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CALIFORNIA’S WATER SUPPLY STRATEGY
Adapting to a Hotter, Drier Future

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CALIFORNIA’S WATER SUPPLY STRATEGY
Adapting to a Hotter, Drier FutureThis document outlines California’s strategy and priority actions to adapt andprotect water supplies in an era of rising temperatures.
Over the next 20 years, California could lose 10 percent1 of its water supplies.
Our climate has changed, and the West continues to get hotter and drier. As it does, we will
see on average less snowfall, more evaporation, and greater consumption of water byvegetation, soil, and the atmosphere itself.
ADAPTATION SUPPLIES
Increased Water Recycling

WATER SUPPLY WITH NO ACTIONS

Increased Desalination
Expanded Storage Above and Below Ground

USABLE
WATER

Increased Stormwater Capture
2012-2016
Drought

2020-?
Drought

2030s

Increased Conservation

2040s

Note: bars are conceptual, not an absolute scale.

In previous droughts the ratio of precipitation to evaporation to runoff has been similar.
However, as temperatures rise, evaporation increases, with the consequence of a fall in runoff.
As average temperatures continue to increase, the increase in evaporation will continue, with aconcurrent drop in runoff.

P R E C I P I TATThe coming water cycle: the air claims moreIn the water cycle, evaporation lifts moisture into clouds
that drop precipitation, as rain or snow. This water becomesrunoff that courses downhill on the surface, or into the soil tobecome groundwater.

ATION
R
O
P
A
EV

ION

P R E C I P I TAT

ION

F
F
O
N
RU
Rising temperatures evaporate more water, butmore of that water stays in the air. Thirsty soils
retain more runoff, and more use of groundwaterrequires more water for recharging watertables.

1 DWR estimates a 10% reduction in water supply by 2040. This is a planning scenario that considers increased temperatures and decreased
runoff due to a thirstier atmosphere, plants, and soils. According to the California Water Plan Update, California’s managed water supply
ranges from 60-90 MAF per year so the effect of a drier climate results in a disappearance of about 6-9 MAF of water supply.

CALIFORNIA’S WATER SUPPLY STRATEGY - ADAPTING TO A HOTTER, DRIER FUTURE

PAGE 1 of 16 AUGUST 2022

California’s precipitation always has swung between drought and flood. Those swings
are becoming more severe. Regardless of drought or flood, in this changed climate
there will be less water available for people to use than there would have been in acooler climate because of the way plants, soils, and the atmosphere use water as
temperatures rise.
The volume of water used by people in California for agriculture, urban, andenvironmental purposes ranges from 60 million acre-feet per year to 90 million acre-feetper year. A loss of 10 percent of that volume to hotter, drier conditions could mean thedisappearance of about six million acre-feet to nine million acre-feet of water supply.
For comparison’s sake, California’s largest reservoir – Shasta – holds 4.5 million acre-feet.
Water underpins much of what we care about as Californians. To thrive and grow as astate, we will have to make up for a loss of supply. We must innovate, conserve, store,
reuse, and repurpose water.
This document outlines four sets of actions the State will pursue to prepare California for
its new climate reality.
These targeted actions aim to secure supplies for people, so that homes, schools, andbusinesses do not suffer disruptions, and the state’s agricultural economy continues
to thrive.
In concert with these actions, the State is working to protect fish and wildlife populations
by removing stream barriers, restoring aquatic habitat, bolstering stream flows at
ecologically important times, and expanding floodplains and wetlands.
The State also continues to make progress extending clean, safe drinking water to all
Californians; in the last three years, the number of people impacted by failing water
systems has fallen from 1.6 million to 934,000, and the state has delivered emergency
drinking water assistance to 9,456 households and 150 water systems in this drought.
The actions in this strategy aim primarily to support the urban and suburban water
systems that serve most Californians and to stabilize water supplies for agriculture. But
benefits from these actions will extend to environmental protection and fulfillment of theright of every Californian to safe drinking water, and the State continues to advance
those efforts apart from this strategy.

