UCI to size up, help forecast state’s water supply

The Orange County Register

July 14th, 2009

By Gary Robbins

Northern California makes its way to Southern California.

UC Irvine has been awarded $2.5 million to use satellites and field research to more accurately determine how much water exists throughout California, and how its distributed through various natural and artificial means.

The money came from the UC Office of the President, which is paying UCI earth system scientist Jay Famiglietti to help develop more advanced models of California’s current water supply, and how much the state is likely to have in the future.

Much of the research will focus on sizing up how much water is contained in everything from groundwater tables to soil.

The work has potentially large public policy consequences for Southern California, where 18 million people rely on varying degrees of imported water.

“There’s been too large of a gap between decision makers and scientists over the water situation in California,” says Famiglietti, who is heading up UCI’s new Center for Hydrology Modeling. “We’re going to help bridge that gap.”