Pathbreaking Groundwater Research by Center for Law, Energy & the Environment Team Goes National

Photo: California and other states where water is scarce have long tapped more groundwater — particularly for agriculture — than goes back in through the natural recharge process, in which water from rivers, lakes, streams, and rain flows into the ground.

By Gwyneth K. Shaw

California’s tremendous thirst for water poses a grave challenge to its future, from an everyday perspective and in the longer battle of combating climate change — and is a bellwether for the rest of America and the world. At Berkeley Law’s Center for Law, Energy & the Environment (CLEE), protecting existing resources while exploring innovative solutions for the future is a key component of its larger mission.

Michael Kiparsky, founding director of CLEE’s Wheeler Water Institute, and his team have spent years working on water policy, often in partnership with researchers from other branches of the University of California system. Together, they’ve helped guide changes at the local and state level, particularly when it comes to the legal challenges of crafting rules for a resource that’s inherently difficult to control and in high demand.

Recently, a CLEE team — including researchers from elsewhere at UC Berkeley and from UC Davis, Santa Cruz, and UC College of the Law, San Francisco — got the chance to take its longstanding policy work national. Kiparsky is the lead investigator on a $2 million grant from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to assist efforts to recharge aquifers and improve groundwater sustainability. 

“This is California offering up our experience and innovation to try and drive innovation elsewhere,” Kiparsky says. “The EPA recognized that we have a cohesive team with a strong track record of doing really good work in this area.” 

CLEE is Berkeley Law’s hub for energy and environmental law and policy, with four main spheres of focus: climate, water, oceans, and land use. Drawing on experts across the UC Berkeley campus, the center […]

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