How California is taking action to protect community water supplies
The Water Resilience Portfolio has guided State water policy since July 2020 and willcontinue to do so. It is a comprehensive suite of actions that support local water
resilience. However, the record-breaking temperatures and aridity of the 2012-16
drought, followed so closely by another stretch of similar conditions beginning in thewinter of 2020-21, send a strong climate signal that we must heed. These new, more
extreme conditions make clear that to secure water supplies, we must double down on
a set of actions within the Water Resilience Portfolio, with haste.
Executing this strategy will require coordination with local, tribal, and federal partners to:1) Develop new water through recycling and desalination.
CALIFORNIA’S WATER SUPPLY STRATEGY - ADAPTING TO A HOTTER, DRIER FUTURE

PAGE 2 of 16 AUGUST 2022

2) Capture and save more stormwater, above ground and below ground.
3) Reduce use of water in cities and on farms.
4) Improve all water management actions with better data, forecasting,conveyance, and administration of water rights.

1. Develop New Water Supplies
Investments in wastewater recycling and desalination technology can help droughtproof communities.
1.1 Reuse at least 800,000 acre-feet of water per year by 2030 and 1.8 million acrefeet by 2040, with most of that additional recycling involving direct wastewater
discharges that are now going to the ocean.

Closing the evaporative gap
To offset increased evaporation tied to warmer average temperatures, California must
capture, recycle, de-salt, and conserve more water.
Increase
Conservation
Halt Irrigationof Marginal Lands
Increase
Stormwater
CaptureIncrease
Desal Production

Expand Storage
Above and Below
GroundIncrease
Recycled Water

2030

2040

Increase Recycled Water.8 MAF

1.8 MAF

Increase Desal Production

28,000 AF

84,000 AF

Increase Stormwater Capture.25 MAF.5 MAF

Increase Conservation.5 MAFSUBTOTAL FOR RECYCLED, DESAL, STORMWATER AND CONSERVATION

1.6 MAF

Expand Storage Above and Below Ground*

3.7 MAF

4 MAF

Total

4.8 MAF

6.9 MAF

About
5 MAF

.5 MAF
2.9 MAF

About
7 MAF

*Additional storage capacity does not equate to a similar volume of new water supply. MAF – million acre-feet.

CALIFORNIA’S WATER SUPPLY STRATEGY - ADAPTING TO A HOTTER, DRIER FUTURE

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Currently, recycled water offsets about nine percent of the state’s water demand,
about 728,000 acre-feet per year. The State Water Resources Control Board (State Water
Board) has invested a total of $1.8 billion in recycled water projects statewide overthe last five years that are in various stages of development. Once completed, thoseprojects will generate an additional 124,000 acre-feet of new water supply.
Approximately 1.5 million acre-feet per year of treated wastewater is currently
discharged to California’s ocean waters. Not all of this can be recycled, as somewater is needed to discharge brine, and wastewater in some places provides criticalstreamflow for fish and wildlife. But in many places, communities can tap this resource tobuild water supply resilience.
Current regulations enable communities to use recycled water for drinking via areservoir or aquifer, and in 2023, the State Water Board will establish direct potable reuse
regulations that allow suppliers to distribute recycled water without first putting it into areservoir or aquifer.
Implementation Steps:■ The State will consider greater investments and leverage federal dollars where possible
to build on the $3.2 billion in financing for water recycling projects that the State Water
Board has provided to 94 projects since 2012. At roughly $15,000 an acre-foot, it would
require a state, local, and federal investment of approximately $10 billion to achieve
the 2030 goal and $27 billion to achieve the 2040 goal of recycling an additional 1.8
million acre-feet of water.
■ By January 1, 2024, the State Water Board will work with local water and sanitation
agencies to identify recycled water projects that hold the potential to be operationalby 2030 and by no later than 2040.
■ The State Water Board will formalize a process currently underway by convening a strike
team to identify and resolve permitting and funding obstacles.
■ The State Water Board will track the permitting and funding status of recycled waterprojects with a public, digital dashboard.
■ The State will support local water sustainability plans that include water recycling,including (but not limited to):■ Operation NEXT/Hyperion 2035 (City of Los Angeles)■ Pure Water San Diego (City of San Diego)■ Integrated Water Resources Plan and Climate Action Plan (Metropolitan Water Districtof Southern California)■ Water Supply Management Program 2040 (East Bay Municipal Utility District)■ The State Water Board will act on direct potable reuse regulations by December 2023.
1.2 Expand brackish groundwater desalination production by 28,000 acre-feet per
year by 2030 and 84,000 acre-feet per year by 2040 and help guide location ofseawater desalination projects where they are cost effective and environmentally
appropriate.
CALIFORNIA’S WATER SUPPLY STRATEGY - ADAPTING TO A HOTTER, DRIER FUTURE

