News & Insights

In December, Stanford Woods Institute Co-Director and Senior Fellow Buzz Thompson went to Washington, DC to speak to policymakers about water management and the California drought.  On December 1st, Thompson spoke at the Congress On Sustaining Western Water where water experts from across the nation assessed the challenges of managing scarce water resources within the economic and...

By Jacqueline Peel, Visiting Scholar, Water in the West Natural disasters such as hurricanes, floods and wildfires are often thought of as “Acts of God.” However, the disaster management community increasingly recognizes that few disasters are purely “natural” in origin. For instance, land-use decisions that allow people to build (and rebuild) homes in floodplains contribute to flood damage; and...

After three years of severe drought, the California legislature passed the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act of 2014, which creates a statewide framework for groundwater regulation. This legislation came into effect on January 1, 2015, and presents local water agencies with significant opportunities and challenges. Those challenges and potential solutions were the topic of a 2015 Uncommon...

What role can federal agencies play in fostering drought resilience? Water in the West outlined forward thinking strategies to prepare for, manage and respond to drought over the long haul during a recent interagency symposium held in Washington, D.C. The National Drought Resilience Partnership invited Stanford water law experts Barton “Buzz” Thompson and Leon Szeptycki ...