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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.

The document details a participatory approach to groundwater management in Yolo County, California, where stakeholders defined sustainability objectives and evaluated seven management strategies against uncertainties. The process identified that a 'business-as-usual' approach was unlikely to succeed, while a conjunctive use strategy involving winter recharge and storage ponds proved effective under various climate and regulatory scenarios.

The study uses the Water Evaluation And Planning (WEAP) system to model irrigation demand and supply in California's Cache Creek watershed. It finds that climate change will significantly increase irrigation demand, which cannot be fully met by reservoir releases due to legal limits, necessitating increased groundwater extraction. While changing cropping patterns alone are insufficient to offset climate-driven demand, combining diversified, water-efficient cropping with technology improvements can reduce demand to 12% below historical means and lower groundwater pumping.