Drought and Water Experts

Water and Drought Information  |  Experts 

 
UC Agriculture and Natural Resources

• Erik Porse - urban and natural resources management, drinking water, efficient urban water use, sustainable groundwater management, water reuse, beneficial uses of stormwater, and environmental finance
  
  
• Khaled Bali - soils, irrigation, drainage
  
  
• Mark Battany - water management, soil management, climate and weather conditions, grapes
  
  
• Andre Biscaro - irrigation and nutrient management of berry and vegetable crops
  
  
• Michael Cahn - water management for vegetables and berries
  
  
• Jairo Diaz - water management and irrigation in arid environments, available for interviews in Spanish 
  
  
• Ruth Dahlquist-Willard - small farms, irrigation efficiency, Twitter: @valleyruth
  
  
• Ben Faber - soils, water, subtropical crops including avocado
  
  
• Janet Hartin - minimum irrigation requirements of landscape ornamentals, Twitter: @J_Hartin
  
  
• Darren Haver - landscaping and drought, Twitter: @DHaverUCANR
  
  
• Bob Hutmacher - cotton production issues, water stress, nutrient management
  
  
• Faith Kearns - water and drought policy, ecology, climate change, disasters, Twitter: @frkearns
  
  
• Igor Lacan - urban stormwater management
  
  
• Royce Larsen - water quality and non-point source pollution on rangelands
  
  
• Michelle Leinfelder-Miles - crop production, soil and water quality, the Delta
  
  
• David Lewis - watershed management
  
  
• Rachael Long - field crops, water quality, Twitter: @BatsRLong
  
  
• Dan Macon - rangelands, livestock, drought and water management, Twitter: @flyingmulefarm
  
  
• Jeff Mitchell - soil cover crops, conservation tillage, Twitter: @JeffMitchellUC
  
  
• Ali Montazar - irrigation and water management, crop coefficients, salinity management 
  
  
• Dan Putnam - alfalfa and crop forage crop systems, Twitter: @AlfalfaGuy
  
  
• Karrie Reid - landscape horticulture, water conservation, Twitter: @reid_karrie
  
  
• Tom Scott - drought and wildfire
  
  
• Richard Snyder - evapotranspiration and irrigation scheduling
  
  
• Grace Woodmansee - rangelands, livestock, drought and water management
  
  You can also contact your county cooperative extension office.

UC Berkeley

• Ellen Bruno - agricultural and resource economics, Twitter: @ellenm_bruno
  
  
• Stephanie Carlson - fish ecology, Twitter: @fishsteph
  
  
• Kristin Dobbin - water justice policy and planning, water equity, drinking water disparities, Twitter: @kbdobbin
  
  
• Paolo D’Odorico - ecohydrology, surface hydrology, desertification, water and food security
  
  
• Holly Doremus - water law, Twitter: @HollyDDoremus 
  
  
• Steve Glaser - Basin-wide Intelligent Water Information Systems, SierraNet real time hydrological data
  
  
• Ted Grantham - climate change, water resources and freshwater ecology, Twitter: @watershedted
  
  
• Nell Green Nylen - water and environmental law, Twitter: @NellGreenNylen
  
  
• Lynn Ingram - paleoclimate, climate change in California
  
  
• Michael Kiparsky - law, policy, groundwater, Twitter: @kiparsky 
  
  
• Matt Kondolf - hydrology, environmental geology, riparian zone management
  
  
• Laurel Larsen - hydroecology, natural ecosystems, Twitter: @Waterslashcycle
  
  
• Norm Miller - climate, drought and flooding
  
  
• Albert Ruhi - freshwater ecology, hydrologic variability, drought, Twitter: @Albert_Ruhi
  
  
• David Sedlak - urban water supply and water reuse, Twitter: @water4point0
  
  
• David Sunding - agricultural and resource economics 
  
  
• Sally Thompson - drought impacts on ecosystems and surface water systems
  
  
• David Zilberman - agricultural and resource economics
  
  

