CALFED: Fostering and Monitoring Effective Urban Water Conservation Programs (2002)

CONCUR mediated a four-month-long, fast-track negotiation among urban water agencies, environmental groups and state and federal agencies that resulted in the unanimous adoption of a detailed framework for certifying statewide urban water conservation programs. The 2002 dialogue, which brought together nearly two dozen parties, focused on (1) defining a process to determine whether urban water agencies were undertaking sufficient conservation efforts, and (2) then stepping out a mix of incentives and penalties associated with agency performance. As lead facilitator, CONCUR was responsible for designing and managing the discussion, as well as drafting the subsequent agreement (2002 Final Draft Staff Proposal for Urban Water Conservation Certification PDF). CONCUR also conducted an upfront stakeholder assessment that articulated a handful of preconditions and interim benchmarks to guide the discussions – a key step given parties’ reluctance to enter yet another dialogue on a topic that had long eluded agreement.

The project was done as part of other facilitation/mediation work conducted on behalf of the California Bay-Delta Program, a landmark federal-state initiative intended to end years of wrangling over California’s overtaxed water supply. In 2007, the California State Legislature passed a new law (AB 1420) to create a program based in part on this negotiated approach.