Water UCI and its partners recognize that some of the most important challenges facing the future of water are intrinsically linked to issues of law, governance, and public attitudes and behavior – the human dimensions of water. We support student and faculty investigations into a variety of cogent policy issues of interest to the water community. These include more effectively managing water uses in desert communities (e.g., Borrego Springs, California); management lessons for regional groundwater sustainability from Europe; the ways in which previous patterns of water law and regulation continue to shape California water management; and means to more effectively avert contamination of water supplies from fire retardants (e.g., in Napa County). Reports on these activities aim to distill findings for non-academic as well as more specialized audiences to ensure a robust conversation on these critical water issues.

In May 2022, Water UCI conducted a half-day workshop sponsored by the Department of Water Resources and the Governor’s Natural Resources cabinet devoted to identifying research needs to ensure California’s water resilience.  A stakeholder survey administered prior to the meeting by Social Ecology students helped frame workshop discussion. Encompassing the views of a broad cross-section of Californians, the survey and workshop also made a special effort to incorporate input from California’s Tribal Nations in order to more equitably guide the state’s future water policies. Several collaborative pathways related to resilience resulted from this effort and were published in a report. These include recommendations to heighten equity, make science more accessible, and enhance the usefulness of water data.