UC Davis

• Gwen Arnold - fracking, water policy, Twitter: @policyandpups
  
  
• Andre Daccache - precision irrigation, remote sensing, and water resources management
  
  
• Helen Dahlke - surface water resources, snowpack and groundwater recharge, Twitter: @hedahlke
  
  
• Laura Foglia - hydrology, global change, managed aquifer recharge
  
  
• Graham Fogg - groundwater and drought, Twitter: @gefogg 
  
  
• Richard Frank - water law
  
  
• Steve Grattan - irrigation in arid and semi-arid environments
  
  
• Thomas Harter - groundwater contamination and resources, Twitter: @Wasserstille
  
  
• Katrina Jessoe - environmental and energy economics, pricing and conservation polices in water and electricity sectors
  
  
• Stephen Kaffka - agricultural water quality, salinity
  
  
• Isaya Kisekka - agricultural water management, irrigation engineering, precision irrigation, Twitter: @UCDIrrigation 
  
  
• Kaan Kurtural - viticulture, vineyard irrigation, Twitter: @kurtural
  
  
• Bruce Lampinen - irrigation management, orchard management
  
  
• Mark Lubell - policy, behavior, social network analysis, Twitter: @EnvPolicyCenter
  
  
• Jay Lund - water resource management, Center for Watershed Sciences, Twitter: @JayLund113
  
  
• Giulia Marino - irrigation management, orchard management
  
  
• Peter Moyle - watershed management and fish
  
  
• Mallika Nocco - soil-plant-water relations, irrigation management, water productivity, Twitter: @mallika_nocco
  
  
• Toby O'Geen - soil-landscape relationships, hydropedology
  
  
• Lorence (Loren) Oki - landscape water management, Twitter: @LorenOki
  
  
• Nicholas Pinter - flooding, natural hazard management and mitigation
  
  
• Leslie Roche - rangeland and pasture management, grazing systems, drought and climate change adaptation, UC Rangelands, Twitter: @UCDRange
  
  
• Samuel Sandoval Solis - agricultural and municipal water, policy, available for interviews in Spanish, Twitter: @samuelsandoval
  
  
• Ken Shackel - physiology of plant responses to water availability
  
  
• Daniel Sumner - economic impact of drought 
  
  
• Kosana Suvocarev - evapotranspiration, water management, climate-smart agriculture, rice 
  
  
• Ken Tate - rangelands, grazing, watersheds, UC Rangelands
  
  
• Daniele Zaccaria - irrigation, agricultural water management
  
  Further drought and water experts can be found through the Center for Watershed Sciences and News and Information.

UC Irvine

• Amir Aghakouchak - drought monitoring and forecasting, Global Integrated Drought Monitoring and Prediction System (GIDMaPS), Twitter: @AmirAghaKouchak
  
  
• Maura Allaire - water economics, drinking water quality, flood impacts on communities, Twitter: @WaterEquityLab
  
  
• Dave Feldman - water and drought policy, Twitter: @WaterUCI
  
  
• Brett Sanders - flooding and erosion hazards, FloodRISE, Twitter: @UCIFloodLab
  
  
• Soroosh Sorooshian - drought monitoring, measuring, remote sensing, Center for Hydrometeorology and Remote Sensing
  
  
• Nicola Ulibarri - environmental planning & policy, water resources management, collaborative governance, Twitter: @N_Ulibarri

UCLA

• Madelyn Glickfield - integrated local water supply and management in Southern California
  
  
• Mark Gold - recycled water, stormwater capture, groundwater, local integrated water management
  
  
• Alex Hall - climate change, regional climate dynamics, hydrological cycle
  
  
• David Jassby - membrane technologies, wastewater recycling and desalination
  
  
• Stephanie Pincetl - water policy and governance, Twitter: @SPincetl
  
  
• Gaspar Rivera Salgado - farm labor, migration
  
  
• Daniel Swain - climate change, extreme weather events, Twitter: @Weather_West

Further drought and water experts can be found through the UCLA Institute of Environment and Sustainability.

