A Unique Effort

The first week of my internship at the Resource Conservation District of Santa Cruz County is coming to an end. My focus this week has been to familiarize myself with the Community Water Dialogue (CWD) in order to put together a document describing the dialogue’s origin and what makes it so unique.

The CWD was created in July of 2010 by a group of landowners concerned with the Pajaro Valley’s water issues. The group now includes many stakeholders including additional landowners, growers, academics, nonprofits, residents, government representatives, and environmental leaders.

There are four working groups within the Community Water Dialogue:

  • Managed Aquifer Recharge: Private recharge and catchment projects to increase water supply.
  • Big Projects Committee: Deal with larger projects to increase water supply.
  • Communications: Centralized information about the water issue and progress towards solutions, and ongoing community engagement.
  • Land Management and Irrigation Best Practices: Teaching growers how they can minimize their water use, and implementing irrigation technologies to assist in doing so.
Michael Johnson of the Resource Conservation District demonstrates various tools for assisting growers with irrigation fertilization evaluations.

Michael Johnson of the Resource Conservation District demonstrates various tools for assisting growers with irrigation fertilization evaluations.

This summer I will be part of the Communications team. Some of my tasks include:

  • Conducting case studies for CWD projects, similar to the case study that EcoFarm put together regarding the Wireless Irrigation Network
  • Putting together communications pieces about the CWD’s origin and its ongoing progress
  • Developing a website for the CWD
  • Translating CWD communications into Spanish

The dialogue is still fairly new but has already accomplished a lot.

I’m excited to be a part of it and join the community’s efforts to conserve a non-substitutable and extremely important resource: water.