Report on an Integrated Regional Water Management Plan for the San Joaquin Valley of California – May 2016

The greatest challenge for the San Joaquin Valley is to determine what the Valley watershed systems can support after all the water sources, needs and uses are calculated and management strategies optimized. The San Joaquin Valley could also benefit from additional institutional mechanisms to fairly administer the findings and recommended management strategies of that assessment. A logical institutional strategy are two Watershed Councils (San Joaquin River Basin and the Tulare Basin), with comprehensive Advisory Groups and Basin Watermasters that include water source management and landscape science as well as water use management in the duties and strategies of these Watershed Councils and all the support elements. The San Joaquin Valley would then have a fully integrated water plan.