CPOD Hearing Highlights – April 3, 2025
Today the State Water Resources Control Board restarted its hearing for a petition by Department of Water Resources (DWR) for a Change in Point of Diversion (CPOD) for its Delta Conveyance Project. The hearing started with a description of new Zoom precautions in place for today and future sessions.
DWR will provide regular recaps as the hearing proceeds, to help the public track progress of the hearing, see the qualifications of expert witnesses, and find related background informational materials.
Today’s hearing included an opening statement from DWR’s General Counsel Ann Carroll, and the first witness panel focused on modeling tools, presented by Erik Reyes and supported in cross examination by Dr. Eli Ateljevich, and Dr. Andy Draper.
Key Takeaways from Day 1-Ann Carroll:
Hearing Highlights
Documents & Resources
- Delta Conveyance Project CPOD information on the State Water Board’s website
- Watch the hearing on the State Water Board Administrative Hearing Office’s YouTube Channel
Request Access to Hearing Exhibits
To access all of the hearing exhibits through the AHO-FTP download folder, please submit an e-mail request to the AHO at AdminHrgOffice@Waterboards.ca.gov with “Request for AHO ftp password” in the State Water Resources Control Board subject line. After receiving the e-mail request, the AHO will send a reply e-mail with a password to access the download account. It is not necessary to include any other parties in the cc line for such an e-mail request.
- The Delta Conveyance Project will protect water supplies by capturing water when it is plentiful to better endure dry years and adapt to extreme weather.
- It will also protect against the threat posed by earthquakes, sea level rise, and levee failure.
- As State Water Project (SWP) deliveries decline over the coming decades, the Delta Conveyance Project is meant to lessen those declines to recover future losses.
- The project will not change operational criteria associated with upstream reservoirs.
- DWR is not proposing to increase the total quantity of water permitted for diversion.
- Claims about the viability of project alternatives, including solely shoring up levees, is not a realistic way to protect the reliability of SWP deliveries.
- DWR has submitted proposed permit conditions—both temporary construction terms and terms that would apply to operation—to address issues raised by hearing protestants including Tribal consultation, noise, traffic, biological issues, groundwater monitoring and mitigation, and air quality, to name just a few.
Key Takeaways from Day 1-Erik Reyes, Dr. Eli Ateljevich, and Dr. Andy Draper on Modeling Tools:
- Mr. Reyes presented the rationale for selecting certain modeling tools used by DWR to conduct quantitative analysis, including CalSim 3 and DSM2.
- These tools are used to evaluate the differences between existing conditions and the Delta Conveyance Project. They are designed to be comparative, considering differences in conditions, rather than predictive of absolute conditions. Modeling results will be presented in a future panel.
- CalSim 3 and DSM2 are the best available models to represent long term effects to the SWP-CVP (the federal Central Valley Project) water system given changed conditions to facilities, regulations, operations, or climate.
- CalSim 3 and DSM2 are developed using the best available science. Both models are open source, publicly available, and have broad communities of users and developers that contribute to the model refinement and review.
Expert Witness Biographies:
- Erik Reyes is the Manager of DWR’s Modeling Support Office. He is responsible for leading the development, maintenance, and application of mathematical models for the California Central Valley system related to the State Water Project (SWP), the Central Valley Project (CVP), and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay Delta.
- Mr. Reyes holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering University of California, Los Angeles
- Registered Civil Engineer in the State of California
- Over 25 years of experience in Central Valley and Bay-Delta water modeling and has spent the past two years in the current role as Manager
- Eli Ateljevich, PE, PhD is a senior engineer with DWR, in the Modeling Section. He was present for the cross-examination questions.
- Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics, UC Berkeley
- Master of Science (?) degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- MS in Statistics, UC Berkeley
- PhD in Civil and Engineering/Environmental Water Resources, UC Berkeley
- Over 30 years of experience
- Andy Draper, PhD, PE, Stantec USA. He was present for the cross-examination questions.
- Bachelor of Arts degree, General Engineering, University of Cambridge
- MS, Irrigation Engineering, University of Southampton
- PhD, Water Resources, University of California, Davis
- Over 45 years of experience in water resources engineering, and reservoir operations modeling.
