Resolving Policy and Institutional Barriers for the Comprehensive Study of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Basins

The existing flood control projects in the Central Valley focus on flood control and protecting people and property from flooding, The Comprehensive. Study affords an opportunity to take a fresh look at institutional arrangements, regulations and laws that may act as barriers to implementing a Comprehensive Plan. Because many of the institutional barriers include the acquisition of lands rights, operation and maintenance of projects, land use and impacts to private lands, all of which fall within the non-federal sponsor's responsibilities, The Reclamation Board, the non-federal sponsor of the Comprehensive Study, has taken the lead to find solutions. The Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Report required for, the Comprehensive Study by the National Environmental Policy Act and the California Environmental Quality Act respectively, will discuss these issues and propose ways in which they can be resolved. To the extent that acceptable solutions can be worked out early in the process and included in the draft environmental documents, the Comprehensive Plan is more likely to be successfully implemented.