UC groundwater research: A survey

California Agriculture (UCANR) | March 13th, 2018

As California implements the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), UC research is building knowledge and supporting innovation in groundwater recharge, groundwat

As California implements the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), UC research is building knowledge and supporting innovation in groundwater recharge, groundwater accounting, groundwater quality, groundwater governance and more. Here's a sample of work from across the UC system: whole watershed accounting; water availability for recharge; precision data on snowmelt; spatial data on well vulnerability; large scale groundwater recharge and agricultural systems; groundwater-surface water interactions; groundwater quality and salinity; water supply, land use and rural communities; data on water use and water rights; managed aquifer recharge on farmland; soil suitability for recharge; distributed stormwater collection; net metering for groundwater; geophysical imaging; groundwater governance; lessons on groundwater permitting from around the West; supporting Groundwater Sustainability Plan development; the economics of sustainable groundwater management; and considerations for groundwater markets.

Urban hydrology and water management— Present and future challenges

Urban Water (Elsevier) | March 1st, 1999

Urban hydrology is an applied science that will have an increasing role to play in the sustainability of human societies. Facing present growth of urban population, it is

Urban hydrology is an applied science that will have an increasing role to play in the sustainability of human societies. Facing present growth of urban population, it is increasingly difficult to find and utilize new sources of water necessary to satisfy growing water demand. For the poor, the residents of peri-urban and squatter areas, an ultimate poverty, the poverty of lacking clean water, is a result. To remove this kind of poverty should be a first priority target for all people and, especially, for people dealing with water management in urban areas. Growth of urban areas brings significant changes in physical properties of land surface increasing integrated vulnerability of inhabitants, agricultural land and rural ecological life supporting systems. Performance of technical solutions depends on climate as well as on social, economical and cultural conditions. Findings from urban hydrological studies based on collection of urban hydrological data, calculations and modeling constitute a necessary fundamental for meaningful water management not only in urban areas but also in entire river basins. Future challenges in urban water management include development of new technical solutions as well as logistic and organizational methods in order to turn present problems into future opportunities. The following current and emerging challenges are discussed in the paper: delivery of drinking water supply for growing cities, water for sanitation versus sanitation without water, recycling of wastewater nutrients, wastewater irrigation, urban agriculture, water to feed depleted aquifers, thoughts about possible future new system solutions, social equity and transfer of knowledge and new technology.

Urban Water Conservation in the Sacramento, California Region During the 2014-2016 Drought

ProQuest Dissertations Publishing | December 30th, 2019

Using Watershed Science to Build Consensus and Maximize Benefits of L.A. County’s Safe Clean Water Program

Accelerate Resilience LA (ARLA) | January 31st, 2022

To meet its diverse goals, SCWP scoring criteria, processes, and guidelines were initially developed to incentivize projects that simultaneously address water, environmen

To meet its diverse goals, SCWP scoring criteria, processes, and guidelines were initially developed to incentivize projects that simultaneously address water, environmental, MS4 compliance, and social issues. However, the first two SCWP funding cycles of Stormwater Investment Plans (SIP) featured extensive committee debate and public comments concerning the balance of these goals. This public debate illuminated the need for an assessment of the extent to which SCWP guidance, criteria, structure, and processes are successfully driving meaningful progress toward the fourteen SCWP Goals.

Wastewater surveillance for public health

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) | January 5th, 2023

Water and Culture (Resource Management Strategy)

California Department of Water Resources (DWR) | July 29th, 2016

This resource management strategy report presents the emerging thinking of many California Water Plan Advisory Committee members and other stakeholders regarding the impo

