Welcoming the Consortium's Inaugural Steering Committee

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I am thrilled today to announce the California Water Data Consortium’s (Consortium) inaugural Steering Committee. Seating the Steering Committee represents another major step forward for the Consortium and for open and transparent water data in California. In partnership with our Board, the Steering Committee will guide and implement the Consortium's programmatic objectives and priorities; oversee the development and ongoing efforts of project-specific working groups; and foster active conversation between the Consortium and the Partner Agency Team charged with implementing AB 1755.

The 11-member Steering Committee represents six state agencies, academia, nongovernmental organizations, local agencies, and the private sector. Each member will serve a two-year term and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in the collection, publication, and use of water and ecological data.

The Steering Committee members are:

Deborah Agarwal, Department Head & Senior Scientist, Data Science and Technology Department, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Mike Antos, Senior Integrated Water Management Specialist, Stantec Consulting, and Visiting Scholar, UC Irvine Anthropology

Drew Atwater, Director of Finance and Water Resources, Moulton Niguel Water District and Committee Chair, California Data Collaborative

Christina Babbitt, Senior Manager, California Groundwater Program, Environmental Defense Fund

Joy Bonaguro, Chief Data Officer, Government Operations Agency

Martha Davis, Retired, Assistant General Manager/Executive Manager for Policy Development, Inland Empire Utilities Agency

Joaquin Esquivel, Chair, State Water Resources Control Board

David Harris, Enterprise Data Services Manager, California Natural Resources Agency Data Center

Nick Martorano, Director, California Water Quality Monitoring Council

Christina McCready, Lead, AB 1755 Partner Agency Team, Department of Water Resources

Susan Tatayon, Chair, Delta Stewardship Council

The Steering Committee’s work and leadership will be essential to ensuring the Consortium advances the interests of communities who publish, report, generate, and use public water data. The Board and I are eager to have their honest engagement across our work and in achieving our mission of advancing data-informed water management decisions for a more resilient water future for all Californians.  

Over the next two years, the Steering Committee members will volunteer a significant amount of time and energy to build the Consortium and shape its priorities. In addition to being ambassadors for the Consortium, their responsibilities include:

• working with the Consortium board of directors and staff to collaboratively develop strategic goals and a work plan to support those goals; 
• developing and overseeing the activities of the Working Groups; and 
• working with the Consortium’s board of directors and staff to identify funding opportunities and resources to support Consortium, Steering Committee and Working Group activities.

While I’m excited to get to work with this impressive and dedicated group of individuals, I want to say thank you to the many amazing individuals who applied to be on the Steering Committee. I am so appreciative of all the applicants for their thoughtful ideas and interest. One of my first priorities with the Steering Committee is to develop other venues for community participation and engagement in the Consortium, including through working groups, sector-specific outreach meetings, and public events.

Please join me today and on October 22 in welcoming our first Steering Committee members and supporting them as we advance cross-sector collaboration on open water data together.