (DWR) to modify existing water rights permits associated with the State Water Project (SWP).
The amended notice outlines a detailed schedule and procedural framework for the hearing. Notably, DWR will have to present its “case-in-chief” testimony beginning on March 24, 2025, before protesting parties are required to present their evidence. This staggered schedule will avoid the need for protestants to respond to a changing or unclear project description, a situation that caused extensive inefficiency and confusion in water rights hearings on a previous Delta tunnel proposal in 2015-2018.
Protestants that include the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA) will submit exhibits and testimony in June or July 2025, addressing impacts on other water users, on fish and wildlife, and on compliance with public trust and environmental justice principles.
DWR’s Petitions
DWR proposes to add two new points of diversion on the Sacramento River. The water would be diverted into a single tunnel and would ultimately be delivered to water users in the San Joaquin Valley and southern California. DWR promotes the project as a means of enhancing water supply reliability. CSPA and other protestants respond that the Delta tunnel will facilitate and worsen the ongoing over-diversion of water from the state’s rivers.
Additionally, CSPA and other environmental groups, environmental justice groups, and Delta communities, businesses, and farmers are opposed to the project because it would cause further harm to ecological resources in the Bay-Delta.
CSPA’s Fight to Protect the Delta
CSPA will provide evidence and testimony throughout the hearing and will cross-examine witnesses in an effort to protect the Bay-Delta’s fragile ecosystem and the communities that rely on it.
The Delta tunnel would make a crashing Delta ecosystem crash harder and faster, degrade water quality, and threaten fish populations such as salmon and smelt that are already on the brink of extinction.
Approving the Delta tunnel would have irreversible consequences for the Bay-Delta. Working alongside other protestants, CSPA will push for outright denial of the petitions or stringent conditions to ensure the project aligns with California’s environmental laws and public interest mandates.
Key Hearing Issues
The hearings will explore several complex legal and environmental questions, including:
- Whether the proposed changes effectively create a new water right.
- How the changes would impact other legal users of water.
- Potential effects on fish and wildlife, including Delta flow and water quality criteria.
- Consideration of public trust and environmental justice concerns.
Deadline Controversies
While the primary focus of these hearings is DWR’s request to amend the SWP permits, the amended notice also clarifies the scope of the proceedings. The AHO’s Hearing Officer emphasized that the DWR’s permits are subject to strict deadlines for construction and beneficial water use—deadlines that expired in 2000 and 2009. Without approved extensions, the Board will evaluate the petitions based solely on amounts of water DWR put to use before the 2009 deadline.
This nuanced approach adds complexity to the hearings. If the Board approves DWR’s proposed changes, the changes will apply only to the amount of water historically diverted and used under the SWP permits, unless future extensions of time are filed and approved.
Why It Matters
The amended notice underscores the complexity of water rights administration in California and the need for rigorous oversight. As CSPA and other protestants prepare for these hearings, the stakes couldn’t be higher. The Delta is not only a critical water source, but also an irreplaceable ecological and cultural treasure. The decisions made in these proceedings will have lasting implications for water management, environmental justice, and protection of the public’s fish and wildlife resources.
Stay tuned as the hearings unfold in 2025, and join CSPA in advocating for sustainable water practices that prioritize ecosystems and communities.