Current Projects

Working with the Office of Community and Economic Development, CWI staff is helping coordinate and facilitate the San Joaquin Valley Partnership Water Work Group. In 2023, the work group is focused on developing an outreach plan and marketing materials to inform San Joaquin Valley growers about resources available to them to learn more about groundwater recharge benefits and how to get involved. A website is also being developed with resources available from city, county, state, and federal agencies. These resources will highlight groundwater recharge benefits, success stories, how to overcome limitations, and best management practices. Information on this effort will be shared on RechargeCA.org once completed. 

Working with the Office of Community and Economic Development, CWI staff is helping coordinate and facilitate the San Joaquin Valley Partnership Water Work Group. In 2023, the work group is focused on developing an outreach plan and marketing materials to inform San Joaquin Valley growers about resources available to them to learn more about groundwater recharge benefits and how to get involved. A website is also being developed with resources available from city, county, state, and federal agencies. These resources will highlight groundwater recharge benefits, success stories, how to overcome limitations, and best management practices. Information on this effort will be shared on RechargeCA.org once completed.

Ag – Building Opportunities through Networks of Discovery with a focus in Food, Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Human Sciences  
 
The program is specifically designed to help you make the most out of your first year at Fresno State. This program will assist you in developing both critical thinking and applied skills that will give you a real-world experience for your future. 

In addition, the program will: 

– connect you to a range of student support services which will help you meet your goals, and 

-provide you an opportunity to build lasting connections with your classmates and give you exciting ways and means to interact closely with faculty.

Students in the program will have the opportunity to engage in relevant project-based learning, research, and mentorship centered on authentic, locally relevant, and globally significant urban-agricultural-climate types of problems. This transformative educational experience will prepare students to serve and to lead in the San Joaquin Valley, California, and beyond

With funding received by Pacific Western Bank, the California Water Institute is conducting a Groundwater Recharge Feasibility Study. Due to proximity or lack of financial resources, not all small water systems and domestic wells can be consolidated into a larger municipality. While groundwater recharge work is already being done, this feasibility study will provide recommendations to help agencies strategically place recharge basins where most effective. Without a placement strategy, the investments in and efficacy of groundwater recharge cannot be fully realized or ensure a benefit to small communities.

The Public Policy Institute of California has partnered with CWI to assist with stakeholder outreach and engagement for this study. The study will include analysing the following gaps: (1) information on the benefits and costs of different land management options, (2) estimates of funding needs and potential funding sources for different types of beneficial land uses, and (3) an understanding of how institutions and policies can be structured to facilitate adoption of beneficial approaches. The success of a coordinated approach also hinges on collaboration of diverse stakeholders who may not normally work closely, such as growers, water managers, city and county land use planners, and soil and air quality experts. The objective of this project is to fill the knowledge gaps outlined here, and to bring together diverse stakeholders that are crucial to implementing elements of the approach. The goal of the research project is to advance cooperative strategies for managing the Valley’s formerly irrigated croplands for greatest benefit.

The California Water Institute Research and Education Division and the Water Blueprint for the San Joaquin Valley are working together to develop a unified water plan for the San Joaquin Valley. In consideration of the range of ongoing, at times disconnected, work to identify water management solutions for areas of the Valley, the Unified Water Plan Report (Report) will leverage available information and assets to describe an approach for the development of comprehensive regional solutions. The Report will not focus on reviewing or evaluating individual projects or efforts, but instead coordinate and integrate between San Joaquin Valley subregions in the development of a unified plan that enables and is consistent with local projects and efforts.

Conduct a two-year experiment on the Fresno State University Agricultural Lab (UAL) to determine the water needs of cover crops at different constraints.