Letter from the State Water Contractors:
Dear Governor Newsom, Chairman Esquivel, and Members of the State Water Board:
The State Water Contractors (SWC) write to express concern with a ruling by the State Water Resources Control Board’s (Water Board) administrative hearing office (Hearing Office) that could jeopardize the hearing schedule for the Delta Conveyance Project (DCP) change petition and be improperly used to determine the baseline water supply for the entire State Water Project (SWP). Both DCP participating agencies and non-participating State Water Project contracting public water agencies are greatly concerned about the near- and long-term implications of this ruling.
The Hearing Office has stated that it may use the requested historic SWP diversion information to place a limit on future DCP diversions. If it were to do so, we are concerned that this would also be construed as a cap on existing SWP diversions because the same underlying water rights are at issue. The issue of DWR’s exercise of its existing SWP water rights is far outside of the scope of the Water Board’s assignment of the DCP petition to its Hearing Office.
Read the full letter below:
