Water for the Future
For reliable, clean water for everyone.
Sustainable Conservation works with the people who drink, manage, and irrigate with groundwater to implement on-farm recharge and build large-scale watershed modeling across the Central Valley.
To build climate resilience, we must prepare year-round so we can replenish groundwater in wet years and develop the infrastructure and partnerships necessary for a sustainable water future for farmers, communities, and the environment.
We envision a future in which California growers, communities, and ecosystems thrive in drought and deluge. In drought, we have the groundwater we need to drink, irrigate crops at a sustainable rate, and protect our fragile ecosystems. We plan for and mitigate future precipitation volatility to achieve true 21st-century water resilience.
Illustration: California’s precipitation cycle and water infrastructure are complex. From the Sierra snowpack on the right to the Valley floor on the left, we capture and replenish water for drinking and irrigating in many ways.
Credit: SayoStudio
Collaboration in Action
Watch our latest video to learn how we’ve scaled groundwater recharge across California with our dedicated partners – and how collaboration is key to a sustainable water future.
Groundwater Recharge Assessment Tool
The Groundwater Recharge Assessment Tool – GRAT™ — gives agricultural water providers and Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs), essential insights to maximize groundwater recharge opportunities.
GRAT’s cloud-based application integrates hydrologic, agronomic and geologic science with best-available data from local, state and federal sources to create an indexed ranking of suitable recharge sites.
Visit the GRAT SiteFoundations for Scaling Up
- Further Central Valley watershed studies to illuminate where to target recharge for water supply and quality, subsidence, and groundwater-dependent ecosystems
- Support & technical assistance for farmers, irrigation districts, reservoir operators and the agricultural industry
- Community projects that repurpose land to remedy drinking water shortages and groundwater overdraft
Related resources
See updates and media coverage about this project; the list of organizations partnering with us on this work; and reports and publications relevant to water sustainability.
Another Wet Winter: How We’re Preparing
What does all this rain mean for our water future? Our experts are ready with info on climate, drought, deluge, and all things groundwater recharge
Community-Driven Solutions for Groundwater Resilience StoryMap
Practical strategies for how to manage and broaden recharge benefits for communities, ecosystems, agriculture, and flood risk reduction.
Here’s why Central Valley farmers should champion this California climate proposition | Don Cameron in the Fresno Bee
Last week, longtime Sustainable Conservation partner Don Cameron wrote an op-ed in the Fresno Bee encouraging the Central Valley’s agricultural community to support Proposition 4 in the upcoming 2024 election.…
- cbec Eco Engineering
- Environmental Science Associates
- MBK Engineers
- Provost and Pritchard
- Woodard and Curran
- Aliso Water District
- Ballico-Cortes Water District
- California Air Resources Board
- California Coastal Commission
- California Department of Fish and Wildlife
- California Department of Food and Agriculture
- California Department of Water Resources
- California Environmental Protection Agency
- California Natural Resources Conservation Service
- California State Coastal Conservancy
- California State Parks Department
- California State Water Resources Control Board
- Central San Joaquin Water Conservation District
- Chowchilla Water District
- City of Ceres
- City of Modesto
- Delta Conservancy
- Delta Stewardship Council
- Department of Water Resources
- East Turlock Subbasin Groundwater Sustainability Agency
- Flood-MAR Network
- Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development
- Gravelly Ford Water District
- GrizzlyCorps
- Madera County
- Madera Chowchilla Resource Conservation District
- Madera Irrigation District
- Merced Irrigation District
- Modesto Irrigation District
- National Marine Fisheries Service
- NOAA Restoration Center
- Natural Resources Conservation Service
- Oakdale Irrigation District
- Reclamation District 108
- Regional Water Quality Control Boards
- Rosedale Rio Bravo Water Storage District
- Root Creek Water District
- San Joaquin County
- San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District
- South San Joaquin Irrigation District
- Stanislaus County
- Stockton East Water District
- Triangle T Water District
- Tulare Irrigation District
- Turlock Irrigation District
- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
- U.S. Department of Agriculture
- USDA Agricultural Research Service
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 9
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
- West Turlock Subbasin Groundwater Sustainability Agency
- Al Costa
- Almond Board of California
- Altman Plants – keep
- AmericanHort – keep
- American Farmland Trust
- Braga Fresh Farms
- Burroughs Family Farm
- California Dairy Campaign
- California Dairy Quality Assurance Program
- California Farm Bureau Federation
- Dairy Cares
- Dairy Management Inc.
- De Jager Farms
- Don Cameron
- Milk Producers Council
- Monrovia Growers – keep
- Monterey County Farm Bureau
- Newtrient, LLC
- Plant California Alliance – keep
- Taylor Farms
- Terranova Ranch
- CSU Fresno
- Stanford
- UC Davis
- UC Merced
- Audubon California
- California Association of Resource Conservation Distircts
- CivicWell
- Earth Genome
- Environmental Defense Fund
- Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability
- The Nature Conservancy
- Public Policy Institute of California
- Self-Help Enterprises
- Protecting Groundwater Quality While Practicing On-Farm Recharge (two-page overview): 600,000+ Californians rely on nitrate-contaminated drinking water from public supply wells. Sustainable Conservation’s resources help address this issue. [Spanish version]
- Management Considerations for Protecting Groundwater Quality Under Agricultural Managed Recharge (AgMAR): This paper – intended for those interested in a deeper dive on water quality under AgMAR – summarizes current research on potential mobilization of nitrate and salts under AgMAR and presents field- and regional-scale considerations to protect water quality for communities.
- Protecting Groundwater Quality While Replenishing Aquifers: This brief – intended for growers, water planners, and communities – summarizes the nitrate-specific findings from the research paper. [Spanish version]
- Introduction to Groundwater Recharge: Introductory manual produced by the Almond Board of California in partnership with Sustainable Conservation
- On-Farm Recharge Methods Manual: Produced in partnership with and with funding from the California Department of Water Resources
- On-Farm Recharge Case Studies: Ten case studies of growers who are both new to recharge and who’ve been practicing, on a variety of crops
- District Recharge Program Guidance: How to set up a district-wide recharge program
- Central Valley Groundwater Recharge Incentives and Strategies: A list of possible incentives for growers to practice recharge
- Watershed Climate Studies Demonstrate Vulnerability, Climate Adaptation and Multi-Sector Benefits
