Erik Porse, Stephanie Pincetl, Diane Pataki, and Tom Gillespie Outdoor landscapes in California use water for irrigation, especially during summer. Outdoor water use is the largest portion of residential water use, especially in hotter inland areas and cities with larger lots. While lawns have value for recreation and aesthetics, replacing existing turf lawns with well-designed…

by Jay Lund People are interested in California water problems, and they ask reasonable questions.  Here is a first installment of short science-based answers to some reasonable questions often heard at public and private discussions of water in California.  (Longer answers are possible, of course.) Why doesn’t California just build desalination plants to end water…

by Nicholas Pinter, Jay Lund, Peter Moyle A review of 170 years of water-related successes in California suggests that most successes can be traced directly to past mistakes.  California’s highly variable climate has made it a crucible for innovations in water technology and policy.  Similar water imperatives have led to advances in water management in…

Jay R. Lund, Director, Center for Watershed Sciences and Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California – Davis California is a wonderful place to study water.  So many interesting and important problems, thoughtful and insightful authors, and much to be learned.  Here is a selection of  readings (updated from a 2012 post) on…

By Cassidy Craford and Hannah Safford Californians cite drought and water-supply challenges as some of the most important environmental issues facing the state today. A whopping 85% of California voters agree that water supply is a “big problem” or “somewhat of a problem” in their region. Population growth, dated infrastructure, and climate change are combining…

by Jay Lund   Only some parts of the world have safe drinking water almost ubiquitously, and only in the last century.  (We lucky few!)  In these countries, drinking water safety relies on a complex portfolio of actions and accountability by individuals, industries, and diverse layered units of government.  The provision of safe drinking water…

April 1, 2019 By Nestle J. Frobish The California Department of Water Resources is working to employ the ongoing break-up of the Antarctic ice cap to provide a vast supply of water for California.  Current plans are to employ ocean tugs to bring ice bergs into San Francisco Bay for docking in the State Water…

By Josselin Rouillard Overview of French and Californian agricultural groundwater management France and California face a common challenge of managing overdraft in intensively exploited aquifers. As of 2018, large areas of France and California have overexploited groundwater (see maps below). And both regions have passed landmark groundwater legislation, the Loi sur l’Eau et les Milieux…

by Jay Lund “Water problems in the western United States, when viewed from afar, can seem tantalizingly easy to solve: all we need to do is turn off the fountains at the Bellagio, stop selling hay to China, ban golf, cut down the almond trees, and kill all the lawyers.” – David Owen (2017), Where…

by Jay Lund Most readers of this blog are water management wonks who toil in the bureaucracies and professions of water management, the water-industrial complex, so to speak.  We mostly work on technical issues and internal and inter-organizational rules and controversies.  Despite the daily “firefighting” foci of our activities, almost everyone understands something of the…

By Lisa Howard originally published January 21, 2019 When the peer-reviewed journal San Francisco Estuary and Watershed Science launched fifteen years ago, the editors chose what was then a somewhat new model of scientific publication known as “open access.” At that time, most academic journal publishers kept their content behind pay walls, accessible only with…

By Jay Lund, Josue Medellin, John Durand, and Kathleen Stone Droughts and floods have always tested water management, driven water systems improvements, and helped water organizations and users maintain focus and discipline.  California’s 2012-2016 drought and the very wet 2017 water year were such tests.  Historically, major droughts accelerate innovation and are career tests for…

By Kahui Lim and Hannah Safford Water reuse is becoming more important to water security in arid regions like California. The California Recycled Water Policy calls for an increase of 1 million acre-feet of reused water per year by 2020 and 2 million by 2030.  Assembly Bill (AB) 574 mandates that California establish a legislative…

by Jay Lund Public health is every society’s and every drinking water system’s most fundamental objective.  The prosperity and existence of civilizations rest on drinking water being safe, available and affordable. Prosperity and democracy together seem almost essential to having near-universal safe drinking water supplies.  Prosperity and democracy together bring effective social organization and resources…