About IRWM

Integrated regional water management (IRWM) is a water management approach that encourages regional self-sufficiency. While water resource management traditionally involves separate agencies each managing a different aspect of the water system (e.g., water supply, water quality, stormwater, flood management, natural resources), integrated regional water management considers the hydrologic system as a whole. The IRWM planning process brings together water and natural resource managers, along with other community stakeholders, to collaboratively plan for and ensure the region’s continued water supply reliability, improved water quality, flood management, and healthy functioning ecosystems—allowing for creative solutions, improved efficiencies, and greater long-term success.

IRWM Legislative Background

California voters have passed several statewide bond measures providing billions of dollars to support local and regional water management activities. In November of 2002, California voters passed Proposition 50 (Water Security, Clean Drinking Water, Coastal and Beach Protection Act), approving the IRWM Program. The purpose of the IRWM Program is to “encourage integrated regional strategies for management of water resources and to provide funding, through competitive grants, for projects that protect communities from drought, protect and improve water quality, and improve local water security by reducing dependence on imported water.” Proposition 50 authorized $500 million in grant funds for IRWM projects.

In November 2006, California voters passed Proposition 84, the Safe Drinking Water, Water Quality and Supply, Flood Control, River and Coastal Protection Act of 2006. Administered by the Department of Water Resources (DWR), Proposition 84 included an additional $1 billion in funding for the IRWM Grant Program. Proposition 1E (Disaster Preparedness and Flood Prevention Bond Act of 2006) was also passed in 2006, authorizing $4.09 billion in State bonds to rebuild and repair California’s most vulnerable flood control structures.

In November 2014, California voters approved Proposition 1, the Water Quality, Supply, and Infrastructure Improvement Act of 2014. Proposition 1 authorized $510 million in IRWM funding. Of that amount, $43 million was allocated to the Central Coast Funding Area for IRWM planning grants, implementation grants, and disadvantaged community engagement.

In order to be eligible for IRWM grant funds, a project must be included within an adopted IRWM Plan. According to the California Water Code §10540(c), an IRWM Plan must address at a minimum all of the following:

  1. Protection and improvement of water supply reliability, including identification of feasible agricultural and urban water use efficiency strategies.
  2. Identification and consideration of the drinking water quality of communities within the area of the plan.
  3. Protection and improvement of water quality within the area of the plan, consistent with the relevant basin plan.
  4. Identification of any significant threats to groundwater resources from overdraft.
  5. Protection, restoration, and improvement of stewardship of aquatic, riparian, and watershed resources within the region.
  6. Protection of groundwater resources from contamination.
  7. Identification and consideration of the water-related needs of disadvantaged communities in the area within the boundaries of the plan.

An IRWM Plan was developed and approved for the Greater Monterey County region to fulfill the goals of IRWM planning and to enable project proponents in the region to become eligible for IRWM grant funding. Go to “About the Greater Monterey County Region” to read more about the Greater Monterey County region and about the evolution of the Greater Monterey County IRWM Plan.