EGU25-14474, updated on 15 Mar 2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-14474
EGU General Assembly 2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Climate Adaptation and Resilience Plan for San Bernardino Valley, California, USA
Greg Woodside1, Adekunle Ojo1, Kai Palenscar1, and Erik Feldman2
Greg Woodside et al.
  • 1San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District, Planning & Watershed Resilience, San Bernardino, United States of America (gregw@sbvmwd.com)
  • 2Rincon Consultants, Ventura, California, United States of America (efeldman@rinconconsultants.com)

San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District (San Bernardino Valley) is a regional water management and resource agency in southern California, United States of America. San Bernardino Valley prioritizes collaborative approaches to climate adaptation and working with partner agencies and land managers within the watershed to develop innovative strategies to provide sustainable water supply and support the changing needs of our region’s people and environment.   Climate change continues to alter climate conditions in southern California, a Mediterranean climate region. Changes in temperature, aridity, rainfall, and storm patterns present highly variable challenges to San Bernardino Valley’s planning and operations. Water supply reliability will continue to be impacted by changes in availability of local water and water imported into the San Bernardino area from northern California. Extreme weather events such as heat waves, more intense rainfall, and extended droughts are likely to increase in frequency or severity. Climate change also increases our exposure to extreme wildfire and impacts from sea level rise that affects water imported from northern California. These conditions may threaten the durability of taxpayer investments in water projects and the habitat conservation efforts associated with those projects.

Over the last three years, San Bernardino Valley staff and Board of Directors worked with partner agencies and a consulting team to evaluate regional climate vulnerabilities and develop a Climate Adaptation and Resilience Plan (CARP).  The CARP is an adaptive guide designed to strengthen the District’s water reliability and proactively address existing and future climate change impacts. The CARP provides a collaborative adaptive management process that promotes flexibility in the Agency's responses to changes in climate projections and adjustments based on real-world conditions, potentially decades into the future. The CARP outlines an ongoing phased implementation of actions over 20 years that will reduce or minimize risks to San Bernardino Valley's infrastructure, operations, and investments.

Development of the CARP included conducting a greenhouse gas emissions inventory, assessing climate risks and vulnerabilities, identifying proposed actions to increase our ability to adapt and be resilient in the face of climate change, and develop a phasing and implementation plan.  The CARP is organized around four Guiding Principles: (1) Maintain a diverse water portfolio, (2) Protect the Water Portfolio, (3) Improve operational and infrastructure resilience, and (4) Connect people to water and climate.  Measures and actions are organized in the CARP through the Guiding Principles, providing a holistic approach to increasing our region’s resilience across its water sources, the ecosystems that its water resources rely on, its infrastructure and operations, and water uses in the communities it serves.

San Bernardino Valley is committed to developing new data-driven measures and strategies, leveraging emerging technologies and products, and updating the CARP on an ongoing basis to meaningfully adapt to emerging climate threats and maintain progress towards achieving resilience.  Much like the natural systems within the region, the agencies and communities of our watershed are integrally connected, each contributing unique pieces of the innovative solutions that will support a sustainable and resilient future for our people and our shared environment.

How to cite: Woodside, G., Ojo, A., Palenscar, K., and Feldman, E.: Climate Adaptation and Resilience Plan for San Bernardino Valley, California, USA, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-14474, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-14474, 2025.

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