Skip to main content
University of California Press

Sustainable Water

Challenges and Solutions from California

by Allison Lassiter (Editor)
Price: $29.95 / £25.00
Publication Date: Jul 2015
Edition: 1st Edition
Title Details:
Rights: World
Pages: 408
ISBN: 9780520960879
Trim Size: 6 x 9
Illustrations: 71 line illustrations, 10 tabl

About the Book

Water scarcity, urban population growth, and deteriorating infrastructure are impacting water security around the globe. Struggling with the most significant drought in its recorded history, California faces all of these challenges to secure reliable water supplies for the future. The unfolding story of California water includes warnings and solutions for any region seeking to manage water among the pressures of a dynamic society and environment.

Written by leading policy makers, lawyers, economists, hydrologists, ecologists, engineers, and planners, Sustainable Water reaches across disciplines to address problems and solutions for the sustainable use of water in urban areas. The solutions and ideas put forward in this book integrate water management strategies to increase resilience in a changing world.

Contributors: John T. Andrew, Carolina Balazs, Celeste Cantú, Juliet Christian-Smith, Matthew Deitch, Caitlin Dyckman, Howard Foster, Julian Fulton, Peter Gleick, Brian E. Gray, Ellen Hanak, Maurice Hall, Michael Hanemann, Sasha Harris-Lovett, Matthew Heberger, G. Mathias Kondolf, Jay Lund, Damian Park, Kristen Podolak, John Radke, Isha Ray, David Sedlak, Fraser Shilling, Daniel Wendell, Robert Wilkinson, Cleo Woelfle-Erskine, Sarah Yarnell

About the Author

Allison Lassiter completed a PhD in Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning at UC Berkeley.

Table of Contents

Contributors
Acknowledgments
Introduction - Allison Lassiter

1. Adapting California’s Water Sector to a Changing Climate - John T. Andrew
2. The Water–Energy–Climate Nexus in California - Robert Wilkinson
3. California’s Flawed Surface Water Rights - Michael Hanemann, Caitlin Dyckman, and Damian Park
4. The Reasonable Use Doctrine in California Water Law and Policy - Brian E. Gray
5. Urban Water Demand and Pricing in a Changing Climate - Juliet Christian-Smith and Matthew Heberger
6. Coping with Delta Floods and Protecting California’s Water Supply in a Regional Flood Management System - Howard Foster and John Radke
7. Portfolio Approaches to Reduce Costs and Improve Reliability of Water Supplies - Ellen Hanak and Jay Lund
8. The Challenge of Sustainable Groundwater - Management in California Daniel Wendell and Maurice Hall
9. People, Resources, and Policy in Integrated Water Resource Management - Celeste Cantú
10. The History of Water Reuse in California - Sasha Harris-Lovett and David Sedlak
11. Water Justice in California’s Central Valley - Carolina Balazs and Isha Ray
12. The Incendiary Mix of Salmon and Water in Mediterranean-Climate California - Matthew Deitch and G. Mathias Kondolf
13. Adaptive Management in Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Relicensing - Kristen Podolak and Sarah Yarnell
14. Emerging Cultural Waterscapes in California Cities Connect Rain to Taps and Drains to Gardens - Cleo Woelfle-Erskine
15. California’s Water Footprint Is Too Big for Its Pipes - Julian Fulton and Fraser Shilling

Afterword - Peter Gleick

Index

Reviews

"Lively and provocative with real food for thought."
The Huffington Post
"[Sustainable Water] critically examines the variability and uncertainty of the water footprint as well as its future role in sustainable water management."
Environment and Urbanization
"Taken together, the chapters in this book offer a remarkable compendium of facts, figures, and analyses that in the end suggest a cautious optimism about how - and whether - California can succeed in formulating a sustainable and sensible water policy."
"As the chapters in this book so clearly demonstrate, we are a long way from a reliable and sustainable water system. Fortunately, successful alternatives exist and are waiting for the opportunity to blossom."
--from the Afterword by Peter H. Gleick, Pacific Institute

“There is a wealth of good information here, which makes it a useful resource for academics, resource managers, and policymakers.”
--Suzanne Dallman, former President of the Long Beach Board of Water Commissioners and Professor of Geography at CSU Long Beach

“This volume would work very well in a classroom setting, but it also has value as a text for current water professionals. The writing is very accessible and the topic undoubtedly timely.”
--Douglas Kenney, Director of the Western Water Policy Program at the University of Colorado, Boulder and coauthor of The Water-Energy Nexus in the American West