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The State Water Resources Control Board completed the Delta flow criteria report, releasing it to the public on July 22, 2010. Members of the public provided comments to the Board by July 29th, and many of those comments urged the Board to keep the report focused on its public trust resources purpose.

View the State Water Board's Delta Flow Criteria web site.

View C-WIN's comments on the draft Delta Flow Criteria report.

View the State Water Board's full, adopted Delta Flow Criteria report.

In Water Code Section 85086 (below), the Legislature ordered the State Water Board to study and report back with information on Delta flow criteria needed to restore fish species' populations, in order to protect public trust resources:

 

(b) It is the intent of the Legislature to establish an accelerated process to determine instream flow needs of the Delta for the purposes of facilitating the planning decisions that are required to achieve the objectives of the Delta Plan.

 

(c) (1) For the purpose of informing planning decisions for the Delta Plan and the Bay Delta Conservation Plan, the board shall, pursuant to its public trust obligations, develop new flow criteria for the Delta ecosystem necessary to protect public trust resources. In carrying out this section, the board shall review existing water quality objectives and use the best available scientific information. The flow criteria for the Delta ecosystem shall include the volume, quality, and timing of water necessary for the Delta ecosystem under different conditions. The flow criteria shall be developed in a public process by the board within nine months of the enactment of this division. The public process shall be in the form of an informational proceeding conducted pursuant to Article 3 (commencing with Section 649) of Chapter 1.5 of Division 3 of Title 23 of the California Code of Regulations, and shall provide an opportunity for all interested persons to participate. The flow criteria shall not be considered predecisional with regard to any subsequent board consideration of a permit, including any permit in connection with a final BDCP.