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 Farmers Fight for Century-Old Claims to Water

Woods Co-Director and Senior Fellow Buzz Thompson discusses how California is an anomaly among Western states in the way it treats water rights.
July 17, 2015 - By Alison Vekshin, Bloomberg

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California Flexes Muscles in Water Tussle With Farmers

Woods Co-Director and Senior Fellow Buzz Thompson discusses how California is an anomaly among Western states in the way it treats water rights...
July 17, 2015 - By , Associated Press

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A Law Professor Explains California's 'Arcane' Water Rights System

Woods Co-Director and Senior Fellow Buzz Thompson explains California's water rights system in the context of the California drought. 
July 6, 2015 - By Take Two, 89.3 KPCC

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Drought Drives Greater Household Use of Gray Water

Senior Woods Fellow Richard Luthy (Engineering), and Newsha Ajami, director of urban water policy at Water in the West, discuss the growing...
July 4, 2015 - By Matt Stevens, LA Times

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