California’s top water agency is now under federal investigation after a coalition of California tribal nations and environmental justice groups filed a civil rights complaint accusing it of discriminating against several Native tribes and communities of color.
The complaint alleges that the California Water Resources Control Board failed to protect the water quality of one of the nation’s largest estuaries — the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Further, the complain said the Board has intentionally blocked tribal members and residents of color in some cities from giving input on major decisions.
In August, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it would investigate the allegations.
“It’s pretty bad when California Indians have to file a complaint with the Federal Government so that the State doesn’t violate our civil rights,” said Gary Mulcahy, government liaison for the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, one of the groups that filed the complaint.
California Water Board Decisions Strain Ecosystem
The accusations stem from the water board’s decisions on redirecting portions of Northern California’s water, most of which begins as rain and snowmelt in the mountains and flows down through streams and tributaries and into the delta — a vast region home to critical water infrastructure, sweeping salt and freshwater ecosystems and hundreds of thousands of people. Currently, the board diverts about one-fourth of the water passing through the Delta to farmland in the San Joaquin Valley and cities in Southern California. The Delta is considered the “hub” of California’s water system.
Federal law requires the board to review those rules every three years. But the board hasn’t kept up with that timeline for the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento San Joaquin Delta Estuary. Instead, tribal nations and environmental groups say that state authorities are relying on outdated regulations that have strained the ecosystem of the Delta.
Impacts of Decisions on Traditional Subsistence
The complaint argues that some Californians cannot access cultural, religious and traditional subsistence living practices and expose others to toxic environments. The complaint also connects the water board’s decisions to California’s history of discriminating against Native tribes and communities of color.
“Tribes and communities of color have been systematically excluded from water rights by state-sponsored genocide, broken treaty promises, and discriminatory laws and policies,” Stephanie Safdi, a supervising attorney and lecturer with the Stanford Environmental Law Clinic, which is representing the complainants, said in a statement.
The EPA’s Office of External Civil Rights Compliance decision to open an investigation represents a significant victory for the Northern California tribes and environmental organizations that filed the complaint. Many of them have spent years try to get the State Water Board to update its water-quality standards for the Delta.
“This decision is a major step towards repairing the years of harm to Tribes, communities of color, and environmental justice communities,” Kasil Willie, a staff attorney with Save California Salmon, one of the groups that filed the complaint, said in a statement.
