By Chris Shutes and Gary Bobker
The latest chapter in the Trump Administration’s war on California opened on September 3 and 4, 2026, when the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation– which operates the largest water project in California – and Westlands Water District – the largest irrigation district in the country and a recipient of federal water – rejected California’s proposed update of the Bay-Delta Plan, the water quality standards for the San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary required under both state and federal law
Writing to the State Water Resources Control Board (Board), Reclamation and Westlands threatened to withdraw from so-called Voluntary Agreements (VAs) that are the proposed center of the Bay-Delta Plan update. The Board issued its latest draft of the Plan on August 19, 2026. The Board’s expectation is to approve the Plan in meetings on October 28, 29, and 30. The long overdue update is needed to address the collapse of fishery populations, the growth of toxic algal blooms, and other water quality problems plaguing the estuary as a result of unsustainable water diversions and habitat destruction.
Instead of significantly improving flows in the estuary, the VAs would allow water users throughout the Bay-Delta and Central Valley watersheds to contribute only a very small amount of water. The VAs would also collect money for “habitat improvements” whose implementation is supposed to compensate for the lack of flow, despite the lack of scientific evidence that habitat restoration alone will be effective. Reclamation’s September 3 letter threatened to withhold federal money, about a third of the prospective funding for the VAs.
The VAs give water users throughout the watershed almost everything they want. Above all, the total overall water cost for the “VA pathway” in the Plan is only one percent of existing water use (see Table 13.4-104 of the Board’s August staff report on the Plan). In terms of giving up water, no water user has to break a sweat to comply. The VAs allow water users to buy their way out of restoring flows in rivers and the Delta, or even worse use taxpayer money to underwrite part of the cost.
But Reclamation and Westlands aren’t happy with almost everything. They want complete control. They want the State of California out of the picture altogether. They want no regulation at all. In fact, they want to take more even more water out of the system.
The Newsom administration itself set this anti-regulatory train in motion. It allowed water users to control the process in closed-door meetings that excluded the interests of most Californians. It encouraged the development of an unprecedented proposal under which water users created a “voluntary pathway” that allows them to skirt compliance with an alternative “regulatory pathway. It’s no surprise that most water users are choosing Door #1, under which the public and water users share the cost of buying water (most likely at exorbitant cost) and paying for habitat projects.
In the August 2026 Plan, the Board sets up the “regulatory pathway” primarily as a “backstop” to the VAs. If the VA parties fail to perform their promised actions or the VAs fail to achieve their claimed benefits, the Board can revert to the regulatory pathway. However, the process for doing so is convoluted, sure to be contentious, and slow.
But Reclamation’s letter labels all Board oversight and check-ins an “overreach.” How dare a regulator inform itself of how other parties implement its Plan! How dare a regulator hold a voluntary actor accountable for doing what it says it will do!
The Newsom Administration delayed the Bay-Delta Plan update by 8 years. Meanwhile, the environment and water quality continued to decline, and the salmon fishery was closed much of the time. Now, the Newsom Administration is now the victim of its own delay. Reclamation under the Biden administration arguably thought that giving up 1% of Delta watershed’s water supply was a good deal. Reclamation under the Trump administration doesn’t want to give up 1%. And it thinks it has enormous leverage by threatening to withhold federal money to implement the VAs. After all, at a moment when the state is running at a deficit, it is likely that the VAs fall apart without federal money.
The lesson is clear. Federal VA parties think they can leverage new concessions from the state at any time by threatening withdrawal or (selective or complete) non-performance. And Reclamation has made it crystal clear that it is going to deliver as much water as it can, state regulations be damned.
It’s time for the state of California to stop negotiating against itself. It cannot respond to the federal attack by defending a non-regulatory plan that relies on the good will of bad actors and a faith-based belief that physical habitat can replace flow. The Board needs to abandon the VAs.
Instead, the Board needs to do what is required under federal and state law and start acting like a regulator. The Board needs to rediscover the word “shall.” The Board needs to adopt a regulatory Bay-Delta Plan based on the extensive scientific record. That record shows that restoring a much more significant amount of freshwater flow is needed to prevent species extinction, toxic water quality, and the loss of the many services the Bay-Delta ecosystem provides for Californians.
The battle between the Trump Administration and California will undoubtedly be fought out in the courts. Despite long-standing legal precedent that Reclamation must comply with state regulations, Reclamation is now claiming that it doesn’t have to and won’t. To protect the environment, water quality, and communities, and to retain its control over how its water resources are used, California must once again stand up to the Trump Administration and hold Reclamation and its contractors to account when they ignore or break the law.
Chris Shutes is executive director of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, a nonprofit organization which is dedicated to conserving, restoring, and enhancing California’s water quality, fisheries and aquatic habitats. Gary Bobker is program director at Friends of the River, a nonprofit organization which works to promote a climate-resilient future for California, with healthy rivers, equal access to drinking water and outdoor recreation, and a thriving, sustainable economy.
Note: The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Maven’s Notebook.
