The California Water Plan provides a broad set of resource management strategies (RMSs) that can help local agencies and governments manage their water and related resources. The final California Water Plan Update 2023 RMSs were released early this year. DWR is now looking at existing and potential new RMSs to be completed for use in the California Water Plan Update 2028. The RMS team requests your feedback on the next round of RMSs to prioritize and update. Please help by particpipating in the online questionaire by Tuesday, July 1.

Today’s Lunch-MAR presentation will focus on removing suspended solids from surface water recharge systems to improve groundwater recharge. Presenter Adam Hutchinson, recharge planning manager at Orange County Water District, will discuss how the district’s innovative riverbed filtration system more than doubled recharge capacity while removing 96% of suspended solids from Santa Ana River water. The hour-long webinar begins at 12:30 p.m. this afternoon. (This Lunch-MAR webinar was listed in last week’s California Water Plan eNews with an incorrect date of May 28.)

Completion of the New River Improvement Project now prevents heavily polluted water from passing through a 1.5-mile stretch of the New River within the City of Calexico, eliminating threats to public health, the ecosystem of New River, and the wildlife that depend on its natural flow. DWR, with the State Water Resources Control Board and California State Parks, contributed $46.5 million dollars to help provide safe, reliable water for local communities, wildlife, and ecosystems. To read more about how this project has improved life for approximately 38,000 people, see the recent DWR press release.

The fourth and final webinar in Sustainable Conservation’s Climate Resilience in Action series will be on Wednesday, June 11. “Shared Waters, Shared Solutions” will delve into how collaborating for water quality and quantity are critical to secure California’s water future. Expert panelists will discuss how strong partnerships and on-the-ground action advance drought resilience and are essential to building a thriving, climate-resilient California. The hour-long webinar begins at 1 p.m. Registration is required.

For those who missed the recent "Diversions for Groundwater Recharge" virtual public workshop hosted by the State Water Resources Control Board’s (SWRCB’s) Recharge Permitting team, a recording of the 45-minute presentation is available online. For parties interested in acquiring a groundwater recharge permit, the workshop focuses on steps applicants can take to submit a successful permit application. For parties interested in the non-permit pathway, the workshop includes an overview of Water Code section 1242.1 (flood recharge diversions), including recent changes based on Executive Order N-16-25. Other informative workshops and meetings are also available on CA SWRCB – Web Support.