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There are 14 seawater desalination plants across the state, with a combined production
capacity of approximately 89,000 acre-feet per year. Some are not operating at full
capacity and could be positioned to generate additional water supplies in drought,
much as “peaker” power plants operate in short bursts to support electricity reliability
at times of peak demand. Another 23 brackish groundwater desalination plants havea combined production capacity of 139,627 acre-feet per year. Brackish groundwaterrequires significantly less energy to treat than seawater.
Proposals to build desalination projects along the coast must be approved under the
Coastal Act, in addition to other regulatory requirements. As California becomes hotter
and drier, we must become more resourceful with the strategic opportunity that 840
miles of ocean coastline offer to build water resilience.
Implementation Steps:■ By January 1, 2024, the Department of Water Resources (DWR) and the State Water
Board, in coordination with local agencies, will identify the brackish desalination
projects that have the potential to be operational by 2030 and by no later than 2040.
The State will consider investing in grants to local agencies for planning and building
desalination projects.
■ By January 1, 2024, the State Water Board will review groundwater basins impairedby salts and nutrients and determine the volume of water available for brackish
groundwater desalination.
■ As the State’s representative on the U.S. Department of Energy’s five-year, $100 million
desalination innovation hub, DWR will continue to guide research investments towards
technological breakthroughs that solve California desalination challenges.
■ The State will help streamline and expedite permitting to provide better clarity andcertainty to further desalination projects. To this end, by June 30, 2023, the State Water
Board, Coastal Commission, DWR and other State entities (e.g. State Lands Commission)
will develop criteria for siting of desalination facilities along the coast and recommend
new standards to facilitate approval.
■ Within the following year, these agencies will identify potential available mitigation sites
to facilitate the expedited approval of desalination facilities. The State Water Board willconsider amendments to the Desalination Policy in its Ocean Plan to streamline permits
that meet the recommended siting and design standards for projects located in theidentified priority areas.

2. Expand Water Storage Capacity Above and Below Ground by FourMillion Acre-Feet.
While creating more space to store water in reservoirs and aquifers does not create
more precipitation, and though having enough rain and snowfall to fill storage space isout of our control, we need diversion infrastructure, more places to park runoff, and theconveyance to eventually move the water to where it is needed to take advantage offast-moving storms. Expanding storage capacity improves the ability to capture runoff

CALIFORNIA’S WATER SUPPLY STRATEGY - ADAPTING TO A HOTTER, DRIER FUTURE

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when diversions cause the least harm to the environment. Furthermore, apart from ahotter and drier climate, capturing water runoff is needed to help correct decades ofover-pumping of groundwater basins.
2.1 Expand average annual groundwater recharge by at least 500,000 acre-feet.
Vast capacity to store water exists underground in California. Intentional, directedrecharge of groundwater is one of the fastest, most economical, and widely available
ways to harness the bounty of wet years to cope with dry years. It has the additional
advantage of helping to halt or prevent land surface collapse due to over-pumping,which can damage roads, canals, and bridges. Expanding groundwater recharge
requires adherence to laws, so that the environment and water users upstream anddownstream are not harmed when streamflow is directed underground. With themulti-faceted suite of actions below, the State intends to help local water agencies
to accelerate the pace and scale of groundwater recharge. These actions center on
helping local agencies understand the best locations for recharge, analyze the impactof their recharge proposals on the environment and other water users, and expeditiously
permit their projects.
Local agencies are developing groundwater recharge projects around the state. By
the end of next year, the State cumulatively will have invested $350 million in local
assistance for recharge projects. In planning documents, local agencies have proposed
more than 340 new recharge projects that, if built, could result in as much as 2.2 million
acre-feet of additional stored water in a single wet year by 2030. Until those projects
are permitted, it is unclear how much water those projects will have the capacity todivert to underground storage; multiple proposals may rely on the same sources ofunappropriated water. But an additional 500,000 acre-feet is a reasonable estimateof the additional average annual recharge volume that may be obtained after theseprojects are vetted, permitted, and constructed.
California must be ready to respond to future wet winters. Fortunately, several processes
already are in place that could be used to divert water from high-flow events tounderground storage. Additional outreach, education, and technical assistance will be
critical for preparing diverters for a potentially wet winter so that permits can be put inplace before the start of the rainy season.
Should local actions become too fragmented or inefficient to maximize recharge
opportunities, the state should consider a coordinated, state-level approach to provide
for orderly, efficient disbursement of rights to high winter flows.
Implementation Steps: To help achieve this target, DWR and the State Water Board
will continue to provide regulatory and technical assistance to local agencies thathave received State funds to ensure that groundwater recharge project proponents
can successfully navigate the regulatory processes. The State will weigh the following
actions. Some would require additional investments and, possibly, regulatory changes.
■ Outreach:■ DWR and the State Water Board will conduct a series of outreach activities tohighlight temporary permitting pathways in advance of winter, to assess the status of
CALIFORNIA’S WATER SUPPLY STRATEGY - ADAPTING TO A HOTTER, DRIER FUTURE

