A HEATED DEBATE OVER WATER RULES

With an ecosystem at stake, California regulators will soon decide on a plan for the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta

- By Ian JAMES

The question of how to protect fish and the ecological health of rivers that feed California’s largest estuary is generating heated debate in a series of hearings in Sacramento, as state officials try to gain support for a plan that has been years in the making.

“Tam passionate that this is the pathway to recover fish,” said state Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot. “This is the paradigm we need: collaborative, adaptive management versus conflict and litigation.”

The plan is being discussed in three days of hearings convened by the State Water Resources Control Board. It sets out rules for water quality that will determine how much water can be pumped out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta for the state’s farms and cities.

Years of research shows that fish do better when there is more water in the region's rivers and the Delta itself. The fish contend with dams that cut off their spawning grounds, nonnative fish such as bass that prey on them and powerful pumps that pull them into areas where they are vulnerable.

The approach backed by Gov. Gavin Newsom would give water agencies more leeway in how they comply with water rules.

Environmental advocates said the proposal would take too much water out of the Delta and threaten fish already in severe decline. They also point out that toxic algae blooms have increased in Delta waterways, but the plan doesn’t address that.