Scott River Flows Declining!
Addendum 7 – Reinstatement of Curtailments for All Surface Water and Groundwater Diverters, Scott River Watershed
California Water Boards sent this bulletin at 07/20/2025 10:06 PM PDT
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Addendum 7 – Reinstatement of Curtailments for All Surface Water and Groundwater Diverters, Scott River Watershed
To: Scott River Water Right Holders (sent to water right holders for which the Board has email addresses and to the Scott-Shasta Drought E-mail List)
The State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board or Board) is reinstating curtailments for all surface water and groundwater water rights in the Scott River watershed as listed in Attachment A of Order WR 2024-0024-DWR and Order WR 2024-0025-DWR. This Addendum requires all surface water and groundwater diverters listed in Attachment A of the Orders to cease all diversions immediately. You may not resume diversions until otherwise informed by the State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board or Board). Curtailments are needed to maintain the minimum flow requirement at the Fort Jones United States Geological Survey (USGS) Gage. For reference, the required minimum flow at the Fort Jones USGS gage for July is 50 cubic feet per second (cfs) and 30 cfs for August. The Regulation does allow for continued limited diversions under curtailed water rights for specific purposes. More information on these exceptions can be found below.
Background
On July 23, 2024, the State Water Board issued a curtailment order (Order WR 2024-0024-DWR) curtailing all surface water rights in the Scott River as listed in Attachment A to the Order. On July 24, 2024, the State Water Board issued a second curtailment order (Order WR 2024-0025-DWR) curtailing adjudicated groundwater rights and known groundwater rights that are greater than two acre-feet, as listed in Attachment A to the Order. Both orders mandated the immediate cessation of diversions for all specified water rights.
On August 23, 2024, the State Board issued Addendum 1 to the Orders temporarily suspending all curtailments as long as specific conditions were met. The Waterboards issued 4 more Addenda from September to October providing temporary suspension of curtailments based on the hydrologic conditions and requiring information for surface water diversions. On November 13, 2024, Addendum 6 went into effect, suspending all curtailments in the Scott River watershed. Since then, no curtailments have been in effect until now.
Scott River Hydrology
Flows at the USGS Fort Jones gage are 48.7 cfs as of July 20, 2025, at 9:30 pm. Based on the current flow and downward trend of flows at the Fort Jones USGS gage, minimal precipitation forecasts, warmer temperature trends and high-water demand, curtailments are needed to assist in meeting the minimum instream flow requirement of 50 cfs for July and 30 cfs for August. The State Water Board will continue to monitor flows, flow forecasts, and watershed conditions regularly to determine if further adjustments to the curtailments are appropriate.
Allowances for Continued Limited Diversions
The regulation has exceptions for certain types of diversions that may continue even after you receive a curtailment order, if the appropriate form(s) is submitted to the State Water Board (see more on this below). These are:
- Non-consumptive Diversions. This exception applies if your diversion is not consumptive, meaning that it does not use up water or change the time the water is available to others (e.g., run-of-river hydropower with returns entering the same stream, instream use).
- Minimum Human Health and Safety Diversions. This exception applies if a curtailed diversion is your only water source for minimum human health and safety purposes, like drinking, cooking, washing, or meeting the state’s critical infrastructure needs. Please note that diversions for firefighting may continue under this exception.
- Minimum Livestock Watering Diversions. This exception applies if a curtailed diversion is your only source for minimum livestock watering needs. See section 875.3 in the Emergency Regulation for more information on minimum livestock watering.
If you want to continue diverting using one of the above exceptions, you must submit additional information to the State Water Board using the applicable form(s) as outline in the mailed-out Orders and available at: https://public.waterboards.ca.gov/WRInfo. Certification and Petition forms previously submitted for the Orders are still active and don’t need to be resubmitted, unless you are updating your previous submittal. Waterboard staff will contact you if they have any questions or need additional information to continue processing your submittal.
Groundwater Local Cooperative Solutions
The deadline for submitting a proposed local cooperative solution for the 2025 irrigation season was April 15, 2025. Groundwater local cooperative solution applicants that submitted a plan for the 2025 irrigation season must implement their proposal even if it is not yet approved. Staff have reviewed the applications, and, for applications that were not approvable without additional information or revision, are engaging with applicants to solicit additional information and/or changes to the proposal to support an ultimate decision. This Addendum is suspended as to the actions described in the proposed 2025 LCSs during review. Applicants with “pending” proposals, as listed on the State Water Board’s 2025 Local Cooperative Solutions website (https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drought/scott_shasta_rivers/lcs2025.html) shall continue working with State Water Board staff to update or finalize their proposals until ultimate approval or denial. If a pending 2025 proposal is ultimately denied, the suspension of this addendum ends, and the petitioner must immediately curtail all diversions. If it is ultimately approved, the suspension of this addendum (and of the underlying curtailment order), continues.
Because it is a new irrigation year, pending status or approval from a 2024 LCS no longer protects a diverter from the curtailment order.
Questions and How to Stay Informed
Please monitor your email and our website Scott River and Shasta River EmergencyRegulation Response website (https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drought/scott_shasta_rivers/) for future updates. If an email notice is issued on the weekend, the website will not be updated until the following Monday due to service limitations.
If you have questions regarding this email, please contact staff by email at: ScottShastaFlows@waterboards.ca.gov or leave a message at our dedicated Scott River and Shasta River Drought phone line at: (916) 327-3113.
If you received this notice in a forwarded message and would like to receive future emails related to this and similar efforts, please sign up for the State Water Board’s “Scott-Shasta Drought” email subscription list under “Water Rights” at: https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/resources/email_subscriptions/swrcb_subscribe
Erik Ekdahl
Chief Deputy Director
State Water Resources Control Board
Issued July 20, 2025
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