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proposed recharge projects, and to better align state and local agencies to advancegroundwater recharge. The outreach would focus on the use of an existing 180day temporary permit process and would note that permit applications should bereceived no later than October 1 to be ready for diversions in January.
■ By December 2022, DWR will evaluate a process whereby it files for 180-day temporary
permits in certain watersheds on behalf of local agencies, in order to advance thedevelopment of the permit terms and conditions. DWR also would pay the filing fee,
which could help facilitate local willingness to participate.
Technical Assistance:■ DWR will provide outreach and assistance to help connect potential diverters with
State Water Board permitting staff to answer specific questions and provide informationthat enables effective permit applications.
■ By October 2022, the State Water Board water right permitting staff will prioritize
groundwater recharge permits.
■ Incentives:■ The State will weigh immediate and long-term incentives for recharge projectapplicants to pursue the State Water Board’s streamlined recharge permitting
pathway. Incentives could include:■ Waiving of application costs partially or fully for a two-year period.
■ Connecting infrastructure funding to applications that use the State Water Board’s
streamlined underground storage permitting approach.
■ Prioritization of State funding for groundwater recharge projects that target highflow events, which raise fewer concerns about the environment and other waterright holders than projects that seek to capture water in “shoulder” seasons of spring,summer, and fall.
■ DWR will expand its watershed modeling tools to better assess water available forrecharge on a watershed basis.
■ Regulatory Streamlining:■ The State will streamline water right permits for recharge projects receiving DWR grants
or conducted under DWR’s Flood-Managed Aquifer Recharge Program.
■ The State Water Board will develop permanent regulations for water availability
analyses that specify methodologies, data, and alternatives for conducting
such analyses.
■ The Administration will pursue legislation to revise the water right application process todeliver decisions more quickly.
■ State Administration of Potential Recharge Flows:■ DWR and the State Water Board will develop a mechanism to create a moreconsistent, economical, and equitable approach for allocation of water rights forgroundwater recharge. The initial proposal would focus on the State securing all
reasonably available future flood flows in the Central Valley, allowing the State to
CALIFORNIA’S WATER SUPPLY STRATEGY - ADAPTING TO A HOTTER, DRIER FUTURE

