News & Insights

Get insights and analysis from Water in the West researchers as well as the latest news about new Stanford water research and events focusing on western water issues.

March 22, 2016  | Water in the West  | Insights

Newsha Ajami and Barton H. "Buzz" Thompson, Jr.

On March 22, the White House marked World Water Day by hosting a summit to “raise awareness of water issues” in the United States and to help “build a sustainable water future through innovative science and technology.” The United States will need innovative new technologies and management strategies to solve its growing water challenges, including continued population growth...

March 20, 2016  | Water in the West  | Insights

Water in the West

Stanford water researchers chart a path to water innovation with three new research briefs issued this week to coincide with the first-ever White House Water Summit. The briefs provide an overview of steps needed to update the nation's aging water infrastructure, drilling down into innovative financing strategies and new approaches for resource management that deal with a fractured water sector...

March 01, 2016  | Water in the West  | Insights

Tara Moran and Esther Conrad

  On February 18, the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) released draft regulations for the development of Groundwater Sustainability Plans (GSPs) under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). These plans will serve as roadmaps for achieving sustainable management of the state’s groundwater basins within the next 20 years. The draft regulations emphasize the need to...

February 19, 2016  | Water in the West  | Insights

Janny Choy, Research Analyst, Water in the West

We are excited to welcome three talented new postdoctoral scholars to Water in the West: Esther Conrad, Ben Bryant, and Sibyl Diver. Since arriving in September of 2015, Esther, who is also with Stanford Law School’s Gould Center for Conflict Resolution, has jumped right into two timely studies: one examining groundwater adjudications and other local groundwater management arrangements in...

February 16, 2016  | Water in the West  | Insights

On December 15, the White House convened nearly 100 water experts from across the nation for a “Roundtable on Water Innovation” to discuss solutions to repair and upgrade the nation’s aging water infrastructure. Participants from the federal government, academic institutions, the private sector and more discussed 21st century challenges that the water sector faces - such as a lack of innovation,...

February 10, 2016  | Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment  | News

Using lessons from the energy sector, Stanford researchers outline strategies to bring the nation's water infrastructure into the 21st century.

January 14, 2016  | Stanford News Service  | News

A new poll by the Hoover Institution and the Bill Lane Center for the American West at Stanford reveals that California's voters are most worried about the drought and state's economic recovery.

January 14, 2016  | Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment  | News

A new computer model developed by a Stanford scientist can be used by resource managers around the world to weigh food and energy tradeoffs when water is scarce.

December 09, 2015  | Water in the West  | Insights

Melissa Rohde and Debra Perrone

Next week the California Water Commission will begin the formal rulemaking process on how funds from Proposition 1 (the $7.5 billion water bond approved by voters last fall) will be allocated for water storage projects in California. Proposition 1 provides $2.7 billion for infrastructure projects with water storage components through the Water Storage Investment Program (WSIP). Although there are...

December 07, 2015  | Water in the West  | Insights

Water in the West has launched a new series of four workshops focusing on the data and models needed to implement California’s new and historic groundwater management law. Passed in 2014, the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) requires the formation of “Groundwater Sustainability Agencies” (GSAs) to coordinate the activities of the state’s fragmented local...

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