In late 2016, the foundation's Science and Environmental Conservation programs awarded a grant to the UC Santa Cruz Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences to support laboratory studies and field experiments that will help develop a system for stormwater collection and groundwater replenishment in California.
Andrew Fisher, professor of Earth and planetary sciences, and Chad Saltikov, professor and chair of microbiology and environmental toxicology, are principal investigators for the three-year project, working to create a system that will increase both the quality and quantity of groundwater. By channeling storm runoff into natural underground repositories, the system prevents runoff from being lost to the sea, and a filtering layer cleanses contaminants from the water as it seeps into the aquifer.
Fisher and the project were featured this week in a San Francisco Chronicle article by Kurtis Alexander, "The mission to capture storms' water before it flows away."
"With winter rains filling California rivers and reservoirs in a dramatic display of drought-ending bluster, the rush is on to capture the overflow before the bounty is squandered, washed forever to sea..."
- Read the full article here.
- Learn more about the project here.
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