Water Energy Resilience Research Institute
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News

  • A nature-inspired hydrogen-bonded supramolecular complex for selective copper ion removal from water
    August 7, 2020

    Herein, we present a scalable approach for the synthesis of a hydrogen-bonded organic–inorganic framework via coordination-driven supramolecular chemistry, for efficient remediation of trace heavy metal ions from water. <read more>

  • Polluted Wastewater in the Forecast? Try A Solar Umbrella
    January 6, 2020

    Berkeley Lab scientists demonstrate a “photo-thermal” umbrella that can double evaporation rates, thus reducing environmental impact of settling ponds. <read more>

  • It's enormously expensive to transport water across vast distances, but efficient desalination processes could help.Deposit Photos
    To Solve Global Water Scarcity, We Need to Get More Serious about Desalination

    Dec 30, 2019

     Lab’s Peter Fiske featured in PopSci desalination story. <read more>    
  • New $100M Innovation Hub to Accelerate R&D for a Secure Water Future
    October 10, 2019

    A research consortium led by Berkeley Lab, along with three other national labs, will head a DOE desalination hub to provide secure and affordable water. <read more>

  • Berkeley Lab Technology Provides Clarity Amid Hawaiian Water Contamination Concerns
    August 26, 2019

    Scientists use a powerful microbial detection device to show that suggestions of sewage in Kauai’s watershed were mostly false positives. <read more>

  • New Recipes for Taking Salt Out of Seawater
    August 26, 2019

    As populations boom and chronic droughts persist, coastal cities like Carlsbad in Southern California have increasingly turned to ocean desalination to supplement a dwindling fresh water supply. Now scientists at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) investigating how to make desalination less expensive have hit on promising design rules for making so-called “thermally responsive” ionic liquids to separate water from salt. <read more>
  • Moving Forward on Desalination
    August 26, 2019

    Scientists at Berkeley Lab have been exploring different approaches for efficiently separating out salt and other contaminants to generate water that’s fit for drinking or other uses, such as agricultural irrigation. For example, they’re looking at charge-based brackish water desalination, nanoconfinement of water, better membranes, and other advanced water treatment techniques. <read more>
  • Can We Reuse Polluted Water? Yes, Add Bacteria
    August 26, 2019

    Drilling a single oil or natural gas well with hydraulic fracturing requires between 1.5 to 16 million gallons of water. When the well starts flowing, the fluid that is brought back to the surface alongside the oil and gas is a combination of the injection fluid and brine from aquifers – a difficult-to-treat mixture known as produced water. Brimming with hydrocarbons, harsh salts, and industrial chemicals, the vast majority of produced water is injected into disposal wells after it is collected. Currently, less than 1% of the billions of gallons generated each year is reused. How can this “wastewater” be turned into usable water? One answer: Let microbes do the work. <read more>
  • To Pump or Not to Pump: New Tool Will Help Water Managers Make Smarter Decisions
    August 26, 2019

    The overpumping of groundwater in California has led to near environmental catastrophe in some areas – land is sinking, seawater is intruding, and groundwater storage capacity has shrunk. But researchers at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) believe machine learning could be part of the solution to restoring groundwater to sustainable levels and quality. <Read more>
  • Lab Water Technology Among Best in the World
    April 22, 2019

    Water-purifying technology developed at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (Berkeley Lab) was named among only five in the world that meet current international standards in a recent study from United Nations University examining systems for small communities.
  • Arian Aghajanzadeh has been accepted to participate in the Water Solutions Network
    February 1, 2019

    Arian Aghajanzadeh has been accepted to participate in the Water Solutions Network (WSN) cohort this year. WSN is an immersive learning experience for future leaders in the water sector and we will be assigned to work on a real water challenge in California during this cohort. Based on his research experience in Ag and groundwater, he will be assigned a project in the Tulare basin.
  • Forum Reinforces ALS Links to Water-Energy Nexus
    January 28, 2019

    About 80 Berkeley Lab scientists gathered at the ALS last week for an “ALS Water-Energy Outreach Forum” to discuss the challenges and opportunities arising from a growing focus on the nexus between water and energy—two resources essential to human populations—and to explore how the ALS can help address key questions in the field. <Read More>
  • Creating More Sustainable Water Systems by Taking Lessons from the Energy Industry
    August 9, 2018

    Peter Fiske (EESA) wrote a piece published in R&D Magazine on research opportunities in creating sustainable water systems, including a look at water-energy research at the Lab.  
  • Packed House at UC Center in Sacramento Hears Berkeley Lab Scientists on Water Research
    August 9, 2018

