Flood-MAR Projects

The Fairmead Groundwater Resilience Project, led by the County of Madera and their nonprofit partners, is designing and developing a plan for implementing a groundwater resilience project involving groundwater recharge and/or land repurposing efforts within the severely disadvantaged community of Fairmead, to buffer this area from the water security impacts of climate-induced drought.

The Fairmead Groundwater Resilience Project will improve local and regional resilience to drought and climate change, including water quality and subsidence impacts that worsen with drought. In addition to improving groundwater resources, this project will attempt to incorporate other climate resilience benefits, such as reducing local flood risk, enhancing valuable habitat, and improving outdoor spaces for public health.

The project team is working with the community and landowners to identify multiple benefit opportunities to repurpose land, including but not limited to restoring habitat and floodplains, creating pollinator habitat, converting to dryland farming or cover crops, switching from irrigated agriculture to rangeland, and creating parks or community recreation areas. This unique and urgently needed project combines private, public, community, environmental justice and environmental interests to co-develop projects for climate resilience, drinking water protection, ecosystem benefits, and flood mitigation. This project will demonstrate how unincorporated and disadvantaged communities can effectively address these threats at the local level.

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