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Center for Integrated
Water Research
Environmental Studies
UC Santa Cruz
1156 High St.
Santa Cruz, CA 95064

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Page last reviewed
07/03/2012 by webmaster

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PROJECTS

Water Teaching and Research Laboratory: WaterLab

WaterLab is located at the Watsonville Water Resources Center.

WaterLab consists of three programs:

• Training program for students and professionals
  There is a national and international need for professionals trained to use and manage state of the art water treatment technologies. WATERLAB will provide this training to UCSC students, other college students from the region, and water professionals.
  
• Research and testing program for water treatment technologies
  Water treatment technologies will be tested for reliability, energy consumption, operating characteristics, and other factors. Technologies will be selected based on cooperative agreements with private industry, laboratory research, and other sources.
  
• Community outreach and demonstration
  WATERLAB will be part of larger effort along California Central Coast to demonstrate sustainable use of natural resources through water reclamation and reuse, energy capture, and other practices.

The overall goals of WaterLab include:

• Training students and professionals on advanced water management methods, including:
  • Desalination
• Reclamation and Reuse
• Transmission and Distribution
• SCADA
• Public Communications
• Financial Management
• Developing, testing, and demonstrating water treatment technologies
  
• Introducing advanced water treatment technologies to the public

Here is a presentation on the History of WaterLab.


Monterey Regional Water Supply Reliability Dialogue
Facilitating the Development of a Regional Project on the Monterey Peninsula, Division of Ratepayer Advocates, Public Utilities Commission, 2-12-07 – 9-30-09, $327,138.

The purpose of this project is to enable UCSC to work with DRA personnel to provide research and facilitative support to water agencies in Monterey County.  CIWR launched and held monthly meetings of agency leaders and the public while providing research support for emerging regional water supply proposals.  Roughly thirty agencies and organizations are involved.  This project utilized space at UCSC’s MBEST Center for its monthly meetings and other meetings.  CIWR is preparing an analysis of contracting risks facing multi-faceted regional water supply projects.This contract enables UCSC to work with the DRA to provide research and facilitative support to water agencies in Monterey County with respect to future water supply planning. It involves facilitating monthly meetings of agency leaders and the public, and providing research support for emerging joint water supply proposals. Roughly thirty agencies and organizations are involved.

This project utilized space at UCSC’s MBEST Center for its monthly meetings and other meetings. [more]

Developing a Tool to Guide State and Local Desalination Planning
Developing A Tool to Guide State and Local Desalination Planning, State of California Department of Water Resources, Water Efficiency and Recycling Branch Proposition 50 Grant, 12-2-05, plus in-kind support from agency and private sector supporters, including UCSC.

The Proposition 50 funded research grant is being used to produce a Guide for Desalination Planning in California. Our goal is to help California water agencies and the people they serve make good decisions about the role of desalination in their water supply. The project is designed to improve public dialogue on desalination projects in California with an on-line planning and assessment tool and accompanying documentation. In 2005, the CIWR launched the first major policy and economic analysis of desalination planning for California water agencies. The Center assembled a blue-ribbon team of desalination experts from universities, government agencies, advocacy organizations, and the private sector. [more]

Technical/Expertise Support to the Division of Ratepayer Advocates
Technical/Expertise Support to the Division of Ratepayer Advocates, Public Utilities Commission, 7-1-06 – 6-30-08, $100,000. The Center for Integrated Water Research engaged in this project with the Federal Bureau of Reclamation to review and analyze the technical feasibility, reliability, risks and cost estimates for a major desalination plant on Monterey Bay known as the Coastal Water Project. The goal of the project is to provide technical support to DRA in their evaluation of the impacts on ratepayers of the proposed desalination facility in Monterey County.

The final product was successfully received by DRA in June 2008 and resulted in the report:
Kasower, S., and Haddad, B. 2008.  “Risk- and Cost-Allocation Strategies for Monterey County’s Proposed Coastal Water Project,” Report prepared for Division of Ratepayer Advocates, California Public Utilities Commission

The purpose of this project is to evaluate the relationship between federal debt obligations and regional water project benefits.  Using the Monterey Regional Water Pollution Control Agency water replenishment project as a case study, we analyzed the federal interest in regional water supply and how that interest is expressed in long-term federal financing of water projects.  This project generated an analytical memo:

Monterey Regional Water Pollution Control Agency Small Reclamation Projects Act Local Project Loan Refinance Study: Phase 1 Final Report, January 2008.

Shared Problems, Regional Solutions:  Public Participation with Water in Monterey County
Shared Problems, Regional Solutions:  Public Participation with Water in Monterey County, Marina Coast Water District, $28,909.

This research helped develop a public participation and involvement element of the Monterey regional water dialogue process.  We analyzed approaches to public communication about water and facilitated the collaborative generation of a web site and public presentation materials.

The project concluded in August 2008.

Response of Irrigators to More Frequent Information on Water Use

Roxanna Pourzand ( B.A., UCSC '12) worked with the Santa Cruz Water Department to prepare an insightful thesis on the effect of more frequent billing on water consumption. She found that the additional information will influence consumption behavior as economic models predict provided that the recipient of the bills is also the individual who controls irrigation choices. Here is a copy of her Senior Thesis. Roxanna won UCSC's Weiss Family Fellowship in honor of her work with the Center for Integrated Water Research. Bravo, Roxanna!