    More than 200 attendees turned out to hear Berkeley Lab scientists speak on their research to develop solutions for a more secure and sustainable water future. With Peter Fiske, director of the Lab’s Water-Energy Resilience Research Institute (WERRI) as moderator, the panel included researchers Dan Miller, Peter Nico, and Chinmayee Subban. Topics covered include advances in membrane technology for ocean desalination; strategies to lower the cost of desalinating brackish groundwater, an under-utilized resource in California; how smart groundwater recharge strategies can help California increase its water supplies. <See Video>
  • Charu Varadharajan to speak at Safe Drinking Water Challenge
    June 25, 2018

    Charuleka Varadharajan — a research scientist whose research uses data to inform sustainable water resource management — will speak on the plenary panel for the launch of the California Safe Drinking Water Data Challenge
  • Lawrence Berkeley Scientists Find a Cool Way to Save Water
    June 4, 2018

    Berkeley Lab scientists, Pouya Vahmani and Andrew Jones, find a cool way to save water.
  • Lab Researchers Featured in KCRA Sacramento TV Special on Water
    April 26, 2018

    Berkeley Lab researchers Peter Fiske, Erica Woodburn, and Peter Nico appeared on KCRA-TV Sacramento to discuss the challenges with California's water resources and infrastructure.
  • Berkeley Lab Aims for Big Breakthroughs in Water Technology
    March 29, 2018

    Recognizing that the issues of water and energy are critically interdependent, the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) is launching a new research institute to focus resources on its growing portfolio of projects for water innovation.
  • World Bank and UN Report On Global Water Crisis

    March 14, 2018

    A joint report released Wednesday says that 40 percent of the world's population is affected by water scarcity. More than two billion people are compelled to drink unsafe water, and more than 4.5 billion people do not have safely managed sanitation services.

  • Peter Nico Discusses California Groundwater Recharge
    March 13, 2018

    California, which grows so much of the country's food, continues to look for new strategies to hedge against drought.  Jefferson Public Radio discusses groundwater recharge with Helen Dahlke at University of California-Davis and Peter Nico at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.  
  • UC Seminar Talk – Professor Eric Hoek, March 9th at Noon
    March 8, 2018

    UC Berkeley Environmental Engineering Spring 2018 Seminar Series presents Professor Eric M.V. Hoek, Ph.D., (UCLA Engineering) presenting, "Impacts of water quality, membrane material and operating conditions on the performance and economics of MF/UF Membranes in water and wastewater treatment," Friday, March 9th, 2018, 12 – 1pm, 534 Davis Hall, UC Berkeley.
  • March 12 WERRI Talk on Sustainable Food Energy and Water Systems
    March 7, 2018

    At the next WERRI seminar on March 12, Meagan Mauter of Carnegie Mellon University will discuss the use of high-resolution information at spatial and temporal scales relevant to underlying physicochemical and biological processes. The talk begins at 11:30 a.m. in Perseverance Hall and will be webcast via Zoom. More>
  • Project to study climate effects on California water systems from headwaters to groundwater
    December 28, 2017

    A new project by national laboratories and University of California campuses will study California’s water systems, from the headwaters in the Sierra Nevada, through rivers, reservoirs and groundwater in the Central Valley.

    California relies on the Sierra Nevada snowpack for a significant portion of its water needs, yet scientists understand very little about how future changes in snowpack volume and timing will influence surface water and groundwater. Researchers Erica Woodburn and Carl Steefel of the Earth and Environmental Sciences Area are developing an advanced hydrologic model to study how climate change might affect California watersheds in the future.
  • Emerging Scientific and Engineering Opportunities within the Water-Energy Nexus
    Dec 20, 2017

    Water and energy are resources that are linked, because generating energy requires water, often in large quantities, and energy is needed for pumping, treatment, and distribution of water and for collection, treatment, and discharge of wastewater. This interrelationship is often referred to as the water-energy nexus. The Molecular Foundry’s Jeff Urban details the challenges and opportunities in the WEN in a recent issue of Joule.
  • Berkeley Lab Hosts California Water Data Workshop
    Dec 4, 2017

    Experts from California’s water resource community gathered at the Berkeley International House to exchange ideas on how best to meet the need for open and transparent water data in California. Nearly 100 attendees from more than 60 organizations representing government, industry, water districts, universities, national laboratories, and the state legislature were in attendance.
  • New Berkeley Lab study finds that in reducing air temperatures, cool roofs can also reduce outdoor water use
    20 Oct 2017

