Events

Data for Lunch Series

This event is part of the Consortium’s Data for Lunch series, which provides an opportunity to learn about innovative water data-related projects.

Date: October 19th from 12 – 1:00 pm, with additional Q&A from 1-1:30pm

Presenters: Dr. Letitia Genier

Meeting Agenda

• Welcome and introduction (10 mins)
• Presentation (30 mins)
• Facilitated discussion (15 mins)
• Additional Q&A time (30 mins)

Project Summary

The Delta Landscapes Scenario Planning Tool is a set of resources to assist users with developing, analyzing, and evaluating different land use scenarios in the Delta. The tool is designed to inform ongoing and future restoration planning efforts by assessing how proposed projects will affect a suite of landscape metrics relating to desired ecosystem functions. The tool can also conduct basic assessments of agriculture and infrastructure. The tool helps enable users to create scenarios that are grounded in the best available science and research, efficiently evaluate the tradeoffs between different scenarios, evaluate proposed projects, and track actual progress towards regional goals as projects are implemented and the landscape changes over time. In the future, new tool modules could be developed to allow for more robust assessments of the impacts of proposed scenarios on the agricultural economy, water supply, recreation, and various ecosystem services (e.g., carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas emissions).

Biography

Dr. Letitia Grenier directs the Resilient Landscapes Program of the San Francisco Estuary Institute, where she works with partners to conserve California’s living resources by developing landscape-scale, collaborative, science-based visions and solutions. Throughout her career she has worked as a proponent and leader of science-based management in the Bay-Delta. The Delta Landscapes projects, developed by Dr. Grenier and her team, quantify landscape performance and provide science to support large-scale restoration visions for the region. In 2019 and 2015 she served as the science lead for the State of the Estuary Report and she was also the science lead for the 2015 update to the Baylands Ecosystem Habitat Goals, heading a team of over 200 environmental scientists, managers, and regulators to develop recommendations for restoring and maintaining the health of the Bay’s tidal wetlands in the face of rising sea levels and other stressors. Letitia completed her Ph.D. at UC Berkeley, where her research concentrated on the ecology of the Bay-Delta estuary system.

Learn about future events by subscribing to the California Water Data Consortium’s listserve here.

The California Water Data Consortium Steering Committee will meet on October 8th from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.

While the meeting is not geared toward gathering input from the public, Steering Committee meetings are open to the public and the public is welcome to attend and observe. Members of the public may register to receive Zoom meeting access information.

Agenda

1. Welcome, Goals, and Agenda Overview

2. Approve Aug 13th Meeting Minutes

3. Steering Committee Term Extensions

4. Steering Committee Co-Chair Selections

5. Working Group Co-Chair Elections

6. Steering Committee Member Updates

7. CEO Update

8.Update on Consortium Programs

9. Wrap Up, Action Item Recap and Next Steps

Data for Lunch Series

This event is part of the Consortium’s Data for Lunch series, which provides an opportunity to learn about innovative water data-related projects.

Date: August 18th from 12 – 1:00 pm, with additional Q&A from 1-1:30pm

Presenters: Joe Fazio, Sarah Musiker, and Peter Mayer, P.E.

Meeting Agenda

• Welcome and introduction (10 mins)
• Presentation (30 mins)
• Facilitated discussion (15 mins)
• Additional Q&A time (30 mins)

Project Summary

As California and much of the West descend further into drought, real-time high quality data is essential to understanding current and future conditions. Flume is a device that straps around residential water meters, that collects water use every 5 seconds and shares high definition water data with people and the communities they live in. During this presentation Flume will share how they collect and analyze residential water demand data, end-use disaggregation, and more. Specifically, they will explore California and Western specific data on:

• Indoor gallons per capita per day (GPCD) and data Flume provides to utilities for AB 1668 / SB 606 water conservation measures
• Impacts of drought and drought restrictions on outdoor water use
• Water use trends for California’s biggest metro areas

Biographies

Joe Fazio, VP of Customer Success , Flume

Joe is a veteran of the computer software industry with deep experience in Product Marketing and Product Strategy. He co-founded two different software companies—Agile Software and givezooks! At Agile, Joe led the product vision and strategy, which eventually led to a successful IPO and secondary offering. At givezooks! Joe was responsible for Product Strategy and Development. givezooks! was later acquired by Salsa Labs. At Flume, Joe is currently spearheading Flume’s data services practice and is delivering deep analytical insights to its enterprise customers.

Sarah Musiker, Director of Utilities , Flume

Sarah has worked across public and private sectors to enable sustainable and resilient water management solutions. She began her career working for the State of California’s Delta Stewardship Council. Following this, she led communication and business development for water technology companies in the US and abroad and recently worked for the non-profit WaterNow Alliance where she collaborated with local water providers to advance sustainable water management solutions. Currently, Sarah heads the utility division of Flume Water where she partners with water providers to enable real-time understanding of water use down to the drop.

Sarah is a California native and tap-water enthusiast. She holds a BA from Smith College and a Master’s in Public Affairs from the University of California, Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy.

Peter Mayer, P.E., Principal, WaterDM

Peter Mayer is a professional engineer and one of America’s foremost urban water experts. For more than 25 years, Peter’s work has focused on urban water management, water use research, designing and evaluating water efficiency measures and programs, forecasting future demand with and without conservation, preparing water demand management plans, conducting and water supply scenario analysis.

Peter was the lead author for the Water Research Foundation (WRF) “Residential End Uses of Water” studies published in 1999 and 2016 and a key contributor to the companion “Commercial and Institutional End Uses of Water” study. In 2013, Peter founded WaterDM – Water Demand Management. WaterDM’s clients include: the California Department of Water Resources, the New York City Water Board, the City of Tucson, Colorado Water Conservation Board, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the City of Austin, AWE, Flume, and Northern Water; and throughout his career Peter has worked with more than 100 water providers across the United States, Canada, and Australia. In 2016, Peter testified as an expert witness on municipal and industrial water use at the US Supreme Court (FL v. GA, 142 Original) on behalf of the State of Georgia. In 2019, Special Master Paul Kelly’s report found in favor of Georgia and cited Peter’s testimony repeatedly.

Learn about future events by subscribing to the California Water Data Consortium’s listserve here.

The California Water Data Consortium Steering Committee will meet on August 13th from 1:00 – 3:00 p.m.

While the meeting is not intended to gather input from the public, Steering Committee meetings are open to the public and the public is welcome to attend and observe. Members of the public may register to receive Zoom meeting access information.

Agenda

1. Welcome, Goals, and Agenda Overview

2. Approve April 9 Meeting Minutes

3. What’s Next for the Steering Committee

4. General Updates

5. CEO Updates

6. Update on Consortium Programs

7. Wrap Up and Next Steps

Data for Lunch Series

This event is part of the Consortium’s Data for Lunch series, which provides an opportunity to learn about innovative water data-related projects.

Date: July 27th from 12 – 1:00 pm, with additional Q&A from 1-1:30pm

Presenters: Dr. Tony Hale

Meeting Agenda

• Welcome and introduction (10 mins)
• Presentation by Dr. Tony Hale (30 mins)
• Facilitated discussion (15 mins)
• Additional Q&A time (30 mins)

Project Summary

The San Francisco Estuary Institute and Southern California Coastal Water Research Project, with funding from the Ocean Protection Council and the California Department of Public Health, conducted twin projects to determine the viability of detecting trash in creeks, rivers, and streams from the skies above Northern and Southern California. The team leveraged on-the-ground fieldwork to measure accuracy. Determining what could be seen from this new low-altitude perspective was valuable in itself, but the team also sought to address concerns regarding inefficiencies for monitoring trash in such environments. Could automation help promote faster and reasonably accurate delivery of data salient to management concerns?

This talk will share some of the findings and opportunities associated with UAS-based imagery, in particular in service of water quality management. The team analyzed the imagery to determine the observability of trash generally, while also developing solutions to detect cigarette butts. The results from these efforts offered new opportunities to measure the effectiveness of management actions. From these specific examples might be derived lessons that can apply to the broader application of such technologies to natural resource monitoring. The permitting challenges, piloting rules, and other constraints will apply more broadly. But against these constraints are balanced tremendous opportunities to address the mandates posed by the State Water Board’s Trash Amendments mandating further management actions to control trash.

Biography

Dr. Tony Hale worked in a range of corporate and educational organizations, as well as both private nonprofit and public institutions, before establishing himself as an environmental science technologist. As Program Director for Environmental Informatics, Dr. Hale represents five technical teams: Geographic Information Systems, Application Development, Data Services, IT Systems, and Design & Communications. He always pursues compelling ways to promote technology initiatives, environmental stewardship, and meaningful, collaborative innovations.

While completing his doctorate at UC Berkeley, Dr. Hale consulted in technology for several years before launching a career at Mills College where he eventually served four years as an IT Director. He then progressed to become head of the enterprise applications team for Peralta Community College District, the second-largest educational organization in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Making the transition to environmental science, Dr. Hale joined the California Ocean Science Trust and led the development of OceanSpaces, an online community to foster new knowledge of ocean health. He also served as member of several state-level committees including the California Coastal & Marine Geospatial Workgroup, Data Management Workgroup, and currently the Trash Monitoring Workgroup. In December 2018, he was selected to serve as a member of USEPA’s National Advisory Council for Environmental Policy and Technology.

With SFEI, Dr. Hale has advanced the Institute’s communications practices, overseen the development of new data visualization technologies, and partnered with state and federal agencies to address complex technology and data challenges.

Learn about future events by subscribing to the California Water Data Consortium’s listserve here.

California Water Data Consortium (Consortium) and Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) are co-hosting an event to enable local agencies and the broader community to learn about a project to scale a water accounting platform supporting SGMA implementation. Please join us on June 23 from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. P.T. for a public workshop to share ideas for new features to meet local needs.

State water agencies, the Consortium and EDF announced a new partnership on May 11 to adapt and scale a groundwater accounting platform co-developed by EDF and Rosedale-Rio Bravo Water Storage District in Kern County. This optional tool will help groundwater sustainability agencies manage the transition to sustainable supplies.

In addition to expansion of the water accounting platform, the project team will work closely with water managers, landowners, and community-based organizations to define and encourage adoption of data standards consistent with the Open and Transparent Water Data Act (AB 1755).

Register to receive the online meeting information.

Data for Lunch Series

This event is part of the Consortium’s Data for Lunch series, which provides an opportunity to learn about innovative water data-related projects and other related topics.

Date: May 21st from 12 – 1:00 pm, with additional Q&A from 1- 1:30 pm

Presenter: Heather Krause from We All Count

Meeting Agenda

• Welcome and introduction (10 minutes)
• Presentation by Heather Krause (30 minutes)
• Facilitated discussion (15 minutes)
• Additional Q&A time (30 minutes)

Project/Session Summary

Heather will be speaking about We All Count’s Data Equity Framework. When it comes to equity in data science projects, trying to find all the ways that bias, assumptions, unfairness and prejudice can sneak in may feel overwhelming. Trying to look at a whole project and see all the equity weaknesses and issues is almost impossible. We All Count has developed: The Data Equity Framework to support equitable data decisions. Our decades of experience in data projects across sectors have shown us that data projects have a similar life cycle (pipeline, model, roadmap, etc.). We All Count harnessed this universal data project structure and built a systematic and organized way of looking at each step of a data project for equity issues. This Data Equity Framework means that you don’t have to start from scratch. You don’t have to recreate the way your team already works with data. You simply need to learn how to apply the lens of the Data Equity Framework, follow simple steps and checklists and apply practical tools. The Data Equity Framework is a systematic way of looking at data projects across 7 stages. Join this session to learn more about the 7 stages.

Biography

Heather Krause, PStat is a data scientist with over a decade of experience building tools that improve practices and systems. Heather is a statistician with years of experience working on complex data problems and producing real-world knowledge. She has a strong love of finding data, analyzing it in creative ways and using cutting edge visualization methods to visualize the results. Her emphasis is on combining strong statistical analysis with clear and meaningful communication. She is currently working on implementing tools for equity and ethics in data. As the founder of two successful data science companies, she attacks the largest questions facing societies today, working with both civic and corporate organizations to improve outcomes and lives. Her relentless pursuit of clarity and realism in these projects pushed her beyond pure analysis to mastering the entire data ecosystem including award-winning work in data sourcing, modeling, and data storytelling, each incorporating bleeding edge theory and technologies.

Her work proves that data narratives can be meaningful to any audience from a boardroom to the front page. Heather is the founder of We All Count, a project for equity in data working with teams across the globe to embed a lens of ethics into their data products from funding to data collection to statistical analysis and algorithmic accountability. Her unique set of tools and contributions have been sought across a range of clients from MasterCard and Wells Fargo to the United Nations, the Canadian Government, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. She is on the Data Advisory Board of the UNHCR.

Learn about future events by subscribing to the California Water Data Consortium’s listserve here.

Data for Lunch Series

This event is part of the Consortium’s Data for Lunch series, which provides an opportunity to learn about innovative water data-related projects.

Date: April 29th from 12 – 1:00 pm, with additional Q&A from 1-1:30pm

Presenters: Dr. Robyn Grimm and Forrest Melton

Meeting Agenda

• Welcome and introduction (10 mins)
• Presentation by Dr. Robyn Grimm and Forrest Melton (30 mins)
• Facilitated discussion (15 mins)
• Additional Q&A time (30 mins)

Project Summary

Sustainable water management is one of the most challenging issues of our time, especially in the arid western U.S. Maximizing the benefits of water supplies requires careful measurement of availability and use. However, one important information gap is compounding this challenge: the lack of consistent consumptive water use data for irrigated agriculture and other vegetated landscapes. To date, access to this data has been limited and expensive, keeping it out of the hands of most water users and decision-makers who could really benefit from its use. OpenET aims to change this and support sustainable water management and innovation in water conservation with an online platform for mapping evapotranspiration (ET) at the scale of individual fields. OpenET uses best available science and publicly available data to increase access to satellite-based ET and consumptive water use information for farmers and water managers. This talk will provide an introduction to the OpenET platform and the approach taken to its development, and demonstrate a few of its applications.

Biographies

Dr. Robyn Grimm serves as OpenET Project Manager and leads on the ground implementation with project partners, coordination among project teams, and development of key reports and publications. Robyn has over 10 years of experience working with large and diverse teams on statewide water management and policy, including levee policy for the Sacramento San Joaquin Delta, multi-objective management for the Yolo Bypass and other Central Valley floodplains, and financing for water management in California. She has expertise in multi-benefit decision support and analysis, and in operations and systems research, including multi-objective optimization and trade-off analysis. (PhD, Hydrologic Sciences, University of California, Davis; MA, Physical Geography, University of California, Davis; BA, Economics and Political Science, University of California, Los Angeles)

Forrest Melton is a Senior Research Scientist with the NASA Ames Cooperative for Research in Earth Science and Technology (ARC-CREST) and with California State University, Monterey Bay. Forrest currently serves as the Program Scientist for the NASA Western Water Applications Office, and as an Associate Program Manager for Water Resources with the NASA Applied Sciences Program. Since 2003, he has worked in the Biospheric Sciences Branch at NASA Ames Research Center on the development of modeling and data assimilation frameworks including the Satellite Irrigation Management Support (SIMS) system, the Terrestrial Observation and Prediction System (TOPS), the NASA Earth Exchange (NEX) and OpenET. His research interests include applications of satellite data to improve management of natural resources, remote sensing of evapotranspiration and agricultural water requirements, and ecosystem and carbon cycle modeling. Forrest holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Earth Systems Science from Stanford University, and has authored over fifty papers and book chapters on applications of remote sensing. He is the recipient of honor awards from NASA for his contributions to TOPS and NEX, and has been recognized for his work on applications of satellite data for water management with awards from the California Department of Water Resources, the Federal Labs Consortium and NASA.

Learn about future events by subscribing to the California Water Data Consortium’s listserve here.