‘Avert ecological disaster’: Advocates sue California over one of the largest water systems in the world

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In the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, where California’s biggest rivers meet, the state’s massive pumps send water flowing into canals to about 27 million people and 750,000 acres of farmland.

A major new lawsuit argues the state is taking far too much water out of the Delta, harming native fish and the ecosystem, causing toxic algae blooms, and threatening local farms and communities.

“The goal that we are aiming for is to save the Delta,” said Carolee Krieger, executive director of the environmental group California Water Impact Network. “We want them to cut back the water they take out of the Delta by half.”

Her group filed the lawsuit Friday together with the Central Delta Water Agency, which represents hundreds of local farmers concerned that heavy pumping can draw seawater farther into the estuary, making their irrigation water salty, damaging their crops.

Dave Owen, a professor at UC Law San Francisco, said the suit is “a frontal assault on the State Water Project.”

“I think this case is a very big deal if it manages to go forward,” Owen said. “This is one of the most ambitious California water lawsuits that I have seen.”

The plaintiffs argue “excessive and unsustainable” pumping by the state Department of Water Resources constitutes a “wasteful and unreasonable use of water.” They accuse the agency of violating both the state Constitution and the public trust doctrine, the principle that certain natural resources must be preserved for the public.

A new scientific assessment finds California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta is in poor ecological health, and that a big reason is the amount of water being pumped out.

They are asking the Alameda County Superior Court to order the state to pump out less water, leaving more to flow through the Delta to San Francisco Bay for the health of fish, the ecosystem and the local economy. They also want the court to assert oversight, determining how much pumping should be curtailed and requiring the state to develop a long-term plan under its supervision.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration has defended how the state balances pumping in the Delta to protect fish and the ecosystem with delivering water for farms and cities.

In 2024, state officials worked with the Biden administration to set new rules for operating California’s main water delivery systems, saying they aim to protect imperiled fish and reliably provide water for Californians.

Climate change threatens to shrink the amount of water they can reliably deliver over the next 20 years, state officials have warned. To address the expected shortfall, the Newsom administration has been pushing for a 45-mile tunnel to transport water beneath the Delta.

A spokesperson at the Department of Water Resources said it does not comment on pending litigation.

Both plaintiffs have other lawsuits pending against the Newsom administration, challenging its plans for the tunnel, called the Delta Conveyance Project.

In this case, they are challenging how the Department of Water Resources currently operates one of the largest water systems in the world, the State Water Project. It transports water across more than 700 miles with a series of reservoirs, aqueducts, pipelines and pumping plants from Northern California to Southern California.

Research shows the withdrawal of water has taken an ecological toll on the Delta and San Francisco Bay. Chinook salmon, steelhead trout, smelt and sturgeon have declined dramatically over the last few decades.

During droughts, algae blooms have turned waterways bright green, posing health threats for people and animals.

California’s state water board has released a long-awaited plan for the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

Brett Baker, a lawyer for the Central Delta Water Agency, said the lawsuit focuses on curbing the “degradation of the ecosystem, the community, the economy in the Delta.”

“They operate the system to maximize exports,” he said. “They’re not good stewards.”

About 56% of the water from the State Water Project flows to urban areas, while 44% is used for agriculture.

The plaintiffs argue that the state’s “excessive” pumping from the Delta has led more growers to plant water-intensive almond and pistachio orchards across vast stretches of the San Joaquin Valley. They say in the lawsuit that this shift to permanent crops, which can’t be fallowed in a drought, has compounded the state’s water problems by “entrenching a rigid and unsustainable agricultural system.”

Environmental advocates have for years considered bringing a case over water in the Delta based on these arguments, but have not done it until now. Owen predicted that it will be a difficult fight for the plaintiffs, and the state is likely to prevail.

The state’s lawyers will come into court “arguing that this is basically a political objection to one of the primary systems of water allocation in California,” Owen said. “No expense is going to be spared fighting this case, and it will be fought by some very talented and well-resourced people.”

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Ian James is a reporter who focuses on water and climate change in California and the West. Before joining the Los Angeles Times in 2021, he was an environment reporter at the Arizona Republic and the Desert Sun. He previously worked for the Associated Press as a correspondent in the Caribbean and as bureau chief in Venezuela. Follow him on Bluesky @ianjames.bsky.social and on X @ByIanJames.

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