PROJECTS
JoyFlow: a Shiny app for visualizing historical hydrologyIn 2017, a group of R data scientists popularized "joyplots", a neat way of stacking time series to reveal interesting cyclical patterns in the data. JoyFlow is a playful web app that lets you plot historical flows for any USGS stream gauge, revealing seasonal patterns and changes in the flow regime (such as the construction of Glen Canyon dam and the 1982-3 El Niño, seen in the Colorado River flows at left). h/t to @jfleck for inspiration.
Climate change and the timing of runoff in California
A simple data analysis to demonstrate the use of public data and reproducible reporting.
Envisioning an urban market for conserved water in Southern California
Client: Long Beach Water Department
Masters Thesis Group Project (2014–15)
Between 2012 and 2015, California experienced some of the driest years on record, in which the governor declared a statewide water emergency and State Water Project deliveries were reduced to 5%. Early appeals for voluntary conservation failed; it took a mandate from the governor in April 2015 to finally motivate many urban water agencies to reduce their water consumption by 25% below 2013 levels.
We identify the current system of shortage allocation in urban Southern California as one area where the incentives for voluntary conservation could be stronger. The current system creates a 'share-the-pain' approach in which all agencies are asked to cut back by a more or less equal percentage, regardless of their previous conservation efforts.
A rights-based approach to water allocation and trading would allow water agencies that proactively invest in conservation to receive a larger dry-year allocation, making it possible to store the water they save for their own use or sell the water to other cities during dry years. This system would create incentives for agencies to conserve even in wet years. Working with our client, the Long Beach Water Department, our team investigated the possibility of a market for inter-city water trading in Southern California. While ag→ag and ag→urban water transfers are becoming commonplace, robust urban→urban markets are still rare. The service areas of large urban wholesalers could provide ideal substrates for such a market due to their shared infrastructure, which eliminates the conveyance issue and enables 'paper water' trades. See our website for more information.
We presented our research at AWRA's Spring Conference: Water for Urban Areas: Managing Risks and Building Resiliency (Los Angeles, 2015). Our team also participated in a panel entitled Market-based Approaches to Water Management at the 2015 California Water Policy Conference.
The impact of dam removal on marine-derived nitrogen in tree-rings | Elwha River, Washington
Can tree rings tell us anything about historical salmon returns on a freshly un-dammed river? A proposal for NSF's Geobiology and Low-Temperature Geochemistry grant programFaux pause? A new study says that global warming is still going strongA new paper in the journal Science casts doubt on the existence of the global warming “pause” that has received widespread media attention in recent years.
Saving Lake Chad: An analysis of the proposed Oubangui-Chari water transferA legal, scientific, & ethical analysis of a controversial proposal in central AfricaCreating elegant graphics in R with ggplot2A tutorial written for graduate students at the Bren School (2014)- WORKMetropolitan Water DistrictLos AngelesAssociate Resource Specialist (present)I work within the Implementation Section of Met's Water Resources Management group, which ensures the year-to-year viability of Southern California's imported water supply. Our team performs economic and scientific studies related to the Colorado River system, the State Water Project, water purchases and transfers, storage and banking, and regional water conservation. My current focus is a long-term study of agricultural water use in the Palo Verde Valley, including policies to reduce consumptive water use while maintaining the local farm economy, and the development of new techniques to measure and analyze crop water use.RMC Water & EnvironmentSanta MonicaWater Resources Planner (2015)At RMC I worked with local California agencies on projects relating to sustainable groundwater management under SGMA, Urban Water Management Plans, demand forecasting, recycled water policy, and conservation ratesetting. Working with one of RMC's principals, I coauthored a $500,000 Sustainable Groundwater Planning Grant proposal for San Joaquin County which was fully funded by DWR. The work plan incorporated innovative surface+groundwater modeling using IDC and ag water use estimation using remotely-sensed ET data.Long Beach Water Department
Conservation & Planning Intern (2014)
Columbia TechnologiesField Geochemist (2007–2010; 2012–2013)
West Coast Operations Manager (2009-10)
From 2007 to 2013 I travelled all over the U.S. and a few other countries mapping groundwater contaminants at industrial sites using real-time sensor tools such as MIP and UVOST.
- EDUCATIONUniversity of California, Santa BarbaraBren School of Environmental Science & ManagementMaster of Environmental Science and Management (2015)specializations in Water Resources Management and Economics & PolicyUniversity of Maryland, College Park
Bachelor of Science, Geology
DATA TRINKETS
PRESS
Encouraging conservation through tradeable allocations and market mechanismsThe Water Report, June 2015
Bren Research BlogApril 15, 2015
Geoprobe newsletterFall 2009Working with partner Millennium Environmental and client GeoTrans, Columbia Technologies developed an unusual workplan that allowed us to map chlorinated groundwater contaminants in a Los Angeles office park without exposing a deep aquifer to contamination from above.
