he San Francisco Bay/ Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta ecosystem needs freshwater to survive. How much water and where it
comes from is a longstanding debate that is flaring up as the state embarks on an updated water quality plan for the Bay-Delta.
By June 2014, the State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) is expected to revise water quality objectives that reflect the influence of freshwater inflow and its interaction with salinity on the ecosystem, and the means by which it supports salmon, steelhead and pelagic fish such as the Delta smelt. Those objectives, last elucidated in the 2006
Water Quality Control Plan for the Bay-Delta, could lead to water rights proceedings that result in greater fresh- water flow to the Delta.
The prospect of increased flows into and out of the Delta is encourag- ing to the environmental community, which believes the effort to accom- modate all the water supply needs has come at the expense of the Delta ecosystem.
“Over the last 20 years you are starting to see an effort to restore the balance somewhat,” said Gary Bobker, program director with the Bay Institute. “We have fought over the flow needs in the Bay-Delta Estuary and have wound up with relatively minor adjustments in flows. You are
talking about one of the most modified hydro systems in the entire world and we have done minor tweaks to correct the imbalance.” Water use impacts the Delta ecosystem, from the upstream storage and diversion projects to the state and federal pumping operations in the South Delta. Some stakeholders believe exclusively focusing energy on the flows question inhibits progress toward finding a long-lasting, durable solution that ultimately reduces reli- ance on the Delta as a water supply source. “We think it is a much better question to ask, ‘how do we recon- nect water and land and where does that require flows and how much?’”