Columbia Water Center
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Columbia Water Center (CWC) was established in January 2008 by
Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
as part of the
Earth institute {{Infobox organization , name = The Earth Institute , image = Ei blue1.gif , map_size = , map_alt = , map_caption = , map2 = , type = , tax_id ...
to research and address global water-related challenges, including
water scarcity Water scarcity (closely related to water stress or water crisis) is the lack of fresh water resources to meet the standard water demand. There are two types of water scarcity. One is ''physical.'' The other is ''economic water scarcity''. Physic ...
, access and quality alongside Climate risks and changes. Its stated mission is to "creatively tackle water challenges of a rapidly changing environment and Earth’s biodiversity contribution of humanity’s
carbon footprint A carbon footprint (or greenhouse gas footprint) is a calculated value or index that makes it possible to compare the total amount of greenhouse gases that an activity, product, company or country Greenhouse gas emissions, adds to the atmospher ...
affecting the
water Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...
including
climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...
affecting food, energy, ecosystems and urbanization," by combining "the rigor of scientific research with the impact of effective policy." The Center takes a multidisciplinary approach to its mission, employing
hydrologists Hydrology () is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources, and drainage basin sustainability. A practitioner of hydrology is called a hydro ...
,
climatologists Climatology (from Greek , ''klima'', "slope"; and , ''-logia'') or climate science is the scientific study of Earth's climate, typically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of at least 30 years. Climate concerns the atmospheric ...
,
environmental engineer Environmental engineers conduct hazardous-waste management studies to evaluate the significance of such hazards, advise on treatment and containment, and develop regulations to prevent mishaps. Environmental engineers also design municipal water ...
s, and
water policy Water politics, sometimes called hydropolitics, is politics affected by the availability of water and water resources, a necessity for all life forms and human development. Arun P. Elhance's definition of hydropolitics is "the systematic study ...
analysts. Its director is Upmanu Lall, the Alan & Carol Silberstein Professor of Engineering at Columbia University. The Center currently divides its projects into five themes: America's Water, The Global Floods Initiative, Data Analytics and Multi-Scale Predictions, Risk and Financial Instruments and the Water, Food, Energy Nexus. __TOC__


Background

The Earth Institute, under the leadership of Jeff Sachs, is a research institution that supports sustainable development from various angles. In 2008, the
PepsiCo PepsiCo, Inc. is an American multinational corporation, multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation headquartered in Harrison, New York, in the hamlet of Purchase, New York, Purchase. PepsiCo's business encompasses all aspects of the f ...
Foundation awarded the
Earth Institute {{Infobox organization , name = The Earth Institute , image = Ei blue1.gif , map_size = , map_alt = , map_caption = , map2 = , type = , tax_id ...
$6 million to address these water-related issues. The PepsiCo grant led to the establishment of the Columbia Water Center under the leadership of Columbia University engineering professor Upmanu Lall. This three-year grant made possible projects in four countries: India, China, Mali, and Brazil. In Brazil, CWC has partnered with the
Federal University of Ceará The Federal University of Ceará (, UFC) is a federal university with campuses in the cities of Fortaleza, Sobral, Russas, Quixadá, Crateús and Itapajé, in the state of Ceará, Brazil. UFC is a public and tuition-free university, with sev ...
in the northeast to focus on sophisticated climate-based forecasting systems used for water allocation decisions across diverse use sectors. In addition, the CWC team recently completed a municipal water plan (PAM) for Milhã, a rural area in central Ceará. The project outlines a plan for the municipality to deliver water to all of its 14,000 residents. As part of the project, the CWC designed and built water infrastructure demonstration projects for Ingá and Pedra Fina, two communities in Milhã. The project provides water to 500 people in the area. In India, the project focuses on reducing water consumption in the agricultural sector by encouraging sustainable crop choice patterns, as well as working with corporations to deploy better
irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering of plants) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has bee ...
technologies (and increase reliability) throughout their supply chains. A key objective is to reduce the groundwater stress in the region. Primary project locations are in the states of
Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...
and
Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...
. In Punjab, the CWC has partnered with
Punjab Agricultural University Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) is a public funded agricultural university located in Ludhiana district of Punjab. It is a central agricultural university in India established under Harayana and Punjab Agricultural Universities Act 1970 ...
to come up with innovative solutions to reduce farmer irrigation. Some of the methods developed (including the use of inexpensive tensiometers to measure soil moisture and direct seeding of rice) were field tested in the 2010 planting season with over 500 farmers participating. The Punjab Agricultural University team reports that participating farmers saved 25 to 30 percent of their normal water use by implementing the new approaches. The CWC/PAU team plans to scale up the pilot project in 2011 by recruiting 5,000 rice farmers to use tensiometers. In Gujarat, the Columbia Water Center is working with the state government to reform electricity subsidies to provide a greater incentive for farmers to conserve water. In conjunction with subsidy reform, the CWC is also piloting water saving technologies among farmers. The work in Mali coincides with the
Millennium Villages Project The Millennium Villages Project (MVP) was a demonstration project headed by the American economist Jeffrey Sachs under the auspices of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, the United Nations Development Programme, and Millennium Promise ...
. CWC is focusing on designing irrigation and cropping systems that can be operated and maintained locally in order to provide farmers with higher-value cash crops. The center has installed large pumps that improved the amount of water available. Projects emphasize bringing together local partners,
market forces In economics, a market is a composition of systems, institutions, procedures, social relations or infrastructures whereby parties engage in exchange. While parties may exchange goods and services by barter, most markets rely on sellers offering ...
and public-private partnerships.


