Environmental groups criticize Newsom's executive order to capture and store rain water
California Governor Gavin Newsom speaks during a campaign event for President Joe Biden on Saturday, July 6, 2024 in Doylestown, Pa. (Photo by Joe Lamberti for The Washington Post via Getty Images)
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Governor Gavin Newsom is calling on state water managers to divert and store as much water as they can from the upcoming atmospheric river through an executive order he signed on Friday.
The order directs agencies to capture water and send it to reservoirs and other storage areas in Northern California even if they haven't adopted a flood control plan.
Newsom said that includes the San Luis Reservoir between Gilroy and Santa Nella, near the San Luis Reservoir, south of the Sacramento River delta.
RIO VISTO, CA - MAY 22: The small town of Rio Vista, located along the Sacramento River and Highway 12, is viewed from the air on May 22, 2023, over Rio Visto, California. The SacramentoSan Joaquin River Delta, or California Delta, is an expansive in
"These actions will help California replenish above-ground and groundwater storage that remains depleted in many parts of the state following multi-year droughts," a news release read announcing the order.
"We're up here in Northern California at one of our staging areas focusing on prepositing in anticipation of our winter storms, atmospheric rivers that are just starting over the course of the next five or six days," Newsom said in a post on social media.
However, environmental groups are sounding off against the water diversion.
The Golden State Salmon Association, based in Santa Rosa, called this order a death sentence for the state's suffering salmon population.
Another group, Friends of the River, based in Sacramento, said water management needs holistic planning, not "piecemeal executive orders."
A coalition of environmental groups released a statement saying that the governor is taking a page from President Trump's playbook.
Friends of the River, Restore the Delta, and San Francisco Baykeeper said Newsom's plan, "Provides no justification for eviscerating environmental safeguards when reservoir storage levels are already high and the incoming storms promise to boost the Sierra snowpack substantially."
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