Bowing to complaints that big water customers have been given unprecedented control of a far-reaching Delta water plan, state and federal water officials said Friday they would open a new contract to public comment.

The pledge to accept comments falls short of congressional demands that the government rescind and rewrite the contract.

At issue is an agreement that clears the way for big farm and urban water agencies to invest another $100 million in planning for a hotly contested new aqueduct around the Delta.

The agreement, critics say, gives the handful of water agencies paying for the Bay Delta Conservation Plan special access to information and the ability to help shape government responses to critiques from scientists, environmentalists, fishermen, Delta farmers and others.

They also say its schedule makes thorough scientific evaluation impossible and raises expectations that contractors will get water at the expense of other water users and the environment.

"They have handed over a huge amount of the public's interests to the private interests here," said Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez. "They've turned it into pay-to-play."

Those and other criticisms were aired in a series of meetings between Northern California congressional representatives and local, state and federal water officials. The meetings were followed by a sharply worded letter last week from five members of Congress.

Many of those complaints "are rooted in misunderstandings," state and federal water officials said in documents posted on the Bay Delta Conservation Plan's website.


In a white paper that accompanied the announcement, U.S. Department of Interior officials said criticisms that the contract might conflict with environmental laws in the Delta are misplaced.

"Moreover, the Department remains committed to an open and inclusive (Bay Delta Conservation Plan) process that is based on best available science" and involves all parties, the paper said.

Still, state and federal water agencies agreed to accept public comments on a contract that is not in effect because it has yet to be signed by all the water contractors. Once comments are received, the water agencies could decide to keep the contract as it is, revise it or develop side agreements. They will also consider giving others more access to documents.

The rift developing over the contract comes at a delicate time. Supporters are gearing up for a yearlong push to complete the plan in an election year. As details emerge, some critics are not liking what they see.
"They went behind closed doors and signed a document with the water purveyors that want to suck all the water out of Northern California," said Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena. "It's a terrible disappointment that the administration did it this way. It's a slap in the face to all the other stakeholders."

The Bay Delta Conservation Plan was developed as a strategy to stabilize water supplies in the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California in the face of a rapidly declining Delta ecosystem and environmental rules triggered by that decline. Its centerpiece is a large aqueduct, likely to be a set of large tunnels beneath the Delta. The aqueduct would serve about 1 million acres of irrigated farmland and provide a portion of drinking water to 23 million people from the Bay Area to San Diego.

The water agencies would pay for the $12 billion to $15 billion aqueduct. They have already committed $140 million for plans and studies.

An additional $100 million is needed to complete the studies. In exchange for that money, the agencies wanted some commitments in the contract that would ensure the plan was done efficiently and that they could count on certain commitments.

The public comment period runs through Nov. 16. More information is available at: http://baydeltaconservationplan.com/Home.aspx.