Check out the latest publications, research and policy briefs, white papers, videos, presentations and more from Water in the West and its faculty, researchers, partners and staff.
Recent Publications
Series of report evaluating and making recommendations for building water data tools to help inform water management decisions.
Using a survey of 137 farmers in Yolo County, researchers examine farmers’ fairness perceptions for groundwater allocation strategies and reconciliation options under the Sustainable Groundwater...
Path Dependence, Evolution of a Mandate and the Road to Statewide Sustainable Groundwater Management
This analysis describes the changing role of state government in groundwater management in California, explaining that role, including the passage of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act,...
Using global rainfall and soil moisture data from 1950 to 2016, researchers identify hotspots around the globe that are subject to swing from dry spells to wet spells and the impact of climate change...
Focusing on the importance of collaboration and “big tent” coalition-building in California water, the report lays out a common sense framework for a more successful collaborative process,...
A new method of consumption change detection can improve water utilities’ demand management responses by pinpointing the timing and magnitude of customer-level water use shifts resulting from climate...
Postdoc Courtney Hammond Wagner discusses her research on incorporating the impacts of climate change into groundwater sustainability planning.
Demand management is a powerful way for water utilities to address the challenges of population growth and climate change. Here, we present a consumption change detection (CCD) method that offers new...
Water in the West bridges the gap between research and practice to create and promote effective solutions for more sustainable water management in the American West.
This paper examines the Pacific North American pattern in the atmosphere. Using models, it finds that an increase in greenhouse gas emissions is likely to increase extreme weather and climate in...
By analyzing more than two decades of data in the western U.S., scientists have shown that flood sizes increase exponentially as a higher fraction of precipitation falls as rain, offering insight...
Research from Rosemary Knight and her team have used a new technique, combining satellite data (InSAR) and Airborne Electromagnetic Aerial (AEM) data to study land subsidence due to overpumping of...
Water scarcity brings tremendous challenges to achieving sustainable development of water resources, food, and energy security, as these sectors are often in competition, especially during drought....
This report makes recommendations for local agencies considering alternative dispute resolution clauses in their development of sustainability plans under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act.
Understanding the cross-scale linkages between drought and food security is vital to developing tools to reduce drought impacts and support decision making. This study reviews how...
This study examines the extent to which existing modeling tools are up to this task, by assessing the ability of two process-based models (SWAT and InVEST) to represent four specific rotational...
Findings highlight the need for China and the Belt and Road Initiative's destination countries to integrate resilience and sustainability efforts into energy infrastructure planning and provides...
Stanford researchers have examined innovative financing models in the electricity sector, which started the transition nearly twenty years ago from a purely centralized system to a hybrid model that...
A new study used high-resolution satellite imagery and water use date to analyze patterns of urban irrigation and vegetation health in Redwood City, California during the state's historic 2012-2016...
A state-of-the-art toolbox for understanding groundwater permitting approaches across the Southwest.
Using the 2012 drought in the U.S. Midwest as an example, this study examines how decreases in moisture transport and recycling may play a major role in how droughts propagate and move across...
This report provides Groundwater Sustainability Agencies with a resource to guide them through their responsibilities to avoid “significant and unreasonable degraded water quality" under California's...
This paper uses interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) and airborne electromagnetic data to creat a model to predict subsidence more accurately in the future under different hydrologic...
This paper uses 320 line-km of airborne electromagnetic (AEM) data along the Monterey Bay coastline to study saltwater intrusion into freshwater aquifers.
California’s wastewater sector, which plays a crucial role in protecting public health and the environment, is at a turning point. Water supply and demand conditions are being affected by population...
To assess the occurrence and treatment of these pesticides in stormwater runoff, this paper combined field sampling and watershed-scale modeling. Field results indicate pesticide pollution is...
This report summarizes key findings and recommendations from a one-day workshop on assessing, monitoring and quantifying interconnected surface waters under SGMA.
