Our research focuses on:
- Characterizing threats to ground and surface water
- Developing cost-effective technology to mitigate threats
- Advancing models to improve decision support and management under changing climate conditions
- Increasing stakeholder adoption of conservation water management practices
- Integrating long-term water monitoring programs and new research projects to improve agricultural management
Learn more about our Sustainable Water Management research goals.
Advancing UN Sustainable Development Goals
Sustainable Water Management supports the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), 17 global goals to enhance peace and prosperity, eradicate poverty and protect the environment. Specifically, this research bolsters the following SDGs:
Why Are We Tackling Water Management Challenges?
Maintaining an adequate supply of clean water represents one of the most significant challenges of the 21st Century. Agriculture accounts for more than 80 percent of water consumption and more than 50 percent of excess nutrient loads to our coastal waterways, thereby also threatening our fisheries and exacerbating human health concerns. Agriculture’s challenge to meet growing food demand while managing drought, flood and water quality risks under changing climate conditions demands audacious solutions.
Advances in sustainable water management are essential to achieving agricultural goals. Innovative engineering practices customized to local field conditions are essential to minimizing water demand, increasing terrestrial water storage and improving water quality while also enhancing crop production.
Our research programs promote stakeholder engagement with interdisciplinary scientific experts to advance precision agriculture and increase conservation practice adoption.
