CONNECTING THE DOTS FOR FLOOD MAR AND THE VALUE OF NETWORKS

Adapted by Lisa Beutler from the January 2023 DWR sponsored white paper Addressing Complex Problems Together: A Network Story, by Orit Kalman, Mike Antos, Marisa Perez-Reyes, and Jenny Marr

Climate change has upended one of California’s primary water storage and delivery systems but an emerging strategy, Flood MAR, holds promise in helping the state manage this new normal. However, implementing Flood MAR requires more than engineering new infrastructure and changes in land use. It requires new ways of working together to address complex system issues.

Historically, the state’s winter snowpack paired with human and nature-based conveyance infrastructure faithfully delivered spring and summer snow melt to the many people that wanted it when they wanted it. This system allowed people to live and work in places that otherwise could not sustain them. When nature didn’t cooperate and generated massive volumes of water, the flood management system did its best to tame it. But when there was too little, California’s groundwater basins filled the gap. In a typical year, about 40 percent of the state's total water supply was already sourced from groundwater but, in dry years, groundwater contributed up to 60 percent (or more) of the state's total supply.

With climate change, the two lynch pins of the traditional water strategy have been knee capped. With climate change, the two lynch pins of the traditional water strategy and land management have been knee capped. In recent years a generally predictable weather cycle has instead delivered wild swings, resulting in extended droughts punctuated with drenching from extreme storms. Concurrently warming temperatures put snow melt into a system not designed to manage the volumes being generated. At the same time, extended droughts and continued alteration in land use patterns have caused groundwater basins to become overtaxed, in some cases beyond repair. This untenable situation led to the implementation of a Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) that requires sustainable management of aquifer supplies. This law significantly altered what had been the go-to strategy for responding to extended droughts.

The consequences of the new normal have been extreme, creating entire communities without access to safe and affordable drinking water and increasing risks from flood inundation. However, one new strategy, managed aquifer recharge using flood flows, called Flood MAR, may bring some relief and is gaining advocates in the water community.

Initial investigations by the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) indicated Flood MAR offered promise in mitigating the impacts of some of the wild weather swings. Recognizing this potential, DWR convened a Research Advisory Committee (RAC). The RAC, made up of 40 professionals across multiple disciplines, explored the highest priority steps needed to advance Flood MAR projects. This entailed considering 13 different themes, including changes in water governance, management, infrastructure, water rights, and water and land use practices. After deliberations the RAC members advanced a comprehensive list of recommendations and priorities, culminating in the development of the Flood MAR Research and Data Development Plan (R&DD Plan).

As is often the case with bodies of this type, in addition to the specific recommendations being generated, the RAC members recognized the value of the coordination and partnerships they had cultivated.

As is often the case with bodies of this type, in addition to the specific recommendations being generated, the RAC members recognized the value of the coordination and partnerships they had cultivated. As explained in the January 2023 DWR sponsored white paper this article is adapted from, Addressing Complex Problems Together: A Network Story (Kalman, Antos, Perez-Reyes, and Marr), the RAC recognized them as critical to achieving most of the research and data sharing activities that they proposed for strengthening Flood MAR implementation. From this a dialog began about a network amplifying the value of informal engagement, collective thinking beyond disciplinary silos, and sharing different perspectives. Soon, a recommendation emerged to create a Flood MAR (collaborative) Network.

To expand on the concepts being forwarded by the RAC, an October 2019 forum considered and acted upon the recommendations in the R&DD Plan, including discussing how, and in what form, a Flood MAR Network could be established. These conversations confirmed that more than physical infrastructure would be needed to achieve Flood MAR’s goals. New institutional structures and practices would be required that facilitated a shared purpose “among people who each have something to give and something to get as they work alongside each other,” (Kalman, et. al).

This Flood MAR Network is a collection of many different organizations, institutions, governmental agencies, corporations, foundations, etc., working in concert to pursue a common, defined purpose, as equal partners. As described in the January 2023 paper on the topic, “a network is defined as an intentional gathering of people and organizations, focused on addressing one or several complex and shared challenges or opportunities, undertaking shared efforts to strengthen each of its members while advancing shared interests.”

Networks allow individual action and organization autonomy. In their 2011 book, Networks that work: A practitioner's guide to managing networked action, Paul Vandeventer and Myrna Mandell explain that networks have been found to “bring greater scale and focus, more productive kinds of working relationships, and more lasting effectiveness when addressing public problems.”

Following a December 2020 convening of interested parties, potential network members identified five key areas consistent with their areas of expertise that align with the work of a learning/coordinating network:

1. Identify and fill knowledge gaps.

2. Share Flood MAR body of knowledge.

3. Communicate with Flood MAR interested parties on work to add to and build up collective knowledge and to inform future work in an efficient and effective way.

4. Educate and engage on how to get things done.

5. Support Flood MAR implementation efforts.

The forming network members explored their shared agenda by identifying broad objectives and brainstorming specific projects and initiatives that can help meet those objectives. In a network, work is only sustainable when based on a member’s interest and ability to follow up on projects, although participation may occur at varying degrees if it advances network initiatives. Networks are generally composed of:

• ANCHORS: Individuals who are willing to invest significant time and resources to coordinate and propel the activities and initiatives of the network and see them through.

• COLLABORATORS: Individuals who come together to roll up their sleeves and share in the work to advance activities and initiatives.

• AMBASSADORS: Individuals who can share information about related work done within and outside of the network to advance understanding with external interested parties and identify collaboration opportunities.

• BENEFICIARIES: Individuals who can use network activity outcomes to inform and advance their work outside of the network.

• INFORMED: Individuals who are connected to the network and seek awareness of network progress and output.

Questions to ask to identify and develop a shared agenda:

• What should we accomplish as a network that will provide an added value?

• How does each member aspire to contribute and participate in network activities?

• What are the next immediate steps to advance key network initiatives

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