From Climate Traces to Climate Insights: Future Scenarios Analysis for the California Central Valley

California Department of Water Resources (DWR) | October 2nd, 2023

California Water Code Section 10004.6 requires the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) to quantify current and future water conditions in the state. This infor

California Water Code Section 10004.6 requires the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) to quantify current and future water conditions in the state. This information is published in the California Water Plan (Water Plan), which is updated every five years. Water managers and planners constantly face the challenges of planning for an uncertain future where the only constant is change. To address the potential future changes and mitigate the probable risks, water managers must consider and quantify uncertainties and their impacts on water system vulnerability. Although it is not possible to know for certain how population growth, land use decisions, climate, and other factors change over time, water planners must consider these system stressors in long-term planning to evaluate future risks and uncertainty. The Water Plan evaluates many alternative future scenarios as an integral part of its analytical approach to quantify system vulnerability under a range of population and urban growth scenarios, land use, and climate uncertainties.

From past patterns to future potential: using historical ecology to inform river restoration on an intermittent California river

Landscape Ecology (Springer) | August 30th, 2015

Although human actions have greatly impacted the river’s extent, baseflow hydrology, and riparian habitats, many ecological attributes persist in more limited form, in

Although human actions have greatly impacted the river’s extent, baseflow hydrology, and riparian habitats, many ecological attributes persist in more limited form, in large part facilitated by these fundamental hydrogeological controls. By drawing on a heretofore untapped dataset of spatially explicit and long-term environmental data, these findings improve our understanding of the river’s historical and current conditions and allow the derivation of reach-differentiated restoration and management opportunities that take advantage of local potential.

From wastewater treatment plants to decentralized resource factories

Nature Portfolio (Springer Nature) | June 10th, 2024

Fundamentals of estimating the net benefits of ecosystem preservation: The case of the Salton Sea

Hydrobiologia (Springer) | July 15th, 2008

This article, both theoretical and methodological in nature, argues the potential merits of using a net benefits’ framework as a tool to aid policy-makers in their eff

This article, both theoretical and methodological in nature, argues the potential merits of using a net benefits’ framework as a tool to aid policy-makers in their efforts to compare Salton Sea restoration alternatives and inform the public as to the potential magnitude and distribution of trade-offs associated with each alternative. A net benefits approach can provide a more accurate comparison and evaluation of the potential net returns from public spending on Salton Sea restoration than what wouldbe provided under the suggested criteria of current legislative mandates. Furthermore, a net benefits framework provides a more lucid and systematic accounting framework by which to enumerate the full array of benefits and costs of each alternative for policy analysis. Finally, net benefits’ analysis serves to add transparency to the decision-making process sothat the public gains an understanding of how its scarce resources, including both financial and natural capital, are being appropriated. Additionally, we illustrate and emphasize the importance of estimating the non-market values associated with many of the ecosystem services provided by the Salton Sea and describe the major techniques that do so.

Funding Mechanism Inventory and Evaluation

California Department of Water Resources (DWR) | December 13th, 2018

This document supports information contained in Chapter 4 of the California Water Plan Update 2018. The purpose of this document is to provide a description of th

This document supports information contained in Chapter 4 of the California Water Plan Update 2018. The purpose of this document is to provide a description of the current and novel funding mechanisms, as well as assumptions used in the funding analysis (described in Funding Scenario Analysis supporting document). The Funding Mechanism Inventory and Evaluation supporting document evaluates the current and novel funding mechanisms available to implement water resources management actions. Funding mechanisms need to be appropriate for the management actions being funded (i.e., have a nexus and applicability), be available when needed (i.e., have inter-annual reliability), and have political support (i.e., political viability). Many potential funding mechanisms are available for financing water resources management from State, local, federal, or private sources. Any of these could be applied for different capital and ongoing management actions. This document discusses a range of funding mechanisms and their potential use for capital or ongoing management actions. For capital management actions, the mechanisms include (1) existing, authorized funding streams, such as the State general fund or local taxes and assessments, and (2) limited-duration capital finance mechanisms, such as general obligation (GO) bonds or local bonds. Ongoing management actions are best supported by consistent reliable funding from mechanisms such as general fund, taxes, rates, or assessments. The characteristics of each funding mechanism are detailed in this document and are important considerations for the funding analysis in Chapter 4 of the California Water Plan Update 2018. Novel mechanisms are included in the funding analysis for demonstration and are not a substitute for the studies and legislation required for creation of these mechanisms. Local and federal mechanisms also are included to provide an understanding of historical and future cost sharing potentials. For additional information on historical expenditure levels of State, local, and federal funding mechanisms, seeHistorical Expenditures and Current and Future Funding Needs supporting document.

