About Paul Bartkiewicz
Paul M. Bartkiewicz retired from Bartkiewicz, Kronick & Shanahan, Sacramento, California at the end of 2016. He continues to provide strategic counsel and legal services to clients in California on complex water resource disputes and water right, water transfer, energy, environmental and local government issues. He practices as a sole proprietor from his office in Scituate, Massachusetts.
Mr. Bartkiewicz was born and raised in Massachusetts. He received his A.B. from the University of Massachusetts in 1972, and his J.D. from the University of California, San Francisco (formerly Hastings College of the Law, in 1975. He was admitted to the California Bar in 1975. He received Martindale-Hubbell’s highest rating for attorneys: AV® Preeminent™. Mr. Bartkiewicz was a shareholder in Kronick, Moskowitz, Tiedeman & Girard (where he practiced from 1976 through 1988) prior to co-founding Bartkiewicz, Kronick & Shanahan in 1989. Mr. Bartkiewicz is licensed to practice law in California.
Mr. Bartkiewicz resides with his wife (Annie) in Scituate, Massachusetts. He is a member of the Town of Scituate Economic Development Commission. He is Chair of the Scituate Harbor Advisory Redevelopment Commission, which is developing a waterfront park. He is a member of the Association of California Water Agencies’ (ACWA) Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Workgroup.
For five decades, Mr. Bartkiewicz has been at the forefront of advancing California water law and policy issues. Set forth below are some highlights of his career.
The 1980s
1988 Water Transfer Legislation
Mr. Bartkiewicz is a noted authority on legal, policy and political issues for voluntary water transfers in California. Under California law, voluntary water transfers from one region of the state to another are favored as a significant resource for meeting California’s municipal, industrial, agricultural and environmental water supply needs. (See, for example, Water code Sections 109, 380-387, 475 and 1011.5.) In the mid-1980s, however, the legal mechanism for short-term water transfers during drought conditions was unworkable, as the environmental review and California Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) hearing process would take more than two years.
In 1987-1988, after numerous meetings with legislators, state agencies, State Water Project and Central Valley Project water agencies, local water agencies, conservation groups and other stakeholders, Mr. Bartkiewicz drafted legislation that streamlined the environmental and regulatory review process so that water transfers could be approved within 60 days (instead of two years or more), while protecting legal users of water and the environment, and the water rights of the transferor.
In 1988, this legislation was signed into law without a single no vote in the Assembly and Senate. (See, chapter 10.5, “Changes of Point of Diversion, Place of Use or Purpose of Use, Involving the Transfer of Water,” California Water Code Sections 1725-1745.11, Statutes 1988, Chapter 1145.)
Since its enactment, this law has been used to transfer millions of acre-feet of water as supplemental water supplies for cities, farms and the environment during multiple periods of drought, without resulting in injury to legal users or the environment.
The 1990s
1991 Drought Water Bank
By 1991, California was experiencing the fifth consecutive year of severe drought. Storage in major reservoirs had dropped to the lowest levels since 1977 – the driest year of record. The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) announced in February 1991 that no water would be delivered from the State Water Project for agricultural use, and that municipal agencies would receive only 10% of requested water supplies. There were also significant reductions in water supplies from the federal Central Valley Project. Fish and wildlife resources were in critical condition, as well.
Governor Wilson was considering issuing executive orders under which all California water rights would be suspended, and instead the State Water Board would allocate water supplies in the public interest without compensation to water right holders (overriding California’s water right priority system). As an alternative to these draconian and destabilizing measures, numerous California water agencies worked with DWR to create the Governor’s Emergency Drought Water Bank (Water Bank), under which water supplies were purchased from willing sellers through land fallowing, reoperation of reservoirs and pumping groundwater to free up surface water for transfer, to make water supplies available for cities, farms and the environment.
In about just one month’s time, the entire mechanism for administering the Water Bank was created and implemented. Mr. Bartkiewicz played a lead role for Sacramento River Basin water agencies in working with DWR to create the Water Bank and negotiate and draft agreements (including pricing provisions) between willing sellers and buyers.
