Growing human-induced climate change fingerprint in regional weekly fire extremes

Nature Portfolio (Springer Nature) | April 23rd, 2025

Guidance Document for the Sustainable Management of Groundwater Engagement with Tribal Governments June 2017 (Draft)

California Department of Water Resources (DWR) | June 1st, 2017

The objective of this guidance document is to convey information, as provided by California’s Tribal governments, by which local agencies can engage Tribal gove

The objective of this guidance document is to convey information, as provided by California’s Tribal governments, by which local agencies can engage Tribal governments as part of an effort to identify interested persons, and consider the interests of beneficial users of groundwater; including those users on Tribal lands not subject to the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). This guidance document can also be used to help local agencies engage with a Tribal government in the planning, financing, and management of a Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA), or help with the development and implementation of a Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP) pursuant to SGMA.

Guidance for Climate Change Data Use During Groundwater Sustainability Plan Development

California Department of Water Resources (DWR) | April 12th, 2018

This Guidance Document was developed to help Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs) incorporate California Department of Water Resources (DWR)-provided climate change

This Guidance Document was developed to help Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs) incorporate California Department of Water Resources (DWR)-provided climate change and related data into their Groundwater Sustainability Plans (GSPs). The purpose of this Guidance Document is as follows: • Provide relevant data and tools for GSAs to incorporate climate change into their GSPs. • Provide an analysis approach using the provided data and tools that incorporates the best available science and best available information to date. This Guidance Document focuses on the use of DWR-provided climate change data and provides documentation about the following: • Climate change data development approach • Climate change data development methods and processes • Applications for using the provided climate change data • Climate change data assumptions and limitations This Guidance Document provides a process for using DWR-provided climate change data for computing projected water budgets and serves as a companion document to the water budget best management practices (BMPs)2 and the modeling BMP3. For Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) implementation purposes, the use of climate change data can help with the following: • Developing projected water budgets • Long-term planning of groundwater basin sustainability • Assessing projects and management actions by performing sensitivity analyses of projected conditions • Adaptive Management

Guide to Compliance with California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act: How to avoid the “undesirable result” of “significant and unreasonable adverse impacts on beneficial uses of surface waters"

Stanford University | September 4th, 2018

In enacting the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) the California Legislature, for the first time ever, expressly linked the two historically distinct legal r

In enacting the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) the California Legislature, for the first time ever, expressly linked the two historically distinct legal regimes governing water in the state that previously had been entirely separate: one governing surface water use and the other groundwater use. SGMA requires Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs) and their Groundwater Sustainability Plans (GSPs or Plans) to consider and address the groundwater-surface water interaction, and specifically the impacts of groundwater pumping on surface water beneficial uses. SGMA defines sustainable groundwater management as the avoidance of six “undesirable results” identified in the law. The purpose of this guide is to help GSAs and other stakeholders understand and comply with the requirement of SGMA that groundwater withdrawals must not cause “significant and unreasonable adverse impacts on beneficial uses of the surface water,” known as “undesirable result no. 6.” This guide is based on the principle that existing legal frameworks (laws, regulations, court decisions, etc.) provide the clearest and most pertinent guidance on what constitutes undesirable result no. 6. This guide addresses only the explicit legal aspects of this statutory mandate. It does not address technical and scientific aspects of SGMA compliance and offers no advice on the steps GSAs must take to get an adequate technical understanding of the groundwater-surface water connections under their purview. GSAs may look to other sources for guidance on that front. In addition, “Navigating Groundwater-Surface Water Interactions under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act,” authored by experts at the University of California Berkeley provides a helpful overview of the steps involved in implementing SGMA provisions relating to groundwater-surface water interactions.  

Guidebook for Implementation of SB 610 and SB 221 to assist water suppliers, cities, and counties in integrating water and land use planning

California Department of Water Resources (DWR) | October 10th, 2003

Senate Bills 610 (Chapter 643, Statutes of 2001) and Senate Bill 221 (Chapter 642, Statutes of 2001) amended state law, effective January 1, 2002, to improve the link bet

Senate Bills 610 (Chapter 643, Statutes of 2001) and Senate Bill 221 (Chapter 642, Statutes of 2001) amended state law, effective January 1, 2002, to improve the link between information on water supply availability and certain land use decisions made by cities and counties. SB 610 and SB 221 are companion measures which seek to promote more collaborative planning between local water suppliers and cities and counties. Both statutes require detailed information regarding water availability to be provided to the city and county decision-makers prior to approval of specified large development projects. Both statutes also require this detailed information be included in the administrative record that serves as the evidentiary basis for an approval action by the city or county on such projects. Both measures recognize local control and decision making regarding the availability of water for projects and the approval of projects.  Under SB 610, water assessments must be furnished to local governments for inclusion in any environmental documentation for certain projects (as defined in Water Code 10912 [a]) subject to the California Environmental Quality Act. Under SB 221, approval by a city or county of certain residential subdivisions requires an affirmative written verification of sufficient water supply. If coordinated and comprehensive water supply planning is underway at the time that the SB 610-water assessment is prepared, compliance with SB 221 will be greatly facilitated. SB 221 is intended as a ‘fail safe’ mechanism to ensure that collaboration on finding the needed water supplies to serve a new large subdivision occurs when it should – before construction begins. Not every project that is subject to the requirements of SB 610 would also require the mandatory water verification of SB 221 (e.g. if there is no subdivision map approval). Conversely, not every project that is subject to the requirements of SB 221 would also require the environmental document to contain an SB 610 water supply assessment. Projects approved before January 1, 2002 were not subject to the requirements of SB 610 or SB 221; however, some projects may have been subject to the requirement to prepare a water supply assessment as set forth in Senate Bill 901 of 1995 (Chapter 881, Statues of 1995). A foundational document for compliance with both SB 610 and SB 221 is the Urban Water Management Plan (UWMP). Both of these statutes repeatedly identify the UWMP as a planning document that, if properly prepared, can be used by a water supplier to meet the standards set forth in both statutes. Thorough and complete UWMPs will allow water suppliers to use UWMPs as a foundation to fulfill the specific requirements of these two statutes. Cities, counties, water districts, property owners, and developers will all be able to utilize this document when planning for and proposing new projects.

