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Water Management Workshops

CIWR's Occasional Water Management Workshop Series partners with academic collaborators in California to co-sponsor workshops on topics of water management. Since January 2023, we have co-sponsored workshops with multiple UC campuses and also co-sponsored events and meetings organized by UC academics.

SGMA in 2023: Advancing an Agenda to Meet Emerging Needs

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On June 6th, 2023, roughly 60 practitioners, researchers, and community members met at UC Berkeley to discuss social and economic issues around groundwater management in California. Organized by University of California Cooperative Extension Specialists Kristin Dobbin and Ellen Bruno, the convening identified how researchers, practitioners, and communities can work together to support SGMA implementation.

Practitioners and researchers identified many important knowledge and resource gaps throughout the day's conversations. And, in bringing together this diverse group with shared interests, in many cases solutions or opportunities to address these challenges also quickly became apparent. For example, while Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs) are relatively new groups with limited data archives, counties and other regional entities may have the information researchers often seek.

An overview of the event is available on our blog, The Confluence, along with a detailed summary of findings from the presentations and discussions.

Integrated Water and Land Management Transitions in California: Merging Research and Policy

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Water and land management are deeply interconnected in California. Both are essential resources that sustain communities, ecosystems, and agricultural productivity. Many agencies, non-profits, companies, and private landholders manage these resources throughout the state. In the 21st century, planning and management agencies face escalating challenges such as climate change adaptation, water scarcity management, Sustainable Groundwater Management Act implementation, and habitat restoration and species protection initiatives. Therefore, there is a critical need to develop multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary research and tools to enhance the integration of land and water management at both local and statewide levels in California.

To explore how research can improve planning and policies, Secure Water Future at UC Merced, the Environmental Defense Fund, and the California Institute for Water Resources co-sponsored a pair of workshops in October 2024 that brought together researchers and practitioners from universities, agencies, non-profits, and communities. The first workshop on October 16-17, 2024 at UC Merced discussed research needs for integrated land and water management in 21st Century California with an emphasis to policy, community-based needs, and emerging solutions from research.

Workshop Agenda

Keynote: Eric Serrato, Director of Workforce Investment, Merced County, CA

Panel: Equitable and Sustainable Land Use Transitions in California

Panel: Local Level Planning Challenges & Regional Issues

Panel: Mini-Panel: Emerging Research on Water Management and Cropping Regimes