Western United Dairies participated in the inaugural meeting of the California Water Plan 2028 Advisory Committee this past week, joining a diverse group of stakeholders convened by the Department of Water Resources to help shape the state’s next long-range water planning effort.

Over two days, Advisory Committee members began what DWR is framing as a multi-year conversation about California’s water future, with a particular focus on building a more resilient, reliable, and integrated approach to water planning for a hotter and more extreme climate. Discussions covered watershed-scale planning, long-term water reliability, technical analysis, and approaches to statewide public engagement.

WUD CEO Anja Raudabaugh joined the Advisory Committee to ensure California’s number one agricultural commodity is helping drive, not just react to, the state’s next generation of water planning. Dairy producers manage water at a scale and complexity few other sectors can match, and that expertise is central to getting the plan right. The Committee is expected to meet several more times in the months ahead, with the next two meeting dates anticipated to be finalized by the end of this month.

Meeting materials, including video recordings, slide decks, and handouts, are available on the California Water Plan website. A formal meeting summary will be circulated in the coming weeks. We’ll continue to keep members updated as the Advisory Committee’s work progresses and as opportunities for broader dairy industry input emerge.