Update 2018

California Water Plan Update 2018 draws from and builds on reference documents related to water resources to enhance the content and produce a better plan with each succeeding update. They provide the methodology, assumptions, data, estimates, and other information used in the development of this update.

• 2018 California Tribal Water Summit Proceedings — The summit proceedings provide a summary of the summit speakers, panels, and discussions that occurred during the two-day summit in April 2018.
• California Must Enhance Groundwater Recharge and Storage — This summary describes the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources’ and the California Economic Summit’s proposed actions to increase implementation of groundwater recharge projects in California. The information was compiled during a stakeholder meeting in September 2018.
• California Water Action Plan Implementation Report: 2014–2018 Summary of Accomplishments — The implementation report highlights the accomplishments during the implementation of the “California Water Action Plan” from 2014 to 2018.
• California Water Plan Glossary — The glossary contains terms used in the text of Update 2018 and additional terms related to water resources.
• Corporate Water Stewardship and the Case for Green Infrastructure — This report presents how private sector investment in green infrastructure can reduce water-related risks and provide multiple co-benefits while helping companies achieve water-stewardship goals.
• Disadvantaged Communities Visioning Workshop Recommendations — This report presents recommendations that support a more effective, equitable, and accessible roadmap to meeting the water needs of disadvantaged communities.
• Ecosystem Services and California’s Working Landscapes: Market Mechanisms to Revitalize Rural Economies — This report explores current and potential markets for water provision, agricultural production, climate stability, outdoor recreation, and biodiversity to identify ways of mapping, valuing, and investing in ecosystem services to help protect California’s natural capital and narrow the economic divide between its urban and rural regions.
• Engaging the Business Community on Watershed Sustainability Assessments: Opportunities, Challenges, and Recommendations — Engagement between the public and private sectors can be a powerful tool for assessing, addressing, and reducing shared water risks. This report provides an overview of opportunities, challenges, and recommendations for achieving this engagement.
• Flood-MAR: Using Flood Water for Managed Aquifer Recharge to Support Sustainable Water Resources This white paper explores opportunities to use flood-managed aquifer recharge (Flood-MAR). It demonstrates the need for Flood-MAR to become an important part of California’s portfolio of water resource management strategies to help significantly improve water resource sustainability and climate resiliency throughout the state.
• Funding Mechanism Inventory and Evaluation — This document provides a description of the current and novel funding mechanisms, as well as assumptions used in the funding analysis in Update 2018.
• Funding Scenario Analysis — This document provides a description of the funding analysis as well as the scenarios evaluated by the funding analysis in Update 2018.
• Future Water Scenarios — This document covers future water supply and demand scenarios developed by the California Water Plan to analyze long-term future climate, urban growth, and land use conditions and their effect on long-term water demand conditions.
• Historical Expenditures and Current and Future Funding Needs — This document provides a description of California’s water resources management historical expenditures and the current and future funding needs in the state.
• Integrated Regional Water Management Panel Discussion Summaries: California Water Plan Update 2018: 2017 and 2018 Plenary Meetings — A compendium of panel discussions and session activities, this report provides a summary of the integrated water management sessions DWR hosted in conjunction with the Integrated Regional Water Management (IRWM) Roundtable of Regions, during the Water Plan plenary meetings in support of Update 2018.
• Process Guide for Update 2018 — This article summarizes the elements of the Update 2018 development process, while highlighting the organizational structure and methods used to facilitate a robust, iterative collaboration among agencies, California Native American Tribes, stakeholders, and the technical team.
• Progress Report for Implementation of Assembly Bill 1755, the Open and Transparent Water Data Act — This report includes the background, accomplishments, and next steps for implementing A.B. 1755. It describes the strategic plan, initial protocols, use case development, long-term governance and funding options, the implementation planning by eight partner State agencies, and stakeholder engagement.
• Recharge Roundtable Call to Action: Key Steps for Replenishing California Groundwater — This report summarizes results of a Groundwater Resources Association of California and the University of California Water Security and Sustainability Research Initiative workshop to identify key actions needed to significantly increase recharge to California groundwater systems.
• Report on the Water Sustainability Atlas Pilot Project with Recommendations — This report provides the accomplishments and recommendations for full-scale implementation on the prototype Sustainability Atlas successfully used in three pilot projects for the American River Basin IRWM region, the San Diego IRWM region, and the Mojave IRWM region.  
• Stakeholder Perspectives: Recommendations for Sustaining and Strengthening Integrated Regional Water Management — This report provides stakeholder recommendations on actions needed to sustain and strengthen the practice of IRWM with the goal of achieving regional sustainability.  
• State Board of Food and Agriculture Letter to Governor Brown — Recommendations for Groundwater Managed Recharge — This letter delivers the recommendations related to groundwater recharge from the board to the governor in support of achieving the goals of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) and the “California Water Action Plan.”
• Strategic Data Framework — The Strategic Data Framework aims to connect the California Department of Water Resources programs to support achieving the sustainable water management goals of the Water Plan, the “California Water Action Plan,” and SGMA.
• The Sustainability Outlook: A Summary — The Sustainability Outlook establishes a comprehensive method, or tool, for tracking and reporting the progress and the effectiveness of implementing water management actions and policies, as well as return on investment. By doing so, the Sustainability Outlook provides shared agreement and consistency across State government and local governments throughout California.  
• Sustainability Outlook Indicator Descriptions and Methodology — The Sustainability Outlook relies on identified indicators to track status and progress toward sustainability, including the effectiveness of State water policies and return on investments. This document details the process for developing the indicators as defined within the California Water Plan (Water Plan).
• Sustainability Outlook Pilot Project: Russian River Watershed — The Russian River watershed was selected as a pilot area because of established relationships in the watershed. In addition, the innovative and participatory local entities involved have fewer distinctive jurisdictions or agencies, compared with other watersheds in the state. As planned, this pilot is applying the outcome-based planning concepts advanced by Update 2018 at a watershed scale.
• Sustainability Outlook Pilot Project: Santa Ana River Watershed — The Santa Ana River watershed was selected as a pilot area because of established relationships in the watershed, as well as the innovative sustainability planning of the One Water One Watershed plans coordinated by the Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority. The “One Water One Watershed 2.0 Plan” (2014) created an indicators-based tool for assessing integrated regional water management plan performance, based on earlier California Department of Water Resources grant-supported work at the Council for Watershed Health, and “California Water Plan Update 2013” work at the University of California, Davis. This pilot draws from the earlier work and the experience in the region with application of the Water Foundation’s Sustainability Water Management Profile.
• Water Budget Development Practitioner’s Handbook(DRAFT)— The Water Budget Handbook will provide a tool that uses data and models to develop water budgets for any geographic area and time period. This will allow local agencies to develop their own water budgets.
• Water Budget Pilot Projects — As proof of concept for the Water Budget Handbook, pilot projects for the Tulare Lake and Central Coast hydrologic regions demonstrate the value of water budgets to achieve and manage water resources sustainability.  
• Water Portfolios and Balances — Water portfolios and balances describe the distribution of water throughout the hydrologic cycle, water use by the urban and agricultural sectors, water in the environment, and water supply sources used to meet these uses at the statewide and regional levels.

These State government plans, related to water resources, were used to inform policy recommendations and short- and long-term actions in California Water Plan Update 2018.

The Update 2018 Public Review Draft was released on December 21, 2018 for public review. We received 50 comment letters, all available upon request.