Friends of the River Protests “Paper” Water

Friends of the River has filed a protest with the State Water Resources Control Board against the Bureau of Reclamation’s filing to extend its water rights permit for the giant Central Valley Project (CVP). On June, the Bureau filed a petition with the State Water Board for a time extension on CVP permits for approximately 96 million acre feet of water. The current “paper” permits exceed the amount of water available in California’s hydrologic system. The Water Board estimates that the state has granted rights to eight times more water than California normally receives in a year.

The Bureau would like until 2030 to find a way to put this “paper” water to use, although the agency claims that it is not possible to predict what the beneficial use for the water will be between now and 2030 and it is not possible to determine what the ultimate water diversions will be in 2030. In addition, they cannot provide any recommendations for licensing the water for the CVP they are currently using under a permit.

The CVP water rights permits are associated with the Bureau’s massive system of federal dams and canals located on several Central Valley rivers. These facilities include Shasta and the Red Bluff Diversion Dams on the Sacramento River, Folsom Dam on the American River, New Melones Dam on the Stanislaus River, and the Friant Dam on the San Joaquin River.

Friends of the River’s protest argues that the Bureau needs to develop the information necessary to change its existing use to a license (with all the environmental conditions that come with it), and provide more information on the other permits they are attempting to hold on to for the next 20 years. It is not in the public interest to have a water rights system that allows the Bureau to hang on indefinitely to millions of acre-feet of “paper” water that simply does not exist in most years. Friends of the River’s goal in the CVP water rights proceeding is to ensure fair and beneficial use of California’s water.