    Based on regional climate simulations of 18 California counties, Berkeley Lab researchers Pouya Vahmani and Andrew Jones found that widespread cool roof adoption could reduce outdoor water consumption by as much as 9 percent. Their study, “Water conservation benefits of urban heat mitigation,” was published in the journal Nature Communications.
  • EESA Develops New Approach to Restock California’s Groundwater via Almond Orchards, Vineyards
    3 Aug 2017

    Groundwater—the water stored underneath the Earth’s surface between the cracks and spaces in soil, sand, and bedrock—is essential for the California residents and farmers who rely on it for up to 46 percent of their annual water use.
  • Mapping, Modeling, Measuring and Monetizing Enhanced Groundwater Recharge with Stormwater
    21 Jun 2017

    Stormwater is an under-appreciated resource in California, and will be increasingly important as demand for freshwater increases, land use and vegetation shifts, and precipitation becomes more intense in coming years.
  • The Art of Studying—and Sharing—Snowmelt Science in a Mountain Watershed
    12 Jun 2017

    As an ecologist working with the Environmental & Earth Science Area (EESA)’s Watershed Scientific Focus Area (SFA)—a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-funded project aiming to understand the effects of water on a variety of biogeochemical processes—Dr. Heidi Steltzer and her research assistant, Chelsea Wilmer, spend a lot of time conducting fieldwork in the picturesque Colorado mountains.
  • Peter Fiske Joins Berkeley Lab as Water-Energy Resilience Institute Director
    2 May 2017

    Berkeley Lab names Dr. Peter Fiske to be the director of its Water-Energy Resilience Institute, a new position that underscores the Lab’s commitment to developing solutions for the challenges associated with the interdependence of water and energy systems.
  • Scientists Pull Water Out of Thin Air
    13 Apr 2017

    Taking a page out of science fiction playbooks, Berkeley Lab's Dr. Omar Yaghi and colleagues have demonstrated a breakthrough MOF technology capable of generating water out of dry air using the power of the sun. The researchers describe their solar-powered harvester in the April 14 issue of the journal Science.
  • Gary Andersen tapped for tracking water pathogens in Marin County
    18 Jan 2017

    The San Geronimo Valley Planning Group has tapped Berkeley Lab and Gary Andersen, developer of the PhyloChip, to test the water to determine the sources that are contributing bacterial pathogens. The PhyloChip can identify and measure relative abundance of more than 50,000 microbial taxa, which in this context provides a “fingerprint” so contaminant sources can be tracked.
  • Glowing Crystals Can Detect, Cleanse Contaminated Drinking Water
    29 Nov 2016

    Tiny, glowing crystals designed to detect and capture heavy-metal toxins such as lead and mercury could prove to be a powerful new tool in locating and cleaning up contaminated water sources.
  • Call for Submissions: Water, a Special Issue dedicated to the memory of Bo Bodvarsson
    20 Oct 2016

    It has been nearly 10 years since our friend, colleague, leader, former Director of the Earth Sciences Division, passed away leaving the Earth Sciences family so abruptly at LBNL. The Special Issue will appear as part of the journal called, Water and will be dedicated to the memory of Bo, and will primarily focus on recent advances and future perspectives of vadose/unsaturated zone studies in various areas of the soil and hydrological sciences. Read the attached message from guest editor Dr. Boris Faybishenko here.
  • Water-Energy Nexus Seminar on Water Resiliency in a Low-Carbon Future: Opportunities and Challenges at the Energy-Water Nexus
    20 Oct 2016

    This presentation explores the energy-water-land (food) interactions that give rise to natural/engineered system dynamics. Robin Newmark is an Associate Laboratory Director at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Dr. Newmark has led or contributed to programs involving energy, climate and water issues, and the interdependence of water and energy systems.
  • New Technology Helps Pinpoint Sources of Water Contamination
    5 Oct 2016

    Research led by Drs. Eric Dubinsky and Gary Andersen, microbial ecologists at Berkeley Lab’s Climate and Ecosystem Sciences Division, was published recently in the journal Water Research in an article titled, “Microbial source tracking in impaired watersheds using PhyloChip and machine-learning classification.”
  • Peter Nico Announced as Program Domain Lead for Resilient Energy, Water and Infrastructure
    23 Sep 2016

    On September 19, Berkeley Lab's Energy Geosciences Division Director, Dr. Jens Birkholzer announced Peter Nico as the new Program Domain Lead for Resilient Energy, Water and Infrastructure.
  • Berkeley Lab to Lead the Watershed Function Scientific Focus Area
    11 Jul 2016

