COLUSA – Governor Gavin Newsom continued his “California Jobs First” tour today with a press event at a farm in Colusa in the Sacramento Valley where he promoted his Administration’s efforts to build Sites Reservoir, a water project strongly opposed by a broad coalition of Tribes, environmental justice groups and fishing organizations.
“The future of California’s water supply flows right through Colusa County – and with that comes enormous economic opportunity and more jobs,” Gavin Newsom claimed. “Farms like this one and all across the state have led the charge by transitioning to smart water practices that not only save water but also conserve critical habitats.”
“But we have to do more to protect our water supply for generations to come,” stated Newsom. “That’s why we’re building more critical water infrastructure, faster to be able to store and move water for the hotter hots and the drier dries. And it’s why we’re doubling down on efforts to replenish the state’s critical groundwater supplies. It’s going to take an all-of-the-above approach — and that means more water and more jobs for Californians.”
According to the Governor’s Office, “At Davis Ranches, a farm started in the 1800s, the Governor learned about its sustainable operations that help the ranch save water and restore crucial floodplain habitat. The Governor also met with local leaders of the California Jobs First Capital Region collaborative to hear from them about their economic priorities.”
The Governor’s stop today was just miles away from where construction of the controversial Sites Reservoir is planned. The Governor’s Office claimed that Sites Reservoir “is critical to California’s Water Supply Strategy and meeting California’s goal of expanding above and below ground water storage capacity by 4 million acre feet. “
Late last year, the Governor certified the project for so-called “streamlining, saving the project from years of litigation delays.”
Sites Reservoir is a proposed 14,000 acre private reservoir in the lower Sacramento River/Upper Bay Delta near Maxwell, California that depends on large scale water diversions from the Sacramento River, according to project opponents. It would become one of the largest reservoirs in the state. Like the Delta Tunnel, it would be designed to mainly deliver water to Southern California and South of the Delta corporate agribusiness interests. California has promised over $816 million in taxpayer money to the project.
In response to Newsom’s praise for Sites, opponents of the reservoir note that Sacramento River water is “already over-allocated by five times its availability and that the reservoir will add to climate change emissions.” They say the Tribal, water supply quality, and environmental impacts would be “devastating” as Central Valley salmon and Delta fish populations move closer and closer to extinction.
"Our governor has decided to sideline our most important public processes in order to build a 1.5 million acre-foot reservoir on lands that are sacred to California Native American Tribes," said Regina Chichizola of Save California Salmon. "All Californians should be concerned about privatization of our public water resources. It is obvious the interests of water brokers, big ag, and Southern California water districts mean more to the governor than justice for Native American Tribes and California's most important public resource, clean water."
Chichizola said Tribes recently testified to address significant concerns regarding the proposed reservoir’s impacts. They highlighted the “lack of meaningful Tribal consultation on the project” and advised that the reservoir would flood Tribal cultural resources, Native American graves and sacred sites, and further degrade water quality and salmon runs, harming an important Indigenous food source and traditional lifeway systems.
They also testified that the reservoir “threatens Tribal water and fishing rights and would build new diversion pumps to take fresh water from the Sacramento River and release warm, polluted water into the Bay Delta.”
“It is offensive that the state so poorly consulted with Tribes and then congratulated Tribes for stomaching the state’s neglect and continued abuse of their requirements under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA),” Sherri Norris from California Indian Environmental Alliance pointed out. “Tribes are still in need of Consultation and this project remains in violation of CEQA regardless of how the agencies want to spin it.”
In addition to the Tribal testimony, scientists testified that Sites Reservoir threatened to release toxic algae, warm water and mercury into the state’s water supply, according to Chichizola. They said discharges of polluted water have the potential to adversely impact downstream Tribal lands and water quality, along with the drinking water for over 25 million Californians and the health of local ecosystems.
"Tribes and other project opponents have valid concerns including contamination of drinking water supplies, salmon extinction, and inundation of lands that hold irreplaceable Native American sacred sites and cultural resources. The Project as proposed will cause irreparable harm to Tribal Cultural Resources, including ancestral village sites and burial sites. Governor Newsom should apologize to Tribes for his statement,” concluded Kasil Willie, Staff Attorney for Save California Salmon.
In addition to gushing about the Sites Reservoir project, the Governor also used today’s press conference to promote his Delta Tunnel project.
“The redesigned Delta Conveyance Project would upgrade the State Water Project, enabling California’s water managers to capture and move more water during high flow atmospheric rivers to better endure dry seasons,” according to the Governor’s Office. “The tunnel, a modernization of the infrastructure system that delivers water to millions of people, would improve California’s ability to take advantage of intense periods of rain and excess flows in the Sacramento River. It would also help protect against the risk of an earthquake cutting off water supplies to millions of Californians, currently a 72% chance of 6.7+ magnitude in the area by 2043. Several water agencies representing more than 2 million Californians have voted in support of the additional funding for the project, and the Metropolitan Water District is expected to vote on funding today. “
The Delta Tunnel, like the Sites Reservoir, faces widespread opposition from a coalition of Tribes, fishing groups, conservation organizations, business owners and elected officials. Dozens of people from both Northern and Southern California made comments last night during the public comment period at the One Water and Stewardship Committee of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California meeting.
The committee voted to approve $141.6 million for planning for the Delta Conveyance Project after receiving comments from Delta Tunnel opponents urging MWD to vote against the funding or to delay the vote, citing the devastating environmental, economic and cultural impacts of the projects. The full board and executive committee are expected to vote on the $141.6 million today.
Krystal Moreno, Traditional Ecological Knowledge Program Manager for the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians, stated, “MWD should draw lessons from the past two decades - demand is down, people are being more efficient with water usage. Costs are up and affordability is a growing crisis."
“This project is being sold on fear and lies. Fear, that without it, there won’t be enough water for Southern California’s economy. Lies, that there is not an affordable alternative,” Moreno noted.
Newsom’s campaign to build Sites Reservoir and the Delta comes as Central Valley salmon and Delta fish populations are in their worst-ever crisis. The Delta Smelt, once the most abundant fish species in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, is virtually extinct in the wild, due to massive water exports to agribusiness and other factors over the past several decades. Zero smelt have been caught over the past six years in the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Midwater Trawl Survey.
The ocean and river salmon fishing seasons have been closed for the past two years, due to the collapse of Sacramento River and Klamath River fall-run Chinook salmon populations. Meanwhile, endangered winter and spring-Chinook salmon populations are moving closer to extinction. Butte Creek, once the stronghold of spring run Chinook, saw a record low of 100 fish return to spawn last year and an even lower number of fish this year.
The Delta Tunnel will divert Sacramento River water before it reaches the Delta when what imperiled fish populations need is more water flowing through the Delta, not less. I challenge tunnel supporters to cite a single project in U.S. or world history where a river or estuary was restored after more water was diverted out of that river or estuary.
