Water Blueprint for San Joaquin Valley Receives $1 Million Grant

The Water Blueprint for the San Joaquin Valley has been growing. Its efforts to make rational recommendations in the midst of water turmoil is beginning to pay off. This past Friday on June 23^rd the Bureau of Reclamation announced an award of about $1 million to help the California Water Institute and Water Blueprint for the San Joaquin Valley develop and integrate subregional water management efforts and local projects into a unified water plan for the San Joaquin Valley.
 
“Reclamation is committed to looking towards the future relative to sustainable resource management and we are excited to partner and support efforts spearheaded by CWI and the Water Blueprint,” said Adam Nickels, Reclamation’s chief of resources management and planning. “Under this effort, information will be gathered by a diverse cross-section of the American public and stakeholders and will be used by resource decision-makers and stakeholders.”
 
“Everybody is excited and encouraged to receive this funding from the Bureau of Reclamation,” said Austin Ewell, executive director of the Blueprint. “We’ll be able to utilize and capitalize on the expertise of stakeholders representing all sectors of the Valley.”
 
The water plan report will leverage information from counties, cities, and groundwater sustainability agencies. “I’m excited to work with all of the different agencies and evaluate their needs and find a connection between all of them,” said Laura Ramos, CWI research and education division interim director. “Being able to take a look at the entire area will give us a really good visual of what the San Joaquin Valley needs.”
 
The two-year project will look at existing and future conditions and consider various aspects of the plans, including water quality, supply, conveyance, reliability, conservation efforts, flood control and population growth.
 
“This is an excellent partnership and furthers our mission to provide common sense solutions for a prosperous Central Valley,” said Ramos and Ewell in a joint statement.
 
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