Integrated Regional Water Management Plan (IRWMP) for the Greater Monterey County
Background
Eighteen organizations in the Monterey County area have recently come together to create a new "region" for the purposes of integrated regional water management (IRWM) planning and project implementation. These entities include government agencies, nonprofit organizations, educational organizations, water service districts, private water companies, and organizations representing agricultural, environmental, and community interests. This website has been created to inform interested parties and stakeholders about the IRWM planning process, to make documents available, and to notify the public of news and events.
More Information
For more information on the IRWMP process, please contact the Greater Monterey County IRWMP Project Coordinator, or go to the IRWMP Documents page. To see recent and upcoming activities see the IRWMP News & Events page. The Regional Water Management Group for the Greater Monterey County IRWMP would like to thank Moss Landing Marine Laboratories and the Central Coast Wetlands Group for hosting our webpages.
What is the Integrated Regional Water Management Program?
In November of 2002, Proposition 50 (the Water Security, Clean Drinking Water, Coastal and Beach Protection Act) was passed by California voters, approving Chapter 8 and the Integrated Regional Water Management (IRWM) Program. The IRWM Program is intended to promote integrated regional water management to ensure sustainable water uses, reliable water supplies, better water quality, environmental stewardship, efficient urban development, protection of agriculture, and a strong economy in the State of California.
Implementation of the Proposition 50 Chapter 8 bond funding was jointly administered by the Department of Water Resources (DWR) and the State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board). To be eligible for water resources planning and project grant funding through Prop 50, water resource managers throughout the State were asked by DWR and the State Water Board to form “regions” based on watershed boundaries and on overlapping water resource management issues, and to involve stakeholders in integrating water supply, water quality, ecosystem, and flood control issues into their water resources planning and projects.
In November 2006, Proposition 84 (the Safe Drinking Water, Water Quality and Supply, Flood Control, River and Costal Protection Act) was passed by California voters. Administered by DWR, Prop 84 includes additional funding for the IRWM Grant Program. Proposition 1E (the Disaster Preparedness and Flood Prevention Bond Act of 2006) was also passed in 2006, and also contains grant funds for IRWM projects. Grant program guidelines require the development and adoption of an IRWM Plan (IRWMP) for a region prior to applying for grant funding. In other words, if a project is not included within an adopted IRWMP, it will not be eligible for grant funds through these bonds.
For more information about the IRWM Program, please visit: California Department of Water Resources
What is an Integrated Regional Water Management Plan (IRWMP)?
An IRWMP is a comprehensive planning document to encourage regional strategies for management of water resources. An IRWMP should investigate a broad spectrum of management strategies, identify the benefits of integrating water management strategies, and identify priorities for implementing projects and programs. At a minimum, an IRWMP will:
- Describe the major water-related objectives and conflicts within a region;
- Consider a broad variety of water management strategies (to include, for example: ecosystem restoration, water supply reliability, flood management, groundwater management, recreation and public access, storm water capture and management, water conservation, water quality protection and improvement, water recycling, conjunctive use, desalination);
- Identify an appropriate mix of water demand and supply management alternatives, water quality protections, and environmental stewardship actions to provide long-term, reliable, and high quality water supply and to protect the environment;
- Identify disadvantaged communities in the region and take the water-related needs of those communities into consideration;
- Consider greenhouse gas emissions of identified programs and projects; and
- Evaluate the adaptability to climate change of water management systems in the region.
IRWM Planning on the Central Coast
Six IRWMPs have been developed for the Central Coast region (to see these plans, click on the website links below):
- Pajaro River Watershed IRWMP
- Monterey Peninsula, Carmel Bay and South Monterey Bay IRWMP
- Salinas Valley IRWM Functionally Equivalent Plan
- Northern Santa Cruz County IRWMP
- San Luis Obispo County IRWMP
- Santa Barbara Countywide IRWMP
The first three plans cover geographic areas within Monterey County. Together these plans cover most of the Salinas Valley, all of the Pajaro River watershed, all of the Carmel River and San Jose Creek watersheds, and the Monterey Peninsula. However, many key geographic areas of Monterey County are not represented within any of these plans, creating significant coverage voids for the purposes of IRWM planning and project implementation. These areas include, specifically: the Big Sur coastal watersheds and communities on the western side of the Santa Lucia Range, from Pt. Lobos south to the San Luis Obispo County line; the larger Salinas River watershed from the Salinas River National Wildlife Refuge at the Pacific Ocean south to the San Luis Obispo County line and including the east and west ranges of the valley; and the Gabilan watershed.
Members of the Central Coast IRWM regions agreed during a meeting in February 2008 that the Salinas Valley plan should be expanded to include those areas of Monterey County that have not been represented in previous plans. A Monterey County IRWM Planning Committee was formed in December 2008 as a result of that meeting. The Planning Committee then formed a "Regional Water Management Group" to lead the effort in creating a new IRWM region and in developing a new IRWMP which will supersede the Salinas Valley IRWM Functionally Equivalent Plan. The new region covers all of the previously uncovered geographic areas within Monterey County, plus a small portion of San Benito County, and is called the "Greater Monterey County" region.
The map above shows the new Greater Monterey County IRWM region in context with the other Central Coast IRWM regions.
Greater Monterey County Region Description
The Greater Monterey County region includes all of the Salinas River watershed north of the San Luis Obispo County line (encompassing a small portion of San Benito County where the Salinas River watershed extends outside of Monterey County), and includes the entirety of Monterey County exclusive of the Pajaro River Watershed IRWM region (which covers the Pajaro River watershed) and Monterey Peninsula, Carmel Bay, and South Monterey Bay IRWM region (which covers all of the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District jurisdiction, plus all of the Carmel River and San Jose Creek watersheds, plus all of the Seaside Groundwater Basin) established under Proposition 50.
The map on the left shows the boundaries of the Greater Monterey County IRWM region in relation to adjacent regions. You can also click here to download a .kml file to open in Google Earth (downloads as a zip file).
Goals of IRWM Planning for the Greater Monterey County Region
The goal of this integrated regional water management planning effort is to create a comprehensive IRWMP for the Greater Monterey County region. Through this integrated regional water management planning effort, we also hope to:
- improve coordination of public, private, and non-profit agency programs;
- identify and implement collaborative programs that may be beyond the scope or capability of individual entities, but which would be of mutual benefit if implemented in a cooperative manner; and
- foster coordination, collaboration and communication between stakeholders and other interested parties, to achieve greater efficiencies, enhance public services, and build public support for vital projects.
Regional Water Management Group
Members of the Regional Water Management Group for the Greater Monterey County region have been chosen to ensure balanced representation of the various resource areas, interests, and geographic areas in the proposed region, and include the following:
- Big Sur Land Trust
- California Coastal Commission
- California Water Service Company
- Castroville Community Services District
- City of Salinas
- Coastlands Mutual Water Company
- Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve
- Environmental Justice Coalition for Water
- Garrapata Creek Watershed Council
- Marina Coast Water District
- Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Water Quality Protection Program
- Monterey County Agricultural Commissioner’s Office
- Monterey County Water Resources Agency
- Monterey Regional Water Pollution Control Agency
- Moss Landing Marine Laboratories
- Resource Conservation District of Monterey County
- San Jerardo Co-operative
- Watershed Institute at California State University Monterey Bay
In addition, to ensure that the needs and priorities of the diverse array of water management interests within the planning region are included in the Greater Monterey County IRWMP, a list of potential stakeholders has been compiled encompassing all known agencies, organizations, groups, and individuals with interest or active involvement in water resource management, environmental resources, land use planning, or related areas. Stakeholders will be invited to attend meetings of the Regional Water Management Group, participate in workshops, and provide comment on drafts of the IRWMP.
How Can I Participate?
For more information about the Greater Monterey County IRWMP process, or if you would like to receive e-mail notifications for upcoming workshops and other Greater Monterey County IRWMP news, please contact:
Susan Robinson,
IRWMP Project Coordinator
srobinsongs@frontier.com
(828) 649-9742