This report uses four cases to examine how agencies have used adaptive mangement and quantitative metrics to set minimum thresholds, measurable objectives and interim milestones to measure...
In response to rising water scarcity concerns around the world, water utilities are expanding and diversifying their water supply portfolios, creating new hybrid infrastructure systems. To help...
This study investigates the trade-offs between treatment costs and regulatory constraints. We present a case study of Los Angeles, CA, to demonstrate a model’s application under realistic...
In this paper, we statistically investigated and modeled water use in a case study service area to examine how water demand for nonresidential large landscapes changed during a historic drought....
This report series looks Environmental Water Transactions in the Colorado River Basin. The latest report, Environmental Water Transactions in the Colorado River Basin: A Closer Look examines all of...
This brief is based on recent findings detailing how human activities create pathways for cancer-causing contaminants, arsenic and chromium, to enter California’s groundwater supply.
Green infrastructure is emerging as a holistic stormwater management strategy that can also provide multi-sector benefits. This paper develops a conceptual framework that incorporates...
This report informs Groundwater Sustainability Agencies on how to avoid adverse impacts on beneficial uses to surface water under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act.
This paper is a comprehensive review on recent technological innovations and trends in hydropower generation from water conduits and assesses and compares sixteen turbine technologies based on...
This article introduces a special issue that aims to motivate interest in uncertainty assessment (UA) and reduce the barriers practitioners face in conducting it. We highlight the value of UA,...
Adjudicating Groundwater combines the expertise and experience of academic scientists from Stanford and UC Davis, federal scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey, and judicial officers to...
Stanford researchers map out groundwater at stake in the wake of a court decision that bolsters Native American rights to the precious resource across an increasingly arid West.
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Water security is a major issue facing both the United States and the world. We require a strategy that makes water infrastructure a...
This paper combines historical evidence with national-level climate and socioeconomic projections to quantify the economic damages associated with the United Nations (UN) targets of 1.5 °C...
Based on a synthesis of the published literature, this article examines tribal Water Quality Standards (WQSs) as a case of tribal environmental self‐determination. The author discusses how U.S....
A paper based on ideas participants discussed at the conference “Planning for America’s Water Infrastructure Needs,” namely the five challenges that all water managers face and three particular water...
This paper examines 7 case studies of adjudications that have gone to court since the California's Supreme Court's 2000 decision in City of Barstow v. Mojave Water Agency. These cases hold important...
This paper presents a “policy-informed” life cycle assessment of a cross-border electricity supply chain that links the impact of each unit process to its governing policy framework. An assessment...
This paper examines some of the challenges rising to the surface in large, agriculturally-oriented basins as local governments form groundwater sustainability agencies (GSAs), particularly for...
Across the western United States, environmental water transaction programs (EWTPs) restore environmental flows by acquiring water rights and incentivizing changes in water management. To...
During the 2012–2016 California drought some irrigators received little or no water at all in consecutive years while others received comparatively large allocations. This paper focuses on the role...
The paper examines resilient water governance regimes in the context of a variable climate drawing predominately on evidence from California research.
A letter to the editor on assessing ecosystem services modeling efforts.
This paper reviews public benefit funds (PBFs), one potential policy instrument for future water investment. These mechanisms, usually supported by per-usage customer surcharges, are widely used to...
This paper presents a novel search tool "Articulate" for quantifying environmental issue salience through newspaper coverage.
Patricia Gonzales and Newsha Ajami studied how social and structural factors influence water usage and incorporate these factors into models to look at how water use changes during and after drought...
New research finds hydraulic fracturing wells and domestic wells are closer together than expected.
Millions of Americans rely on self-supply groundwater wells for drinking water, but the number of these wells that are located near hydraulic fracturing operations is unknown. This paper shows that...
Report looks at eight case studies on environmental water management during the 2012-2016 Californoia drought that reveal both strengths and weaknesses in federal, state, and local response that can...
