Implementing State-Level Climate Change Policy and Management for Water Resources

This project aims to assess progress and improve climate change mainstreaming efforts in California’s water management agencies, while generating transferable knowledge for other U.S. states and advancing fundamental understanding of climate mainstreaming.

The effects of climate change on water resources are far-reaching across the US and especially in California, where water stress threatens the fifth largest economy in the world and affects 39 million residents. Two state agencies, the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) and State Water Resources Control Board (SWB), work to manage climate risks through organizational mainstreaming. By mainstreaming, we mean developing and implementing policies and practices to support climate change mitigation and adaptation within and among state, regional, and local water-related agencies. While mainstreaming efforts have been ongoing for more than a decade, with more intensity at DWR than SWB, there has been little or no research to take stock of progress or identify opportunities for improvement. This is unsurprising as organizational mainstreaming is a relatively new practice and is not well understood. This collaboration, grounded in ethical principles for transdisciplinary research partnership, presents a unique opportunity to learn and draw insights from ongoing climate mainstreaming efforts in two state government agencies with different cultures, mandates, and experience with mainstreaming. We will work collaboratively to develop mixed (qualitative and quantitative) methods for data collection and analysis. Results from this work will inform ongoing implementation of mainstreaming at DWR and SWB; generate transferable lessons and knowledge to enable policy and practice diffusion among US states including Pennsylvania and beyond; advance fundamental understanding of organizational mainstreaming, a critical but understudied area of research; and provide the evidentiary support to apply for continued funding of this collaborative research.