Robust Decision Support: how SEI helps California regions plan for sustainable water management

SEI utilizes the Robust Decision Support (RDS) process and the Water Evaluation And Planning (WEAP) system to create shared mental models for water management in California. In the Yuba River Basin, analysis showed that individual strategies, such as urban conservation, were insufficient to reduce regional vulnerabilities, necessitating a multi-strategy portfolio. In Yolo County, SEI evaluated groundwater sustainability based on groundwater levels, financial viability, and water reliability under various uncertainty scenarios, including climate and land-use change.

• In the Yuba River Basin, SEI's quantitative analysis using the WEAP system indicated that the system is highly susceptible to climate change and potential environmental regulations regarding water releases to the Delta.
• Analysis of the Yuba Integrated Regional Water Management (IRWM) plan revealed that most individual strategies, specifically urban conservation projects, would not significantly lower regional vulnerabilities because the non-agricultural sector uses a very small proportion of total water; therefore, a portfolio of multiple strategies is required for regional impact.
• For the Yolo County groundwater sustainability plan, SEI defined sustainability through three dimensions: water reliability, financial viability, and groundwater levels, testing these against uncertainty scenarios involving new regulations, land use change, and climate.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2019). Robust Decision Support: how SEI helps California regions plan for sustainable water management. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/robust-decision-support-how-sei-helps-california-regions-plan.pdf

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Robust Decision Support: how SEI helps California regions plan for sustainable water management. 2019. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/robust-decision-support-how-sei-helps-california-regions-plan.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Robust Decision Support: how SEI helps California regions plan for sustainable water management |date=May 2019 |url=https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/robust-decision-support-how-sei-helps-california-regions-plan.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2019robust, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Robust Decision Support: how SEI helps California regions plan for sustainable water management}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2019}, month = may, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/robust-decision-support-how-sei-helps-california-regions-plan.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }