California Water Plan Update 2023

California Water Plan Update 2023 draws from and builds on reference documents related to water resources to enhance the content and produce a better plan with each succeeding update. They provide the methodology, assumptions, data, estimates, and other information used in the development of this update.

NOTE: Some of these reports and documents are being finalized and should be released soon. Please subscribe to Water Plan eNews to receive notifications about their release. 

• 2023 California Tribal Water Summit Proceedings — The summit proceedings provide a summary of the summit speakers, panels, and discussions that occurred during the two-day summit in April 2023.
• Addressing Complex Problems Together: A Network Study — A reflection on forming a network to implement integrated water management using Flood-MAR. This study provides an overview of how forming a network can address complex issues by identifying a shared purpose and bringing together organizations and individuals to work towards a shared outcome. 
• California's Groundwater Conditions, Semi-Annual Update: October 2023 — Semi-annual Conditions Updates are more frequent supplements to the comprehensive 5-year CalGW Updates, and also provide additional perspective on the near-real-time data availability through CalGW Live.
• California's Groundwater Update 2020 — California’s Groundwater (CalGW) Update 2020 is the State’s most up-to-date compendium of statewide data and information on groundwater resources and its management. 
• California Water Plan Glossary — The glossary contains terms used in the text of Update 2023 and additional terms related to water resources.
• California Water Plan Resource Management Strategies: 2023 Updates: [Note: These 11 Resource Management Strategies (RMSs) out of a total of 30+ were updated for Update 2023. You can access the other RMSs through the link below.]
  • Introduction
  • Agricultural Water Use Efficiency
  • Conjunctive Water Management
  • Desalinization
  • Flood Management
  • Municipal Recycled Water
  • Precipitation Enhancement
  • Recharge Are Identification, Utilization and Protection
  • Reservoir Reoperation
  • Urban Stormwater Runoff Capture and Management
  • Urban Water Use Efficiency
  • Watershed Management
  • All RMSs
• California Watershed Resilience Assessment (previously known as DWR Climate Change Risk and Preparedness Assessment — This technical report presents the approach and findings of a statewide assessment of both climate risk and resilience preparedness at the watershed scale throughout California.
• From Climate Traces to Climate Insights: Future Scenarios Analysis for the California Central Valley — This report provides an in-depth overview of the climate vulnerability assessments used to quantify potential vulnerability at the regional and statewide scales and identify areas for more in-depth analysis. The analysis could be used to make better investment decisions on climate adaptation strategy projects at regional or local scales.
  • Appendix A - Updates to Central Valley Planning Area WEAP Model for California Water Plan Update 2023
  • Appendix B - System Response Surfaces and CDFs for all PAs and Points of Hydrologic Interest
• Merced River Flood-MAR Reconnaissance Study Report — DWR, in partnership with Merced Irrigation District (MID), is studying the use of flood waters for managed aquifer recharge that can reduce flood risk, increase supply reliability, support groundwater sustainability, and enhance ecosystems in the Merced River Basin. 
  • Plan of Study
  • Analytical Tools Integration
  • Baseline Performance and Climate Change Vulnerability
  • Adaptation Strategy Performance
• Process Guide for Update 2023 — This article summarizes the elements of the Update 2023 development process, while highlighting the organizational structure and methods used to facilitate a robust, iterative collaboration among agencies, California Native American Tribes, the public, and the technical team.
• Summary of Equity Survey for Water and Flood Management Agencies/Districts in California — As part of the CWP Update 2023, DWR surveyed water and flood management agencies/districts to better understand how water managers are advancing equity in their communities and how State government can assist them in advancing equity. The survey was developed with input from a public workgroup that included representatives from water management agencies/districts and non-governmental organizations.
• Water Portfolios and Balances — Water portfolios and balances describe the distribution of water throughout the hydrologic cycle, water use by the urban and agricultural sectors, water in the environment, and water supply sources used to meet these uses at the statewide and regional levels.
  • Update 2023 Water Balances supporting document
  • Update 2023 Water Balances Automation Standard Operating Procedures
  • Spatial Patterns of Water Supply and Use in California (escholarship.org)
• Water Supply and Balance to Water Budget: Merced Basin Pilot Study — This pilot study explores how the water supply and balance data can be transitioned to a comprehensive water budget, consistent with the Water Budget Handbook’s standardized accounting templates. The Merced basin study provides a detailed methodology for mapping water supply and balance data to the water accounting templates.
• Watershed Hub Resilience Indicators and Metrics — This technical memorandum describes the approach used to identify and recommend a preliminary set of water-related indicators and metrics to measure, track, and report on changing conditions throughout California’s watersheds.
• Watershed Resilience Framework and Toolkit — The Watershed Resilience Framework serves as a roadmap for the State and regions to carry out climate resilience planning. The framework is paired with an online, interactive toolkit that offers planning guidance, best practices, case studies, resources and tools to conduct each step of the framework.
• WEAP Model Application to Decision-Scaling Using Paleo Climate: A Pilot Study of the Merced River Planning Area — This pilot study tests if and how the Central Valley Planning Area Water Evaluation and Planning Model (WEAP-CVPA) can be applied using the decision-scaling approach. Decision-scaling is an emerging cutting edge, risk-based, “bottom-up” approach for conducting climate vulnerability assessments.

California Water Plan Update 2023 Public Review Draft

DWR released the Public Review Draft of California Water Plan Update 2023 on September 20, 2023, beginning a 30-day comment period. Comments that were received by October 19, 2023, informed the final plan. A list of comments received is provided below. 

DWR also held the Water Plan Plenary Meeting on October 3-4, 2023, to provide an overview of the plan and to allow participants to provide comments. Thank you to all who joined us. Presentations and notes from the meeting are available online. 

Versión en español

El resumen ejecutivo del borrador de revisión pública de la Actualización del plan hidrológico de California de 2023 (Actualización de 2023) está disponible en español. Los comentarios recibidos hasta del 19 de octubre de 2023 sobre el borrador de revisión pública formaron parte del plan final.

Public Comments Received

The following documents provide additional context and information on the development of Update 2023. 

California Water Plan Update 2023 - Brochure

The Update 2023 brochure provides an overview of what the Water Plan is, its relation to the California Water Resilience Portfolio, and the intended outcomes of Update 2023. A Spanish translation is also available. 

Building California's Climate Resilient Future - Fact Sheet

How the California Water Plan, Water Resilience Portfolio, and California Water Supply Strategy work together to build a climate resilient future for California.