CALIFORNIA WATER AND ENVIRONMENTAL MODELING FORUM

Facilitating an open exchange of information on California water issues
Resolving technical disagreements in a non-adversarial setting
Ensuring that technical work continues to take into account the needs of stakeholders and decision makers

2025 CWEMF Annual Meeting

The California Water and Environmental Modeling Forum will hold its 31st Annual Meeting from Monday, May 12. 2025 through Wednesday, May 14, 2025 at the Lake Natoma Inn (Venue) in Folsom, California.

Program

Highlights of the 2025 CWEMF Annual Meeting include:

Click here to view/download the draft meeting program. Three concurrent sessions will be held Monday and Tuesday.
The annual Awards Ceremony will be held immediately following lunch on Monday May 12.
The keynote address will be given immediately following lunch on Tuesday May 13. This year’s keynote speaker will be Dr. Peter Goodwin, University of Maryland.
A business meeting will be held the evening of Monday May 12 with location TBD.
A poster session will be held on Tuesday May 13.  The posters will be displayed throughout the afternoon and evening. Beverages and a light dinner will be provided at the end of the day to allow attendees to chat with the poster presenters.  The instructions for the poster session are posted here.
Boxed lunches will be provided on Monday May 12 and Tuesday May 13 if you register by Friday April 18.

Registration

To register for the CWEMF 2025 Annual Meeting, please complete the Registration Form. (Click here to download the form.) Payment can be made through PayPal (buttons below) or by mailing a check to the CWEMF address on the registration form. Early bird rates apply through April 18, 2025. Discounted rates are available to those in the following individual membership categories: “Non-Profit/NGO”, “Academic Postdoc”, “Senior” and “Student”. All session moderators and speakers are required to register for the meeting.

Please note: If you register online for the 1-Day option, please send an email with the subject “CWEMF 1-Day Option” to CWEMF’s Executive Director, Paul Hutton at paul.hutton@tetratech.com. In this email, please indicate which day you plan to attend (i.e., Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday). This information is necessary for our refreshment, lunch and social planning. Thank you!

Employees of the following organizations are considered “Organization” members and should register accordingly:

California Department of Water Resources
California State Water Resources Control Board (does not include Regional Water Boards)
Contra Costa Water District
Delta Stewardship Council
East Bay Municipal Utility District
ICF
Intera
Jacobs
Metropolitan Water District of Southern California
Resource Management Associates / GEI Consultants
S.S. Papadopulos & Associates, Inc.
Stantec
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
U.S. Geological Survey
Woodard & Curran

Lodging

We have reserved a block of rooms at the Lake Natoma Inn for $145 per night.  If you wish to stay at the Lake Natoma Inn, please make your reservations with the Hotel by clicking here. Please make your reservations at least two weeks in advance because the CWEMF block of rooms will be released to others on April 28.

Professional Development Hours

Your attendance at the 31st Annual Meeting will entitle you to earn up to 24 Professional Development Hour (PDH) units, which many licensure and certification agencies require to demonstrate continuing professional competency. In general, one PDH is equal to one full hour of attendance. Reporting is done on an honor basis where attendees maintain their own records and email to CWEMF the number of hours in attendance.

Getting to Folsom

There is plenty of parking at the Lake Natoma Inn and nearby parking garage; however, if you would like to take light rail, the Historic Folsom Light Rail station is just a five minute walk from the Lake Natoma Inn.

If you have any questions, please contact the CWEMF Executive Director, Paul Hutton, at paul.hutton@tetratech.com or (916) 281-5842

Pay Registration fee Online

Technical Workshop

Integrated Water Flow Model (IWFM) Training

Hands-on Training Workshop – May 28-30, 2025 (3 Days)

IWFM Workshop Flyer

May 28 – 30 (9:00 am – 4:30 pm)
California Natural Resources Headquarters
715 P Street, Room 2-309
Sacramento, CA 95814

This workshop is open to CWEMF members only.
Workshop Fee: $150 ($40 for student)
Refreshments included all three days, lunch not included.

Registration/Payment can be made online below. Payment can also be made via check sent to: CWEMF, P.O. Box 5051, Vacaville, CA 95696-5051. As part of the registration process, please email cwemf@cwemf.org to reserve your seat and include “IWFM Workshop” in the subject line. Go to www.cwemf.org for information on renewing your CWEMF membership or becoming a CWEMF member.

