The California State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) Division of Water Rights will hold two virtual workshops on Monday, October 19, and Monday, October 26, for those planning to divert surface water for groundwater recharge this winter. The sessions will explain temporary water-right permits, rules for flood-recharge diversions, and related topics. Each workshop will be held from 10 to 11 a.m., and registration is required for each session.

Workshop 1: Getting Ready to Recharge with a Permit (October 19). Register now.
Workshop 2: Capturing Floodflows Without a Permit (October 26). Register now.

In celebration of the 10th anniversary of the California Open and Transparent Water Data Platform for California, DWR and the California State Water Resources Board will host an open data-focused webinar featuring Earth Genome and their revolutionary platform Earth Index. Earth Index is planetary search engine and environmental monitoring software that allows relatively non-technical users to access the advanced capabilities of Earth observation foundation models through iterative human-in-the-loop machine learning. The platform allows users to build extensive datasets in days that would have previously taken months, and without the need for coding or advanced data science skills. This Water Datathon webinar is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Monday, October 19. Registration is open now.

Members of the California Water Data Consortium Telemetry Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) will discuss their telemetry recommendations to the California State Water Resources Board during “Data for Lunch: The State and Future of Telemetry in California,” a 90-minute webinar starting at noon on Wednesday, October 21. Among other topics, TAC will discuss where telemetry investments are most critical, effective, and cost-efficient; lessons learned from bringing water rights holders, water users, agencies, nonprofits, and researchers to the same table; and what the future holds for telemetry in California. Registration for this event is open now.

DWR will host a series of Regional Forums throughout the state to hear directly from water experts, communities, Tribes, academia, and other interested parties in a discussion about the California Water Plan (CWP). The series starts with a virtual Regional Forums kick-off meeting on Monday, November 16, from 2 to 3 p.m. This virtual forum will provide attendees with updates from DWR about the CWP; water supply strategies and regional solutions; technical analysis and data being used to inform CWP development; and roundtable discussions to share regional data, challenges, and potential solutions. The forums will be hosted primarily in person, but virtual participation options will also be available. Registration for this event is required. Additional information, including the meeting agenda, will be shared soon on CaliforniaWaterPlan.com.

A new report published by Sustainable Conservation addresses the question: “What more can be done to accelerate progress toward restoration and climate targets in the Delta and Suisun Marsh?” Developed in collaboration with The Nature Conservancy and informed by surveys and interviews with 27 organizations involved in Delta restoration, Accelerating Restoration in the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta and the Suisun Marsh: Progress and Next Steps to Cut Green Tape examines how California can build on recent progress and remove remaining barriers to restoration in one of the state’s most ecologically and economically important landscapes. The 72-page report provides several recommendations to address the largest challenges to timely, landscape-scale restoration in the Delta and Suisun Marsh. It also examines how well the State’s restoration-specific permitting tools are working in the Delta, where gaps remain, and what is needed to meet California’s climate and habitat goals on time. The full report is available online, as is a detailed, comprehensive summary of the report.