2024: Developing a Modeling Framework to Explore the Potential Value of an Environmental Water Manager for California’s Sacramento Valley (EDF)
In response to California’s growing water crisis, the state has invested billions of dollars into water storage, habitat resilience, and protection of water bodies. In Nov. 2023, the state fast-tracked the Sites project, a pumped-storage reservoir off the Sacramento River that includes 17% of storage space reserved for environmental needs. This project will build on work led by EDF’s Climate Resilient Water Systems group to advance the concept of an Environmental Water Manager. Researchers will develop modeling tools to test flexible decision-making frameworks that would enable the water manager to respond quickly to real-time conditions, think more broadly about environmental water budgets, and adapt management across the Sacramento system.
Cornell: Patrick Reed, Civil and Environmental Engineering
EDF: Gopal Penny