Current Research

In recent years, the Columbia Water Center has expanded the scope of its initiatives to encompass five broad research themes.


America's Water

The America's Water Initiative is aims to build a network of academic institutions, government agencies, and private industry to inform water infrastructure improvements in the United States and address other water challenges. The initiative focuses on all aspects of water, from policy to drought and flood forecasting and the potential for disruptive water technology to provide distributed water infrastructure that is less expensive than replacing legacy systems. On March 12, 2015, the initiative held its first annual symposium, which brought together water experts from various groups, representing the industry, utilities, policy and non-profit sectors among others. The meeting was intended to be a first step toward a broader working relationship that can help set a water research agenda and develop solutions for national water challenges.


The Global Floods Initiative

The Global Floods Initiative aims to apply cutting-edge and continually evolving climate forecasting techniques to help policymakers, disaster relief agencies, infrastructure designers, financial institutions and others better prepare for, manage and respond to extreme floods. The initiative builds on almost two decades of research on how the quasi-periodic climate cycles (such as El-Nino/La-Nina and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation) interact to increase the risk of flooding in particular locations. More recent research into hydrometerology, which looks at the interaction of land, water and atmosphere at a more local scale, adds additional layers to the potential for flood prediction.


Data Analytics and Multi-Scale Predictions

The Columbia Water Center is a leader in predicting seasonal hydroclimate forecasts and associated risk analyses. These forecasts are used for a variety of applications, including integrating climate forecasts into water allocation procedures for urban, industrial and agricultural consumers. New ways of representing convection and vegetation response to water stress are also major areas of research, the results of which could offer new understandings of the carbon and hydrological cycle.


Risk and Financial Instruments

Climate forecasting can also be used to develop flood and drought risk metrics for companies with global supply chains. These metrics can help companies address challenges through new sourcing strategies, novel regional
financial risk management Financial risk management is the practice of protecting Value (economics), economic value in a business, firm by managing exposure to financial risk - principally credit risk and market risk, with more specific variants as listed aside - as well ...
products (e.g., cat bonds, index insurance), pre-emptive maintenance and mitigation, reservoir reallocation agreements and other tools.


Water, Food, Energy Nexus

The Columbia Water Center studies how the water, food, and energy sectors are interrelated and how climate affects this relationship. Projects include policy research and recommendations to promote water and energy savings in the agricultural sector in water-stressed farming regions, development of seasonal forecasts to guide decision-making in the water and energy sectors, and testing and implementation of low-cost soil moisture and nitrogen sensors to improve irrigation efficiency, reducing fertilizer use and
groundwater pollution Groundwater pollution (also called groundwater contamination) occurs when pollutants are released to the ground and make their way into groundwater. This type of water pollution can also occur naturally due to the presence of a minor and unwant ...
and saving energy from groundwater pumping.


References


External links


The Columbia Water Center
Partnership Institutions
The Earth InstituteColumbia University
{{authority control Columbia University research institutes Sustainability organizations Environmental research institutes Water and society International sustainable development