California governor’s water negotiations leave no one behind, senator says

Recently, Governor Newsom announced his framework and support for Voluntary Settlement Agreements (VSAs) — a monumental effort that could bring to an end the conflict and litigation over water that flows through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. With great hope and guarded optimism, I applaud the governor’s efforts to avoid the water wars of the past, and to bring together opposing interests with a focus on solutions that can benefit everyone.

The VSAs provide a pathway forward, without costly litigation, to rely on the best, most current science for eco-system management of our state’s waterways, while ensuring stability to Central Valley communities that economically depend on water as their lifeblood. By requiring third-party scientific peer review based on current, best available data, the governor is ensuring that no special interest group — from agriculture or the environment to rural or urban water users — can take advantage of our water system and infrastructure to meet just their goals, at the cost and detriment of other users.

The VSA process needs to be fair to each different watershed which will be making voluntary, but nonetheless impactful, water diversions to the Delta. The process must not allow those watersheds and water users with more political clout to get more water at the expense of others.

Instead, the framework needs to consider the quantity of water that each watershed can contribute, without creating new negative impact on groundwater quality or local economies. This will ensure that the VSAs do not simply dry up one productive region in order to keep another region wet. These decisions need to be fair, and scale equitably across the contributing watersheds.

For the Central Valley, the VSAs will create new conservation efforts along treasured rivers to restore salmon runs, while maintaining water supplies to support urban and agriculture needs. Clearly, by his commitment to a pragmatic, negotiated result, Governor Newsom signals that the state intends to be a partner in guiding diverse water stakeholders.

Many environmental groups were critical of my “no” vote last year on the Senate floor on Senate Bill 1, and were aghast by the governor’s veto of that bill less than 24 hours after receiving it from the Legislature. But without that decisive veto, the state would not be so close to successfully navigating complex and emotional issues. The VSAs have potential to bring our water management forward in an integrated fashion never seen in California previously.

So, the Central Valley needs to give credit where it is due: This governor is listening to the concerns of farmers, farm workers, and the multitude of bankers, lawyers, truckers, food processors, exporters, and families who rely on water to live and to keep our rural communities open for business. The governor is investing in the Central Valley. I support these efforts, and will keep working with the administration to create economic opportunity for rural Californians.

The governor’s support of the VSAs shows that the Central Valley can be pro-environment and pro-agriculture. We can be for conservation and for economic growth. These concepts are not mutually exclusive, and I join the governor’s efforts to not pursue one goal at the expense of the other.

Those groups that walked away from the VSAs negotiating table should take a hard look at the great work accomplished by those who stayed in the discussion, who trusted the governor, and who contributed to the solution. I applaud these environmental groups and their counterparts in water and agriculture, who kept communications open and are looking to good science to inform solutions.

Willingness to stay in negotiations created an opportunity to move the state forward in a constructive, meaningful way that does not decimate the Central Valley, and its many families that call it home.