On the Water Front

Wukchumni Tribe showcases restoration project at annual gathering for California Multibenefit Land Repurposing Program

Darlene Franco sits on a log at a restoration site

Wukchumni Tribal Chairperson and CEO Darlene Franco sits amid recent native plantings in a restoration area near Visalia funded through the California Multibenefit Land Repurposing Program.

Land and water conservation efforts are often implemented in highly local, context-specific ways, shaped by the land itself, the people who steward it, and the unique challenges they face. When the people leading this work have the chance to connect, it creates opportunities for deeper learning, collaboration, and a stronger sense of purpose. 

Last month, the third annual Pause and Reflect meeting did just that, providing an opportunity to connect for participants of California’s Multibenefit Land Repurposing Program (MLRP) from around the state. The event brought together collaborators across sectors to strengthen the MLRP grantee community of practice, reflect on progress, and co-create a shared vision for continued advancement and support. After three years of monthly virtual meetings and semiannual in-person events, it was clear that regularly convening MLRP grantees working toward similar goals and facing similar challenges, across a variety of geographies, has created a solid peer learning network and a genuine community of practice. 

MLRP complements California’s groundwater sustainability efforts by incentivizing land repurposing projects that conserve water, enhance recharge, and deliver environmental and community co-benefits. As one attendee noted, MLRP isn’t only about water. The program supports practitioners working across diverse ecosystems and cultural landscapes, balancing the complex needs of both the natural environment and the people that inhabit it.  

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Observations from World Water Week: Indigenous voices gain center stage; groundwater remains largely overlooked

Aerial view of audience and stage at World Water WeekLast month EDF co-hosted a side event at World Water Week in Stockholm with an ambitious goal: to catalyze collaboration around a global movement to tackle the groundwater crises affecting many regions of the world.

The event, co-hosted with the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and WELL Labs, addressed the need to raise the profile of the groundwater crisis at international water and climate change convenings like World Water Week, particularly given groundwater’s importance to food security, community health and livelihoods.

Despite the limited attention on groundwater at World Water Week, we observed other encouraging shifts at the conference this year, including the elevation of Indigenous voices and a greater focus on the connections between water resilience and climate change adaptation and mitigation. Here is a deeper look at these World Water Week highlights.

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Measuring what matters: Communities in India assess water solutions

People behind a farm pond with a staff gauge to measure water levels

A team installed a staff gauge in a farm pond in Toopran, Telangana, to measure water levels over time. Photo credit: Vanya Mehta

This blog was co-authored by Vanya Mehta from WELL Labs.

Water-saving solutions behave differently across India, depending on a region’s hydrogeology and land use patterns. An intervention that is successful in one landscape may be a failure in another. By nature, water is dynamic, and, with the added variability of climate change, difficult to predict. As our scientific understanding evolves, both of water and solutions to conserve it, there is a need to continuously monitor the impact of these solutions on both farmers and water.

In most cases, the water sector relies on short-term monitoring and evaluation (M&E) assessments that measure inputs and outputs, rather than long-term outcomes. This can lead to gaps in our long-term understanding of water sustainability and equity.

For example, in discussions with four experienced civil society organizations (CSOs) in India, we found that donors required them to report on the number of outputs, such as rainwater harvesting units constructed or number of farmers trained on a water-saving production technique. Water levels, soil moisture, and other indicators of water conservation were not measured during the projects. In such a scenario, it would be difficult to confirm whether the units constructed or farmers trained led to any impactful change in critical outcomes related to groundwater levels, recharge potential, agricultural yields, or total irrigation applied. Both secondary data and farmer recall data is not sufficient to understand variable environmental impacts.

To solve this issue, the hydrology team working on the project (Ishita Jalan, Lakshmikantha NR, Clinton Fernandes, Anas KP, Vivek Grewal, and Gopal Penny) has developed a protocol for field-based, community-led continuous monitoring.

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The transformative power of three days on a river

Group putting all their hands together to form a circle in the middle.

The history of California water is saturated with stories about years-long battles that inevitably get called “water wars.” But UC Merced is trying to flip that narrative and chart a new course for water in California based on finding common ground, or in this case, finding common water. 

“Finding Common Water” is the name of a river trip that UC Merced and EDF have organized to bring together individuals who often hold diverse perspectives. The goal is to find areas of alignment and explore new collaborations. 

I joined the inaugural “Finding Common Water” river trip that EDF and UC Merced co-hosted in 2022, and returned this summer for another unforgettable experience organized by Josh Viers and Lauren Parker of UC Merced’s Secure Water Future Program and financially supported by EDF and the State Water Contractors. Our diverse cast of rafters came from state and federal water agencies, a local water district, a Tribe, environmental and rural community nonprofits, and agriculture. 

At a time when there is so much chaos and uncertainty in the world, getting out and spending three days along a secluded stretch of the Tuolumne with this fascinating group did wonders for the soul.  As Josh said at the end of the tour, “Three days on the river buys me 300 more days off the river.”  

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It’s Colorado River Day — a time to celebrate a dedicated stream of water funding

Colorado River

To mark Colorado River Day today, it seems fitting to celebrate Colorado’s 10-year journey to dedicating $50+ million a year to fund water projects and support the resource that makes Colorado so special: its water. And I’d like to briefly highlight three very different projects that have benefited from this vital new funding stream.

It started with the first Colorado Water Plan.

While drinking water utilities and large agricultural districts can often tap ratepayer fees to fund millions if not billions of dollars of improvement and maintenance projects, the same has not historically been the case for Colorado’s beloved rivers and streams. In 2015, the first Colorado Water Plan highlighted the urgent need to fill a gap for reliable, dedicated funding to support rivers, restoration, recreation, and aging agricultural infrastructure.

Colorado’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights makes creating a new funding stream extremely challenging, but a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision provided a new opening by eliminating a ban on state-based sports betting. In 2019, thanks in part to a bipartisan campaign supported by EDF, Colorado Cattlemen’s Association and a host of other water users, Colorado voters approved Proposition DD, which legalized sports betting and dedicated the tax revenues from it specifically to fund water projects.

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EDF deepens efforts to recharge groundwater, bolster farmer prosperity in India


EDF’s Leah Beaulac (bottom right) and Nikhil Goveas (right) listen to a groundwater user group meeting in Kadiri, Andhra Pradesh.

EDF is helping farmers address one of their core climate challenges: securing a reliable water supply. This September, an EDF team led by Ann Hayden, Nikhil GoveasGopal Penny and Leah Beaulac conducted a series of comprehensive site visits and workshops across drought-prone areas of central India.

Water availability in India is a core climate issue for the world. India is by far the largest user of groundwater in the world. More than 60% of the country’s irrigated agriculture and 85% of drinking water supplies depend on groundwater. Global food prices and the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of farmers depend on India finding a path to sustainable groundwater use. EDF is committed to building a network of partnerships to help achieve this critical climate goal.

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