BACKGROUND

On April 29, 2019, Governor Gavin Newsom issued Executive Order N-10-19, which directed the California Natural Resources Agency, the California Environmental Protection Agency, and the California Department of Food and Agriculture to work together to prepare a water resilience portfolio that meets the needs of California’s communities, economy, and environment through the 21st century.

The preparation of the water resilience portfolio has been assigned to Ms. Nancy Vogel.

As prescribed in the Executive Order, the water resilience portfolio shall embody the following principles:

1. Prioritize multi-benefit approaches that meet multiple needs at once.
2. Utilize natural infrastructure such as forests and floodplains.
3. Embrace innovation and new technologies.
4. Encourage regional approaches among water users sharing watersheds.
5. Incorporate successful approaches from other parts of the world.
6. Integrate investments, policies and programs across state government.
7. Strengthen partnerships with local, federal and tribal governments, water agencies and irrigation districts, and other stakeholders.

STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT OUTCOMES

The California Water Institute at Fresno State has been asked by Ms. Nancy Vogel, with the California Natural Resources Agency, to convene stakeholders from across the San Joaquin Valley to generate water resiliency recommendations for the San Joaquin Valley.  Resilience recommendations should be specific, measurable and actionable, and focus on multi-benefit, multi-stakeholder solutions that improve water supply conditions at the regional scale.  The expected outcomes for the Stakeholder Engagement process include, but are not limited to, the following:

1. Identification of water system infrastructure improvements to improve water supply quality, reliability, redundancy and drought resiliency for all stakeholders in the SJ Valley?
2. Identification of water system operational modifications to improve water supply quality, reliability, redundancy and drought resiliency for all stakeholders in the SJ Valley?
3. Identification of successful pilot-scale and demonstration-scale projects that have been recently completed in the San Joaquin Valley to improve water supply quality, reliability, redundancy, and drought-resiliency.
4. Identification of partnering opportunities among multiple stakeholder groups to implement resiliency projects in a more timely and cost-effective manner.
5. Identification of opportunities to streamline regulatory policies and procedures to implement resiliency projects in a more timely and cost-effective manner.
6. Identification of other investments, policies, programs, services, partnerships, etc. required to improve water supply quality, reliability, redundancy, and drought-resiliency in the SJ Valley.

STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT SCHEDULE

You are cordially invited to participate in one of the Stakeholder Engagement Workshops listed below.

Invitations to the workshops will be extended to all stakeholders in the SJ Valley including, but not limited to, representatives from urban, agriculture, disadvantaged communities, and environmental interests.  The objective will be to foster workshop discussions that are inclusive and diverse, and promote innovation and creativity for regional collaboration and cooperation for improved water supply quality, reliability, redundancy, and drought-resiliency.

Seating is limited to 40 persons per workshop, and multiple workshops are being offered to provide flexibility for stakeholders to participate.  All workshops will follow the same agenda, and workshop discussions will be driven by workshop attendees.  Individuals may attend one or more of the workshop events if they so desire, and seating is available.

If you would like to submit your water resiliency recommendation directly to California Natural Resources, email to input@waterresilience.ca.gov.

If you would like to attend other listening sessions for water resilience click here http://waterresilience.ca.gov/calendar/ to see other scheduled sessions.

To register for one or more of the workshops listed below, please click <here>.

Workshop No. 1

Fresno State

Saturday, August 31, 2019

10:00 am to 2:00 pm (working lunch provided)

Workshop No. 2

Fresno State

Saturday, September 7, 2019

10:00 am to 2:00 pm (working lunch provided)

Prepare DRAFT Stakeholder Engagement Report

Week of September 16th – Distribute DRAFT Consolidated Report of Workshop Recommendations

Prepare FINAL Stakeholder Engagement Report

Week of September 23rd – Distribute FINAL Consolidated Report of Workshop Recommendations

If you have questions about the workshops, please call the California Water Institute at 559-278-7001.