Integrated Water Flow Model (IWFM) is a water resources management and planning tool that simulates land surface and root zone flow processes, groundwater, stream flows, and surface water-groundwater interactions. Tile drains, subsidence, lakes and lake-groundwater interactions can also be simulated. IWFM models groundwater flow as a three-dimensional system and solves the governing flow equation using the Galerkin finite element method. A unique feature of IWFM is the land use based approach of calculating water demands. Agricultural and urban water demands can be pre-specified, or calculated internally based on user-specified land use distribution, soil properties, climatic conditions and farm water management practices.

This is a companion workshop to the IWFM Demand Calculator (IDC) workshop which is offered separately, and specifically concentrates on the land-surface and root zone component of IWFM. The workshop participants will learn the basic concepts and mathematical methods used in IWFM, and will have hands-on exercises that will teach them how to build models from scratch.

Workshop participants will need to bring a laptop computer with several programs installed, including MS Excel, and a powerful text editor such as TextPad. Before the workshop, participants will need to download workshop materials (presentations, hands-on examples and guidelines for these examples) and install the IWFM Excel add-in.

Major topics will include:

Overview of IWFM
Simulation of groundwater flow
Stream flows and stream-groundwater interactions
Lakes and lake-groundwater interactions
Tile drains, subsidence, pumping and recharge of groundwater
Land-use and soil moisture routing; computation of agricultural and urban water demands (these topics will be covered only briefly; IWFM Demand Calculator (IDC) workshop covers these topics in more detail)
Stream diversions and pumping as water supply
Automated adjustment of diversions and pumping to meet water demand

Course Instructor: Dr. Can Dogrul, Ph.D. P.E. (Department of Water Resources)

Pay IWFM Workshop

Technical Workshop

CE-QUAL-W2 Hydrodynamic and Water Quality Model V5

Hands-on Training Workshop – June 3-5, 2025 (2.5 Days)

CE-QUAL-W2 Workshop Flyer

June 3 & 4 (8:30 am – 4:30 pm)
June 5 (8:30 am – 12:00 pm)
Woodard and Curran, Inc. Office
801 T Street, Sacramento, CA 95811

This workshop is open to CWEMF members only.
Workshop Fee: $300 ($50 for student)
Refreshments included all three days, lunch not included.

Registration/Payment can be made online below. Payment can also be made via check sent to: CWEMF, P.O. Box 5051, Vacaville, CA 95696-5051. As part of the registration process, please email cwemf@cwemf.org to reserve your seat and include “CE-QUAL-W2 Workshop” in the subject line. Go to www.cwemf.org for information on renewing your CWEMF membership or becoming a CWEMF member.

CE-QUAL-W2 (W2) is a two-dimensional, laterally averaged hydrodynamic and water quality model with over 30
years of development. It simulates hydrodynamics, water temperature, and various water quality constituents in
water bodies. The W2 model is capable of simulating a broad range of constituents, including inorganic solids,
bacteria, dissolved gases, metals (Fe, Mn) mercury (Hg), nutrient cycles, and processes contributing to
eutrophication. Users can define any number of groups like generic constituents, suspended solids, BOD, algae,
epiphyton, macrophytes, and zooplankton. W2 also includes zero-order and first-order bed sediment processes,
as well as sediment diagenesis model to quantify sediment oxygen demand (SOD) and nutrient fluxes across
sediment-water interfaces. The W2 model provides detailed outputs for velocities, water temperature and all
constituents across longitudinal, vertical, and temporal dimensions. This model has been successfully applied in
California, across the U.S., and internationally in rivers, lakes, and reservoirs. Its applications include assessing
impacts of stressors, conducting thermal and water quality studies, updating reservoir operation manuals, and
developing environmental impact statements.

This workshop will provide an overview of CE-QUAL-W2 V5’s features and highlight major enhancements. The
workshop will cover the model input requirements, model development, calibration, and result analysis through
lectures and hands-on exercises. By the end of the workshop, attendees will know how to set up and run W2
hydrodynamic and water quality simulations, visualize results, and perform alternative scenario analyses.

Workshop materials will be provided in advance. Participants should bring a laptop pre-loaded with
CE-QUAL-W2, a text editor (e.g., TextPad or Notepad++), Microsoft Excel, and permission to run Excel macros.

Lead Instructor: Zhonglong Zhang, PhD, PE, PH, Research Professor, Portland State University

Quick Links

CWEMF ORGANIZATION MEMBERS