History of the Water Forum

The Lower American River is one of the Sacramento region’s greatest treasures. Generations of Sacramento-area residents have grown up on the river and along the parkway, enjoying its rich ecosystem of plants and wildlife.
The Water Forum—protecting our river and water supply

The Lower American River is one of the Sacramento region’s greatest treasures. Generations of Sacramento-area residents have grown up on the river and along the parkway, enjoying its rich ecosystem of plants and wildlife.

And throughout history, the river has sustained our lives and livelihoods by providing drinking water. But the river doesn’t just provide for us; it also needs our active stewardship.

In 2000, 40 agencies and businesses came together to sign the landmark Water Forum Agreement, a visionary long-term plan created to balance two coequal objectives: 

Provide a reliable and safe water supply for the region’s economic health and planned development through to the year 2030; and Preserve the fishery, wildlife, recreational, and aesthetic values of the lower American River.

The region’s water supplies and environmental resources were unsustainable when this groundbreaking agreement was signed. Water providers, already heavily dependent on the Lower American River for supplies, were projecting the need to tap the river even more as the region experienced some of the highest population increases in the state. Groundwater levels underlying parts of the basin were in steep decline, a trend that had started more than 40 years earlier.

To address these challenges, the City and County of Sacramento launched the Water Forum negotiations in 1993. Slowly, over the next seven years and thousands of hours of meetings, stakeholders negotiated a plan to bring cohesion to water management and environmental stewardship on the Lower American River.

The Water Forum Agreement was one of the first of its kind—a voluntary agreement and North Star that has guided the region’s actions for over two decades.

Now, after more than 20 years of implementation, the Sacramento region and Water Forum members have an impressive record of working together to implement farsighted water management solutions that have served to protect the river, foster regional vitality, and provide benefits that extend beyond the Sacramento region.

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The Water Forum Key Milestones

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