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Water Resources

Featured Cases:

  • Water-Sharing in the Russian River Watershed

  • Interbasin Coordination in the Northern Sacramento Valley

  • Corporate Water Target-Setting

Video Case Study: Sustainable Groundwater Management in Salinas Valley

The Challenge

Demand for water is intensifying, and in many regions water scarcity is emerging as a major challenge. The belief that access to water is a zero-sum game fuels intense disputes among those who have vested, and often divergent, interests in the management of this critical resource. These disputes—involving industry, agriculture, public agencies, water suppliers, environmentalists, disadvantaged communities, and recreational interests—often lead to damaged relationships, protracted stalemates, and litigation that can go on for years while water resources continue to diminish.

Our Approach

CBI helps parties shift from allocation conflicts to generating mutually beneficial possibilities for conserving, using, and reusing water in ways that can meet the needs of many. Our mediators, who have deep experience in water issues and the political landscape, custom-design each engagement, employing a wide range of approaches with stakeholders to:

  • Advance understanding of others’ underlying interests
  • Jointly define and research data essential to decision-making
  • Explore options and create new solutions that integrate water systems and ensure sustainability
  • Define governing structures that are appropriate for managing water

From working with stakeholders to protect Cape Cod’s vital estuaries and inland bays to helping negotiate the development and implementation of California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, we have a strong track record of advancing progress on thorny water issues. 

Areas of Expertise
  • Integrated water resources management
  • Water quality
  • Climate adaptation
  • Conjunctive (surface and groundwater) management
  • Environmental justice
  • Watershed planning
  • Ecosystem restoration
  • Land use and water planning

 

View cases & related resources
  • CBI helped us with the tall task of bringing together many stakeholders with divergent views to set up a groundwater agency. In the end, you can fight your way through something like this or develop relationships that live on. CBI helped us do the latter, as well as come to agreement on the agency structure. Our success came through an advanced collaboration process – what I see as advanced leadership in today’s world.

    Gary Petersen

    Director of Public Works

    City of Salinas

Get In Touch

CBI Experts:

  • Tania Carlone Director, CBI West and Senior Mediator
  • Ryan Golten Senior Mediator
  • Daniel R. Birch Senior Consultant
  • Linkedin

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