The state of California has unveiled the start of a multi-year effort to modernize water planning and protect water sources throughout the state with California Water Plan 2028. The plan seeks to address escalating climate change-driven disasters, volatile weather and extreme environmental shifts.
State officials anticipate the plan as one of the most significant statewide action-oriented blueprint in California history, with a set goal of adding nine million acre-feet of water supply by 2040. Climate change has resulted in the state’s existing supply swinging between extremes – from extraordinarily wet to intensely dry with the span of the same season. Modernizing the California Water Plan to prepare for these unprecedented and unpredictable conditions is essential for sustaining the state’s residents, farmers, communities and operations.
With the announcement, the state will begin the first phase of work to modernize the water plan by enhancing data, setting attainable water supply targets and establishing measurable benchmarks. The nine million acre-feet water supply goal represents an interim target equivalent to how much water the state could lose because of reduced snowpack and prolonged droughts. Reaching and sustaining that goal post represents an achievement in supply, conservation, recharge and storage strategies used to close supply gaps and ensure long-term water reliability.
The Department of Water Resources (DWR) will now convene an advisory committee to begin creating a framework for the 2028 and 2033 Water Plan updates. The committee will be composed of representatives from urban and agricultural water suppliers, tribal communities, labor, environmental justice and interests, local government, businesses and other relevant parties.
Planning efforts for the California Water Plan 2028 will prioritize three workstreams:
- Data for water use and supply balances: collecting statewide, watershed-scale datasets, leveraging new data and advanced technologies and bringing in statewide planning models.
- Targets for long-term water supply: creating credible, localized targets; expanding coverage of hydrologic regions and aligning with Governor Newsom’s 2022 Water Supply Strategy and the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act.
- Actions for adaptation and implementation: creating place-specific strategies, including nature-based solutions, to close supply-demand gaps; creating cost-benefit analyses; and tracking progress and integration across state, federal, and local planning.
DWR has launched a central hub for plan updates, meeting materials, timelines and opportunities for engagement at californiawaterplan.com. The committee’s first meeting will be in April and open to the public.
Photo by Steve Johnson from Pexels
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