Photo: Shasta Dam Credit: Bureau of Reclamation, public domain
CSPA Petitions the State Board to Make the Bureau of Reclamation Follow the Rules to Maintain Sacramento River Water Temperatures
On July 11, 2024, CSPA submitted a petition for reconsideration to the State Water Resources Control Board (State Board). The petition for reconsideration calls upon the State Board to set aside its June 14, 2023, approval of the Bureau of Reclamation’s (Reclamation) 2024 Sacramento River Temperature Management Plan (TMP).
On June 4, 2024, prior to the State Board’s approval of the TMP, Defenders of Wildlife, CSPA and eleven other environmental groups, fishing advocates, and the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, submitted an objection to the draft TMP. Both the initial objection and the petition for reconsideration contest the State Board’s approval of the TMP on the grounds that the TMP fails to comply with the requirements of Water Rights Order 90-5 (Order 90-5), the State Board’s 2020 Settlement with CSPA, and the State Board’s public trust responsibilities.
The Endangered Species Act and Order 90-5 require Reclamation to maintain temperatures in the Sacramento River to support successful reproduction and rearing of Chinook salmon. Reclamation controls the temperature of the Sacramento River by strategic releases of cold water from Shasta Reservoir. The TMP sets target daily water temperature objectives that Reclamation is required to meet at designated compliance points along the river.
Order 90-5 only allows a temperature compliance location to be moved upstream when Reclamation is unable to maintain water temperatures of 56℉ at Red Bluff Diversion Dam due to circumstances beyond Reclamation’s “reasonable control.”
Reclamation’s 2024 TMP shifts the 56℉ temperature compliance from Red Bluff upstream to Balls Ferry. The TMP does not provide modeling of water temperatures or quantitative evaluation of unavoidable factors rendering Reclamation unable to meet its water temperature obligations. The use of Balls Ferry as a temperature compliance point instead of Red Bluff would represent a less stringent temperature standard and would maintain a much smaller salmonid spawning reach.
CSPA’s petition for reconsideration also asks that the State Water Board convene a process to review Order 90-5. Reclamation and the fish agencies are routinely not following the procedures outlined in Order 90-5. The State Water Board needs to address the disconnect between the written requirements and actual practice.
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