We conduct research with community and academic partners to improve access to safe water in California’s Central Valley and Central America, where water resources are threatened by contamination and climate-induced drought. We collaborate with communities to calculate the extent and nature of climate disruption, and to plan and create sustainable water systems and green spaces. We also support local partners to build climate resilience by developing mitigation and adaptation plans and projects that ensure communities will remain liveable as the climate warms.
Contact: Iris Stewart-Frey
Projects
- Improving Water Quality and Access to Safe Water in California’s Central Valley
This project involves multiple collaborative studies in the Central Valley to strengthen disadvantaged communities’ ability to advocate for improved access to clean water under severe drought and climate change, and address water contamination by nitrates, uranium, pesticides, and other pollutants.
SCU Participants: Iris Stewart-Frey and multiple student co-authors
Partners: California Rural Legal Assistance, Catholic Charities of Stockton, Tuolumne River Trust
Funder: CalEPA, Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, Clare Boothe Luce Foundation, Environmental Justice Data Fund
For more information:
- Advocating for Disadvantaged Communities Facing Groundwater Contamination and Drought
- The Impacts of Nitrate and Uranium Pollution on Household Wells in Disadvantaged Underserved Communities in Stanislaus County (CA)
- The Exposure of Disadvantaged Underserved Communities to Pesticides in the San Joaquin and Tuolumne Watersheds (Central Valley, CA)
- Disparate impacts of drought on environmental flows and water supplies
- Standing up for clean water and against nitrate contamination in the San Joaquin Valley (video)
- How does nitrate end up in San Joaquin Valley water wells? A brief animation (video)
- Improving Access to Green Spaces in Modesto, CA
Researchers and community partners engaged the city and residents of Modesto in planning and implementing greater access to green spaces in underserved neighborhoods. One such project is an extension of the Tuolumne River Regional Park at Carpenter Road, a former waste site that has now been cleaned up. Once completed, the park will provide a host of benefits for human and ecosystem health.
SCU Participants: Iris Stewart-Frey and multiple student co-authors
Partners: Tuolumne River Trust
Funder: CalEPA
For more information:
- Strengthening Environmental Benefits for Underserved Schools and Neighborhoods in Silicon Valley
Researchers and community partners investigated the disproportionate impact of environmental burdens and lack of environmental benefits for disadvantaged communities and schools, measured air pollution, and researched mitigation strategies.
SCU Participants: Iris Stewart-Frey, Chris Bacon, and multiple student co-authors
Partners: Washington Elementary School
Funders: Thriving Neighbors, deNardo Foundation
For more information:
- Distribution of burdens and benefits in Silicon Valley
- Uneven distribution of school gardens
- Disparate air quality from roadway emissions
Photo: Ian Abbott
- Strengthening Water Security under Climate-Induced Drought in Central America
This long-term body of collaborative work seeks to further understanding on drought and climate disruption in Central America and supports smallholder farming communities in developing strategies for adaptation and sustainable water use.
SCU Participants: Iris Stewart-Frey, Ed Maurer, and multiple student co-authors
Partners: ASDENIC, Alcaldía de Condega, Nicholas Roby (Stanford University Civil & Environmental Engineering Department), Kerstin Stahl (University of Freiburg), Hugo Hidalgo (University of Costa Rica)
Funders: National Science Foundation Geography and Spatial Sciences (Grant Number BCS 1539795), DFG (German Research Foundation) grant STA 632/6-1, Freiburg Institute of Advanced Studies (FRIAS), Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship
For more information:
- Warmer and drier growing seasons in climate sensitive regions of Central America
- Projected twenty-first-century changes in the Central American mid-summer drought
- Climate change and water management workshop with Nicaraguan farmers
- Identifying and Responding to Drought in Northwestern Nicaragua
- Recent changes in the mid-summer drought
- Recent climatic changes impact vulnerable regions
- Food and Water Security in Nicaraguan Farming Communities
An interdisciplinary team of SCU faculty and students has engaged in a multi-year collaboration with Nicaraguan community organizations to improve food and water security for farming communities hit hard by climate-induced drought, and other environmental and economic challenges.
SCU Participants: Iris Stewart-Frey, Edwin Maurer, Chris Bacon, William Sundstrom, Lisa Kelley, and multiple student co-authors
Partners: CII ASDENIC
Funder: National Science Foundation Geography and Spatial Sciences (Grant Number BCS 1539795)
For more information:
