Santa Clara Valley Water District

This document details the public participation process designed for the Guadalupe Watershed Plan. Its three main objectives are to identify key stakeholders, define strategies for their productive involvement, and gather water resource input and expertise. This process aims to effectively manage stakeholder expectations, needs, and impacts throughout the entire development of the Guadalupe Watershed Plan.

This Greenhouse Gas Reduction Plan (GHGRP) aims to reduce the Santa Clara Valley Water District's emissions and achieve a carbon neutrality target by 2045. The plan establishes a carbon budget for 2025-2045 and outlines 11 key reduction measures. These measures focus on converting on-road and off-road fleets to zero-emission alternatives, phasing out high-Global Warming Potential (GWP) refrigerants, electrifying facilities, reducing employee commute emissions, increasing solid waste diversion, implementing zero-emission requirements for contracted construction equipment and vehicles, enhancing community-wide water conservation, and utilizing carbon sequestration through habitat restoration. It includes an implementation and monitoring plan and a CEQA streamlining checklist to guide progress towards net-zero emissions.

This Setting Report, prepared for the Upper Pajaro Watershed Plan, details past, present, and future conditions across key areas including Land Use, Ecological Resources, Water Supply, Water Quality, and Flood Risk Reduction. It establishes a baseline of current conditions and identifies trends, opportunities, and challenges to inform strategic actions aimed at addressing needs and deficiencies related to ecosystem stewardship, flood protection, water supply, and water quality within the watershed.

This document outlines the priority actions for the One Water Upper Pajaro Watershed Plan, categorized into short, medium, and long-term implementation horizons. Key strategic areas addressed include climate change mitigation, ecological resource protection and enhancement, flood risk reduction, water quality improvement, and ensuring a sustainable water supply. The plan aims to achieve these objectives through various studies, projects, partnerships, and programs to restore and manage the watershed's natural processes and infrastructure.

The Committee received information on the Draft 2025 Urban Water Management Plan and Water Shortage Contingency Plan, including demand projections, supply reliability, and demand management measures. An update was provided on groundwater basins, including progress on the periodic evaluation of the Alternative Plan for Santa Clara and Llagas subbasins and compliance with the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. The Committee also received an update on the B.F. Sisk Dam Raise and Reservoir Expansion Project, discussed planning and design progress, and recommended the authorization of payment for the district's share of project planning costs. Furthermore, the Committee reviewed the status of various groundwater banking projects, received an update on the Safe Clean Water Conservation Program, and reviewed the implementation metrics for the Water Rate Assistance Program.