Community expertise is key to effective, equitable water governance

Rosanai Paniagua admits that she felt a sense of hopelessness after joining the Richgrove Community Services District board, eager to help manage her unincorporated community’s water. “I’ve been at it for three years with no official training from experts who have been in the water world, and it has been really hard,” she says.

This spring, that all changed for Rosanai. Together with 20 other community leaders, she spent four full Saturdays over four months at The Bird Ranch in Gustine, California, as part of the 2024 Water Leadership Institute (WLI), co-hosted by EDF and the Rural Community Assistance Corporation, in partnership with local Groundwater Sustainability Agencies. The bilingual program brought together leaders from disadvantaged and underrepresented communities across the Delta-Mendota Subbasin, an area on the frontlines of California’s water crisis, with the goal of lifting up and reinforcing participants’ expertise, developing their leadership skills, sharing foundational information and resources, and, critically, providing a safe space for connection.