PAGE 7 of 16 AUGUST 2022

then allocate the available water in an orderly, holistic, equitable, and integrated
approach. The process would:■ Level the playing field for local agencies, especially those that lack the resources tonavigate the water right process.
■ Set clear water availability metrics for every potential applicant, allowing for faircomparisons among applicants.
■ Address equity concerns, including, for example, the need to protect domestic
wells or abate subsidence.
■ Leverage other funding opportunities.
■ Spur tight coordination between the State Water Board and DWR in the allocationof water rights.
2.2 Work with local proponents to complete the seven Proposition 1-supported storage
projects and consider funding other viable surface storage projects.
Seven locally-driven projects are underway to increase the state’s overall capacity tostore water by 2.77 million acre-feet – nearly three times the capacity of Folsom Lake.
The seven projects are on track to receive a combined $2.7 billion in state funding
from Proposition 1, the 2014 water bond, once they meet the requirements imposedin the bond law. Four of the projects involve groundwater storage and three involve
creation of a new or expanded reservoir. Two of these seven projects are likely to begin
construction next year. Project proponents are working now to obtain permits, arrange
financing, finalize environmental documents, and negotiate contracts with state agencies
for the delivery of public benefits from the projects, including environmental flows.
Implementation Steps:■ To formalize, streamline and continue existing efforts, the California Natural Resources
Agency and the California Environmental Protection Agency will establish aninteragency strike team to facilitate state permitting and support completion of theseprojects.
■ Water Commission staff will continue to monitor development of the seven Proposition 1
projects closely.
■ Permit teams from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) and the State
Water Board will continue working with applicants and with other state agencies toinform and advance the development of contracts for administration of public benefits.
■ Water Commission, DWR, CDFW, and State Water Board teams will continue robust
coordination. and working with applicants to draft and execute contracts foradministration of public benefits.
2.3 Expand San Luis Reservoir by 135,000 acre-feet.
The federal government is proposing to expand San Luis Reservoir in Merced County
to capture more winter storm runoff. In extremely wet years like 2017, San Luis fills andCalifornia misses an opportunity to capture and store even more water for use during
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subsequent dry years. The project would expand the capacity of thetwo-million acre-foot reservoir by 130,000 acre-feet -- enough to supply nearly 400,000
homes a year. DWR is working with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) on
this proposed project and sees it as an important part of a set of inter-related joint
projects to benefit the Central Valley Project and State Water Project, which include
upgrading the San Luis Reservoir dam for earthquake safety, modernizing conveyanceof water through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, and restoring capacity lost due tosubsidence at major Central Valley canals.
Implementation Steps:■ In December 2019, Reclamation and DWR announced a partnership to move forward
on the seismic upgrade. Reclamation and DWR celebrated the groundbreaking of the
project in June 2022. Construction is expected to finish in 2028. DWR will continue towork with Reclamation to complete the seismic upgrade and expansion.
2.4 Rehabilitate dams to regain storage capacity.
As of May, 112 California dams are rated “less than satisfactory” by State dam
inspectors, and the reservoirs behind 41 of those dams cannot be filled beyond a certain
level in order to protect public safety. The loss of storage is about 350,000 acre-feet per
year. Accelerating dam safety repairs would help local water districts regain lost storage
capacity and improve public safety. While this has historically been a federal or local
obligation, the Legislature and Administration enacted additional funding to support
dam owners faced with costly repairs.
Implementation Steps:■ DWR will administer the $100 million in the 2022-23 budget for local dam safety projects
and flood management.
2.5 Support local stormwater capture projects in cities and towns with the goal toincrease annual supply capacity by at least 250,000 acre-feet by 2030 and 500,000
acre-feet by 2040.
Over the last 30 years, an average of approximately 324,000 acre-feet of stormwater ayear has been captured and recharged in communities in the South Coast alone. While
this value varies from year to year, during the exceptionally wet winter of 2004-05 over
900,000 acre-feet of runoff was captured and infiltrated into the local groundwater basins.
The size, cost, and feasibility of stormwater capture projects vary greatly by location. It isextremely difficult for stormwater agencies to accurately measure stormwater capture
volume and to predict potential due to uncertainties with annual precipitation.
Implementation Steps:■ Through permitting and funding, the State will incentivize local agencies to develop
stormwater capture projects and help offset the cost of completing these projects,
including through stormwater crediting systems to encourage public-private
partnerships.

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■ The State Water Board will hire a contractor to provide an estimate of current
stormwater capture and use statewide and then re-evaluate every five years progress
towards the 2030 and 2040 goals.

3. Reduce Demand
3.1 Build upon the conservation achievements of the last two decades to reduce annual
water demand in towns and cities by at least half a million acre-feet by 2030.
During the 2012-2016 drought, Californians did their part to conserve water, with manytaking permanent actions that continue to yield benefits; per capita residential water
use statewide declined 21 percent between the years 2013 and 2016 and has remainedon average 16 percent below 2013 levels as of 2020. Californians need to step up again
in this current drought. The State set a target of 15 percent for statewide conservation.
Californians have made progress toward that goal in the summer of 2022, but more isneeded to cope with the intense drought at hand and for the long term.
California enacted laws in 2018 to set new efficiency standards for how people use
water in homes and businesses in ways that make sense in each region. These standards
will drive fully-efficient water use in communities and eliminate water waste, even as
communities continue to grow. The 2018 legislation calls for these standards to be
met by 2030. The State Water Board is on track to set those new standards, informedby extensive data collection and analysis and recommendations from DWR. The
recommended standards for indoor and outdoor water use for residential, commercial,industrial, and institutional water use could save 450,000 acre-feet per year starting in
2030. This amount of water would support 1.35 million homes, and the savings would
prevent urban water use from rising as much as it would otherwise as population
grows and more housing is built. These new standards would not apply to individual
Californians, but local water suppliers must ensure the standards are met.
Given the acute need to conserve water in a potentially fourth dry year, the State
Water Board will develop emergency conservation measures that would expedite
implementation of conservation in a way that is already mandated through the 2018
laws. If drought conditions persist, the new short-term requirements could take effectno later than spring 2023. The new requirements would consider the relative efficiencyof each supplier. These new efficiency targets would therefore work as a bridge to take
California from voluntary measures to efficiency-based, water-use budgets that accountfor differences in climate zones, landscape area, population, and other factors.
In addition, the Administration sponsors a robust campaign to motivate urban
Californians to save water and is working to accelerate the transition of turf tolandscapes that use less water. To this end, the State will partner with local agencies
to convert 500 million square feet of ornamental turf by 2030, with corresponding
investments in programs and policies that incentivize turf conversion. Removal of 500
million square feet of turf could generate 66,000 acre-feet of water savings each year at
an estimated cost of $1 billion.

