In October of 2010, at the groundbreaking of Brightsource’s Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System, then California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger stated, “Some people look out into the desert and see miles and miles of emptiness […] I see miles and miles of gold mine.” Schwarzenegger’s statement was but the apogee of an on-going debate about the…Continue Reading Getting Over the Color Green
Catching Fever and Waiting for Rain
Valley Fever is a reemerging infectious disease that calls home in the southwest United States (California, Arizona, Utah, Texas, Nevada, and New Mexico), Mexico, Central America, and South America. 40% of the infected population either does not show symptoms or they receive mild, flu-like, symptoms that resolve without medication. However, for those that develop a…Continue Reading Catching Fever and Waiting for Rain
A Prehistory of Drought
Borrego Springs emerged in the late 1940s alongside Palm Springs as a desert playground for a newly mobile and affluent postwar American middle class. While Borrego Springs shared some of the flash and glamour of its more famous desert cousin, the development of the smaller desert town manifested the careful planning and slow growth characteristic…Continue Reading A Prehistory of Drought
Notes from the Field: Water from the Ground, Water from Space
As of late October, nearly 60% of California faces conditions of “exceptional drought,” a category that the National Drought Mitigation Center refers to as indicating “exceptional and widespread crop/pasture losses,” with “shortages of water in reservoirs, steams and wells creating water emergencies”. Mandatory conservation measures are in effect across the state, and Governor Brown recently signed a Sustainable…Continue Reading Notes from the Field: Water from the Ground, Water from Space
When water chokes the desert: finding an unseen benefit in California’s drought stricken deserts
Citizen scientists take action to stop invaders! It seems unintuitive to think that drought might be a good thing for deserts; at least for many of the native plant species that call the Anza-Borrego desert home. The recent drought that has been devastating the southwestern US has surprisingly offered a sigh of relief for some…Continue Reading When water chokes the desert: finding an unseen benefit in California’s drought stricken deserts
March 14, 2018: Jim Walsh
March 14, 2018: Jim Walsh Policy Analyst for Food & Water Watch A tidal wave of deregulation is sweeping across our nation’s waterways. After over 40 years of effective Clean Water Act control of many of our biggest sources of pollution, industries have finally found a way to evade meaningful and enforceable limits on their…Continue Reading March 14, 2018: Jim Walsh
April 19, 2018: Balancing on a Roller Coaster: Water Policy and planning in a Changing Climate
April 19, 2018: Balancing on a Roller Coaster: Water Policy and planning in a Changing Climate Kathleen Miller, National Center for Atmospheric Research Changes in the hydrosphere will play a large role in driving the impacts of anthropogenic climate change on human communities and natural systems. A growing likelihood of erratic shifts between extreme wet…Continue Reading April 19, 2018: Balancing on a Roller Coaster: Water Policy and planning in a Changing Climate
May 23, 2018: David Hochschild
May 23, 2018: David Hochschild Commissioner at California Energy Commission. David Hochschild was appointed by Governor Jerry Brown in February 2013. He fills the environmental position on the five-member Commission where four of the five members by law are required to have professional training in specific areas – engineering or physical science, environmental protection, economics,…Continue Reading May 23, 2018: David Hochschild
Sustainable Groundwater Management and Conflict Resolution Proceedings
Water UCI organized a two-day joint California-European Union workshop on Sustainable Groundwater Management and Conflict Resolution in June 2019, sponsored by the Orange County Water District, the Water Replenishment District and the Irvine Ranch Water District, and with further assistance from the State Water Resources Control Board, California Department of Water Resources, and the USGS…Continue Reading Sustainable Groundwater Management and Conflict Resolution Proceedings
Faculty Spotlight: Sunny Jiang, Ph.D
Professor and Chair, Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor (Joint Appointment), Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Phone: (949) 824-5527 Email: sjiang@uci.edu Dr. Sunny Jiang is professor and Chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at University of California, Irvine. She also serves as the Associate Director for UC Irvine Water and Energy Nexus Center. During her…Continue Reading Faculty Spotlight: Sunny Jiang, Ph.D