Freshwater

Finding answers to the world’s pressing water supply and access challenges requires crossing disciplines and exploring a wide range of approaches. Stanford researchers are working together on sustainable solutions ranging from a low-cost water pump chlorinator to a high-tech, multi-million-dollar wastewater resource recovery center. They also are looking at water supply issues from a law and public policy standpoint, providing guidance to decision-makers through knowledge-based tools such as an interactive website illustrating California’s major groundwater challenges and potential solutions. To advance these and other innovative freshwater solutions, Woods supports the Global Freshwater Initiative, which develops strategies to promote the long-term viability of freshwater supplies; the Water, Health & Development Program, which identifies ways to improve and increase the sustainability of water supply and sanitation service delivery; and the Water in the West Program, which addresses multiple dimensions of realistic, integrated solutions to the American West’s water challenges. Read on for examples of work Woods-affiliated researchers are doing to ensure adequate supply and access to safe water for billions of people.

In The News

California's Invisible Reservoirs

Opinion piece by Woods Co-Director Buzz Thompson and Water in the West Research Analyst Janny Choy about the benefits of recharging aquifers instead...
August 8, 2014 - By Buzz Thompson and Janny Choy, San Francisco Chronicle

Read More

Cleaning Poop from Drinking Water

Interviews Woods Senior Fellows Stephen Luby and Jenna Davis and Woods Research Associate Amy Pickering about their work with the Lotus Water...
July 30, 2015 - By Lauren Farrar, KQED | Quest Science

Read More

What is the Future of Groundwater in California?

California Academy of the Sciences talks to Tara Moran, Program Lead of Sustainable Groundwater at Water in the West, about California's...
July 27, 2015 - By , Cal Academy Science News

Read More

State Proposes $1.5-Million Fine of Water District for Improper Diversions

Quotes Woods Co-Director and Senior Fellow Buzz Thompson on the degree of authority the State Water Board has over water rights holders.
July 20, 2015 - By Matt Stevens, LA Times

Read More