Integrated Water Research

Brent Haddad, professor of environmental studies and director of UCSC's Center for Integrated Water Research is helping the State of California’s Salton Sea Management Program evaluate options for long-term restoration of the Sea via water importation. He has convened an expert panel to review importation concepts. Five UCSC graduate students are assisting the project. A final report is due in September 2022.  He is also helping Egyptian public universities expand their applied water research as part of the USAID-funded Egyptian Center of Excellence for Water based at Alexandria University. Professor Haddad is the founding chair of the Center’s Research and Policy Committee.
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Groundwater sustainability

UC Santa Cruz hydrologist Andrew Fisher coauthored comprehensive recommendations for forming Groundwater Sustainability Agencies in California. California has not managed or regulated groundwater use on a statewide basis for most of its history, and many of the state’s aquifers have been depleted by overpumping. Fisher and other experts published a report that describes a path forward for successful groundwater management, providing guidance for implementing the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act passed in 2014.
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Groundwater recharge

The depletion of California’s aquifers by overpumping of groundwater has led to growing interest in “managed aquifer recharge,” which replenishes depleted aquifers using available surface waters, such as high flows in rivers, runoff from winter storms, or recycled waste water. At the same time, there is growing concern about contamination of groundwater supplies with nitrate from fertilizers, septic tanks, and other sources. UCSC hydrologist Andrew Fisher leads a groundwater recharge program in the Pajaro Valley, where his team has shown how collecting storm-water runoff to replenish depleted groundwater supplies can be coupled with a simple strategy to reduce nitrate contaminants. 
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Managing water resources

Hydrologist Margaret Zimmer, who studies the role of Earth’s subsurface in regulating the water cycle, partners with local water managers to address the uncertainty in their regional streamflow predictions. Her field site forms the headwaters of the Santa Clara Valley Water District, which serves water for about two million people in San Jose. “Climate scientists are predicting more year-to-year variability in precipitation and more extreme weather events, and this has implications for the management of water resources,” she says.
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Water conservation & renewable energy

Environmental Studies Professor Elliott Campbell, postdoctoral researcher Brandi McKuin, and their collaborators used computer simulations to show that covering California’s network of public water delivery canals with solar panels could be an economically feasible means of advancing both renewable energy and water conservation. Their study suggests that each kilometer of solar aqueduct could conserve enough water to support about 50 households.
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Residential water-use behaviors

Economist Jeremy West led a team of researchers in comparing the water conservation effects of social pressure campaigns versus automated enforcement technology for irrigation regulations. The study found that sending residents automated home water reports—comparing their water use with that of their neighbors—led to a roughly three percent reduction in household water use. Meanwhile, automated warning notices for irrigation regulations led to a 31 percent reduction but also caused households to shift some of their water consumption into unregulated time periods.
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Governance of water resources

Politics senior researcher Ruth Langridge leads a project called Water Management for Security & Sustainability, which studies groundwater governance and the linkages between groundwater, drought, land use and climate change. The group’s research has informed state climate assessments, and they have produced reports for the California State Water Resources Control Board and Department of Water Resources.
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shj 09-2021