Technical foundation built for California to evaluate cannabis growers’ requests for stream flow diversions

SCCWRP and its partners have developed a standardized assessment framework that enables California to assess whether the water that cannabis growers are requesting to divert from nearby streams to support cannabis cultivation will adversely affect the streams’ ecological health.

The framework, presented in March to a statewide technical advisory group overseeing the work, provides a rigorous scientific approach for assessing potential ecological risks to stream health from proposed flow diversions. The framework is based on the California Environmental Flows Framework, which was co-developed by SCCWRP to bring consistency and standardization to how flow targets get set statewide.

While the framework was initially piloted in the North Coast region of California, researchers are exploring how to adapt it for statewide application. The framework also has the potential to be used to support decision-making on flow diversion requests beyond just cannabis growers.