Last week Water Blueprint for the San Joaquin Valley Executive Director Austin Ewell was featured as a panelist at the California Water Alliance 2026 Water Forum. This annual event brought together regional leaders and partners to discuss California's water future, infrastructure, and statewide water challenges.

The panel, featuring California water leaders spanning federal policy, water management, water law, and forecasting, explored the importance of maximizing existing infrastructure, investing in future projects, improving water operations, moving projects from planning to implementation, and aligning water and land-use decisions with California’s long-term needs.

Executive Director Ewell emphasized a central message: California will not solve its water challenges by working in silos, partnerships and collaboration are essential. He highlighted the newly-released Unified Water Plan, prepared by the Water Blueprint and California Water Institute at Fresno State for consideration at the Bureau of Reclamation, as an example of what can be accomplished when organizations come together around shared challenges and solutions.

Ewell also discussed the ongoing groundwater recharge investigation by the Metropolitan Water District and the Water Blueprint in the San Joaquin Valley, which could help identify opportunities to better utilize the Valley’s groundwater recharge capacity and strengthen water reliability both regionally and statewide.

California has built an extensive water system and developed tremendous expertise, but maintaining and modernizing that system will require a sustained commitment of funding and collaboration. The opportunity before us is to bring the right partners together, build consensus around shared priorities, and turn good planning into projects that deliver real water-supply benefits.

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