Innovative Water Financing Roundtable

The California Water Action Plan (WAP) lays out a set of ideas to move California to a sustainable water path that will allow California to survive and thrive in the face of intensified changing climate, aging infrastructure and population growth. The call to action is clear, but equally important, we must find innovative ways to finance the necessary investments as the WAP lays out. While some actions already benefit from robust funding options others such as access to safe drinking water, management of storm water, maintenance and protection of upper watersheds, ecosystem management and integrated resource management will require new, innovative, and integrated financing.

This roundtable, hosted by Stanford University’s Water in the West program and the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research, focused on the underfunded water priorities and gaps; identifed and discussed innovative and alternative ways to fund some of these solutions; and identifed next steps and venues to continue this important conversation. This roundtable built upon some of the ongoing water financing research at Stanford’s Water in the West program^[1].  

[1] You can find additional information about water financing in a recent study by the Stanford Water in the West on “Tapping into Alternative Ways to Fund Innovative and Multi-Purpose Water Projects” , “Funding Water in Times of Financial Uncertainty”