[env-trinity] Controversy surrounds State Water Board’s Bay-Delta Plan, Trinity River

[Tom Stokely]

 Controversy surrounds State Water Board’s Bay-Delta Plan, Trinity River
      
   - By Francisco MartínezcuelloCalifornia Local News FellowThe Trinity Journal
   -  14 hrs ago
   - https://www.trinityjournal.com/news/local/article_7e9d4acc-cd45-11ef-81c7-0b12ef603351.html#tncms-source=login
   -    

    
The California Water Resources Control Board has announced an opportunity for the public to participate in working meetings intended to update the Bay-Delta plan. Written comments on the draft must be received no later than Jan. 10.

The State Water Board is tasked with adopting and updating the Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Plan (Bay-Delta Plan), which outlines water quality measures and flow requirements to ensure the reasonable protection of beneficial uses within the watershed.

The Bay-Delta watershed includes the Sacramento and San Joaquin River systems, the Delta, Suisun Marsh and San Francisco Bay. According to the State Water Board website, the Bay-Delta Plan objectives were established in 1995 and updated in 2006 with minor modifications.
 
Tom Stokely is a Salmon and Water Policy Consultant for Save California Salmon. He takes issue with the way the State Water Board manages the Trinity River. “The Trinity River is in the unfortunate position of being in a different region than the Bay-Delta,” he said.

There are nine regional water quality control boards in California. The North Coast Region is managed by the North Coast Regional Water Control Board which has its own plan with very specific water quality objectives for temperature in the Trinity River. But the Trinity River is also diverted to the Sacramento River which is in the Central Valley Regional Water Control Board. “They’re essentially relying on it to meet the requirements of the new Bay-Delta Plan,” Stokely said, “without giving the Trinity River any protection whatsoever.”

State Water Board modeling indicates there will be more water taken from Trinity Lake to meet the Bay-Delta Plan objectives, including for what they call voluntary agreements. Stokely said the State Water Board is looking at two options: restoring a percentage of full natural flows, and voluntary agreements. The voluntary agreements were negotiated between water agencies as well as the Department of Water Resources and the Bureau of Reclamation. “But the deal they came up with didn’t include anybody in the Trinity River Basin, Trinity County, Humboldt County, neither the Hoopa Valley Tribe, nor the Yurok Tribe,” he said.

The voluntary agreements are nuanced and intended to be commitments or compromises. But when it comes to the Trinity River, Stokely said it’s one-sided. “Not to mention it won’t actually help fish in the Central Valley, either,” he said. “It will basically degrade water quality and flow conditions for almost all the listed species in the Central Valley streams. So, they’re claiming it’s a wonderful thing, but it’s not.”

Exporting more water from the Trinity River will impact the temperature of the river which will affect spawning, incubating and rearing salmon like the federally threatened coho.

Stokely referenced a critical moment in November 2021, when the Trinity River Hatchery suffered nearly 75% egg mortality from warm water because of low Trinity Lake storage and the lack of cold water to meet downstream temperatures.
 
The Bay-Delta Plan temperature objective is inadequate, according to Stokely. “The bottom line is that the Trinity River basically has virtually no protection from what we call temperature-dependent mortality of chinook as well as coho eggs.”

Stokely said he has been the only person speaking up and advocating about the Trinity River at the State Water Board working meetings. “The State Water Board does not care about the Trinity River, and they’re just going to basically drain every drop of water out of Trinity Lake during the next major drought until we have nothing but dead fish,” he said.

The Trinity Journal reached out to the State Water Board regarding the lack of advertising about these workshops. A spokesperson responded via email.

“The written comment period on the draft Sacramento/Delta updates to the Bay-Delta Plan was extended to Jan. 10, 2025.  In addition, State Water Board staff will be holding a series of working meetings to receive additional oral input (beyond that provided during a multiday public workshop held this fall) on the draft updates. Staff also plan additional outreach to tribes and others as appropriate, and following these processes, will release an additional draft of the updates to the Bay-Delta Plan for further public input before the board’s consideration of these updates.  

“Additionally, staff has held four public workshops, with a final one planned for Jan. 23. A media advisory was distributed prior to the previous workshops and will be sent out before the Jan. 23 session.”

At the time of this publication, they did not respond to an interview request.

The Hoopa Valley Tribe did not respond to an interview request also.  

The Bay-Delta Plan draft can be found online at www.waterboards.ca.gov/waterrights/water_issues/programs/bay_delta/docs/2024/drft-sacdelta-Bay Delta Plan Updatesbdplan-updates.pdf.
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