Mr. Bartkiewicz also drafted urgency legislation that assured that water rights involved in a one-year transfer would automatically revert back to the water right holder at the conclusion of the transfer, which was an indispensable assurance for agencies and landowners providing water to the Water Bank. (See Assembly Bills 9 and 10, April 19, 1991.)
The 1991 Water Bank was a remarkable success, with the purchase and distribution of more than 800,000 acre-feet of water. Studies by DWR, the RAND Corporation and others concluded that the Water Bank significantly mitigated impacts to California’s economy from the prolonged drought, without causing significant adverse impacts in counties that made water available.
For example:
“In both physical and financial terms, the 1991 California Drought Water bank was the largest annual set of regional water trades to occur so far in the US and possibly the world. The drought water bank is a prime example of the evolution of a new allocation institution under intense pressure with very little time available. Under these conditions, the usual incremental evolution of institutions was bypass, and a hundred million dollar urgency water market was literally created in four weeks. Despite the chaos in creating emergency water market, it is generally acknowledged to have worked very well in reconciling drought year supplies and demands at minimum cost. The concept of water markets is now a permanent part of the water allocation system in California.” (Empirical Analysis of Water Market Institutions: The 1981 California Water Market, Richard E Howlett, Resource and Energy Economics, Volume 16, 1994, pages 357-371; https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0928765594900264#:~:text=In%20both%20physical%20and%20financial%20terms%2C%20the%201991,intense%20pressure%20and%20with%20very%20little%20time%20.)
“The 1991 Drought Water Bank is an example of what can be created with resourcefulness and cooperation. Over 800,000 acre-feet of water was developed in a short time because all the participants were committed to the program’s success.” (The 1991 California Drought Water Bank, DWR, January 1991; https://cawaterlibrary.net/document/the-1991-drought-water-bank/.)
See also: California’s 1991 Drought Water Bank, Rand Corporation, 1993,https://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR301.html.
Mr. Bartkiewicz represented water agencies that provided about 25% of the water from the Sacramento Valley to the 1991 Water Bank.
The 1991 Water Bank has been a model for subsequent drought water banks to the present.
Water Transfer Legislation
Mr. Bartkiewicz also drafted other legislation to facilitate water transfers, which was adopted in 1991, 1992 and 1999. (See, for example, Water Code Sections 384, 1014-1017, 1707 and 1745-1745.11.)
The 2000s
2002 American River Water Forum Agreement
The 2000 American River Water Forum Agreement was the culmination of a six-year process involving numerous representatives of environmental, water, business and public interests. The Water Form Agreement established actions to assure coequal objectives to provide long-term water-supply reliability for the Sacramento Metropolitan region and protective, durable and enforceable instream flow standards for the environmental, recreational and aesthetic resources of the lower American River. The lower American River is nationally-recognized for its beauty, fisheries and recreation. Each year, there are over 5 million visitor-days recorded for the American River Parkway.
Mr. Bartkiewicz played a lead role on behalf of public water agencies in developing and negotiating the Water Forum Agreement.
The Water Forum Agreement has been recognized as a model for resolving complex disputes, receiving the Governor’s Environmental and Economic Leadership Award, ACWA’s Clair Hill Award for Excellence in Water Resource Management and the California League of Cities’ Helen Putnam Award for Excellence, among others. The Water Forum Agreement has been the subject of several publications (including a doctoral thesis) on the use of the collaborative process in the making of California water policy. (For more information see www.waterforum.org.)
2002 Sacramento Valley Water Management Agreement
The 2002 Sacramento Valley Water Management Agreement avoided years of litigation by resolving Phase 8 of the State Water Board’s Bay-Delta water quality proceedings. This agreement voluntarily developed a comprehensive groundwater and surface water conjunctive use program to increase water supplies for California’s farms and cities, and the environment. DWR and the United States Bureau of Reclamation, and numerous State Water Project contractors, federal Central Valley Project contractors and Sacramento Valley water agencies were signatories to this agreement.
Mr. Bartkiewicz played a lead role on behalf of public water agencies in developing and negotiating the agreement. (For more information, see https://norcalwater.org/efficient-water-management/efficient-water-management-regional-sustainability/regional-planning/sacramento-valley-water-management-agreement/.)