While hundreds of local agencies across California draft their plans to ensure the sustainability of groundwater basins, water experts say that these state-mandated plans need to incorporate climate...
Media coverage focusing on the research of Kimberly Quesnel and Newsha Ajami did on the impact of the media on water conservation during California droughts.
This research brief provides an overview of the results of the Groundwater Sustainability Agency formation process, and what this portends for the next phase of Sustainable Groundwater Management Act...
Researchers analyzed millions of well records and show that during the historic drought in the American West, 1 in 30 wells were dry. In some areas, such as California, domestic wells were more...
Researchers combined groundwater well records for the western United States and show locations, depths, and purposes of more than two million wells constructed between 1950 and 2015
Stanford researchers create visualizations of data from utilities across California in order to continue motivation on water conservation and drought preparedness.
A new web portal puts four years of California drought data into an interactive format, showing where regions met or missed water conservation goals.
Incorporating distributed water infrastructure, practices, and technologies into existing systems can yield many benefits; however, practical barriers have prevented their widespread adoption in the...
Water utilities are increasingly relying on water efficiency and conservation to extend the availability of supplies. Despite spatial and institutional inter-dependency of many utilities, these...
The San Francisco Bay Area is no stranger to the emerging water challenges of climate change and population growth. As California bounces back from one of the most severe droughts in the state's...
Iris Hui and Bruce Cain use data from a representative sample of adult Californiansto examine the relation between information and sociodemographic factors to the willingness to adopt recycled water...
A team of students in the Stanford Law School worked with the PPIC Water Policy Center to produce four case studies that evaluated several watersheds (the Russian River; the Stanisluas River; the...
Predictions of the risk to built infrastructure posed by climate and land-use change have suggested that bridge collapses may increase due to more frequent or intense flooding.
The vulnerability of groundwater to contamination is closely related to its age. Groundwaters that infiltrated prior to the Holecene have been documented in many aquifers and are widely assumed to be...
Extreme climate events have increased in many regions. Efforts to test the influence of global warming on individual events have also increased, raising the possibility of operational, real-time,...
This paper focuses on the shifting role of water utilities. It presents a flexible, bottom-up model that integrates local and regional characteristics in the evaluation of water resource management...
Recent publicaiton by researchers at Stanford scientists reveals that land in California's San Joqauin Valley sank nearly three feet during a recent drought due to over-pumping. This translates...
Researchers at Stanford University and University of Calgary used Electrical Resistivity Tomography to map where seawater has infiltrated freshwater aquifers along the Monterey Bay Coastline. The...
Ecosystem services (ES) analyses are increasingly used to address societal challenges, but too often are not accompanied by uncertainty assessment. We summarize and analyze seven commonly...
This paper highlights inefficiencies in the current environmental permitting process for water projects, especially when it comes to innovative solutions such as green infrastructure and on-site...
Groundwater accounts for approximately 40 percent of California’s water supply during average climatic conditions. This percentage increases to nearly 60 percent during dry years or periods of...
Groundwater models can be a powerful tool for informing water management by educating stakeholders, identifying data gaps and improving understanding. This report provides a framework for model...
This report makes recommendations to agencies who will form Groundwater Sustainability Agencies under California's Sustainable Groundwater Management Act.
Policy brief of the report “To Consolidate or Coordinate? Status of the Formation of Groundwater Sustainability Agencies in
California".
Researchers at Water in the West are finalists in the State of California and the White House Council on Environmental Quality's Water Data Challenge.
Groundwater provides up to 60 percent of California's water supply, contributes to stream flow, and supports many ecosystems. Despite its importance, groundwater went unregulated until passage of the...
The passage of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) in 2014 has launched an unprecedented, locally driven process to form hundreds of new public agencies that will play a critical role...
This report offers recommendations and potential framework for development of groundwater models un California's Sustainable Groundwater Management Act.
