‘Mission creep’ a water grab?

The state agency that oversees the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is exceeding its mandate and threatening to grab Northern California water, Paul Gosselin, the head of the Butte County’s Department of Water and Resource Conservation, told supervisors Tuesday (Jan. 24).

The Delta Stewardship Council‘s original mandate was to come up with a plan to restore the Delta and improve the water supply to points south, but it was supposed to do so only within the historic confines of the Delta. However, Gosselin said, the latest draft of the Delta Plan and its accompanying EIR seek to extend the council’s authority into the Delta watershed, which Gosselin took to mean the entire Sacramento Valley watershed.

The supervisors voted unanimously to send a letter to the Delta Stewardship Council protesting this “mission creep” and insisting on area-of-origin rights.