Water Forum 2050 Agreement

A new long-term strategy to protect the lower American River and support regional water reliability

The Water Forum has released the draft Water Forum 2050 Agreement, a landmark update to the regional accord that has guided efforts to balance the Sacramento region’s water supply reliability with the protection of the lower American River for the past 25 years.

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Building on a Legacy

First signed in 2000, the Water Forum Agreement brought together business leaders, citizen groups, environmental advocates, water providers, and local governments to address growing water demands while preserving the environmental and recreational values of the lower American River.

The new agreement builds on that legacy with updated strategies that reflect the growing challenges of climate change, increasing regulatory demands, and economic pressures.

The Coequal Objectives

WF 2050 maintains the two coequal objectives as the guiding lights of the Water Forum:

  • Provide a reliable and safe water supply for the region’s economic health and planned development through 2050.
  • Preserve the fishery, wildlife, recreational, and aesthetic values of the lower American River.

ARCAP: A Bold New Initiative

A key feature of the new agreement is the introduction of the American River Climate Adaptation Program (ARCAP)—a forward-looking initiative that aims to connect water agencies, infrastructure, and policies to help the region better respond to increasingly extreme climate conditions.

ARCAP offers a better way for the region to manage water as climate conditions become more extreme. It enhances the five Program Areas by voluntarily linking agencies, infrastructure, and policies—creating a truly regional water system where water is managed by agencies to be available when and where it’s needed, and cold water is preserved in the American River for fish and future supply is protected.

The program centers on identifying, evaluating, and directing additional volumes of regionally developed water—called ARCAP water—through conservation, groundwater recharge, upstream reservoir operations, and shifts in supply sources. The goal of ARCAP will be for the water to be stored and managed for use during critically dry periods, providing benefits when they’re needed most: reducing river temperatures, supporting fish and wildlife, and helping avoid shortages for communities across the region.

Water Forum 2050 Program Areas: A Roadmap for Resilience

Water Forum 2050 also reorganizes and focuses the seven elements from the first agreement into five Program Areas. For each, the agreement outlines specific programs, actions, and activities designed to support the coequal objectives:

American River Flows and Operations. Targeted and creative solutions will be needed to maintain the Lower American River’s health while ensuring a sustainable regional water supply. The Water Forum’s Flow Management Standard, which includes minimum flows, temperature management protocols, and provisions for a reservoir storage planning minimum, will remain a cornerstone.

American River Corridor Health. Building on the habitat enhancement projects we have already implemented, the Water Forum will work with partners to lead multi-benefit habitat projects and research and monitoring on the Lower American River.Adaptive management will allow us to nimbly respond to new scientific information and changing conditions.

Regional Water Supply Sustainability. This Program Area guides surface water management to protect both the American River and groundwater supplies. It emphasizes practices like conjunctive use—alternating the use of surface and groundwater supplies based on their availability—that were implemented under the previous agreement.

Science, Monitoring, and Decision Support. Through a comprehensive program of scientific research and monitoring, the Water Forum will continue producing rigorous and reliable scientific data on corridor health and watershed conditions, which will serve as the foundation for ongoing adaptive management. We commit to sharing information  by making that data accessible to Water Forum members, other stakeholders, and the general public.

Governance, Funding, and Administration. This Program Area promotes the “Water Forum Way” with an organizational structure and mechanisms that will allow us to implement and sustain Water Forum 2050 over the next 25 years.

Water Forum 2050 Participating Organizations

Thank you to the organizations and their representatives that are devoting countless hours to participating in Water Forum 2050 negotiations. This list includes organizations that signed onto the original agreement and new ones, as well.

Business Caucus
Enviromental Caucus
Public Caucus
Water Caucus

*Denotes organization that was a signatory to the 2000 agreement.

Publications and Data

Water Forum Turns 25: Reflecting on the Past, Shaping the Future with Water Forum 2050 – Blog Post

Water Forum Past Present and Future – Roadmap Document
Water Forum 2050 Initial Caucus Interest Statements
Water Forum 2050 Initial Caucus Interest Statements Comparison
Draft Water Forum 2050 Terms of Reference
Water Forum 2050 Foundational Briefings: Draft Compiled Summaries (Summer, 2020)

Groundwater:

Water Conservation and Use Efficiency Working Group Presentations:

Water Forum 2050 Learning and Engagement Sessions

The Water Forum has hosted nearly a dozen learning and engagement sesions on the topics listed below. You can find recordings for all of these on our YouTube channel here.

Water Forum Happy Hour Guest Notes, May 5, 2021

The Water Forum has a strong history and culture of taking an interest-based or mutual-gains approach. While Water Forum 2.0 negotiations have focused on many of the Agreement’s original elements, it has also become clear that caucus interests align on addressing the impacts of climate change on the Water Forum’s coequal goals of water supply reliability and environmental stewardship of the Lower American River.

“The Water Forum Way” | How interest-based negotiations lead to success