Tribal leaders, environmental advocates, and Delta residents gathered this week to condemn the State Water Resources Control Board’s decision regarding water agreements they contend will damage the Delta among other issues.

They pledged further action to defend California’s water rights system, protect critical ecosystems, and ensure meaningful public participation in decisions affecting the state’s water future.

At the center of the plan newly adopted by the State Water Board are so-called “voluntary agreements”, privately negotiated deals allowing powerful water districts to offer limited flow commitments and funding in exchange for exemptions from stronger, enforceable regulatory requirements.

Representatives from the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians, the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, Little Manila Rising and Restore the Delta, alongside Delta community members, denounced the plan, arguing that it entrenches the very inequities and ecological damage the update should address while sidelining tribes and environmental justice communities.

“But despite the Board's approval of this discriminatory and destructive plan, we will continue to speak up and demand the state government do right by native people,” said Vice Chair Malissa Tayaba, Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians. “We hope that the next Governor will give meaning to the apologies by stopping these voluntary agreements, establishing regulations to keep rivers flowing, and giving tribes a seat at the table.”

Tribal leaders and environmental groups have long warned that the voluntary agreements fall short of what science demands and lack the enforceable protections needed to safeguard threatened fish species, restore critical freshwater flows, and address harmful algal blooms in the Delta.

“This plan fails the four million people living in the Delta, the 12 million more who live in the greater San Francisco Bay Area, and all Californians. Implementing the voluntary agreements will further diminish their economies, public health, and access to clean water,” said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive Director at Restore the Delta.

Advocates also condemned the secretive process through which the agreements were negotiated, citing the exclusion of tribes and environmental justice organizations from key discussions. They further criticized state agencies for using confidentiality agreements to restrict access to scientific data and discussions central to the plan’s development.

The groups also condemned the secretive process through which the agreements were negotiated, citing the exclusion of tribes and environmental justice organizations from key discussions. They further criticized state agencies for using confidentiality agreements to restrict access to scientific data and discussions central to the plan’s development.