By analyzing more than two decades of data in the western U.S., scientists have shown that flood sizes increase exponentially as a higher fraction of precipitation falls as rain, offering insight into how flood risks may change in a warming world with less snow.
Stanford researchers used advanced technologies in 2019 to study and address a wide range of issues affecting our oceans and our relationship with them.
This year, researchers traveled across the country and around the world, producing work that adds to our understanding of life on Earth and informs potential solutions for improving our health and the health of our planet.
Stanford hydrologist Newsha Ajami, an appointee to California’s regional water quality board, discusses how wildfires affect water quality, and how we can better prepare for and react to the challenges.
A new and ambitious research project looks to develop affordable devices to recycle most of the water we now throw away, as well as to desalinate saltwater. The project’s research director describes the project’s vision and operation.
Scientists at Stanford have identified molecules that tough microbes use to survive in warming waters, opening a window more broadly into studying conditions in ancient seas.
The realities of subsistence living in a region of Senegal hard hit by schistosomiasis make reinfection likely, despite mass drug administration. Stanford researchers find that engaging communities in the design of disease control programs could help.
An experiment with a water-saving “smart” faucet shows potential for reducing water use. The catch? Unbeknownst to study participants, the faucet’s smarts came from its human controller.
A new battery made from affordable and durable materials generates energy from places where salt and fresh waters mingle. The technology could make coastal wastewater treatment plants energy-independent and carbon neutral.
To ease the pain of new state rules, engineers are looking to harness an unconventional and unwieldy source of water: the torrential storms that sometimes blast across the Pacific Ocean and soak California.
A new study suggests vents in the seafloor may affect life near the ocean’s surface and the global carbon cycle more than previously thought. It’s the first to show how iron rising from beneath Earth’s crust stimulates massive phytoplankton blooms.
Measurements of suspended sediment concentrations reveal a lot about the health of a waterway, but information has been difficult to obtain. A new approach uses a drone to take high-resolution photos to reveal turbidity.
Overpumping in California’s Central Valley has depleted groundwater storage capacity and caused the land to sink. A new model could help zero in on where water managers can replenish aquifers by flooding fields.
Cassandra Handan-Nader and Daniel Ho have created an algorithm that reads satellite images to help environmental regulators identify potentially hazardous agricultural facilities more efficiently than traditional approaches.
In Jordan, one of the most water-poor nations, predictions of future droughts depend on the scale of climate change. Without reducing greenhouse gases the future looks dry, but researchers offer some hope.
Two experts from Stanford’s Water in the West program explain the potential impacts on the future of water in California of the proposed plan to downsize the $17 billion Delta twin tunnels project.
Recent droughts caused increases in emissions of carbon dioxide and harmful air pollutants from power generation in several western states as fossil fuels came online to replace hampered hydroelectric power. A new study quantifies the impact.
Why did the first big, complex organisms spring to life in deep, dark oceans where food was scarce? A new study finds great depths provided a stable, life-sustaining refuge from wild temperature swings in the shallows.
Volcanic carbon dioxide vents off the coast of Italy are rapidly acidifying nearby waters. This natural laboratory provides a crystal ball-view into potential future marine biodiversity impacts around the world.
Stanford’s Stephen Luby wants the focus of World Toilet Day to be less about toilets and more about the improvement of sanitation systems for people in developing countries.
Most areas of California farm country lack information about their groundwater use. Water managers responsible for putting aquifers on the path to sustainability now need to get the data to do the job.
In addition to reusing water, we’ll have to augment the supply from reservoirs with recycling, stormwater capture, desalination and other strategies, says Stanford engineer Richard Luthy.
Stanford researchers map out groundwater at stake in the wake of a court decision that bolsters Native American rights to the precious resource across an increasingly arid West.
Natural sources of the toxic form of chromium appear in wells that provide drinking water to a large population in California, offering a new perspective on California’s groundwater management challenges.
The system could one day be adapted into solar-powered water purification stations for use in developing regions where fresh water is a precious commodity.
How can the United States Army Corps of Engineers improve its reservoir management to adapt to climate change and meet more water needs while avoiding any increased flood risks?
Pumping an aquifer to the last drop squeezes out more than water. A Stanford study finds it can also unlock dangerous arsenic from buried clays – and reveals how sinking land can provide an early warning and measure of contamination.
