Flood-MAR Resources

Flooding rice fields in Yuba County with groundwater (DWR, 2009).

Flood-MAR White Paper

The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) prepared this white paper to explore opportunities to use flood water for managed aquifer recharge (Flood-MAR) because DWR recognizes the need to rehabilitate and modernize water and flood infrastructure in California.

Introduction to Groundwater Recharge

Through this guide, California almond growers can begin evaluating their options for addressing local sub-basin overdraft through recharge, helping secure reliable, sufficient, and drought resilient groundwater supplies. In areas where soil conditions are suitable and excess water is available, ground water recharge represents one of the most cost-effective methods to increase storage, thereby ensuring water supply and improving water quality.

Protecting Groundwater Quality While Replenishing Aquifers

This document represents a first step towards management guidance for on-farm recharge planners and practitioners to maximize benefits to water quality and to manage risks under AgMAR. This document is also intended to be used as a resource for communities so they can more fully participate in the GSA decision-making process.

Flood-MAR Research and Data Development Plan

This Flood-MAR Research and Data Development Plan (R&DD Plan) presents the work of the Flood-MAR Research Advisory Committee (RAC), a multidisciplinary group of subject matter experts across 13 research themes. The RAC was tasked to identify the research, data, guidance, and tools necessary to support and expand the implementation of Flood-MAR projects.

Controls on flood managed aquifer recharge through a heterogeneous vadose zone: hydrologic modeling at a site characterized with surface geophysics

To determine the impact of unsaturated-zone stratigraphic heterogeneity on MAR effectiveness, we simulate recharge at a Central Valley almond orchard surveyed with a towed transient electromagnetic system. First, we identified three outcomes of interest for MAR sites: infiltration rate at the surface, residence time of water in the root zone and saturated-zone recharge efficiency, which is defined as the increase in saturated-zone storage induced by MAR.

Understanding Multiple Benefits of Floodplain Restoration from Flood-Managed Aquifer Recharge in Madera County, California

Groundwater is a critical component of California’s water supply portfolio. Due to excessive pumping, many groundwater basins have been depleted, causing undesirable results. The passage of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) in 2014 requires Groundwater Sustainability Agencies to implement strategies to bring groundwater use to sustainable levels.

California DWR Airborne Electromagnetic Surveys

The Department of Water Resources is conducting airborne electromagnetic (AEM) surveys in California’s high- and medium-priority groundwater basins, where data collection is feasible, to assist local water managers as they implement the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) to manage groundwater for long term sustainability.

Soil Agricultural Groundwater Banking Index

The Soil Agricultural Groundwater Banking Index (SAGBI) is a suitability index for groundwater recharge on agricultural land. The SAGBI is based on five major factors that are critical to successful agricultural groundwater banking: deep percolation, root zone residence time, topography, chemical limitations, and soil surface condition.

SGMA Data Viewer

As part of DWR’s technical assistance to Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs), other water managers, and the public, DWR has developed the SGMA Data Viewer. The SGMA Data Viewer provides access to groundwater-related datasets that are organized by the requirements of SGMA and the Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP) regulations for the purposes of supporting GSP development and implementation.

California Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA)

The historic passage of SGMA in 2014 set forth a statewide framework to help protect groundwater resources over the long-term. SGMA is comprised from a three-bill legislative package, including AB 1739 (Dickinson), SB 1168 (Pavley), and SB 1319 (Pavley), and subsequent statewide Regulations. In signing SGMA, then-Governor Jerry Brown emphasized that “groundwater management in California is best accomplished locally.”

Groundwater Resource Hub

The purpose of the Groundwater Resource Hub is to help local agencies achieve sustainable groundwater management by providing the science and tools needed to help address nature’s water needs. Over time, the goal is to improve statewide and local understanding of nature’s groundwater needs to reduce uncertainties and therefore enhance sustainable groundwater management.

Groundwater Exchange website

The Groundwater Exchange is a central, collaborative, and publicly accessible online resource center connecting water managers, water users, and community members with tools and resources to support the design and implementation of effective Groundwater Sustainability Plans under California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act.

Engineering With Nature on the Pajaro River for GW Recharge & Flood Protection (Lunch-MAR | March 2024)

Julie Beagle and Dr. Mark Strudley discuss how Engineering With Nature strategies and design elements injected into the design of the Pajaro River at Watsonville levee reconstruction project position the project to achieve multi-benefit flood risk reduction, including enhancement of groundwater recharge. Partnership between local (PRFMA), State (DWR Flood-Mar Group), and federal (USACE) agencies afford the opportunity to use unique design tools, including the EcoFIP toolkit (Ecological Floodpla

Link to Recording

Updates to the Groundwater Accounting Tool (Lunch-MAR | February 2024)

This was a joint Lunch-MAR and Data for Lunch presentation on February 7, 2024 on the Groundwater Accounting Platform: an open-source tool that helps California water managers, landowners, and water users track water budgets and usage more easily in near real-time. The California Water Data Consortium and Environmental Defense Fund have partnered to expand the Platform to new regions, and to build additional features and functionalities to help more groundwater agencies and landowners track

Link to Recording

Grower Success Stories and Lessons Learned from 2022/23 Wet Year (Lunch-MAR | December 2023)

During this December 6, 2023 Lunch-MAR, we share two recordings from the recent November 7, 2023 Flood-MAR Forum event where growers Christine Gemperle and Mark Hutson discusses successes and lessons learned from implementing Flood-MAR on their farms during the landmark wet winter of 2022/2023. Participants then discussed how to engage more growers in the Flood-MAR Network.

Link to Recording