Tag Archives: water management

Evolution of Drought Response and Resilience in California’s Cities

By Erik Porse Drought is a regular event in California. In recent decades, California has experienced five prolonged drought periods (1976-77, 1987-1992, 2007-09, 2011-16, 2020-22). Urban water agencies have responded with investments in supply and demand management measures, which have … Continue reading

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This Drought is Dead – Long Live the Drought

by Jay Lund and Andrew L. Rypel Floods and droughts are not opposites and can occur simultaneously. This occurs often in California and is especially well-illustrated this year. Floods, droughts, and water scarcity are different. Floods are too much water … Continue reading

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Why give away fish flows for free during a drought?

by Jay Lund, Ellen Hanak, Barton “Buzz” Thompson, Brian Gray, Jeffrey Mount and Katrina Jessoe This is a re-posting from 11 February 2014 (in the previous drought).   With California in a major drought, state and federal regulators will be under … Continue reading

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Dammed hot: California’s regulated streams fail cold-water ecosystems

by Ann Willis, Ryan Peek, and Andrew L. Rypel Given the current drought, it’s no surprise that California’s dams are struggling to provide cool water habitats to support native freshwater ecosystems. But what if they were never able to support … Continue reading

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A Swiss Cheese Model for Fish Conservation in California

by Andrew L. Rypel, Peter B. Moyle, and Jay Lund We read with great interest Nicholas Chistakis’s piece outlining a “Swiss Cheese Model For Combating Covid-19” in the Wall Street Journal. Christakis presents a model for considering the individual steps … Continue reading

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Picture this research – a photo blog from the Center for Watershed Sciences

by Scientists at CWS Holidays are a natural time of introspection on who we are, what we do, and why. Towards a bit of our own self-reflection, some researchers from UC Davis’ Center for Watershed Sciences (CWS) have each contributed … Continue reading

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Making “productive” assessments of California’s ecosystems

by Andrew L. Rypel Conservation science and restoration ecology are challenging and interdisciplinary fields. Managing for ecological function necessitates focus on multiple scales of ecological organization while simultaneously integrating feedback loops with critical environmental drivers like temperature, flow and habitat … Continue reading

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The banality of California’s ‘1,200-year’ drought

By Jay Lund California’s ongoing drought will continue to break records and grab headlines, but it is unlikely to be especially rare from a water policy and management perspective. Estimates of the current drought’s rarity range from once in 15 … Continue reading

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How to manage drought: Ask an economist

The economics of water scarcity is crucial to sustainable water management, particularly during droughts. California has long benefited from the insights of economists, though their ranks in state water agencies are thinning. Luckily, California has a wealth of young, talented … Continue reading

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Making the most of little water — with spreadsheets

By Jenny Ta and Joshua Viers It seems inevitable that increasing numbers of California farmers will see their claims to surface water suspended this growing season as the drought persists into a fourth year. The State Water Resources Control Board said … Continue reading

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