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

Stanford University to Construct Water Recovery Center on Campus

Quotes Senior Fellow Dick Luthy at groundbreaking for new water recovery plant that grew out of a Woods Environmental Venture Project led by Senior...
April 3, 2014 - By Kara Guzman, San Jose Mercury News via Santa Cruz Sentinel

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Panel's Warning on Climate Risk: Worst Is Yet to Come

Quotes Woods Senior Fellows Chris Field and David Lobell on findings of Working Group II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that...
March 31, 2014 - By Justin Gillis, The New York Times

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Stanford Researcher Turns Wastewater Into Energy That Can Power Treatment Plants

Story about sewage-to-energy technology developed by Stanford researchers who received funding through the Stanford Woods Institute's...
March 10, 2014 - By Ryan Takeo, CBS

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Snowfall No Longer a Sure Bet, Booming Ski Towns Fight Going Bust

Quotes Senior Fellows Terry Root and Noah Diffenbaugh on the lack of snow at ski resorts
February 14, 2014 - By Alan Neuhauser, U.S. News & World Report

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