Funding Opportunity for Voluntary Participation in the Lower Colorado Conservation and Efficiency Program

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) | October 12th, 2022

Funding Scenario Analysis

California Department of Water Resources (DWR) | December 13th, 2018

This document supports information contained in Chapter 4 of the California Water Plan Update 2018. The purpose of this document is to provide a description of the fundin

This document supports information contained in Chapter 4 of the California Water Plan Update 2018. The purpose of this document is to provide a description of the funding analysis as well as the scenarios evaluated by the funding analysis. This supporting document provides the analysis called out for in the California Water Plan Update 2013 Finance Planning Framework Component 8, which recommended the development of a decision support system (DSS) to provide guidance to the State on tradeoffs in a funding plan. To respond to this recommendation, this supporting documentation describes a funding tool used in the funding analysis and how scenarios were used in the tool to evaluate tradeoffs of different approaches to funding the recommended actions described in Chapter 3 of the California Water Plan Update 2018. The funding analysis used information about historical expenditures and funding need developed in the Historical Expenditures and Current and Future Funding Needs supporting document and information about existing and novel funding mechanisms developed in the Funding Mechanism Inventory and Evaluation supporting document. 

Funding Water in Times of Financial Uncertainty: The Case for a Public Goods Charge in California

Stanford University | January 15th, 2015

Funding for water-related public purpose projects has become increasingly scarce in California. Utilities are facing new challenges that require additional capital while

Funding for water-related public purpose projects has become increasingly scarce in California. Utilities are facing new challenges that require additional capital while the state’s legal system has restricted the ability of local governments to raise funds. This fiscal landscape requires the water sector to find new ways to finance water-related public interest projects, including conservation and efficiency programs, monitoring and evaluation, and infrastructure maintenance and modernization. California must also generate supplementary funds for new water technology research, development, and dissemination if the state is to continue to grow despite dwindling water supplies. In recent decades, California has relied heavily on general obligation (GO) bonds to finance a variety of water-related projects. GO bonds, however, are unreliable funding mechanisms as they require voter approval if they survive the legislative process, and they can be costly in the long run as they are repaid with interest. Additionally, GO bonds violate the beneficiary-pays principle as the entire state repays a debt that benefits taxpayers in certain regions more than others. This research paper looks at a supplemental funding mechanism, a Public Goods Charge (PGC), as an additional way for California to provide for water investment in the future. In a PGC scheme, ratepayers are charged a small, usage-related fee, and the funds are subsequently allocated to public interest projects at the local, utility, state, and broader scales. This method was used to fund electricity public purpose programs in California from 1998-2011, resulting in over $5.8 billion collected by the state’s three main Investor Owned Utilities (IOUs), with additional funds collected by local Publicly Owned Utilities (POUs), for energy innovation over 14 years. Utilities and the state as a whole benefitted economically and environmentally from the increased funding for energy efficiency, renewables, and research and development. The electricity PGC helped to transform California’s energy landscape into one that includes more modern and sustainable infrastructure systems. Significant energy savings were also achieved during the PGC era.

Future Atmospheric Rivers and Impacts on Precipitation: Overview of the ARTMIP Tier 2 High-Resolution Global Warming Experiment

American Geophysical Union (AGU) | March 14th, 2023

Atmospheric rivers (ARs) are long and narrow weather features often referred to as “rivers in the sky.” They often transport water from lower latitudes to higher lati

Atmospheric rivers (ARs) are long and narrow weather features often referred to as “rivers in the sky.” They often transport water from lower latitudes to higher latitudes typically across climate zones and produce precipitation necessary for local climates. Understanding ARs in a warming climate is challenging because of the variety of ways an AR can be defined on gridded data sets. Unlike weather features such as tropical cyclones where identification methodologies are similar, algorithms that determine the characteristics of ARs vary depending on the science question posed. Because there is no real consensus on AR identification methodology, we aim to quantify the algorithmic uncertainty in AR metrics and precipitation. We compare 16 different ways of defining an AR on gridded data sets and present the range of possibilities in which an AR could change under global warming. Generally, ARs are projected to increase but the amount of that increase is a function of the algorithm. Across all algorithms and focus regions, AR precipitation is projected to become more extreme.

Future Changes in Global Atmospheric Rivers Projected by CMIP6 Models

American Geophysical Union (AGU) | January 31st, 2024