Final Groundwater Assessment Study: A Status Report on the Use of Groundwater in the Service Area of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California

Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) | September 3rd, 2007

Final Mojave Region Integrated Regional Water Management Plan

Mojave Water Agency (MWA) | June 1st, 2014

Final Urban Water Management Plan Goleta Water District

Goleta Water District (GWD) | December 20th, 2005

Financing Water Supply and Sanitation in a Changing Climate

Pacific Institute | October 22nd, 2020

Human-caused climate change is real and accelerating, creating new challenges for all aspects of freshwater management. Important gaps in our understanding of these chall

Human-caused climate change is real and accelerating, creating new challenges for all aspects of freshwater management. Important gaps in our understanding of these challenges include both the complications climate change poses for planning, implementing, and sustaining water supply and sanitation (WSS) systems, especially for the poor; and the links between these systems and the emissions of greenhouse gases that worsen the overall climate problem. This paper addresses these gaps. 

First annual report of the Mojave Basin Area Watermaster 1993-1994

Mojave Basin Area Watermaster | February 28th, 1995

First Supplement to Bulletin No. 11, San Joaquin County Investigation, Basic Data, Calaveras and Littlejohns Units, 1953-1955

California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) | June 30th, 1955

Five-century record of climate and groundwater recharge variability in southern California

Nature Portfolio (Springer Nature) | December 3rd, 2019

Modifications to the rates of water flowing from the surface to groundwater (groundwater recharge) due to climate variability are the most difficult to assess because of

Modifications to the rates of water flowing from the surface to groundwater (groundwater recharge) due to climate variability are the most difficult to assess because of the lack of direct long-term observations. Here, we analyze the chloride salt distribution below the surface soil on a plateau near Los Angeles to reconstruct the amount of recharge that occurred in the last five centuries. Over this time interval, periods of major high and low recharge with different duration follow each other and this cyclicity is consistent with long-term atmospheric forcing patterns, such as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. This study determines the range and the natural variability of recharge to groundwater, which sustains local freshwater flow system, and helps forecast future availability of groundwater resource in southern California, where water scarcity is critical to both local and global populations.

Fixing the Flawed Colorado River Compact

American Geophysical Union (AGU) | June 16th, 2023

Flexibility and intensity of global water use

Nature Portfolio (Springer Nature) | June 3rd, 2019

Water stress is often evaluated by scarcity: the share of available water supply being consumed by humans. However, some consumptive uses of water are more or less flexib

Water stress is often evaluated by scarcity: the share of available water supply being consumed by humans. However, some consumptive uses of water are more or less flexible than others, depending on the costs or effects associated with their curtailment. Here, we estimate the share of global water consumption over the period 1980–2016 from the relatively inflexible demands of irrigating perennial crops, cooling thermal power plants, storing water in reservoirs and supplying basic water for humans and livestock. We then construct a water stress index that integrates the share of runoff being consumed (scarcity), the share of consumption in these inflexible categories (flexibility) and the historical variability of runoff weighted by storage capacity (variability), and use our index to evaluate the trends in water stress of global major river basins on six continents. We find that the 10% most stressed basins encompass ~19%, 19% and 35% of global population, thermal electricity generation and irrigated calorie production, respectively, and some of these basins also experience the largest increases in our identified stress indexes over the study period. Water consumption intensities (water used per unit of goods or service produced) vary by orders of magnitude across and within continents, with highly stressed basins in some cases characterized by high water consumption intensities. Our results thus point to targeted water mitigation opportunities (for example, relocating crops and switching cooling technologies) for highly stressed basins.

Flood Management in California

Water, Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI) | February 14th, 2012

California’s development and success have been shaped by its ability to manage floods. This management has varied over the history of California’s economic and p

California’s development and success have been shaped by its ability to manage floods. This management has varied over the history of California’s economic and political development and continues in various forms today. California will always have flood problems. A range of options are available to aid in flood management problems and have been used over time. These options can be contrasted with flood management elsewhere and the types of options used to manage other types of hazards in California, such as earthquakes, wildfires, and droughts. In the future, flood management in California will require greater reliance on local funding and leadership, reflecting diminished federal and state funding, with more effective state and federal guidance. Effective flood management will also tend to integrate flood management with actions to achieve environmental and other water supply objectives, both to gain revenues from a broader range of beneficiaries as well as to make more efficient use of land and water in a state where both are often scarce.