    Berkeley Lab will lead the Watershed Function Scientific Focus Area (SFA) to quantify how perturbations to mountainous watershed—floods, drought, fire and early snowmelt—impact the downstream delivery of water, nutrients, carbon, and metals.
  • The BEST Field Projects Selected to Improve Water Management and Conservation
    30 Jun 2016

    Earlier in June, the Department of Energy announced the selection of two Brine Extraction Storage Test (BEST) field projects that will test enhanced water recovery technologies for their potential to produce useable water from carbon dioxide (CO2) storage sites. Berkeley Lab researchers in the Energy Geosciences Division (EGD) will play a key role in BEST field project “Phase II Field Demonstration at Plant Smith Generating Station, near Panama City, Florida.”
  • Seminar: Groundwater Dynamics in Headwater Regions under a Changing Climate
    27 May 2016

    Groundwater systems receive significant recharge in high-altitude headwater regions. Seasonal and longer term variations in surface temperature and precipitation are expected under a changing climate, which could substantially impact groundwater recharge and subsequently groundwater storage and discharge to surface waters downstream. This presentation by Dr. Shemin Ge from the University of Colorado-Boulder addresses this question as it relates to groundwater flow in headwater regions.
  • Water-Energy Nexus New Focus of Berkeley Lab Research
    23 May 2016

    Billions of gallons of water are used each day in the United States for energy production—for hydroelectric power generation, thermoelectric plant cooling, and countless other industrial processes, including oil and gas mining. This interdependence of water and energy is the focus of a major new research effort at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab).
  • Berkeley Lab addresses California Water Resilience challenges with new major initiative
    23 May 2016

    Berkeley Lab investigators are using fundamental research to address the interdependent challenges of water and energy, as regional climates change, and populations grow. The Berkeley Lab’s collective expertise can use both fundamental research and technological advances to meet these challenges.
  • Water Security in a Changing Climate: California Drought and Sierra Nevada Response
    14 Apr 2016

    California’s water supplies are facing unprecedented stresses, and the state’s water-management systems are struggling to meet both environmental and human needs (agricultural, municipal, industrial).
  • Examining Possible Links Between Wastewater Injection and Earthquakes in California
    21 Mar 2016

    Berkeley Lab scientists in the Energy Geosciences Division (EGD) are conducting a study commissioned by California’s oil field regulating agency — the Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources — to examine possible links between oil field wastewater injection and earthquakes.
  • Is it safe to use oilfield wastewater on crops?
    22 Jan 2016

    Is it safe to use treated oilfield wastewater to irrigate almond, pistachio and citrus groves? William Stringfellow, environmental engineer in Earth and Environmental Sciences (Energy Geosciences Division), says, “We’re not able to answer the public definitely, and say there’s no problem.”
  • DSSS: Numerical Models for Evaluating the Competitive Use of the Subsurface: The Influence of Energy Storage and Production in Groundwater
    11 Dec 2015

    The subsurface is being increasingly utilised both as a resource and as an energy and waste repository. Historically, there have been few issues of concern related to competition between resources, with groundwater contamination being a notable exception.
  • Berkeley Lab Water Conservation Efforts Pay Off in Unexpected Ways
    18 Nov 2015

    With California in an extreme drought, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) started a number of water conservation efforts two years ago.
  • Need for low-tech solutions to treat U-contaminated water
    27 Aug 2015

    This is a call for developing low-tech solutions to treat water contaminated by uranium mining in low income, developing countries.
  • Williams featured in DOE JGI’s collaborating science videos on Genomes-to-Watershed SFA
    13 Apr 2015

    Berkeley Lab earth scientist Kenneth Hurst Williams, recently featured in DOE JGI's collaborating science videos, describes the DOE-BER supported research activities at the Rifle, Colorado field site (Genomes-to-Watershed Scientific Focus Area (SFA2.0) and its relationship to other contaminated floodplains within the DOE complex.
  • Simulating the Impact of Shale Gas on Groundwater
    30 Mar 2015

    Hydrocarbon production from unconventional resources and the use of reservoir stimulation techniques, such as hydraulic fracturing, has grown explosively over the last decade.
  • Berkeley Lab Researchers Moonlight in “Cleanweb” Sector
    8 Jul 2014

    By day scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) are researching ways to better tackle our country’s energy and environmental challenges.
  • NEWS CENTER Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water to Berkeley Lab’s Ashok Gadgil
    9 Oct 2012

    A team led by Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (Berkeley Lab)’s Ashok Gadgil is the recipient of the 5th Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water.
  • Potential Impacts of CO2 Leakage on Groundwater Quality
    LBNL is one of the main international research organizations addressing concerns about potential impact of deployment of CO2 geological storage on the nation’s groundwater resources.
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