San Mateo County Harbor District favors new water plan update | Local News

The Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Plan establishes quality control measures and flow requirements to balance water uses of Central Valley rivers that go to the Delta and Bay Area. It was created as a requirement of the Clean Water Act but has not been significantly updated in the last 25 years, according to the Harbor District. The California State Water Resources Control Board updates the plan. The delta supports more than 500 species of native fish, including salmon, steelhead and sturgeon, which rely on migratory routes to reproduce in freshwater.

The current use and control of Delta-fed waters in the spring and fall has led to crisis conditions for endangered native fish species like salmon, a keystone species in the area.

A 2009 water flow criteria study as part of the Delta Reform Act found rivers need 60% of unimpaired flow without dams or diversions to remain healthy, said Peter Drekmeier, the policy director for Tuolumne River Trust, a conservation group that supports updates to the Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Plan. In 2018, the water board set flow criteria of the San Joaquin River and its tributaries at 40% unimpaired water flow between February and June. The updates ask for changes on water flow requirements for the Sacramento River and its tributaries, stalled due to lawsuits and alternate proposal plans from local water agencies, Drekmeier said.

Local water users’ concerns

The Harbor District is also calling on the Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency, or BAWSCA, a group representing Peninsula cities that get their water from the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, to abandon its support of litigation against the water board and work with stakeholders to restore the salmon populations.

BAWSCA disagreed with the plan’s adoption and the water board’s findings, saying it will result in a loss of 90 million gallons of water a day from the Hetch Hetchy Water System for 1.8 million residents. Its water users could also suffer serious water reductions of up to 50% during a drought period, which BAWSCA said is unacceptable for communities with some of the lowest residential per capita water use in the state, BAWSCA General Manager Nicole Sandkulla said.

“You are looking at having to cut back down below public health and safety values,” Sandkulla said.

BAWSCA has intervened in one of the lawsuits filed by local operators against the Bay-Delta Plan. BAWSCA was concerned that the water board, in its environmental analysis, did not adequately analyze the impacts of those reductions to water customers that rely on the system and that the board dismissed the impact of the new policies BAWSCA must create to make up for the reductions.

Salmon spawn in Delta waters inland, and the young then make their way to the ocean through Bay Area waterways. Low delta waters and water flow lowers the salmon population. Fewer fish increases regulations on fishermen, making it harder for them to earn a living. An updated plan would likely increase a healthy fish population, help fish on endangered species lists and ease state restrictions on commercial fishers who rely on a healthy salmon population.

Drekmeier said more than 100 different species, from small insects to bears, depend on salmon for food. Historically on the Tuolumne River, there were well over 100,000 salmon spawning every year. This year, it barely had 1,000, affecting the commercial and recreational salmon industry and causing the Harbor District to weigh in.

“Salmon are really important. We often use them as a shortcut to talk about the whole ecosystem. But what I like to do is refer to it as a salmon-based ecosystem. Without them, the ecosystem can collapse,” Drekmeier said.

Drekmeier said if baby fish don’t come out of the Central Valley rivers, then there will be fewer mature fish that are commercially viable. In 2008 and 2009, there were so few fish the state canceled commercial salmon seasons.

“This year, it’s going to be curtailed. So the salmon numbers are really low, so the salmon season will be shorter. The fishing community will make less money, and that will impact the prices of salmon for consumers. It will affect restaurants and seafood markets. So the whole economy built around salmon will struggle again this year,” Drekmeier said.

Salmon fishing occurs out of Pillar Point Harbor in Half Moon Bay when there is no commercial crab fishing season. The salmon industry along the coast helps fishermen, restaurants, boatyards and harbors involved in the industry while also providing the public a place to buy directly from fishermen.

The Half Moon Bay Seafood Marketing Association, which represents fishermen in the Half Moon Bay area, also announced its support for updating the Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Plan. Fishermen have seen a decline in salmon fishing revenue over the last 10 years due to regulatory closures, causing commercial businesses losses in its port and industry.

Chang Kiraly said the issue was important to ensure a connection and balance between economic development and environmental protection. The Harbor District board voted to support updates at its March 17 meeting. It wanted to help the county’s commercial fishing fleet while also protecting the local ecosystem.

“We want to make sure that the ecosystem in general, which is pretty fragile already, is healthy,” she said.