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The State Water Resources Control Board has adopted emergency curtailment regulations for Mill and Deer Creeks in Tehama County due to continued drought conditions in the Sacramento River basin. The creeks are tributaries to the Sacramento River and crucial to the survival of multiple fish species while also supplying water for agriculture, fire protection and drinking water, among other uses.
The regulation must be approved by the Office of Administrative Law and filed with the Secretary of State before actual curtailment orders can be issued and more than 20 water right holders are likely to be impacted by the orders once the regulation takes effect.
The creeks are priority watersheds for sustaining the Central Valley spring-run Chinook salmon and California Central Valley Steelhead, and support Central Valley fall-run and late fall-run Chinook salmon, as well as Sacramento River winter-run Chinook salmon.
“The scale and speed of this drought has made an already precarious situation much worse for threatened and endangered fish species in California,” said Joaquin Esquivel, chair of the State Water Board. “Mill and Deer creeks are precious locations for the spawning and survival of several of the state’s iconic salmon, as well as steelhead trout species, and maintaining minimum flows there can help prevent catastrophic impacts. Importantly, this action doesn’t end the opportunity for cooperative voluntary
agreements, and can instead be a foundation for collaboration in these critical watersheds.”
The action by the State Water Board last week comes after direction from Governor Newsom to coordinate with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, to evaluate appropriate minimum instream flows and other actions to protect salmon, steelhead and other native fish species. The minimum flow requirements for Mill and Deer Creeks in the new regulation are consistent with those established during the last drought.
The State Water Board previously adopted emergency curtailment regulations in both 2014 and 2015 for these watersheds.
