Water Resources

The passage of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) in 2014 has launched an unprecedented, locally driven process to form hundreds of new public agencies that will play a critical role in managing the state’s groundwater resources for decades to come. Under this landmark legislation, new Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs) must be formed in high- and medium-priority groundwater basins before June 30, 2017 in order to avoid state intervention.

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Watershed investment programs offer promising pathways to securing safe drinking water. But what does it take to establish and grow a successful watershed investment program? Program investors and practitioners are looking for guidance and ideas on how to build a program that works for their own context.

Many of the tribes that have been most successful in getting their voice heard in resource protection have used education, says Elizabeth Hoover, a Brown University assistant professor and researcher of environmental health and justice in native communities. “If you don’t have people in your community with those science degrees, they [state and federal agencies] don’t see you as qualified,” she says.

In 1982, the Hydrology Section of AGU was granted access to a portion of the income of the Robert E. Horton Fund for Hydrologic Research. This permitted the initiation of the Horton Research Grant for Ph.D. students, with a purpose to promote excellence through encouragement of the next generation of professionals in the hydrological sciences. The first Horton Research Grant was awarded in 1983. Each year the grant has been awarded to up to three students during their candidacy for a Ph.D. degree in hydrology, water resources, or a closely related field.

Local differences in rainfall can be a key factor in how a river erodes its riverbed, altering the chemical weathering and weakening of riverbed rock, according to a new study published in the journal Nature.

As part of the White House Water Summit, hosted today in honor of World Water Day, more than 150 institutions have announced their efforts to enhance the sustainability of water in the United States by managing our water resources and infrastructure for the long term. Commitments by two groups with ties to the Energy & Resources Group (ERG) are included: