8009

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 8009
• Author: Natural Resources Law Center.
• Title: Restoring the Waters.
• USFW Year: 1997.
• USFW - Doc Type: Boulder, CO.
• Copyright Material: YES

ESA if the state of California refused to
act. It appeared as if the parties were
headed for confrontation and for court.
A Consensus Agreement
In December 1994, a consensus agreement
was announced by Governor Wilson, the
federal government, and representatives of
agricultural, business, environmental and
urban interests. The agreement that
emerged represents a stride toward
sustainability for the Bay-Delta environ-
ment and for water users dependent on
diversions from the Bay-Delta and its
tributaries.
Essential to completing the Bay-Delta
accord were:
^ Collaborative decision making with
interest groups disposed to finding a
solution after so many years of gridlock;
^ A substantial incentive for Delta water
users to support new water quality
standards -the accord contained a
commitment to continued efforts to
devise alternative pumping or other
transportation facilities to produce a
long-term solution to the Bay-Delta
problem;
^ Clearly articulated federal resolve to
proceed with a federal solution that
would comply with CWA and ESA
mandates, while unequivocally support-
ing development of state solutions; and
^ A farsighted decision by the environ-
mental community to make some key
compromises when it appeared as if the
negotiations would fail.
The 1994 negotiations also led to estab-
lishment of a joint state-federal effort, the
CALFED Bay-Delta Program, to develop a
long-term solution to four categories of
Bay-Delta problems:
^ Ecosystem quality
^ Water quality
^ Water supply reliability
^ System vulnerability
That program, with many opportunities
for stakeholder participation, has devel-
oped three alternative solutions and is
scheduled to develop a preferred alterna-
tive by the fall of 1998. In the meantime,
the state's voters have passed a massive
bond issue promising over $600,000 for
restoration of the Bay-Delta and its
tributaries. Thus, a situation that once
seemed mired in confrontational attitudes
is currently moving, even if slowly, in a
more positive direction.
For More Information Contact:
Elizabeth Ann Rieke
Natural Resources Law Center
University of Colorado
Campus Box 401
Boulder, CO 80309-0401
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
E-mail: [e-mail]
Collaboration that works
^ Commitment of key interest
groups to finding a solution that
protected the Bay-Delta environ-
mentwithout an adverse impact
on water supplies
^ Agencies and organizations with
the financial and technical
wherewithal to develop alterna-
tives and a willingness to take
risks in leadership
^ Prior working relations among
interest group members
^ Real and apparent potential for
mutual gains
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