Cooperative Extension Specialist in Water Resources and Climate Change Adaptation
Position Description: Freshwater is vital to California’s economy and its unique ecosystems. Climate
models for California project increases in average temperatures, a loss in Sierra snowpack, and more
critically dry years by the end of the century, all directly impacting surface and ground water quantity and
quality as well as flood risk. For these reasons, substantial mitigation and adaptation will be required to
sustain sufficient freshwater resources in the future. Furthermore, the already pronounced challenges
surrounding societal versus ecological demands for freshwater are expected to intensify under future
climates. To address these challenges, a water resources and climate change adaptation cooperative
extension specialist is needed to advance interdisciplinary research and extension programs related to
watershed science, water resource management, and climate science.
Decision makers are increasingly concerned about reliably delivering water to various stakeholder groups
(e.g., agricultural, urban, environmental) under current and future climates. Already, a large fraction of
the State’s runoff is captured, stored, and redirected to meet agriculture and urban water needs, with
myriad negative consequences for freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems. This necessitates revisions to
existing storage and delivery systems and places pressure on establishing additional storage mechanisms.
Coping with changes in freshwater supply and demand under projected future climate will require
decisions at all levels of governance, as systems designed for historical variability are stressed by climatedriven changes such as altered drought and flood frequency.
The process of addressing the impacts of climate change on freshwater resources has begun through
proposed mitigation and adaptation measures to ensure that Californians have an adequate water supply,
reliable flood control, and healthy ecosystems. Adaptation has rapidly assumed a central role alongside
mitigation in scientific and policy conversations in California and elsewhere. While the need to move
from understanding future impacts to proactive adaptation is well recognized, there is no consensus on the
specific actions that will be required, making this topic a crucial one for an applied research program.
The Specialist will fill a needed role in helping to incorporate knowledge of freshwater science and
climate change into California’s water management, bringing science to bear on decision-making at
multiple spatial and temporal scales. The ideal candidate will have the demonstrated ability to work
across disciplinary boundaries and will have a methodological skill set including some combination of
qualitative social science methods, policy analysis, economic risk analysis, and/or quantitative
hydrological or water resources modeling.
Educational and professional background requirements: A Ph.D. in environmental science with an
emphasis on freshwater resources and familiarity with climate change science is required. Experience
working with stakeholders in water resources management and policy, as well as demonstrated crossdisciplinary training and experience working with stakeholders and resource agencies are also important.
Supporting units: ESPM, CNR, UC Berkeley, ANR (Strategic Initiative on Water Quantity, Quality, and
Security), Department of Water Resources, US Bureau of Reclamation, California Department of Fish
and Game, NOAA, State Water Resources Control Board, various county and urban water agencies.
Justification: The issue at hand is the need to incorporate climate change into watershed planning and
water management at multiple spatial and temporal scales. This challenge has been taken up in part by the
California Department of Water Resources, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 9, U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers South Pacific Division, and the Resources Legacy Fund as part of their handbook to
improve the California Integrated Regional Water Management Planning process (Climate Change
Handbook for Regional Water Planning 11/2011). At the core of this effort is quantitative analysis of
climate change impacts under different management scenarios. Here we see the need for significant
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contributions from the scientific community to refine and help implement the analytical approaches
recommended.
Equally important was the release of the California Climate Change Adaptation Strategy (2009) led by the
California Resources Agency. This report places great emphasis on the value of adaptation strategies that
will enhance resilience across multiple sectors (e.g., forestry, water, biodiversity). However, little has
been done to address trade-offs and conflicts that will inevitably arise from the proposed alterations, e.g.,
management for water supply may negatively impact habitat due to changes to seasonal water flow. These
types of trade-offs are common in water resource management and likely to increase under future climate.
We argue that these two fundamental State reports point to the justification for increased expertise in
quantitative watershed and climate science to climate impact analysis and trade-off analysis – the focus
of this proposed CE Specialist position. This position is likely to have a significant impact on California
water security considering the clear interest for implementing climate change adaptation and mitigation to
improve reliable freshwater delivery. Moreover, the inherently applied and cross-cutting nature of the
problem makes it one for which ANR is particularly needed. The Specialist will be expected to be an
active member of the ANR Strategic Water Initiative which focuses on “water supply and quality for
agricultural, urban, and environmental systems as a critical issue facing the state over the next 20 years
and beyond.” The realities recognized by this initiative include that water will be increasingly limited for
all users and hence competition among different sectors will increase. Specific examples of the pressing
issues this Specialist would be able to effect are investments by State and Federal agencies for floodplain
recovery and alternative routes for water transport in the SF Bay Delta that impact water users. Any
proposed alterations of this sort will result in different outcomes under varying climate change scenarios.