Researchers compare groundwater permitting regimes in southwestern states that could hold important lessons for local agencies in the implementation of California’s new groundwater law, the...
Researchers looked at groundwater permitting regimes in southwestern states that could hold important lessons for local agencies in the implementation of California’s Sustainable Groundwater...
More comprehensive tools are needed for identifying nations and regions facing serious risks of water vulnerability. This brief describes an approach that provides a path to such identification...
Esther Conrad co-authored a paper looking at flood risk management in the larger context of Integrated Water Resource Management. The paper weighs "top-down" flood risk management approaches in...
To address limitations to satellite data analysis of groundwater levels, Stanford researchers developed an algorithm that dramatically improves the time-consuming image analysis process, allowing for...
On Sept 27, 2016, Stanford experts met in Sacramento for a briefing on California's critical groundwater supply hosted by Water in the West. Panelists included: Leon Szeptycki, Executive Director of...
Research brief for the study, Benefits and Economic Costs of Managed Aquifer Recharge in California.
Although there is no single solution to increasing California’s resiliency to drought and to achieving sustainable groundwater management, managed aquifer recharge (MAR) projects will play an...
A joint program of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment and the Bill Lane Center for the American West, Water in the West marshals the resources of one of the world’s preeminent research...
Survey of groundwater managers highlights need for standardized data monitoring, and makes policy recommendations for successful implementation of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act of 2014 (...
After decades of dysfunction that have exacerbated chronic water problems, historic groundwater legislation has brought California to the cusp of a new era of water management. Meeting the law’s...
This research brief is based on the paper: “Salinity of deep groundwater in California: Water quantity, quality, and protection,” published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the...
After decades of dysfunction that have exacerbated chronic water problems, California is on the cusp of a new era due to historic groundwater legislation. However, meeting the law’s goals will...
This research authored by Mary Kang and Robert Jackson looks at deep groundwater in California, which is facing increased groundwater withdrawals, a growing population and a prolonged drought. The...
Cross sector experts gathered at Stanford's Hopkins Marine Station in Fall 2015 to assess the role of ocean desalination in meeting California's increasing water needs. This report...
This research brief summarizes the paper's set of forward-looking policies to promote innovation in the water sector. The authors call for fundamental reforms in utilities' pricing of water...
This Research Brief is based on "The Path to Water Innovation," by Newsha K. Ajami, Barton H. "Buzz" Thompson Jr. and David G. Victor, a discussion paper presented in October 2014...
This Research Brief is based on "Tapping Into Alternative Ways to Fund Innovative and Multi-Purpose Water Projects: A Financing Framework from the Electricity Sector," a 2016 report issued...
Stanford researcher Newsha Ajami testifies at the California Senate Natural Resource and Water oversight hearing on "Assessing California's Chronically Under Funded Water Needs: Options for...
Stanford researchers apply lessons learned from the electricity sector to the water sector, uncovering specific tools that have been used to fund and implement distributed energy projects. Through...
Scholarly experts from Stanford University’s Water in the West program are available to comment on recent research related water, climate and drought.
A new report from Water in the West explores how Western states can increase water rights transfers to maintain healthy flows for ecosystems while benefiting water rights holders.
Stanford University’s Water in the West program, in partnership with The Nature Conservancy of California, hosted an Uncommon Dialogue with groundwater managers, state officials, special interest...
Water stakeholders and federal officials proposed new ideas to shape the federal government’s role in drought resilience during an interagency White House symposium held in Washington, D.C. Stanford...
Water stakeholders and federal officials proposed new ideas to shape the federal government’s role in drought resilience during an interagency White House symposium held in Washington, D.C. Stanford...
Water issues are rarely simple. At the global scale, water is at the focus of a powerful multifaceted challenge. Demands for both consumptive and nonconsumptive uses are growing, while climate change...