2008 Yuba River Accord
The 2008 Yuba River Accord is an innovative program that resolved almost 20 years of regulatory proceedings and litigation by improving 24 miles of fisheries habitat in one of California’s signature salmon rivers. Mr. Bartkiewicz conceived the framework for the program and worked with Yuba Water Agency and numerous stakeholders to implement it.
The Yuba Accord is an alternative to regulatory requirements that would have significantly reduced Yuba Water Agency’s water-supply reliability, would have led to groundwater overdraft and would have reduced needed revenues from Yuba Water’s water transfer program that funded Yuba Water’s mission.
The Yuba Accord includes three interrelated agreements: a fisheries agreement, a water purchase agreement and conjunctive use agreements, that were approved by 17 parties, including local, state and federal agencies and conservation groups.
The Accord fisheries agreement provides optimal flows for fisheries in the lower Yuba River, which were developed by biologists and engineers representing the stakeholders, and includes a comprehensive river science program.
After these new flows provide environmental benefits on the lower Yuba River, they are available for purchase by DWR under the Accord Water Purchase Agreement for the benefit of the environment, cities and farms.
The Accord conjunctive use program assures comprehensive groundwater management so that sustainable groundwater supplies are available in Yuba County for municipalities and to offset shortages in surface water supplies during drought conditions.
Yuba Water Agency uses water transfer revenues to fund local flood control projects, to improve local water reliability and water quality, assist disadvantaged communities and implement numerous other elements of Yuba Water’s mission.
The Yuba Accord has been recognized as a conflict-resolution model, receiving ACWA’s 2008 Theodore Roosevelt Award for Environmental Excellence, the National Hydropower Association’s 2009 Outstanding Stewards of America’s Waters Award and the 2009 Governor’s Environmental and Economic Leadership Award.
See also: https://www.yubawater.org/157/Lower-Yuba-River-Accord.
The Yuba Accord – A Model for Water Management, Public Policy Institute of California, Hanak, 2018, https://www.ppic.org/blog/the-yuba-accord-a-model-for-water-management/.
The Yuba Accord – Lessons Learned in Moving from Controversy to Consensus, Hastings Law Journal, Volume 57, Issue 6, 2006,
chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://repository.uclawsf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3633&context=hastings_law_journal
2009 Delta Reform Act
As Chair of the ACWA State Legislative Committee, Mr. Bartkiewicz played a significant role on behalf of public water agencies in working on major California water legislation, including the Delta Reform Act of 2009 and the 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (which are discussed below).
The Delta Reform Act of 2009 established two coequal goals: securing a reliable water supply for California and protecting, restoring and enhancing the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta ecosystem and the fish, wildlife and recreation it supports. The Act recognized the Delta as an evolving environment, and outlined a state policy of reduced reliance on Delta water exports, instead opting for a strategy of improved conservation, development and enhancement of regional supplies, and water use efficiency.
The Act established an independent state agency – the Delta Stewardship Council – to develop and implement a plan that facilitates the declared coequal goals. The act also established the Delta Independent Science Board, and authorized it to research, monitor and assess programs pursued under the Delta Plan, advising the Council of its findings.
Under the authority of the Act, a Delta Plan was adopted in May 2013. It incorporated 14 regulatory policies and 73 non-regulatory recommendations that contributed to the realization of the coequal objectives, including reduced reliance on Delta exports, final approval and adoption of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan, enhanced water quality standards, protection of the Delta’s unique ecosystem, mitigation of the multiple stressors affecting the Delta, improvement of emergency preparedness throughout the Delta region, reduction of flood risk and prioritized state investment in levee maintenance and upgrading.
The Act represents the first major attempt to reform California water law since 1851. It can be seen as an acknowledgement that the Delta is an ecosystem of national and international significance, that it’s in deep crisis due to water exports, habitat loss, and the impacts of climate change, and that concrete steps must be taken to reverse its decline and restore its ecological integrity.
The 2010s
2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA)
The historic passage of SGMA in 2014 set forth a statewide framework to help protect groundwater resources over the long-term. SGMA comprises a three-bill legislative package, including AB 1739 (Dickinson), SB 1168 (Pavley), and SB 1319 (Pavley), and subsequent statewide regulations. In signing SGMA, Governor Jerry Brown emphasized that “groundwater management in California is best accomplished locally.”
SGMA requires local agencies to form groundwater sustainability agencies (GSAs) for high and medium priority basins. GSAs develop and implement groundwater sustainability plans (GSPs) to avoid undesirable results and mitigate overdraft within 20 years.
DWR serves two roles to support local SGMA implementation:
(1) Regulatory oversight through the evaluation and assessment of GSPs
(2) Providing ongoing assistance to locals through the development of:
· Best management practices and guidance
2015 Yuba Salmon Partnership initiative Term Sheet
The 2015 Yuba Salmon Partnership Initiative Term Sheet was approved by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, National Marine Fisheries Service, Yuba Water Agency, American Rivers, Trout Unlimited and California Sportfishing Protection Alliance to reunite salmon with their habitat above a rim dam in the Sierra Nevada Mountains (where dams blocks salmon in every major river) for the first time in 100 years. This term sheet will guide development of the first-ever “collect-and-transport” program for salmon in California. Similar programs have been developed at numerous dams in Oregon and Washington.
When implemented, the initiative would return Spring-run Chinook salmon to about 30 miles of historical spawning habitat in the North Yuba River upstream of Yuba Water Agency’s New Bullards Bar Dam. This program also includes salmon habitat enhancement measures in the lower Yuba River.
Mr. Bartkiewicz played a lead role for Yuba Water Agency in developing and implementing this initiative. For more information see:
https://wildlife.ca.gov/Search-Results?q=Yuba+Salmon+partnership+initiative#gsc.tab=0&gsc.q=Yuba%20Salmon%20partnership%20initiative&gsc.page=1
2016 Eastwood/Odello Ranch Donation to Big Sur Land Trust
Mr. Bartkiewicz represented Clint and Maggie Eastwood in a complex series of transactions for the donation of the historic Odello Ranch to the Big Sur Land Trust, including obtaining agreements with or approvals from the Land Trust, California American Water Company, the California Water Resources Control Board, the California Public Utilities Commission and Monterey Peninsula Water Management District. Contemporaneous with this donation, irrigation water that would no longer be needed for the donated property was made available for the environment, to offset groundwater overdraft and to allow for infill housing under a building moratorium that had and been in effect since 1995. The transaction also included donation of land to facilitate flood protection for the City of Carmel.
Odello Ranch lies adjacent to scenic Highway 1, and is the gateway to the Big Sur wilderness area. In 1995, Clint and Maggie Eastwood purchased the 134-acre property, which had received permits for building 82 homes. Thereafter, they canceled the building permits as a first step in preserving the property.
Although the State Water Board had previously (in 1995) issued a cease and desist order barring the local water company from making water available for new connections, it approved the redistribution of Odello water supplies. The State Water Board found:
“This combination of direct offsets to Cal-Am's unlawful diversions and action to address the long-term negative effects of the unlawful diversions on the environment distinguish this project from the general language regarding applying water to growth on the peninsula, and make approval of the project consistent with the public interest.) See: chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/waterrights/water_issues/programs/applications/division_decisions/2015/DD2015_0001.pdf
For more information, see: https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Eastwoods-Save-Carmel-s-Historic-Artichoke-Fields-3030151.php; https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-dec-12-mn-63326-story.html; https://bigsurlandtrust.org/carmel-river-free/; and https://www.ksbw.com/article/clint-maggie-eastwood-donate-79-acres-to-big-sur-land-trust/1297516.
The 2020s
2023 Framework for Yuba River Watershed Habitat Restoration Plan Agreement
The 2023 Term Sheet for Framework of Agreement for Yuba River Watershed Habitat Restoration Plan is one of the most-ambitious watershed recovery efforts in California, and a centerpiece of Governor Newsom’s Salmon Recovery Strategy. This landmark collaboration among the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Yuba Water Agency and the National Marine Fisheries Service sets the stage for the return of Spring-run Chinook salmon to their native habitat in the North Yuba River for the first time in more than 100 years (building on the 2015 framework created by the Yuba River Salmon Partnership Initiative).
