The Biden and Newsom administrations will soon adopt new rules for California’s major water delivery systems that will determine how much water may be pumped from rivers while providing protections for imperiled fish species. But California environmental groups, while supportive of efforts to rewrite the rules, are criticizing the proposed changes and warning that the resulting plans would fail to protect fish species that are declining toward extinction in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and San Francisco Bay. … The rules under revision govern dams, aqueducts and pumping plants in California’s two main water systems, the Central Valley Project and the State Water Project, which deliver water to millions of acres of farmland and more than 25 million people. Pumping to supply farms and cities has contributed to the ecological degradation of the Delta, where threatened and endangered fish species include steelhead trout, two types of Chinook salmon, longfin smelt, Delta smelt and green sturgeon.

Other Delta story and news release:

• State Water Board news release: State Water Board releases draft of possible updates to Bay-Delta Plan for public review
• Stocktonia News: Invasive nutrias spreads further into Delta communities