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Water Resources Management

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
blog
COVID-19 and the Economy, America's Blood Supply, 10 Years of the ACA: RAND Weekly Recap
Mar 27, 2020
This weekly recap focuses on COVID-19 and the economy, strengthening the U.S. blood supply, 10 years of the Affordable Care Act, and more.
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Urban Planning
commentary
Green Infrastructure in Los Angeles: An Olympian Feat
Noah Johnson, Karishma V. Patel, Jarrett Catlin
Feb 11, 2020
The RAND Blog
Los Angeles has an opportunity to reinvent itself by harnessing the collective spirit of Olympics development, climate activism, and Measure W funding. No single project can address all LA's environmental needs, but many diverse projects could provide an opportunity for synergies and to create a new “city feel,” the way palm trees, traffic, and movie-touting billboards do now.
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Water Resources Management
commentary
Los Angeles River Revitalization: Taking Inspiration from Near and Far
Keren Zhu, J. Luke Irwin, Stephanie Tanverakul, Timothy R. Gulden
Feb 4, 2020
The RAND Blog
Currently a predominantly concrete channel running through the city, the Los Angeles River has great potential to revitalize Los Angeles's water resources, landscape, and identity. Creating a new vision for the river presents a complex challenge for policymakers, engineers, and urban planners.
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Water Resources Management
commentary
More Than Stormwater: How Green Infrastructure Offers Multiple Benefits for Los Angeles Communities
Joan Chang, Kristin Warren, Jonathan Lamb, Pau Alonso García-Bode
Jan 29, 2020
The RAND Blog
California faces water supply shortages, which are worsened by climate change. Applying a systems framework is essential to addressing complex problems for the sustainability of water resources.
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Water Resources Management
commentary
How to Ensure Quality Drinking Water Service for All? One Option Is Fewer Utilities
David Catt, Michelle E. Miro, Miriam E. Marlier
Mar 26, 2019
The RAND Blog
California's Human Right to Water Bill declares that “every human being has the right to safe, clean, affordable, and accessible water.” One clear barrier to reaching this target is the sheer number of small water utilities that pose service sustainability and public health risks to their customers.
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Water Resources Management
commentary
Lessening Leakages: How Water Systems Can Learn From Smart Electric Grids
Jalal Awan, Michelle E. Miro, Miriam E. Marlier
Mar 22, 2019
The RAND Blog
As drought and population growth place increasing pressure on water supply, the need to save and efficiently manage Southern California's water resources becomes increasingly critical. A single information and communication technology platform could go a long way toward moving water utilities from reactive to proactive maintenance practices.
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Water Supply
commentary
Increasing Groundwater Reliance in L.A. County Means Dealing with Extensive Contamination
Alexandra Huttinger, Michelle E. Miro, Miriam E. Marlier
Mar 12, 2019
The RAND Blog
As the Los Angeles region increases its reliance on groundwater sources to become more resilient in the face of drought and to reduce demand for imported water sources, advances in the information available on groundwater quality and contamination could help community water systems avoid health hazards and better ensure a safe drinking water supply.
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Global Climate Change
essay
Resilience and Adaptation Strategies Can Address the Impacts of Climate Change
Feb 26, 2019
With climate change already generating storms, heat waves, and droughts beyond historical norms, local governments need to do more to prepare. A decisionmaking framework developed by RAND allows communities to stress-test ideas, weigh the trade-offs, and plan for a range of possible futures.
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Infrastructure Finance
commentary
How Federal Policy Could Help Water and Wastewater Utilities
Debra Knopman, David Catt
Jan 16, 2018
Inside Sources
A targeted approach could help the federal government address the root causes of infrastructure problems more effectively than a spending initiative that simply spreads money around with the hope that more spending might do some good.
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Water Resources Management
commentary
How Should Water Professionals Invest in Resilience?
Jordan R. Fischbach
Jul 12, 2017
The Source
Water professionals can think about building resilience as a process of embracing and managing future uncertainty. Rather than trying to predict which problem to plan for, researchers help planners consider a wide range of potential scenarios.
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Water Supply
commentary
Getting the Lead Out of Pittsburgh's Water
Jordan R. Fischbach, Linnea Warren May @LinneaKWMay
Jul 3, 2017
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Without an aggressive long-term strategy for replacing service lines, and collaboration among the water authority, public officials, and residents, lead in Pittsburgh's water will persist.
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San Francisco
announcement
RAND Opens Office in the San Francisco Bay Area
Apr 3, 2017
RAND has opened an office in the San Francisco Bay Area to foster collaboration with the region's leaders and researchers working to solve today's complex problems. Nidhi Kalra, a senior information scientist, is leading the new office.
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Water Resources Management
commentary
Ensuring Robust Water Management Strategies in Lima-Callão, Peru
Laura Bonzanigo, Nidhi Kalra, David G. Groves, Carter Brandon
Nov 16, 2015
The World Bank Water Blog
Water resource agencies around the world are grappling with how to make smart investments to ensure long-term water reliability at a time of unprecedented water stress, growing demands, uncertain climate change, and limited budgets.
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Public Utilities
commentary
What Durban Can Teach Detroit: Getting Customers to Pay Their Water Bills
Julia Pollak
Jul 29, 2015
The RAND Blog
South Africa is proving that governments in poor cities can provide water and collect payment without turning off the water spigot. Detroit and Baltimore might consider exploring models like this that have been successfully tested in even more challenging settings.
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Global Climate Change
announcement
RAND Announces New Water and Climate Change Resilience Center
Jan 6, 2015
RAND has established a new Water and Climate Resilience Center to address one of the most significant policy challenges of our time: How do we plan, build, and organize our societal systems to become more resilient to the unavoidable impacts of climate change?
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Developing Countries
commentary
Climate Change, Uncertainty Cast Clouds on Malawi's Food Policies
Tobi A. Oluwatola
May 20, 2014
The RAND Blog
Malawi has the highest per capita maize consumption in Africa, but it may need to consider alternatives, taking into greater consideration weather, climate change and water needs.
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Water Supply
blog
New Colorado River Basin Study Examines Tremendous Challenges of the Coming 50 Years
David G. Groves, Jordan R. Fischbach, Evan Bloom
Dec 18, 2012
Growing water needs combined with uncertain but possibly deteriorating future hydrologic conditions could stress the Colorado River system in the coming 50 years.
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Environmental Sustainability
blog
Bringing Sustainability to the Louisiana Coast
David G. Groves
Jun 7, 2012
Policy Researcher David Groves describes RAND's role in helping to develop a plan to guide Louisiana's coastal investments, help its coastal citizens plan for the future, and create a sustainable coast.
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