Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 55:43 — 38.3MB) | Embed
Tribes in northern California say waterways are increasingly compromised because of the state’s outmoded water management methods. They are joining environmental groups who say the state’s water management authority is appeasing large corporate interests over ecosystems and the people who utilize the water. It’s another fight over water in the west in which tribes say they are left out of the discussion, at the expense of tribal citizens and the environment.
GUESTS
Vice Chair Malissa Tayaba (Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Band of Indians)
Chief Caleen Sisk (Winnemem Wintu tribe)
Stephanie Safdi, clinical supervising attorney and lecturer for the Environmental Law Clinic at Stanford Law School
Break 1 Music: Sweet Grass Water Is Life (single song) Miracle Dolls (artist)
Break 2 Music: Akua Tuta (song) Robbie Robertson (artist) Kashtin (album)
Statement on EPA’s decision to review Title VI Complaint against SWRCB
State Water Resources Control Board
August 2023
On Aug. 8, U.S. EPA’s Office of Civil Rights determined that it would investigate a complaint regarding the State Water Resources Control Board’s protection of tribal water uses and prevention of harmful algal blooms in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. The State Water Board will cooperate fully with the investigation and believes U.S. EPA will ultimately conclude the board has acted appropriately.
U.S. EPA’s decision to accept the complaint is not a determination of any factual or legal issues. At this stage, the board has not had sufficient time to respond formally. As with any investigation, the board will work collaboratively with U.S. EPA and provide it with information to demonstrate that the board has complied with all civil rights laws. The board will submit its formal response to the complaint by Sept. 7.
The State Water Board deeply values its partnership with tribes to protect and preserve California’s water resources. The board’s highest water quality planning priority has been restoring native fish species in the Delta watershed, which are central to the lifeways of many tribes.
The board and the nine California Regional Water Quality Control Boards have been at the vanguard of efforts to recognize, designate and protect beneficial uses of water associated with tribal cultural practices and tribal subsistence fishing. With respect to the Delta watershed in particular, the board held an informational item at its June 7, 2023 meeting and received input on the possible addition of two tribal beneficial uses (tradition and culture, subsistence fishing) to the State Water Board’s Bay-Delta Plan. The Draft Staff Report on the plan update, to be released this summer, will evaluate inclusion of these uses.
As we face increasing climate impacts, harmful algal blooms are an escalating threat to public and environmental health. The board has partnered with state agencies, federal agencies, tribal governments, local agencies, community groups, and leading academic and research bodies to identify, report, and ultimately mitigate the effects of harmful algal blooms everywhere in California, including the Delta. The board participates in the California Cyanobacteria and Harmful Algal Bloom Network which maintains a notification and response protocol that sets a nationwide example, while working with partners to collect data to support preventative actions.