Guidebook to Assist Urban Water Suppliers to Prepare a 2010 Urban Water Management Plan

California Department of Water Resources (DWR) | March 17th, 2011

Guidebook to Assist Urban Water Suppliers to Prepare a 2010 Urban Water Management Plan (Guidebook) has been developed by the California Department of Water Resources (

Guidebook to Assist Urban Water Suppliers to Prepare a 2010 Urban Water Management Plan (Guidebook) has been developed by the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) to assist urban water suppliers in complying with requirements of the Urban Water Management Planning Act (the UWMP Act) and the Water Conservation Bill of 2009. It is meant to help suppliers better understand UWMP Act requirements, but water suppliers are solely responsible for ensuring they’ve complied with the requirements of the UWMP Act or applicable laws. For the purposes of this Guidebook and the UWMP Act, urban water suppliers with 3,000 or more service connections or supplying 3,000 or more acre-feet of water per year are to prepare a UWMP every five years.

Guidelines for Preparing Economic Analyses

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) | May 30th, 2014

The Guidelines for Preparing Economic Analyses are part of a continuing effort by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop improved guidance on the preparati

The Guidelines for Preparing Economic Analyses are part of a continuing effort by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop improved guidance on the preparation and use of sound science in support of the decision-making process. This document builds on previous work first issued in December of 1983 as the Guidelines for Performing Regulatory Impact Analysis (U.S. EPA 1983) and later revised in the late 1990s. In September of 2000, the EPA issued its Guidelines for Preparing Economic Analyses (Guidelines) (U.S. EPA 2000b), revised to reflect the evolution of environmental policy making and economic analysis that had accrued over the decade and a half since the original guidelines were released. At the time of release, EPA committed to periodically revise the Guidelines to account for further growth and development of economic tools and practices. In an effort to fulfill that commitment, this document incorporates new literature published since the last revision of the Guidelines. It describes new Executive Orders (EOs) and recent guidance documents that impose new requirements on analysts, and fills information gaps by providing more expansive information on selected topics. Furthermore, a loose-leaf format has been adopted to facilitate the incorporation of new information in the future. This new, more flexible format, in addition to the electronic release of the document, will allow future updates and additions without requiring a wholesale revision of the document.

Guidelines for the Small Community Drought Relief Program

California Department of Water Resources (DWR) | September 20th, 2022

Handbook for Assessing Value of State Flood Management Investments

California Department of Water Resources (DWR) | June 8th, 2014

Millions of people and over half a trillion dollars in assets are exposed to flood risk in California (DWR 2013a). This remains the case even as State, federal, and local

Millions of people and over half a trillion dollars in assets are exposed to flood risk in California (DWR 2013a). This remains the case even as State, federal, and local flood management agencies have worked for decades to reduce the risk and consequences of flooding in the State. The people of California have shown that they understand the increasing flood risk due to population growth, environmental concerns, climate change, and land use practices, and they are willing to invest in flood risk management projects. This requires the public agencies responsible for California’s flood risk management to demonstrate the value of those investments both before and after they are implemented. This Handbook for Assessing Value of State Flood Management Investments (HAV) supports that effort. The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) has identified foundational goals that shape the State’s water management investment strategy. Those goals are: Improving public safety Fostering environmental stewardship Supporting economic stability

Handbook for Developing Watershed Plans to Restore and Protect Our Waters

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) | March 20th, 2008

This handbook provides information on developing and implementing watershed management plans that help to restore and protect water quality. A watershed is the area of la

This handbook provides information on developing and implementing watershed management plans that help to restore and protect water quality. A watershed is the area of land that contributes runoff to a lake, river, stream, wetland, estuary, or bay. A watershed management plan defines and addresses existing or future water quality problems from both point sources and nonpoint sources of pollutants. Experience over the past decade has shown that effective watershed management includes active participation from stakeholders, analysis and quantification of the specific causes and sources of water quality problems, identification of measurable water quality goals, and implementation of specific actions needed to  solve those problems. This handbook is intended to serve as the basis for developing and implementing watershed plans to meet water quality standards and protect water resources. Although watershed plans are useful for all watersheds to protect and restore water resources, as well as to meet other community resource goals, they are critical for impaired or threatened waterbodies. The most recent national water quality assessment reported that 40 to 50 percent of the nation’s assessed waterbodies are impaired or threatened. 3/20This handbook is designed to provide a framework to help you develop a scientifically defensible plan that will lead to measurable results and an overall improvement in the water quality and watershed conditions that are important to your community.