UC Merced

• Roger Bales - climate change, snow and ice, SierraNet real time hydrological data, Twitter: @rbalesuc
  
  
• Martha Conklin - surface/groundwater interaction, snow processes
  
  
• Tom Harmon - contaminant transport, development and use of environmental sensors
  
  
• Steve Hart - forest/fire/water interaction
  
  
• Mark Matsumoto - urban and agricultural water reuse, small-scale treatment systems
  
  
• Josué Medellín-Azuara - economic analysis of droughts and consumptive use, Twitter: @JosueMedellin
  
  
• Tapan Pathak - climate change, agriculture, drought, Twitter: @Ag_Climate
  
  
• Safeeq Khan - climate change, forest ecohydrology, watershed systems, Twitter: @safeeqkhan
  
  
• Josh Viers - climatic and hydrological change vulnerability, watershed management, Twitter: @VICElab

UC Riverside

• Hoori Ajami - ]hydrology, surface water-groundwater interactions, Twitter: @AjamiHoori
  
  
• Ken Baerenklau - urban water conservation
  
  
• Ariel Dinar - water and environmental economics
  
  
• Andrew Gray - watershed hydrology, Twitter: @GrayLabUCR
  
  
• Amir Haghverdi - urban water management, landscape evapotranspiration, smart irrigation technologies, soil hydrology, Twitter: @UCRWater 
  
  
• Haizhou Liu - aquatic chemistry, water supply and salt management
  
  
• Mehdi Nemati - water resource economics and policy, Twitter: @mnematie
  
  
• Dennis Pittenger - landscape water conservation, water requirements of landscapes and landscape plants
  
  
• Kurt Schwabe - drought in arid and semi-arid areas, agriculture, economics
  
  
• Sharon Walker - water quality and reuse
  
  
• Laosheng Wu - water management, soils, salinity
  
  
  

UC Santa Barbara

• Dave Herbst - water and climate variability impacts on Sierra streams
  
  
• Leah Stokes - water, climate, and energy public policy, Twitter: @leahstokes
  
  
• Naomi Tague - hydrology, ecosystem processes, land use and climate change
  
  
• Casey Walsh - anthropology, political economy, Mexico-United States borderlands, water, commodities
  
  
• Robert Wilkinson - water policy, water/energy/climate integrated analysis

UC Santa Cruz

• Andrew Fisher - groundwater, managed recharge, extreme precipitation, water quality
  
  
• Ruth Langridge - climate change, drought and water supply, groundwater drought reserves
  
  
• Michael Loik - desert rangeland and montane forest physiology and ecology, ecohydrology, meteorology, and rain and snow processes
  
  
• Eric Palkovacs - freshwater ecology, eco-evolutionary dynamics, fisheries and fish ecology, Twitter: @EricPalkovacs
  
  
• Margaret Zimmer - rainfall-runoff relationships and surface water- groundwater interactions, Twitter: @margaret_zimmer

UC San Diego

• Daniel Tartakovsky - groundwater and surface water/groundwater interaction

Scripps Institution of Oceanography

• Dan Cayan – Director, California Nevada Applications Program (CNAP) – climate variability and climate change, and climate-hydrology-other sector linkages  
  
  
• Dave Pierce - California snowpack, Colorado River water supply, El Nino and La Nina, and climate change
  
  
• Marty Ralph – Director, Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes (CW3E) – atmospheric rivers, and developing strategies and inputs for potential future forecast-informed reservoir operations
  
  
  

CSU San Bernardino

• Boykin Witherspoon - water infrastructure, policy and regulation
  
  
  

CSU Fresno

• Thomas Esqueda - water and sustainability
   
• Karl Longley - salinity management, water and wastewater treatment, water policy

Further drought and water experts at CSU Fresno can be found through the California Water Institute.


You can also visit our full list of California academic institutions that focus on water. And if you are a California academic that would like to be added, email anrwater at ucanr dot edu.