About the Greater Monterey County Region

Evolution of the Greater Monterey County Region

To meet requirements for the Proposition 50 Integrated Regional Water Management (IRWM) Grant Program, six IRWM Plans were initially developed within the Central Coast region:

  • Pajaro River Watershed IRWM Plan
  • Monterey Peninsula, Carmel Bay and South Monterey Bay IRWM Plan
  • Salinas Valley IRWM Functionally Equivalent Plan
  • Northern Santa Cruz County IRWM Plan
  • San Luis Obispo County IRWM Plan
  • Santa Barbara Countywide IRWM Plan

The first three plans covered geographic areas within Monterey County. Together these three plans covered most of the Salinas Valley, all of the Pajaro River watershed, all of the Carmel River and San Jose Creek watersheds, and the Monterey Peninsula. However, many key areas of Monterey County were not represented within any of these plans, leaving significant coverage voids for the purposes of IRWM planning and project implementation, including in particular the Big Sur coastal watersheds and portions of Salinas River watershed, including the Gabilan subwatershed, as well as northern Monterey County.

Representatives of the Central Coast IRWM Regions agreed during a meeting in February 2008 that the Salinas Valley plan should be expanded to include those areas of Monterey County that had not been represented in previous plans. A Regional Water Management Group was formed in 2009 to lead the effort in developing a new IRWM Plan for an expanded IRWM region. The “Greater Monterey County” region eliminates all previous IRWM area coverage voids within Monterey County.

Regional Boundaries
Region Map
The Greater Monterey County region includes the entirety of Monterey County exclusive of: the Pajaro River watershed, which is covered by the Pajaro River Watershed IRWM region; and the Carmel River and San Jose Creek watersheds, areas within the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District jurisdiction, and areas overlying the Seaside Groundwater Basin, all of which is covered by the Monterey Peninsula, Carmel Bay, and South Monterey Bay IRWM region. In addition, the Greater Monterey County region includes a small portion of San Benito County that lies within the Salinas River watershed.

Click here to view maps that illustrate the change in geographic coverage from the Salinas Valley IRWM planning region to the Greater Monterey County IRWM planning region. You can also click here to download a .kml file to open in Google Earth (downloads as a zip file).

The Greater Monterey County IRWM Plan

An IRWM Plan for the Greater Monterey County region was completed and formally adopted by the Regional Water Management Group in April 2013. The Greater Monterey County IRWM Plan supersedes and replaces the Salinas Valley IRWM FEP, and meets all requirements established by the Integrated Regional Water Management Grant Program Guidelines. The Greater Monterey County IRWM Plan can be viewed on the Complete Plan page.