East County IRWM

The East Contra Costa IRWM Region includes the service areas of its Regional Water Management Group (RWMG) twelve member agencies. Coordinated planning in the region began in 1995 through the formation of the East County Water Management Association (ECWMA), and grew stronger through ongoing ECWMA and other planning efforts. In 2005, the region adopted a Functionally Equivalent Integrated Regional Water Management Plan, and was formally recognized as an IRWM region by the California Department of Water Resources in 2009 through the Region Acceptance Process (RAP).

In 2013, the region updated its IRWM Plan to include a more formal integrated planning process meeting the DWR IRWM Guidelines. The 2013 IRWM Plan Update process included identifying regional water management objectives, holding a call or projects, prioritizing projects, providing current information about the region, and adding the results of new analyses such as a climate change vulnerability assessment and a groundwater management plan. The ECWMA completed an additional IRWM Plan update process in 2015 to incorporate additional technical studies on topics such as recycled water and salt and nutrient management plans, to further strengthen IRWM planning in the region.

Most recently, the region completed its 2019 IRWM Plan Update to meet the DWR 2016 IRWM Guidelines. DWR approved the plan on June 14, 2019. ECWMA member agencies and local project sponsors will adopt the plan to complete the update process.

IRWM Success

Participation in a recognized IRWM Program creates eligbility for certain sources of grant and loan funding, including some Proposition 50, Proposition 84, Proposition 1E, and Proposition 1 funds. Projects eligible for these funds must be included in an IRWM Plan. To-date, the ECCC IRWM Program has received over $15 million in implementation and planning grants, and funded 17 projects and plans that address the state, regional, and local priorities identified in the IRWM Plan. For more information on the ECCC IRWM Program’s success in acquiring IRWM grant funding, refer to Table 2-1 in the 2019 IRWM Plan Update.

Neighboring IRWM Regions

The ECCC IRWM Region is one of 48 IRWM regions in California. It overlies two funding areas, the San Joaquin Funding Area, and the San Francisco Bay Funding Area, and overlaps the neighboring San Francisco Bay Area IRWM Region in the northwestern portion of the ECCC IRWM Region. The Region is also bordered by the Westside (Yolo, Solano, Napa, Colusa) and Westside-San Joaquin IRWM regions to the north and east, respectively, as well as neighbored by Westside-San Joaquin to the southeast. Of these neighboring IRWM regions, all but one (Westside) lies within one of the two funding areas that include the ECCC IRWM Region