GUEST COMMENTARY: An anti-regulatory federal government tries to strongarm California over who controls the State’s water resources
By Chris Shutes and Gary Bobker
The latest chapter in the Trump Administration’s war on California opened on September 3 and 4, 2026, when the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation– which operates the largest water project in California – and Westlands Water District – the largest irrigation district in the country and a recipient of federal water – rejected California’s proposed update of the Bay-Delta Plan, the water quality standards for the San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary required under both state and federal law
Writing to the State Water Resources Control Board (Board), Reclamation and Westlands threatened to withdraw from so-called Voluntary Agreements (VAs) that are the proposed center of the Bay-Delta Plan update. The Board issued its latest draft of the Plan on August 19, 2026. The Board’s expectation is to approve the Plan in meetings on October 28, 29, and 30. The long overdue update is needed to address the collapse of fishery populations, the growth of toxic algal blooms, and other water quality problems plaguing the estuary as a result of unsustainable water diversions and habitat destruction.
Instead of significantly improving flows in the estuary, the VAs would allow water users throughout the Bay-Delta and Central Valley watersheds to contribute only a very small amount of water. The VAs would also collect money for “habitat improvements” whose implementation is supposed to compensate for the lack of flow, despite the lack of scientific evidence that habitat restoration alone will be effective. Reclamation’s September 3 letter threatened to withhold federal money, about a third of the prospective funding for the VAs.
The VAs give water users throughout the watershed almost everything they want. Above all, the total overall water cost for the “VA pathway” in the Plan is only one percent of existing water use (see Table 13.4-104 of the Board’s August staff report on the Plan). In terms of giving up water, no water user has to break a sweat to comply. The VAs allow water users to buy their way out of restoring flows in rivers and the Delta, or even worse use taxpayer money to underwrite part of the cost.
But Reclamation and Westlands aren’t happy with almost everything. They want complete control. They want the State of California out of the picture altogether. They want no regulation at all. In fact, they want to take more even more water out of the system.
The Newsom administration itself set this anti-regulatory train in motion. It allowed water users to control the process in closed-door meetings that excluded the interests of most Californians. It encouraged the development of an unprecedented proposal under which water users created a “voluntary pathway” that allows them to skirt compliance with an alternative “regulatory pathway. It’s no surprise that most water users are choosing Door #1, under which the public and water users share the cost of buying water (most likely at exorbitant cost) and paying for habitat projects.
In the August 2026 Plan, the Board sets up the “regulatory pathway” primarily as a “backstop” to the VAs. If the VA parties fail to perform their promised actions or the VAs fail to achieve their claimed benefits, the Board can revert to the regulatory pathway. However, the process for doing so is convoluted, sure to be contentious, and slow.
But Reclamation’s letter labels all Board oversight and check-ins an “overreach.” How dare a regulator inform itself of how other parties implement its Plan! How dare a regulator hold a voluntary actor accountable for doing what it says it will do!
The Newsom Administration delayed the Bay-Delta Plan update by 8 years. Meanwhile, the environment and water quality continued to decline, and the salmon fishery was closed much of the time. Now, the Newsom Administration is now the victim of its own delay. Reclamation under the Biden administration arguably thought that giving up 1% of Delta watershed’s water supply was a good deal. Reclamation under the Trump administration doesn’t want to give up 1%. And it thinks it has enormous leverage by threatening to withhold federal money to implement the VAs. After all, at a moment when the state is running at a deficit, it is likely that the VAs fall apart without federal money.
The lesson is clear. Federal VA parties think they can leverage new concessions from the state at any time by threatening withdrawal or (selective or complete) non-performance. And Reclamation has made it crystal clear that it is going to deliver as much water as it can, state regulations be damned.
It’s time for the state of California to stop negotiating against itself. It cannot respond to the federal attack by defending a non-regulatory plan that relies on the good will of bad actors and a faith-based belief that physical habitat can replace flow. The Board needs to abandon the VAs.
Instead, the Board needs to do what is required under federal and state law and start acting like a regulator. The Board needs to rediscover the word “shall.” The Board needs to adopt a regulatory Bay-Delta Plan based on the extensive scientific record. That record shows that restoring a much more significant amount of freshwater flow is needed to prevent species extinction, toxic water quality, and the loss of the many services the Bay-Delta ecosystem provides for Californians.
The battle between the Trump Administration and California will undoubtedly be fought out in the courts. Despite long-standing legal precedent that Reclamation must comply with state regulations, Reclamation is now claiming that it doesn’t have to and won’t. To protect the environment, water quality, and communities, and to retain its control over how its water resources are used, California must once again stand up to the Trump Administration and hold Reclamation and its contractors to account when they ignore or break the law.
Chris Shutes is executive director of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, a nonprofit organization which is dedicated to conserving, restoring, and enhancing California’s water quality, fisheries and aquatic habitats. Gary Bobker is program director at Friends of the River, a nonprofit organization which works to promote a climate-resilient future for California, with healthy rivers, equal access to drinking water and outdoor recreation, and a thriving, sustainable economy.
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