Office of the Delta Watermaster
Important Update
UPDATE FOR 2024 IN-DELTA WATER RIGHTS REPORTING
Water Year 2024 reports and are now past due. If you report through the DeltaACP.com platform, please note the extended filing deadline was April 1, 2025. For questions regarding this update, contact the Office of the Delta Watermaster, deltawatermaster@waterboards.ca.gov.
The Office of the Delta Watermaster – Background
The Office of the Delta Watermaster was created as part of the Delta Reform Act of 2009. The Watermaster is an independent officer of the State, appointed to a four-year term by the State Water Resources Control Board, reporting jointly to the Water Board and to the Delta Stewardship Council.
Important Reminder!
- The State Water Board has new water right change of ownership forms and a new water right contact information update form.
- For Statements: [“S0____”]: For transfers of ownership or changes in contact information (of a diverter or agent), use the Supplemental Statement of Diversion and Use Change (of Ownership) form
- For transfers of water right applications, permits, licenses or registrations, use the Change of Ownership form
- For changes in contact information (of an owner or agent) for water right applications, permits, licenses, or registrations, use the Contact Information Update form
- Requests for Documents Not Posted on this Website (8/19/2022)
- State Water Board initiates public planning process for Bay-Delta Plan updates (9/28/2023)
- In a statewide first, California is using satellite-based evapotranspiration data for water use reporting in the Delta (6/27/2023)
- Delta Watermaster Jay Ziegler's Report to the State Water Board (6/21/2023)
- Report on the Delta Drought Response Pilot Program for Water Year 2022 (3/28/2023)
- March 16, 2023 Delta Alternative Compliance Plan Workshop Recording (3/16/2023).
- State Water Board selects Jay Ziegler as the New Delta Watermaster (3/1/2023)
- Term 91 Has Been Lifted Effective Today - December 7, 2022 (12/7/2022)
- Report of Investigation into Complaint Alleging Unauthorized Water Diversion in the Legal Delta (11/28/2022)
- Public Comments on Draft Report of Investigation into Complaint Alleging Unauthorized Water Diversion in the Legal Delta (11/28/2022)
- Delta Conservancy announces Delta Drought Response Pilot Program for Water Year 2023 (10/3/2022)
- State Water Board Adopts Regulations Modifying Water Right Ownership Notice Requirements and Reporting Dates (9/20/2022)
- Emergency Curtailment and Reporting Regulations Re-adopted in the Delta (7/21/2022)
- The Public Policy Institute of California published its Policy Brief: “Tracking Where Water Goes in a Changing Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.” (5/2022)
- Order Denying Reconsideration of the Adoption of the August 2021 Emergency Curtailment and Reporting Regulation for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Watershed (5/9/2022).
- Delta Drought and Curtailment Webpage
Responsibilities
The Watermaster is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day administration of water rights, and, when necessary, for taking enforcement action, related to water diversions within the Delta. The Watermaster also confers with and assists both the Water Board and the Stewardship Council as they carry out their respective legislative mandates to achieve the dual objectives of enhancing the Delta ecosystem and improving water supply reliability within the constraints of the water rights system and of the Delta as an evolving place.
The Delta – The Hub of California’s Water Management System
The Delta is an inland estuary located at the confluence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers just before their outlet to San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The Delta is comprised of a network of islands, channels and wetlands which make up the largest estuary on the Western Coast of the United States. The Delta is the hub of California’s water management system as well as an important ecological system supporting a variety of species, several of which are protected under endangered species acts. The Delta ecosystem and the water management facilities located there are under pressure from a variety of natural and man-made stressors including:
- water diversions from its natural tributaries;
- withdrawal of a portion of its water to meet the needs of users throughout the State;
- invasive species which compete with or prey upon its endangered natives;
- the constant risk of salinity intrusion from the Ocean and of salinity concentration by farming;
- degradation in its water quality from historic causes such as hydraulic mining and current causes such as farm and urban runoff;
- channelization of its waterways and the fragility of some of its levees;
- oxidation and erosion of friable peat soils which have left some islands subsided below the surrounding water table;
- complex (and sometimes conflicting) regulatory constraints; and
- a clash of public and private interests that has generated decades of litigation and conflict.
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Photo credit: Department of Water Resources
Contacts
For Questions or Comments
Contact the Office of the Delta Watermaster:
Email: deltawatermaster@waterboards.ca.gov
Phone: 916-319-8264
U.S. Mail:
Office of the Delta Watermaster
State Water Resources Control Board
P.O. Box 100
Sacramento, CA 95812-0100
