UC Riverside’s Water Science and Policy Center (WSPC) has a very large goal. It is working to integrate water quality and water scarcity issues into larger policy related discussion at the local, regional, national and international levels.

From their website:

“The WSPC will pay attention to the relationships between water and soil, air, land and ecosystem resources, and will encourage research that (i) increases our understanding of such relationships and/or (ii) provides a comprehensive analytical framework stressing management and/or policy implications.”

The WSPC policy notes from the 2010 International Drought Symposium are now available. Written in easy to understand language, the policy notes are 1 to 4 pages in length. All are thought provoking.

2010 policy notes related to our local and regional water issues are:

• Adapting Irrigated Agriculture to Drought in the San Joaquin Valley of California

• Potential Political Impacts in Southern California of Drought Related Water Availability and Rate Increases


• Ecological Responses and Interactions with Drought in the Southwestern United States


• Crop Choices with Limiting Water Supplies: Deficit Irrigation and Sensitive Crop Growth Stages

The complete collection, which includes studies from Australia, Spain, South Africa, and other areas of the United States and can be viewed here.