Voluntary Agreements (VAs) are agreements between a government authority and one or more private parties to achieve environmental objectives or to improve environmental performance beyond compliance to regulatory obligations. The State Water Board (SWB) is in the process of updating the Bay Delta Water Quality Control Plan and are currently focused on Phase 2, the North Delta, Sacramento River and Tributaries. Agencies, local water agencies, private companies, and agricultural interests sidestepped the process and created Voluntary Agreements to be used instead of Phase II of the Bay Delta Plan. This is because they did not want the science and public based process that was occuring to move forward. They excluded Tribal, Environmental Justice communities, fishermen and environmental groups from the process. The VA process held up the action for over 5 years. Fish populations plummeted within this time. The SWB staff with the help of Dept. of Fish and Wildlife and Dept. of Water Resources, created a Draft Scientific Basis Report Supplement for the VA in support of the VAs and will be presenting their findings to the SWB. This report seems to be replacing the independent science report that recommended increased flows for fish in 2018, which was not influenced by politics.

Help us urge the State Water Board to support flows for fish and fish dependent communities and reject the use of Voluntary Agreements for Phase II of the Bay Delta Plan.