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Implementation Steps:■ The State Water Board will develop short-term efficiency-based conservation targets forevery urban retail water supplier based on their unique characteristics like climate zone,
water demand, residential landscape area, and population. The Board will compare
water suppliers’ actual use to their estimated efficient use target and assign them apercent reduction, with a higher reduction target for suppliers whose actual use isfurther from their efficient use target.
■ DWR and the State Water Board will target grants to help local water districts achieve
efficiency targets, using funding recently approved by the Legislature.
■ The State-run Save Our Water campaign will continue to educate Californians about
the severity of the current drought and the need to make water conservation apermanent, daily practice.
■ DWR will establish a grant program to support local efforts to replace ornamental turf
with drought-tolerant landscaping and—where schools and parks require turf—to
make turf irrigation and maintenance more efficient, with a focus on disadvantaged
communities.
■ The State Water Board will advance adoption of new long-term water use efficiency
standards, per existing statute (2018).
■ Once DWR provides its formal recommendations, the State Water Board will begin theprocess for enacting the regulation to ensure the rule will be in effect by January 1, 2024.
3.2 Help stabilize groundwater supplies for all groundwater users, including a moredrought-resilient agricultural economy.
California irrigated agricultural acreage declined by 1 million acres between 2002 and2017. The approximately eight million acres of irrigated farm and ranchland will shrink byat least an estimated additional 500,000 acres to one million acres between now and
2040 as local agencies transition to groundwater use that is sustainable over coming
decades. The conserved water should support a more drought-resilient agricultural
economy that retains its vitality.
Implementation Steps:
The State will:■ Continue to implement the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) toprotect communities, agriculture, and the environment against prolonged dry periods
and climate change, preserving water supplies for existing and potential beneficial use.
■ Support local water demand management that includes changes to cropping patterns
and fallowing by building upon this year’s investment of $40 million in grants to regionalorganizations working to reduce groundwater reliance and create local environmental
and economic opportunities through land-use changes.
■ Continue to support conservation and water efficiency practices by agricultural
producers.
■ Support flexibility in local land use decisions to protect beneficial uses and users.
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■ Continue direct investment and technical assistance in drought relief for agriculture
with dedicated funding to assist socially disadvantaged and underserved populations.

