Water Resources

Fellow Story

What?! Fish Can’t Be Organic?

That’s right. Neither wild fish nor farmed fish can be certified organic because no organic standards exist in the U.S. to regulate them. But that may be about to change—for the worse. Why? The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is currently proceeding with the development of organic aquaculture regulations that could allow wild fish and ocean-based fish farms to be certified organic. Read a Switzer Fellow Thought Leadership piece by 1994 Fellow Lisa Bunin of the Center for Food Safety.
December 6, 2014
Foundation News

Webinar: Water Quality and Environmental Justice in the Central Valley

The Switzer Foundation seeks to protect, improve, and sustain our natural environment for the well-being of people and the planet. We have provided funding to 2009 Fellow Carolina Balazs for her ongoing work on historical inequalities in distribution of clean water to disadvantaged communities in California's agricultural Central Valley. Watch our recent webinar with Carolina, and read more about how her work has expanded recently to strengthen engagement between California’s Integrated Regional Water Management (IRWM) and communities facing environmental injustices.
November 19, 2014
Fellow Story

Kapnick study tries to resolve Karakoram glacier anomaly

Researchers from Princeton University and other institutions may have hit upon an answer to a climate-change puzzle that has eluded scientists for years, and that could help understand the future availability of water for hundreds of millions of people.
October 30, 2014
Network Innovation Grant Grant

Environmental Justice and Water Management in California

Dr. Carolina Balazs, Post-doctoral researcher at UC Davis, and Mike Antos, Program Director for the Council for Watershed Health in Los Angeles, are involved in California's Integrated Regional Water Management (IRWM) program. This program...
October 23, 2014
Fellow Story

Protecting forested watersheds smart economics for water utilities, writes Gartner

The breathtaking $1 trillion estimated price tag to repair and expand our nation’s drinking water infrastructure is both sobering and compelling (LaFrance, 2013). To address this costly issue, some water utilities and the communities they serve are turning to a solution nearly as old as our nation itself—protecting forested watersheds. Increasing evidence suggests that healthy forests produce water that is less expensive to treat, transport, and store.
October 1, 2014
Fellow Story

Zollitsch compiles snapshot of stream mitigation programs in US

Streams are impacted by the development of roads, building of condominiums and box stores, placement of stream crossings and culverts, even stream restoration activities. Many of the activities are subject to state and/or federal dredge and fill permits. So, how extensive are these impacts and what is happening in each state to address them? Read more (PDF download)
September 26, 2014
Fellow Story

Steele featured in film on swales and rain gardens

Nancy Steele was recently featured in a California film on how swales and rain gardens can protect watersheds from runoff. See the episode (#7) and others
September 25, 2014
Fellow Story

Balazs on origins and persistence of drinking water disparities

From the American Journal of Public Health: The Drinking Water Disparities Framework: On the Origins and Persistence of Inequities in Exposure Carolina L. Balazs, PhD, and Isha Ray, PhDAt the time of research, both authors were with Energy and Resources Group, University of California, Berkeley. Contributors
September 24, 2014
Fellow Story

Hansen testifies

The state Department of Environmental Protection is facing a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit over its refusal to provide a public interest law firm with a slice of agency data that shows recent water pollution levels at coal-mining operations across West Virginia. Lawyers from Appalachian Mountain Advocates sued DEP in Kanawha Circuit Court after the agency turned down their request for “discharge monitoring report,” or DMR, data that mine operators are required to file with the agency to disclose pollution levels under state and federal clean water laws.
September 16, 2014
Fellow Story

The Search for Synchronicity between Wetlands and Stormwater Management

I have been working in the area of water resource policy and management for two decades and specifically on reducing the impacts of stormwater pollution for the last eleven years. At ASWM, among my many other projects, I am currently working to identify states where stormwater management considerations are being integrated into the management of wetlands and, conversely, where the protection and restoration of natural wetlands are effectively being integrated into stormwater management planning.
July 16, 2014