Habitat enhancement measures include:
· Building a nature-like fishway – a channel resembling a natural river that salmon, steelhead, green and white sturgeon and lamprey can follow to get around the federally-owned Daguerre Point Dam (which was constructed to retain Gold Rush era hydraulic mining debris) to reach over 10 miles of healthy spawning habitat.
· Building a modernized water diversion and state-of-the-art fish screen at Daguerre Point Dam to continue to supply irrigation water south of the lower Yuba River that will protect fish passing the intake.
· Launching a comprehensive upper watershed reintroduction program to support recovery efforts of Spring-run Chinook salmon, with the goal of returning them to their original habitat in the North Yuba River upstream from New Bullards Bar Reservoir.
Mr. Bartkiewicz played a lead role for Yuba Water Agency in developing and implementing this initiative. For more information, see: https://www.gov.ca.gov/2023/05/16/governor-newsom-announces-agreement-to-reopen-yuba-river-to-salmon-and-launch-river-restoration/.
This term sheet is the basis for the Yuba River Habitat Enhancement and Reintroduction Program Agreement (discussed below), which is expected to be executed by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Yuba Water Agency and the National Marine Fisheries Service in April 2025.
2022 Term Sheet for Agreements to Support Healthy Rivers and Landscapes to Update and Implement the Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Plan
The 2022 Term Sheet for Agreements to Support Healthy Rivers and to Update and Implement the Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Plan lays out a comprehensive, multi-year solution that brings together dozens of California water agencies with the state and federal governments to pool resources for concrete actions to provide targeted river flows and increase habitat in the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers and Bay Delta. These environmental improvements will be guided by scientific monitoring and collaborative decision-making. This framework will allow water managers to adapt operations based on real-time conditions and enable broad coordination across watersheds to manage flows for maximum environmental benefits. This adaptive management is critical as climate change increases uncertainty and drives extreme conditions.
This program is a key element of Governor Newsom’s Salmon Recovery Strategy (chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Salmon-Strategy-for-a-Hotter-Drier-Future.pdf). See section 3.4 on page 22.
Mr. Bartkiewicz played a lead role for Yuba Water Agency in developing and implementing this initiative. The State Water Board is expected to approve environmental review and a series of agreements with public water agencies to implement this program during the 2nd quarter of 2025. For more information, see: https://resources.ca.gov/Initiatives/Voluntary-Agreements-Page.)
2024 Yuba River Watershed Habitat Restoration and Reintroduction Program Agreement
This agreement implements the 2023 Term Sheet for Framework of Agreement for Yuba River Watershed Habitat Restoration Plan (discussed above), with provisions for full funding and responsibility for implementing the nature-like fishway and salmon reintroduction program. As noted, this agreement is foundational to Governor Newsom’s Salmon Recovery Strategy (See sections 1.4, 1.5 and 1.7 on page 12.)
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Yuba Water Agency and the National Marine Fisheries Service expect to execute this agreement in April 2025 following completion of environmental review.
The reintroduction plan has lead to the first reintroduction of adult Chinook salmon above a Sacramento Basin rim dam in 100 years in 2025.
Mr. Bartkiewicz continued to play a lead role for Yuba Water Agency in developing and implementing this agreement.
Briefing on California flood control issues at the Pentagon
Mr. Bartkiewicz has participated as a speaker and moderator on numerous panels and continuing legal education programs discussing public law, ethics for lawyers and public officials, environmental law, the federal Endangered Species Act, water rights and water transfer issues. He was a principal drafter of ACWA’s Guidelines for Conduct of Public Officials and Model Ethics Policy (2004). He has also written articles on water rights and water transfers for California Law and Water Policy and the Land Use Forum. He assisted in the preparation of A Guide to Water Transfers (July 1999, California Water Resources Control Board), which helps interested parties understand the processes involved and the information needed to complete water transfers in California. He co-authored the Delta Water Transfer Handbook – Guidelines for Water Transfers through the Delta (1996) for a consortium of water agencies and conservation groups. (He wrote the legal analysis and public policy sections, while two engineering firms wrote technical sections of this publication.)
