CAWSI and the online resource center were first conceived of and launched in 2008 by an alliance of agricultural support organizations including the California Institute for Rural Studies, Community Alliance with Family Farmers, Ecological Farming Association, OAEC Water Institute, Polaris Institute, and Wild Farm Alliance. CAWSI was first convened by the Polaris Institute and then by Ag Innovations Network. It received instrumental primary support from Columbia Foundation, Gaia Fund, Clif Bar Family Foundation, and the USDA Risk Management Agency. CAWSI became a project of the California Roundtable on Water and Food Supply in Fall 2011. The Roundtable, a forum for leaders working to assure a reliable, long-term supply of water to California’s specialty crop producers while optimizing other beneficial uses of water, comprises leaders from the agricultural, water management, regulatory, fishing, environmental stewardship, environmental justice, rural economic development, and research communities.