4. Improve Forecasting, Data, and Management, including Water Rights
Modernization
Crucial to achieving the water supply actions described here is a common, readilyavailable set of facts about water supply and use, better forecasting, and integrated useof data and technology. Water rights modernization and reform are critical to ensuring we
can efficiently and effectively adapt to a changing climate.
4.1 Improve data collection and modernize forecasts for a changed climate.
Sierra snowpack provides about a third of the water people use in California, yet theexisting approach to forecasting snowmelt runoff dates to the 1950s.
To account for climate change, we must simulate the physics of interactions among
the atmosphere, water as rain or snow, and the land surface – and we need to do thisfor individual watersheds, incorporating site-specific features like slope orientation anddepth of soil. This requires timely data collection.
Implementation Steps:
The State will:■ Continue to invest in the human and technical resources needed to improvepredictions and forecasting for water supply planning.
■ Advance a multi-agency effort to install 430 new stream gages and upgrade or reactivate 200 more across the state. These gages provide real-time surface water data
for enhanced drought management and flood response.
■ Work with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers leadership to accelerate the pace at which
the manuals guiding reservoir operations are updated to reflect a changed climate.
4.2 Improve the flexibility of current water systems to move water throughout the state.
California depends upon aging, damaged, or increasingly risk-prone infrastructure totransport water between different areas of the state. Modern infrastructure and tighter
coordination between the state’s two major water projects would expand capacity tomove water when it is available.
The state and federal water projects are fed by levee-lined channels in the SacramentoSan Joaquin Delta. This Delta infrastructure faces serious threat of failure due to storm
surge, sea level rise, and earthquakes that could collapse levees. Loss of this watersupply for any amount of time poses significant risk to farms, businesses, and most
California homes. South of the Delta, major canals have been damaged by subsidence
caused by the over-pumping of groundwater, restricting the capacity to move water
when it is available.
DWR proposes to modernize State Water Project (SWP) conveyance in the Delta. Had
the proposed project been operational in 2021, the project could have captured and
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moved an additional 236,000 acre-feet of water into San Luis Reservoir during thatwinter’s few large storms.
Administrative hurdles also limit flexibility to move water. Every year for the last 10
years, the federal and state water projects have applied to the State Water Board for
temporary flexibility in the locations where water diverted by either project may be used.
These “consolidations of the authorized places of use” of the SWP and the Central Valley
Project last only a year and require repetitive work by all parties involved. A permanentchange to allow for consolidated place of use among the projects would make watertransfers easier and lay the groundwork for discussions about future operation of the two
projects.
Implementation Steps:■ DWR will advance the design of and the draft environmental impact report for the
proposed Delta conveyance project, which would construct new intakes along the
Sacramento River and a tunnel under the Delta to safeguard SWP deliveries andensure that the SWP can make the most of big but infrequent storm events.
■ DWR will disburse $100 million included in the 2022-23 state budget to support costs ofrepairing four major San Joaquin Valley canals damaged by subsidence.
■ DWR and the State Water Board will chart a work plan to address the resources
needed for preparation, submittal, and consideration of a joint place of use petition
from the federal and state water projects.
4.3 Modernize water rights administration for equity, access, flexibility, andtransparency.
The foundation of how California manages water rights dates to the Gold Rush and has
not evolved in step with changing public values and management needs. The State
Water Board is challenged to provide timely, useful, and meaningful information to
guide state and local water management decisions, which are especially vital during
periods of drought.
Other western states including Washington, Oregon, Nevada, and Idaho manage water
diversions much more nimbly than California, which puts them in better position to adjust
to what many call “aridification” – the transition to a drier climate. The ability to adjust
diversions quickly also is crucial to protecting fish and wildlife, other water right holders,and public health. To make a century-old water right system work in this new era, theState Water Board needs accurate and timely data, modern data infrastructure, andincreased capacity to halt water diversions when the flows in streams diminish. These
improvements are a necessary predicate to modernize our water rights system in amanner that respects water right priorities and aligns with current public values andneeds.
Implementation Steps:
The State Water Board will:■ Continue to build upon efforts started last summer with the investment of $30 million todigitize existing paper records and rebuild the state’s water right data management system.
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■ Develop pilot projects in two or three watersheds over the next five years to collect realtime diversion data and integrate the data into the State Water Board’s water rights
data system, with lessons learned and outcomes used to inform statewide tools needed
for administering an efficient and effective water rights system.
■ Develop data and analytical tools for implementing the water right priority system foran estimated 10 to 15 watersheds.
■ Support modeling staff to develop more robust supply/demand models for the Delta
watershed.
■ Consider adopting regulations that would allow for curtailments of water rights inyears when there is not a declared drought emergency. The State currently lacks theauthority in most years to implement the priority water rights system without a declareddrought emergency.
■ Support enforcement staff to help address illegal and unauthorized diversions during dry
conditions.
■ Consider regulations, legislation, and pursuing resources needed to streamline andmodernize the water right system, clarify senior water rights, and establish more
equitable fees.

Why target these actions?
The last three years of record-breaking drought made painfully real the hotter, drierpressures on water systems. These four major sets of actions would put to use water thatwould otherwise be unusable, stretch supplies with efficiency, and expand our capacity
to bank water from big storms for dry times. They are designed, in other words, for a
climate prone to weather whiplash.
These actions alone will not eliminate local water supply risk. The variability of rain
and snow is too great, as is the uncertainty about which projects local agencies will
implement. These actions aim to spur local agency adaptation to a new reality andchange the way the State does business in order to better support local and regional
water management efforts.

