California Water PlanPresented by: Emily, Juhn-Yuan, Zhi, Cheng-Wei, Mitchel

Source: sierrafoothillgarden.com

Organization

1.Process and Structure of California Plan: Juhn-Yuan Su

2.Demand Management: Mitchell Bartolo3.Economic Incentives: Cheng-Wei Yu4.Environmental Flows: Zhi Li5.Climate Change: Emily Palmer

Steering Committee• “The State Agency Steering Committee collaborates to

develop a more comprehensive Water Plan Update that strategically integrates California's water supply, water use efficiency, water quality, flood management planning and environmental stewardship, as well as respective agency missions and goals.” – Taken from:

http://www.waterplan.water.ca.gov/sc2/index.cfm

Mark CowinJohn Laird

Public Advisory Committee• Responsible for updating the California Water

Plan approximately every 5 years• Began in 1966 with Bulletin Board 160

– Used to be Bulletin 25 (1930), then Bulletin 1 (1951), then Bulletin 3 (1957)

Tribal Advisory Committee• Composed of Native

American Tribes in California

• Ensure that the California Water Plan includes:– Tribal Perspectives on

Water– Tribal Perspectives on Land– Tribal Perspectives on

Culture

STEPS1. Steering Committee- expertise and planning2. Public Advisory Committee- suggestions; develop

comprehensive approach to planning3. Topic-Based Caucuses- meetings open to the public on

different subjects4. Tribal Advisory Committee- Native American incorporation

into plan5. Federal Agency Network- policy recommendations and

strategies for water planning

California Water Plan (2013)• FIVE VOLUMES

– Volume 1: Basic Plans and Strategies– Volume 2: Topic-Specific and Technical Plans (Water

Quality, Flooding, etc.)– Volume 3: Hydrologic Region Specific– Volume 4: References to Back Up Claims (60+ Articles)– Volume 5: Technical Information (Assumptions, etc.)

Demand Management

● Current demand: o CA has largest and most diverse economyo Leading agricultural producero River, wetland, coastal ecotourismo Most populous state

● Biggest issue: location and timing of water uses versus supplyo Ex: The top 5 most populous counties are

in SoCal- “forcing the desert to bloom”o Historically: large projects to move

massive quantities of water large distances

o Many criticismstravelmamas.com

deltarevision.com

Demand Management (contd.)● Two key strategies:

1. Agricultural water use efficiency2. Urban water use efficiency

1. Agricultural water use:❖ Agricultural Water Management

Council➢ MOU and EWMPs

❖ Make CA-funded grant programs and incentives a priority (CALFED)➢ hardware, water management, crop

water consumption❖ Education and motivation

➢ irrigation data, innovative tech, pilots/demonstrations

cironline.org

ipp.nasa.gov

Demand Management (contd)2) Urban water use efficiency❖ CA Urban Water Cons. Council

➢ practices institutionalized through MOU-->BMPs

➢ Businesses, water agencies, environmental groups-->local scale

➢ Landscape Task Force: landscape and building water efficiency■ runoff, recycling,

performance standards, public awareness

❖ State and local agency priorities are to:➢ fund (implementation incentives

and research grants)➢ educate and motivate

businesswire.com

CA Water Plan Update 2005

kalw.org

Economic Incentives

Economic Incentives can influence the amount and and time of water use, wastewater volume, and source of water supply.

The main factor of economic incentives is:

Water Rate

Economic IncentivesMajor Implementation Issue

Appropriate Water Rate

Funding for Loans

Investor-Owner Water Utilities Regulation

Incidence of Costs of Incentives

Environment Justice

Self-Served Water Users

Recommendation to Promote Economic Incentives

State Government Should Do:

1.Provide technical assistance to local agencies in developing equitable and effective economic incentives.

2.Provide technical expertise and funding to help local agencies develop and use water management system model tools

3.Assist local agencies in using planning methods and adopting policies that promote water use efficiency

Recommendation to Promote Economic Incentives

Water Rate Should:

1.Use volumetric pricing wherever economically efficient.

2.Use tiered pricing to the extent to improve water management

3.Agencies adopting new water rates should identify the purpose.

Environmental Flows

Assessment ProcessIn the past:

● Design based on historical data, aimed at damage reduction.

● Neglected interrelationship among various systems

Now:● Integrate physical, biological and

social science● Consider uncertainty. ● Robust decision making (RDM)

Case Study - FloodCurrent situation (Data):• 20% population exposed to flooding• What used to be 100 yr flood now happen more frequent• Flood protection systems are old • More than 1300 management agencies

Recommendations:• Improve public awareness of floods• Develop adequate data and tools • Pursue stable funding• Strengthen agency alignment

Issues (Assessment):• Inadequate public awareness of flood risk• Inadequate data/information• Inadequate and unstable funding• Complex governance structure

Climate Change

California’s Approach to Climate Change

● In 2008, the DWR created the “Climate Change Adaptation Strategy”o 10 climate change adaptation strategieso Organized into four categories: Investment, Regional,

Statewide and Improving Management and Decision Making Capacity

● Since 2008 California has yearly published new climate change activities

● The most current water plan takes a quantitative look at the uncertainty surrounding climate changeo Includes 27 alternative climate scenarios

Assessment of Climate Change Planning Process

Comprehensive Four-Pronged Approach:● Investment

o Various grants exist for climate planningo Established Climate Science Programo Established Climate Action Team

● Regionalo Provide Handbook for regional climate planning

● Statewideo Protects resources that span across different regions

● Improving Management and Decision Making Capacityo Incorporate more data, monitoring, research, analysis and

modeling