By Don Wright
The Water Blueprint for the San Joaquin Valley held a meeting at Fresno State University’s Jordan Agriculture Research Center and on Zoom, Wednesday, October 21, 2026. Today’s meeting includes the Education Fund and the Advocacy Fund. It was scheduled to begin at 9:00am but there was a traffic problem around Fresno State. There were seven people on screen at the conference room and more than 20 participants online.
The Meeting
Vice Chairman Geoff Vanden Heuvel called the meeting to order at 9:03am saying Chairman Eddie Ocampo was in route. Roll call was conducted by Maddy Benner and there was a quorum. Vanden Heuvel made an executive decision and asked Sarah Woolf to give an update on the Collaborative Action Plan.
Woolf said the CAP is expecting a $500,000 grant from the Packard Foundation and should be meeting in person in the near future. They are working on Delta issues. Many of the participants have asked the steering committee to form a group to start talking about the Delta. High flows for recharge will be receiving attention. There is also work on the nitrates in groundwater and water quality in general. There could be a good deal of redundancy taking place and it would be very beneficial to increase the efficacy of the regulatory landscape.
Klye Jones also reported CAP is working with the State Water Resources Control Board on funding that needs to go to communities with needs. There are also a list of projects CAP is working on with Fresno State. He said they’re improving the CAP website and want to start gathering suggestions from the public for more projects.
Vanden Heuvel asked one of the CAP leaders to explain what it is they do. Woolf said the CAP started in 2020 as a group of diverse stakeholders. There are five caucuses; ag, water supply, environmental, local government and drinking water that interact to find common ground. They meet monthly and look for mutual benefits and where the interests meet.
Finances
Chairman Ocampo had arrived and assumed control. The consent agenda was next and was approved. Kassy Chauhan gave the financial report. She said the finance committee met last week and all the documents were included in the packet. The next meeting will have a draft budget for 2027 and if approved invoicing for contributions can come in earlier.
The Blueprint has in the past contributed $400 to BizFed a community group focused on the financial needs of the Valley. The board approved recontributing to BizFed. J. Scott Petersen reported some Blueprint stakeholders have asked the organization for letters of support for grant applications. He said the agenda item would standardize the procedure for stakeholders in good standing. There was a 10-point guide and it doesn’t include the requirement that a stakeholder be a financial contributor. The board accepted.
Contracts
Chauhan told the board Wendy Lauchland of the Lauchland Group was hired for a six-month term to help with fund raising. The finance committee recommended renewing Lauchland’s contract for $2,500 per month for another six months with a focus on fundraising for the Phase II of the economic study.
Interim CEO Austin Ewell spoke in favor of continuing with Lauchland and pointed to her work for the increased funding the Blueprint has realized in the past six-months. He also said having a focused goal such as completing the Phase II study with more defined goals will need the resources Lauchland provides. The board agreed and continued the contract.
Strategic Plan
Ewell said the Leadership Committee has reviewed the strategic plan for organizational direction, mission and vision statements. Ocampo thanked everyone for their hard work and asked others to share their comments.
Vanden Heuvel said when you compare CAP’s strategic plan with the Blueprint’s you’ll see how much in alignment the groups are. He said the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act has placed a serious concern on how much the Valley must pull together. He said the CAP has cast a broad net and the Blueprint is looking for solutions and how to bring us all together. He said the Valley is very vulnerable and the next drought really raised the survival stakes.
Econ Study
Ewell said there has long been a goal to expand the Sunding Report. WestWater Research has been helpful in that report. Now WestWater is the leading contender to help guide the Phase II of the economic impact report.
Scott Hamiliton reported there has been research into the cost of developing the Phase II report. He said there hasn’t been a formal request for proposals sent out yet, but WestWater and ERA have both shared an estimate. Aaron Fukuda asked how much difference in cost made WestWater more attractive. He also cautioned the proposed scope of work from the two firms may be apples and oranges. Ewell said Westwater’s proposal was $80,000 and ERA was $175,000.
Vanden Heuvel said the bigger question is how much the Blueprint can afford. He said given WestWater’s history with Dr. Sunding it is a legitimate firm. Hamilton said he’d like to have the $80,000 in hand and then send out an RFP through official channels. He moved the board have the Finance Committee raise $80,000 for the economic study. And he wanted the goal to raise this money by the end of the year. Chauhan said this is most likely too tight a timeline at the end of the year although she appreciates the need for setting the goal.
Fukuda added he agreed with Vanden Heuvel and suggested the CAP be a partner on this. Petersen said exploring funding partnerships makes sense: but he is concerned having an earmarked funding for consultant services might not be the best way to fund this. Lauchland said forming partnerships is important and she’s started a list. She asked for a one pager immediately for the outreach. The board approved raising the money.
Reports
Ewell reported the steering committee met for a groundwater investigation and that should continue on a monthly basis. He said an occasional update from Stantec Engineering would be in order for future meetings.
Ocampo asked Lauchland to contact him once she gets the one pager as he has some funding ideas. He said the Blueprint has some unique opportunity to raise its visibility through partnerships at this time and needs to take advantage of it.
Hamilton reported the recent meeting with the US Bureau of Reclamation about the Unified Water Plan. He’s hearing feedback the Bureau would like more specifics in addition to the concepts. He’d like to develop a document to show examples of how the plan will actually work in real life, if I understood. He proposed breaking it down into portfolios and showing the targets and how the goals could be achieved. It would have as much detail as which agency would be the lead on the project. What will determine success? He’s working on a paper to achieve this concept and hopes to have a draft for the December meeting.
Petersen said the Congress and the state legislature are on recess. Yay. On the federal side this recess could slow Reclamation projects for a bit. There is a focus on improving Central Valley Project allocations. He also said the National Academy of Science is meeting and suggested the Blueprint get involved.
Beth Olhasso reported on state matters from Sacramento saying the year is over. Both tribal water bills were vetoed. There are some tribes angry with Governor Gavin Newsom. She expects all manner of vetoed bills from the past two years will get another try when the new gov takes office. A couple of good golden mussel bills were signed and she thanked Petersen for his hard work in this area. She said the possibility of flooding may well be the biggest water issue facing the new governor. There are also seats on the State Board opening up. She said next week will be very busy with a two-day hearing on the Bay Delta Plan. The week after there will be State Board meetings on the Sites Project.
Petersen said the recent State Board release on the Bay Delta plan is causing a good deal of heartburn. It gives the State Board way more power and both ag and enviro are upset. It sounded like he didn’t see a cure for the mess.
Vanden Heuvel commented that he’d attended a water management meeting hosted by Congressman Jim Costa. He came away so impressed by the unity of the Delta water agencies. Petersen said the Healthy Rivers & Landscapes has been replaced with increased outflows and the onus falls on the Central Valley Project and the State Water Project. He said it is the policy decisions that are the biggest problem and no matter what – the attorneys are going to make a pile of cash from this.
Alexandra Lavy reported eblasts and the October blog had a good response and included an opening with at the governor’s office. Ocampo urged more board members to contribute to the blog.
That was all there was for the Education Fund and the Advocacy fund was very short, like about one minute. It was stated next month’s meeting will include a strategic plan workshop and will start at 8:30am. The meeting adjourned at 10:42am. Go be good to each other and yourselves.
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The Water Blueprint for the San Joaquin Valley is a coalition of water users, water districts, farmers, commodity groups, and municipalities engaged with environmental non-governmental organizations, community-based groups, and academia to advance common sense water solutions for our state. For more information go to: www.waterblueprintca.com
