Commission on Water Resource Management

The Commission last updated the Water Resource Protection Plan (WRPP) in 2008. The WRPP update includes policies, program directives, resource inventories, and recommendations across a broad spectrum of resource management issues. Efforts supporting this update focused on the following tasks:

• Declaration of Commission policies, goals, and objectives, including applicable Supreme Court rulings, Decision and Orders, Declaratory Rulings, and pertinent regulatory actions approved and/or adopted by the Commission;
• Update of ground water hydrologic units and sustainable yields;
• Establishment of surface water hydrologic units and a stream coding system, and the development of a surface water diversion database;
• Explanation and description of the Commission’s surface water management program and implementation plan;
• Development of statewide ground and surface water monitoring program priorities;
• Examination of water conservation and augmentation alternatives, drought preparedness and mitigation actions, and watershed protection programs; and
• Development of recommendations for future actions and funding requirements.

An updated WRPP will provide for more successful coordination and integration of State and county efforts related to sustainable water resource development and enable the Commission to more effectively implement the statutory objectives of the State Water Code. Regularly updating the WRPP and other components of the HWP will facilitate the counties’ integration of updated information into their respective water use and development plans. Revision of HWP components through a “living document” approach provides county and State decision makers with well-formulated options and strategies for addressing future water resource management and development issues.

• Submittal: Adoption of 2008 Water Resource Protection Plan Update
• Download Entire Document [8.4 MB]

 Download Document by Sections

• Cover Page and Table of Contents
• Section 1 – Introduction
• Section 2 – General Water Resource Management Principles and Policies
• Section 3 – Inventory and Assessment of Resources [5.4 MB]
• Section 4 – Monitoring of Water Resources [1.5 MB]
• Section 5 – CWRM Regulatory Programs
• Section 6 – Existing and Future Demands
• Section 7 – Resource Conservation and Augmentation
• Section 8 – Drought Planning
• Section 9 – Watershed Protection
• Section 10 – Water Quality
• Section 11 – Priority Recommendations and Implementation Plan
• Section 12 – References
• Appendix A – Planning Context for the WRPP
• Appendix B – CWRM Permit Process Diagrams
• Appendix C – 1989 Declared Surface Water Use