From the Westlands Water District:
Westlands Water District will not continue in the Healthy Rivers and Landscapes (HRL) Program under the terms set out in the State Water Resources Control Board’s final draft Bay-Delta plan. The final draft retains the HRL name while abandoning the commitments the parties negotiated in 2022.
Formerly known as the Voluntary Agreements, the HRL Program grew out of a March 2022 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) among state, local, and federal agencies and public water agencies after multiple years of analysis and collaboration. This innovative agreement envisioned the development of a comprehensive, basin-wide, science-based alternative to traditional regulation: one intended to improve environmental health and species conservation while providing water reliability for California communities and farms.
Westlands committed to that approach because it paired new flows with habitat restoration at scale, provided dedicated funding, and established a rigorous science program, all under a governance structure built to adjust management actions as the science developed. Those elements remain the right foundation for the Bay-Delta. The final draft released on August 19 keeps the HRL name but changes the terms of the agreement, departing from what the parties negotiated to the point that the Program’s purpose is no longer achievable.
Since 2022, water agencies including Westlands have participated in good faith, devoted significant time and resources to negotiations, and submitted detailed comments as the draft water quality control plan evolved, ensuring it remained consistent with the agreement memorialized in the 2022 MOU. Throughout this process, the State Water Resources Control Board has included elements in successive drafts that undercut the comprehensive, science-based approach embodied in the 2022 MOU. Despite repeatedly raising detailed concerns, the issues remain unresolved, and the agencies’ comments have been rejected rather than meaningfully addressed. The final draft moves the HRL Program back toward the regulatory approach it was created to replace.
Reversing that outcome requires the State to honor its agreement. Absent a final plan that honors the 2022 commitments in full, Westlands’ participation in the HRL Program will end.
Statement of Allison Febbo, General Manager, Westlands Water District:
“The Healthy Rivers and Landscapes Program was built on sound science and a shared commitment to improve environmental outcomes while strengthening water-supply reliability for California’s farms and communities. That was the promise of the 2022 agreement Westlands supported. Unfortunately, the final draft has moved significantly away from both the substance and collaborative spirit of that agreement, abandoning the balance the parties spent years working to achieve. Westlands cannot support a program that has departed so significantly from its original purpose. Westlands remains committed to comprehensive, science-based solutions and will pursue other viable pathways that prioritize water security, reliable supplies, and a sustainable future for our growers and Central Valley communities.”
About Westlands Water District: Westlands Water District is recognized as a world leader in agricultural water conservation and has served the farmers and rural communities on the west side of Fresno and Kings counties for more than seven decades. As stewards of one of California’s most precious natural resources, Westlands continually invests in conservation and champions farmers deploying innovative irrigation methods based on the best available technology.
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