Water

The Alternative to Tunnel(s)

See our latest
(2022)

A new report on
Sensible CA Water Mgmt

Our letter to California's
Water Resource Agency on
Water Portfolio Recommendations

Water Committee

Mission

The CCC Water Committee will work to protect California’s lakes, streams, rivers, and all the lives that depend on them. We will advocate for restoring the Bay Delta ecosystem so that it can continue to provide habitat for two-thirds of California’s salmon and half the birds on the Pacific flyway. We will promote water justice for disadvantaged communities and a sustainable water future that assures supplies for California’s families, farms, industries, and wildlife. We will strenuously promote water conservation and advocate for the beneficial uses of said conserved waters.

Co-Chairs    

Charming Evelyn and William Martin

Water Committee Goals for 2023

  1. Increase local chapter participation in water committee
  2. Survey local chapters to discover their water activists and water issues
  3. San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary
    • Continue to participate in efforts to stop the Delta Conveyance
    • Continue to participate in the development of the Bay Delta Plan and champion its implementation
    • Continue to advocate for biologically sound flow targets in the Bay Delta and the rivers and streams that feed it
    • Continue to work to restore salmonids to California's streams and rivers
  4. Educate committee members and local chapters on the history and status of the Salton Sea
  5. Elections and Appointments
    • Recruit and support more environmentally sound candidates for local water boards
    • Interrogate undemocratic structure of California water districts
    • Increase Sierra Club activity in elections to water boards, agencies and commissions state-wide
  6. Develop a white paper on SGMA's impacts on water basins, banks, and markets

Water Committee Achievements for 2022

  1. Continued to participate in efforts to stop the Delta Conveyance
  2. Continued to advocate for biologically sound flow targets in the Bay Delta and the rivers and streams that feed it
  3. Opposed the Cadiz water mining project in the Mojave Basin. Project is now dead.
  4. Opposed the Poseidon Desal project in Southern California. Project was not approved.
  5. Educated committee members and local chapters on the history and status of the Salton Sea
  6. Supported more environmentally sound candidates for water boards statewide
  7. Coastal Sub-Committee within the SC CA Water Committee continued to attend California Coastal Commission meetings and advocate for environmentally sound practices
  8. Updated white paper ‘Smart Alternatives to the Delta Tunnel’

Water Issue Fact Sheets

Here are links to several Sierra Club California papers about California's water issues: