UC Davis Hydrologic Sciences Graduate Group

HSGG had its first in-person seminar after the COVID-19 pandemic began. Thanks to Dave Grove for giving a wonderful talk on environmental markets. We continued the party to our weekly happy hour.

The Hydros are back in full swing for Spring Quarter 2022! Here's a moment from the first Hydro Happy Hour of this quarter.

The UC Davis Hydrologic Sciences Graduate Group had their Fall Retreat of the year last weekend.
All HSGG students, post-docs, faculties, staffs, friends, and family are invited to the Fall Kickoff Picnic today (October 13th) in Davis Central Park at 5 pm.

Ever wondered how the hydros feel after a long week? Come drop by in one of our weekly happy hours to see.

The Hydrologic Science Graduate Group at UC Davis welcomed its new graduate students today. The orientation was led by Prof. Thomas Harter and Prof. Helen Dahlke.

Dear Colleagues,

Please join me to congratulate Daniele for his distinguished service award in the Outstanding Team – AB 589 Water Measurement Training Team. This is an outstanding recognition given by the academics at UC ANR (Academic Assembly Council) that recognizes team work to achieve greater outcomes than individual efforts.

Kudos Daniele, very well deserved.

Congrats to Graham in the Science Magazine. Check it out below!

Droughts exposed California’s thirst for groundwater. Now, the state hopes to refill its aquifers Scientists are figuring out how more winter floodwater can be stored underground, but agricultural cutbacks may still be needed

Our very own Thomas Harter helped write the amicus brief used for yesterdays' historical Supreme Court Case:

The Supreme Court, yesterday, decided in favor of science in its interpretation of the Clean Water Act, determining that a "functional equivalent" to direct point source discharge into navigable waters, even via groundwater, must be subject to a NPDES permit.

UC Davis' Thomas Harter, professor and Cooperative Extension Specialist for Groundwater Hydrology, helped write one of the amicus briefs for this case and was interviewed for Science Magazine. He was delighted to see the judges make their decision on sound scientific grounds rather than arbitrary surface water/groundwater distinctions......... He says he was impressed with the understanding that the opinion showed of groundwater transpor

We hold that the statute requires a permit when there is a direct discharge from a point source into navigable waters or when there is the functional equivalent of a direct discharge. [...]The difficulty with this approach, we recognize, is that it does not, on its own, clearly explain how to deal with middle instances. But there are too many potentially relevant factors applicable to factually different cases for this Court now to use more specific language. Consider, for example,just some of the factors that may prove relevant (depending upon the circumstances of a particular case): (1) transit time, (2) distance traveled, (3) the nature of the material through which the pollutant travels, (4) the extent to which the pollutant is diluted or chemically changed as it travels, (5)the amount of pollutant entering the navigable waters relative to the amount of the pollutant that leaves the point source, (6) the manner by or area in which the pollutant enters the navigable waters, (7) the degree to which the pollution (at that point) has maintained its specific identity.Time and distance will be the most important factors inmost cases, but not necessarily every case.

Here is the full Supreme Court opinion and here is the entire case docket. A discussion on CNN and in the NY Times.

Welcome back from Winter break!
Hope you enjoyed your holiday!

Please send me any awards won, publications, interesting research, events and more, to [email protected]. Or fill out a google form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdinA2lxvojcJFdgr8oiWxFK5Tbs6qyKBYn3N1n9igekEXjZw/viewform

Just reaching out to wish everyone good luck on finals, projects and research finishing up this quarter.

Recent Ph.D. graduate Gus Tolley will be giving a GRA Cast on Nov 20th titled: "Integrated Hydrologic Model Development and Evaluation (For Non-Modelers)." This is designed to be a general overview of integrated hydrologic modeling principles and techniques, with examples from the Scott Valley Integrated Hydrologic Model (SVIHM). This event is free for students.

And also Happy Fall Break!

Image: Cartoon, Animated Turkey Images for Thanksgiving Day 2019 Found on Google from happythanksgivingpictures.com