NORTHERN CALIFORNIA PARTICIPATION IN THE CALFED PROCESS
In 1994, the State of California and the United States signed a "Framework Agreement" pledging cooperation on a long-term plan to address chronic water supply and environmental problems in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and San Francisco Bay (Bay-Delta). Consistent with this pledge, urban, agricultural and environmental interests, also in 1994, signed the "Bay-Delta Accord" which established an interim management plan for the Bay-Delta. The Northern California Water Association (NCWA) is a signatory to the 1994 Bay-Delta Accord.
Governor Gray Davis and U.S. Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt released the CALFED Bay-Delta Program (CALFED) Action Plan at a press conference on June 9, 2000 in Sacramento. This framework document was the result of negotiations between high level state and federal officials. NCWA appeared at the press conference and supported the Framework with certain reservations. On August 28, 2000, the CALFED agencies signed the CALFED Record of Decision (ROD), which provides the roadmap for the CALFED Program.
NCWA has helped develop and ultimately supported Proposition 204 (The Safe, Clean, Reliable Water Supply Act); the California Bay-Delta Enhancement and Water Security Act; federal and state CALFED appropriations, Proposition 13 (Costa-Machado Water Act of 2000) and Proposition 50. NCWA Board members have served on the Bay-Delta Oversight Council (BDOC), the Bay-Delta Advisory Council (BDAC) and it is now represented on the Bay-Delta Public Advisory Council (BDPAC). NCWA has been an active participant in numerous CALFED committees, including, co-chair of the Water Use Efficiency Public Advisory Committee (WUE-PAC).
NCWA continues to support the resolution of water supply and environmental problems in the Bay-Delta ecosystem. As a result, NCWA has developed an integrated water management program for the Sacramento Valley. NCWA's continuing support of CALFED, however, will be predicated upon an adherence to certain fundamental principles essential to NCWA and its members and which were at the heart of the Framework Agreement and the Bay-Delta Accord.
To summarize these principles, CALFED and its member agencies must:
- Fully recognize and honor senior water rights and related entitlements;
- Fully recognize and adhere to the principles and limitations associated with the various area-of-origin provisions of California law; and
- Assure that solving problems in the Bay-Delta will not result in redirected impacts and, as consequence, problems to areas north of the Delta.
NCWA Board Principles on CALFED
NCWA Perspective on Financing the CALFED Program