This resource management strategy report presents the emerging thinking of many California Water Plan Advisory Committee members and other stakeholders regarding the importance of linking cultural considerations to water management. In many respects, this resource management strategy report represents more of an annotated outline than a fully developed strategy. Even so, the water plan stakeholders asked that this resource management strategy report be included, if only to improve awareness of the need for the strategy and to continue dialogue on what it should include. Water and culture are connected in myriad ways, with subtle and complex implications for water management in California. Some cultural relationships to water are so pervasive, they may be easy to overlook. Other cultural considerations are less apparent and may be difficult to recognize. Increasing the awareness of how cultural values, uses, and practices are affected by water management, as well as how they affect water management, will help inform policies and decisions. Even regulations reflect cultural values, particularly by how they are put into practice when water is viewed as a commodity, and all the more by the sum total of laws, regulations, and policies intended to control water. Water resources have shaped the history of California, contributing to the current social, cultural, and economic patterns across the state. The presence of freshwater sources has influenced the location of settlements and communities for hundreds, even thousands, of years. Water resources have also been pivotal to key economic activities, such as fishing, mining, agriculture, manufacturing, tourism, and recreation. These historic aspects of development continue to have ramifications for water managers today. Water and water-dependent resources also shape individual and collective experiences that contribute to individual and community well-being, sense of identity, and connection with the natural world. These experiences are inextricably linked to values, traditions, and lifestyles, which in turn inform perspectives and expectations regarding water resources and conditions. Cultural considerations by their nature are inherently linked to every resource management strategy. More importantly, the consideration of culture in water management decisions is, in many cases, legally mandated by State and federal laws. Utilizing cultural considerations in the framing, development, and promotion of management decisions is vital to ensuring legal compliance and sustainable practices.

Water and wastewater infrastructure inequity in unincorporated communities

Nature Portfolio (Springer Nature) | December 3rd, 2024

Water Dependent Recreation (Resource Management Strategy)

California Department of Water Resources (DWR) | July 29th, 2016

California residents and visitors can choose from a variety of water-dependent recreation activities managed by federal, State, and local agencies, as well as businesses

California residents and visitors can choose from a variety of water-dependent recreation activities managed by federal, State, and local agencies, as well as businesses and not-for-profit organizations. They may enjoy recreation activities in or on water, including fishing, swimming, skiing, and snowboarding, waterfowl hunting, motor boating, surfing, and kayaking. They also may participate in recreation activities that can be enhanced by water, such as wildlife viewing (including birding), picnicking, biking, relaxing on the beach, camping, and hiking. Although the latter activities do not require water, they are frequently enjoyed near waterways, lakes, floodways, and the sea. This resource management strategy report will not address water parks, swimming pools, and water- thirsty lawn-dependent recreational facilities, such as ball fields and golf courses; however, these are examples of popular off-stream recreational facilities that may require significant water resources.

Water for a Growing Bay Area: How the region can grow without increasing water demand

Pacific Institute | October 21st, 2021

The San Francisco Bay Area is at a crossroads. The region, blessed with a beautiful natural setting, multiple shipping ports and world-class universities, is a driver of

The San Francisco Bay Area is at a crossroads. The region, blessed with a beautiful natural setting, multiple shipping ports and world-class universities, is a driver of global economic growth. But the region’s housing supply has not kept up with population growth. Many low-income households, disproportionately made up of people of color, have been forced into overcrowded and substandard housing or displaced from the urban center to new neighborhoods far from their jobs, friends and families. The most vulnerable have lost their homes entirely and are among the region’s 35,000 unhoused people. Over the next half-century, the Bay Area’s need to add housing will only grow more intense. The region is projected to add 2 million new jobs by 2070, which would attract as many as 6.8 million people, and needs to build at least 2.2 million new housing units just to prevent housing affordability from worsening. This represents 83% more people, 74% more housing units and 38% more jobs over the next 50 years.

Water Recommendations to the Next President

Pacific Institute | September 14th, 2020

The United States faces several severe and worsening water problems. Continuing to neglect these problems will impoverish and sicken this and future generations,

The United States faces several severe and worsening water problems. Continuing to neglect these problems will impoverish and sicken this and future generations, destroy beneficial aquatic ecosystems, and threaten our economy and food supply. Smart water policies will create hundreds of thousands of jobs, improve public health, and speed our economic recovery. In this letter, we offer a short assessment of four key problems and specific recommendations for addressing them.