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

El Niño Forecast Brings Calif. Hope for Drought Relief

Stanford doctoral student Daniel Swain (Environmental Earth System Science), a 2013 Rising Environmental Leadership Program fellow, discusses how...
June 11, 2015 - By Andrea Thompson, Climate Central

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Both Sides Claim Victory Over EPA Fracking Study

Senior Fellow Robert Jackson (Environmental Earth System Science) states that he doesn't think the study will change a lot of minds on either side of...
June 7, 2015 - By Rachel Martin and Jeff Brady , NPR

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Is Making the Pacific Ocean Drinkable the Best Answer to California's Drought?

Newsha Ajami, director of urban water policy at Water in the West, states that desalination should only be considered in California if it is part of...
June 5, 2015 - By Tim Walker, The Independent

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California, Farmers Reach Water Deal, But Enforcement A Challenge

Leon Szeptycki, Woods professor of the practice and executive director of the Water in the West program, states that lack of data and the...
May 22, 2015 - By Kurtis Alexander, SF Chronicle

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