Challenges inherent in humanity’s use of water continue to grow with changes in weather, climate and population. As guest editors of the journal Dædalus, Stanford Professors Anna Michalak and Chris...
Opportunities lie along a predictable path toward new technological solutions to reinvent urban water supply. The authors examine examples of cities’ past adaptations of technologies for...
Scarcity — across the West and elsewhere increasingly — the issue about water is whether there is enough of it. Some suggest California could be “out of water” in 12 months. How threatening is the...
This paper provides insights into how western water management is shaped and is shaping the Western United States today and in the near future, with a focus on what has changed over the last 15 years...
A 6.8-km electrical resistivity profile maps subsurface geology and the distribution of saltwater intrusion along the Monterey coast.
Newsha Ajami at the Spring 2015 Indicators Launch & Lunch event on April 30 discussing water pricing options, current/recent state policies and what's needed for long-term water security.
Given the new mandate for groundwater planning under SGMA, there is a major need
to develop policy recommendations and dispute resolution tools that can help to
achieve groundwater allocation...
The objective of our work was to understand the limitations associated with water-use estimates and projections.
Water in the West convened three experts to discuss the causes, policy implications and possible responses to California’s ongoing drought, including what a fourth year of drought will mean for the...
This research paper looks at a supplemental funding mechanism, a Public Goods Charge (PGC), as an additional way for California to provide for water investment in the future. In a PGC scheme,...
Now that voters have approved a water bond and state government has moved forward on groundwater reform, what are the next steps state legislators plan to take? State Senators Jean Fuller and Lois...
This report, authored by Water in the West visiting scholar Jacqueline Peel and research analyst Janny Choy, summarizes the insights, lessons and key findings of a workshop hosted by Water in the...
Stanford researchers Debra Perrone, a postdoctoral scholar for Water in the West and the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, and Melissa Rohde, a researcher for Water in the West and...
On November 4, Californians will go to the polls to vote in the state’s election. The first proposition on the ballot will be the "Water Quality, Supply and Infrastructure Improvement Act of 2014,"...
Water in the West's new strategic plan, which shares the program's vision, mission, and priorities, was completed in May 2014 and is now available.
This paper proposes a set of forward-looking policies to promote innovation in the water sector. The authors call for fundamental reforms in utilities' pricing of water, systematic reviews of...
A library of interactive maps, charts and data visualizations explaining critical issues related to California's groundwater resources. Prepared as part of the series of articles, "...
A Water-Energy Research Agenda: Building California's Policy for the 21st Century identifies high-impact research priorities at the water-energy nexus that we envision will lead to comprehensive...
Water in the West and partners convened a panel of experts with extensive experience in interstate river disputes to provide perspectives on the past, present, and future of interstate compacts in...
This report, shaped in part by the Dialogue, provides the background and regulatory context for land use planning and groundwater management in California, shares case studies that highlight the...
Burke Griggs, Consulting Professor at The Bill Lane Center for the American West, Stanford University, and Assistant Attorney General for the state of Kansas, presented on ways to reduce legal...
Groundwater is a critical resource in California, providing from 30% of the state’s water supply in normal years to 40% or more in dry years. As unsustainable groundwater use driven by land use...
California is in the midst of a historic drought. 2013 was the driest year since the state began keeping records 150 years ago, and this is the third driest year in a row. We began 2014 with record-...
Dr. Jackie Peel from the Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne, is currently a visiting scholar at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. She recently presented her current...
This is a survey article examining the status and trends of some key water issues in the Western United States. It was written for a special western edition of the California Journal of Politics and...
Managing groundwater – a precious resource for sustaining people and the environment – is far from simple. A new report compiled by Water in the West Program researcher Rebecca Nelson, sheds light on...
Water-Energy Nexus: A Literature Review provides readers with an overview and analysis of the policy, scientific and technical research on the connections between water and energy.
