This interdisciplinary project analyzes the complex relationships between surface and groundwater supply, agricultural land use decisions, and economic wellbeing in rural disadvantaged communities in the Tulare Lake Basin, California. The Tulare Lake Basin is one of the most productive agricultural regions in the world but relies heavily on groundwater. Decades of unrestricted groundwater pumping and diminished groundwater supplies pose significant threats to the environment, water quantity and water quality and could potentially harm the resilience of rural communities and the agricultural economy. With better understanding of how surface water and groundwater stores are connected and influenced by human stressors and needs, water resources can go much further toward increasing the resilience of disadvantaged communities while meeting agricultural and ecosystem needs. The goal of this project is to increase the resilience of disadvantaged communities to water supply shortages induced by climate and environmental change while meeting the agricultural and ecosystem needs on the same resource.
Project Approach.
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This project is funded by the National Science Foundation Coupled Natural Human Systems program (Award #1716130). |