California's Water Policy and Management: Toward a Sustainable Future

This seminar series focuses on the dramatic changes in recent decades in California water policy and management and how water researchers can help forge modern, collaborative solutions that will allow the state to adapt to an uncertain and challenging future. The seminar will meet six times during the Spring Quarter. The heart of the series will include four seminars with panels of outside experts covering the following topics: 1) The diversification of California's water supply portfolio; 2) The rise of the coequal goals of ecosystem restoration and water supply reliability; 3) The ongoing tension between collaborative and adversarial decision-making processes; and 4) Implications for water researchers seeking to help define pathways to meaningful solutions. In addition to these four seminar sessions, there will be an introductory California Water 101 session for students and a closing session on what we have learned. Students will be assigned readings and required to develop questions for discussion. Lead instructor for the seminar will be Landreth Visiting Fellow Dr. Timothy Quinn. Dr. Quinn spent more than ten years as the executive director of the Association of California Water Agencies, and more than twenty years as the Deputy General Manager of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. Over the course of that career, he was at the center of every major water management issue facing the state of California, including the state's use of Colorado River water, management of the Bay Delta, and sustainable groundwater management. This class will meet the first five weeks of the quarter. Elements used in grading: Attendance, Class Participation, Written Assignments. Cross-listed with Civil & Environmental Engineering (CEE 266E).