Scientific input and outreach could be transformative for on-the-ground decision-making on these and
related issues.
The Specialist would fill a critical niche linking scientists and managers and bridging the water science
and policy arenas. Moreover, the Specialist would interact with a broad range of stakeholder groups, from
local to State and Federal management agencies and across the agricultural sectors, to help inform policy
and guide decisions in the face of uncertain future conditions. Additionally, agricultural commodity
groups are possibly in the greatest need of outreach efforts in this area as they may have the most to lose
with the various water management proposals on the table. While improving water conservation will
certainly alleviate some of the pain, reductions in crop acres or yields may be inevitable. Assessing the
cost and benefits of various water management adaptation strategies on agriculture is essential for our
agricultural economy and food security.
Extension: The Specialist will conduct coupled research and outreach to understand how to produce
knowledge on the impacts of climate change on freshwater resources and translate it to water delivery,
food security, and ecological recovery as well as assess the trade-offs of various proposed adaptation
scenarios. Establishing collaborative relationships with members and affiliates of the ANR Water
Initiative will help this new Specialist identify priority issues involving potentially important trade-offs
among competing sectors. The Specialist will be expected to interact with key clientele groups that span
the full spectrum from local water agencies (e.g., SFPUC) to state and federal agencies (e.g., DWR,
USBR). New forms of interactive online communication will be encouraged as well as strong evaluation
methods to measure effectiveness of the extension program employed.
Research: The Specialist will develop a research program in one or more aspects of competing societal
versus ecological demands for freshwater, water reliability, and/or climate impacts (e.g., adaptation and
mitigation). Examples could include integrated assessment modeling of hydrology and water resources,
governance and policy options for adaptation, economic risk analyses, and the social science of the use of
knowledge in decision-making. The interdisciplinary nature of the problem of climate change impacts and
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adaptation requires that the Specialist develop an interdisciplinary research program, and take a leadership
role in building collaborative efforts to leverage the pool of relevant capacity that exists in ANR, CNR,
UC Berkeley, and UC more broadly. Possible publication outlets include those within ANR (e.g., CA
Agriculture) as well as several external outlets including Environmental Science and Policy, J. of the
American Water Resources Association, Water Policy, and Water Resources Mgmt.
ANR Continuum: It is important to note that linking climate change and water poses such a formidable
challenge because of the urgency of the need to respond and the lack of clarity about what the response
should be. There are ready audiences for a specialist to develop an applied research and outreach program
in this area. In the water arena, as in other natural resources, there is demand for a Specialist who could
serve as a bridge between the University and water resource management communities. For example, at
the State level, California Department of Water Resources has active interest in adaptation. It has
convened a Technical Advisory Committee on Climate and Water, and a Specialist who could work to
extend and bridge the findings of this panel to the broader water community would be highly valued.
Many other examples exist, and all would provide fertile ground for education and outreach. This
Specialist would interface and directly complement the efforts of Director Doug Parker, California
Institute for Water Resources and Strategic Leader for the new ANR Water Initiative and several
Advisors: Alan Fulton (Tehama), Kahled Bali (Imperial) and Michael Cahn (Monterey). Finally, there is
considerable potential for the Specialist to interface with AES scientists, UCCE Specialists, and UCCE
Advisors interested in water resources management and policy.
Support / Other Support: Campus, college, and departmental support are expected to help the Specialist
develop her/his research and outreach program.
Location: UC Berkeley is an ideal location for this specialist given recent hiring of a surface water
hydrologist in CEE, the recently launched Wheeler Water Law and Policy Institute at Berkeley Law, and
the recent funding by NSF of an Engineering Research Center to tackle urban water issues. Moreover, the
Specialist will be able to work with the Berkeley Water Center (http://bwc.berkeley.edu/home/) to
facilitate interactions across campus.
List Of Letters Being Solicited: California Department of Water Resources, US Bureau of Reclamation,
State Water Resource Control Board, California Resources Agency, California Department of Fish and
Game, NOAA, regional water agencies, agricultural commodity groups, Chair of ANR Water Strategic
Initiative.
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