Who will carry out this strategy?
The state and federal governments each operate large water delivery systems in
California, but local water districts and counties have primary responsibility for getting
supplies to homes and businesses. Thousands of local and regional entities play a role inwater management. Implementation of this strategy will require decisive state action.
It will also require partnerships, as local agency leaders, federal partners, farmers, otherbusiness owners, and individual Californians are essential actors in carrying out this plan.
To ensure successful implementation in such a decentralized system, the State must
lead, set goals, provide incentives, and be prepared to exert greater authority whennecessary.
The State will prioritize its funds and human resources to support local projects that satisfy
state planning and permitting requirements to protect natural resources and help us
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collectively reach the targets outlined above. The State will invest in forecasting anddata and water right administration – including real-time tracking of water use – toimprove all water management actions by state, local, federal, and private entities. The
State will also ensure that California’s response advances equity and takes into accountcommunities that are most at risk from climate change and that have experienced
environmental injustices.
Water affordability is key to ensuring the human right to water – established in California
law -- in the face of a hotter, drier state. The State has made strides in promoting
affordability through provision of low-interest loans and grants to support infrastructure
and planning for water systems, and by addressing pandemic-related water debt.
However, the increased investments in infrastructure necessary to meet our future watersupply needs will put additional pressure on affordability. The State will identify how
best to support low-income households and address community affordability of water
systems. Electric and communication utilities have programs to ease cost burdens on
low-income members of the community, and it is important to address this in the water
utility sector in a way that is workable and sustainable from a state budget perspective.
Where local agencies fail to build water resilience, the State will exert greater regulatory
authority or work with the Legislature to gain authority to do so.

Moving Smarter and Faster
Climate change uniquely affects California’s regions. This document articulates
statewide targets for certain water management strategies, but achieving thoseoverarching goals requires solutions at the local level, where the opportunities andchallenges of each watershed vary tremendously. To encourage collaboration acrosswatersheds that leads to greater statewide water resilience, the State will work withstakeholders and the Legislature to create:■ A funding program that incentivizes water users to develop regional targets forrecycling, desalination, storage, efficiency, and other water management strategies.
■ An expedited permitting path for water projects that help regions achieve thosetargets.
In order to deliver the pace and scale of projects necessary to meet this unprecedented
climate challenge, we must modernize regulatory structures and expand staff capacity
so that State agencies can assess, permit, fund and implement projects at the pace thisclimate emergency warrants.
The Administration will work with the Legislature and stakeholders to pursue the following:■ A more expeditious process for completing, reviewing and finalizing California
Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) reviews and Water Code proceedings for criticalwater infrastructure projects to build drought and flood resilience.
■ A voluntary permitting process for water infrastructure projects administered by theGovernor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR). State agencies would retain
authority to review, identify, and address environmental impacts, but the OPR would
expedite the collective permitting process. This proposed process would not be an
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option for water projects already under environmental review. The Administration would
work with the Legislature to determine eligibility criteria for this voluntary process.
■ Legislation, where appropriate, and regulations that would allow for curtailmentsof water rights in years when there is not a declared drought emergency. The State
currently lacks the authority in most years to implement the priority water rights system
without a declared drought emergency.
The Administration will:■ Develop water availability analysis guidelines for water right applications that accountfor high-flow periods on fully appropriated streams and the way climate change isshifting the seasonality and intensity of runoff. Develop permanent State Water Board
regulations that specify the data and methodologies to be used for conducting suchanalyses in order to remove the current ambiguity about regulatory requirements.
■ Establish a State Water Board, DWR and the California Department of Food andAgriculture “Groundwater Recharge Coordinating Committee” to jointly implement the
groundwater recharge initiatives.
■ Establish programmatic permitting for projects of a similar nature (such as water
recycling or habitat restoration) in order to lower costs, simplify process, and speed
permit approval.
■ Institutionalize early alignment and regular internal coordination across state agencies
on the permitting of water supply adaptation projects.

Conclusion
The world is getting hotter. The increased heat will intensify the natural swings in
California’s climate and shrink water supplies. Targeted state funds and focus will
support local efforts to conserve, capture, recycle, and de-salt enough water to allow
California communities to prosper in a hotter, drier climate.

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