Background
The Mediterranean climate prevailing in California and southern Europe exerts a pervasive influence on patterns of human settlement and resource use by virtue of summer drought, highly seasonal precipitation/runoff, high inter-annual variability in precipitation, episodic floods and sediment transport. Humans have responded to this natural variability by constructing massive water supply and control infrastructure at a scale far exceeding that degree of control seen in more humid climates. Surprisingly, there has been little systematic recognition of the strong parallels among Mediterranean-climate regions and the potential to look to the other regions for precedents for solving common problems, nor used as an organizing theme in teaching and research.

The Water Framework Directive
In 2000, the European Parliament passed the Water Framework Directive, a broad reform of water management that has triggered changes including requirements for river basin scale management, setting ecological targets for all waters, and requiring transparency in water pricing and subsidies, wherein the economic benefits and environmental impacts of water uses are estimated and made public. The many parallels and differences in water management between California and Europe make for unusual opportunities for comparative learning.

The Conference
This conference addresses comparative water management in California and Europe through presentations by leading scholars, practitioners, and agency officials from California and Portugal, and presentations of research projects conducted in a workshop involving interdisciplinary teams of graduate students from Berkeley and from the University of Lisbon. The conference highlights water management in Europe under the WFD and water management in California under existing laws and recent watershed-level initiatives.

Space is limited, advance registration (free) is required to insure you can attend. Please RSVP to tgrantham@nature.berkeley.edu

Program
8h45  Welcome and Introduction Matt Kondolf (UC Berkeley), Opening remarks Portuguese Consul-General Antonio Carvalho, Overview of Water Management in the EU vs California Juliet Christian-Smith (UC Berkeley; Fulbright scholar, IST Lisbon)

9h30-11h30  Student team presentations with discussion

York Creek Dam Removal and the Water Framework Directive (PDF)  Justin Lawrence, Josh Pollak, Artur Ribeiro, Sarah Richmond, Hsiao-Wen Wang

A Watershed Approach to Urban River Restoration (PDF)  Eike Flebbe, Teresa Ippolito, Katie Jagt, Kristen Podolak, Tiago Teixeira

Stormwater Management in an Urban Watershed (PDF)  Hong Li, Ana Paula Santos, Jane Wardini

When the levees break: Relief cuts and flood management in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (PDF)  Lindsey Fransen, Jessica Ludy, Mary Matella, Pedro Pinto

Accountability in Emerging Forms of Governance: A Comparison of the California Bay Delta process and the Water Framework Directive (PDF)  Sarah Di Vittorio, Noelle Cole, Tamar Cooper, Nuno Oliveira

11h30  Panel Discussion by Jurors/panelists: Bill Eisenstein (UC Berkeley, Delta Vision Task Force), Ted Frink (Calif Dept Water Resources), Laurel Marcus (Calif Land Stewardship Institute).

12h15-13h:  Lunch break

13h-17h  Innovations in integrated water management at the river-basin scale

WFD implementation in Portugal: An Overview (PDF)  Graça Saraiva (Instituto Superior Tecnico [IST] and Ministry of the Environment, Lisbon)

EU WFD implementation context, focusing on Iberian shared rivers (PDF)  Rodrigo Maia (IST, Lisbon)

The changing face of water management in California  Larry Kolb (SF Bay Regional Water Board)

The evolution of new water rights policies in the Russian River and surrounds (PDF)  Adina Merenlender (UCB)

Regional Ocean Governance and the West Coast Governors’ Agreement on Ocean Health (PDF)  Amy Boone (California Resources Agency)

Urban water systems’ role in regional planning (PDF)  Randy Poole (Sonoma County Water Agency)

16h-17h  Synthesis/Discussion: Gabrielle Bouleau (Cemagref, Montpelier), Jeff Romm (UC Berkeley), Brian Cluer (NMFS)

Now available online:
A Fresh Perspective for Managing Water in California: Insights from Applying the European Water Framework Directive to the Russian River / by Ted Grantham, Juliet Christian-Smith, Matt Kondolf, and Stefan Scheuer.

We report results of a thought experiment, in which we imagined the Russian River was located within the EU and attempted to apply the Water Framework Directive (WFD) to the basin. We considered data available to assess ecological status of its water bodies, and to the extent possible with available data, evaluated ecological and water quality conditions. Using publicly available data, we reported on the economics of water in the basin, identifying how much various sectors of the economy were paying for their water and evaluating the extent of full cost recovery. Our findings highlight the fragmented management of water in the Russian River basin, with diverse and often conflicting roles played by two county governments, numerous local jurisdictions, and various state and federal agencies. The coherent, basin-level management that is a goal of the WFD, along with greater transparency in water economics and clear articulation of ecological goals, could address many of the problematic aspects of water management in the Russian River today.

Parking & Directions:
There is no parking available at the Faculty Club. Hourly pay parking lots are located at several locations near the Berkeley campus. See the UC Berkeley Parking and Transportation web site for more information (http://pt.berkeley.edu/parking/public-visitors/). An interactive UC Berkeley campus map can be viewed on the university home page ( http://www.berkeley.edu).

Contact:
Ted Grantham tgrantham@nature.berkeley.edu