Presented at the 2013 US Australia Comparative Groundwater Uncommon Dialogue
Presented at the 2013 US Australia Comparative Groundwater Uncommon Dialogue
Presented at the 2013 US Australia Comparative Groundwater Uncommon Dialogue
Presented at the 2013 US Australia Comparative Groundwater Uncommon Dialogue
Presented at the 2013 US Australia Comparative Groundwater Uncommon Dialogue
Presented at the 2013 US Australia Comparative Groundwater Uncommon Dialogue
Presented at the 2013 US Australia Comparative Groundwater Uncommon Dialogue
Presented at the 2013 US Australia Comparative Groundwater Uncommon Dialogue
Presented at the 2013 US Australia Comparative Groundwater Uncommon Dialogue
Presented at the 2013 US Australia Comparative Groundwater Uncommon Dialogue
Presented at the 2013 US Australia Comparative Groundwater Uncommon Dialogue
Presented at the 2013 US Australia Comparative Groundwater Uncommon Dialogue
Presented at the 2013 US Australia Comparative Groundwater Uncommon Dialogue
Presented at the 2013 US Australia Comparative Groundwater Uncommon Dialogue
Presented at the 2013 US Australia Comparative Groundwater Uncommon Dialogue
Presented at the 2013 US Australia Comparative Groundwater Uncommon Dialogue
Presented at the 2013 US Australia Comparative Groundwater Uncommon Dialogue
Presented at the 2013 US Australia Comparative Groundwater Uncommon Dialogue
Presented at the 2013 US Australia Comparative Groundwater Uncommon Dialogue
Presented at the 2013 US Australia Comparative Groundwater Uncommon Dialogue
Presented at the 2013 US Australia Comparative Groundwater Uncommon Dialogue
Presented at the 2013 US Australia Comparative Groundwater Uncommon Dialogue
Jeff Koseff presents an overview of the Stanford Woods Institute's Freshwater Initiative.
This report and a policy makers' brief synthesize the results of the inaugural workshop of the comparative groundwater Law and Policy Program, held October 17-19, 2011, at Stanford University....
This study uses internationally accepted water resources planning theories systematically to investigate three key aspects of controlling groundwater depletion in
California, with an emphasis on...
The state of information about water in California is woefully inadequate. Given that California has long been a center for innovation in the world’s emerging information economy and water is among...
The homegrown innovations uncovered by this report point the way forward for local agencies to better manage groundwater in California, and the way toward an updated and improved state policy...
The Challenge: Reducing the impact of groundwater depletion on water users, overlying landowners and groundwater-dependent ecosystems.
The Challenge: Augmenting water supplies with clean recycled water.
The Challenge: Development of cost-effective technology for recovery of clean water, energy, and materials from wastewater.
Our water systems in the American West are old-fashioned hybrids. All of the foundational fixtures of the West’s water system are showing severe signs of obsolescing rapidly.
Investigation of Central Valley Conjunctive Water Management Opportunities presentation - Workshop on the Economic and Policy Implications of Water Banking.
Eric Averett presents Water Banking at the Workshop on the Economic Policy Implications of Water Banking.
Eric Hong presents an overview of California Groundwater Program at the Workshop on the Economic and Policy Implications of Water Banking.
Search Publications
June 08, 2020 | Peer-Reviewed Publications
Path Dependence, Evolution of a Mandate and the Road to Statewide Sustainable Groundwater Management
June 05, 2020 | Peer-Reviewed Publications
May 13, 2020 | Peer-Reviewed Publications
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Featured Publication
June 08, 2020
Series of report evaluating and making recommendations for building water data tools to help inform water management decisions.
Featured Video
June 27, 2016
After decades of dysfunction that have exacerbated chronic water problems, California is on the cusp of a new era due to historic groundwater legislation. However, meeting the law’s goals will require overcoming stubborn systemic obstacles, according to a report by researchers at Stanford’s Water in the West program and the Gould Center for Conflict Resolution at the Stanford Law School.
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