Three weeks after the State Water Resources Control Board approved a voluntary proposal by Delta farmers to voluntarily reduce their water use by 25%, the State Water Contractors (SWC), including powerful billionaire and millionaire corporate growers in the San Joaquin Valley, filed a complaint with the same board on June 16. The group requested the board to take action to “protect” State Water Project (SWP) releases from what it claimed were “unlawful diversions” in the Delta.

The group accused diverters south of the San Joaquin River - Delta farmers - of “substantial, unlawful diversions” that would “increase the burden on limited stored water supplies, affecting both the environment and other water users.”

“These landowners in the Delta have long-standing water rights that entitle them to water when nature provides it—but those rights do not entitle them to stored water paid for by others and intended for the environment. If nature ran its course, the Delta would not be suitable for drinking or farming this summer,” said Stefanie Morris, acting general manager of the State Water Contractors, in a press release.

She further alleged that landowners that continue to divert water from within the Delta are "taking" the stored state and federal water project supplies needed to meet water quality requirements.