Michael Kiparsky co-writes for The Mercury News, May 9, 2018
Effective integrated management of groundwater and surface water is simultaneously one of the most important and most difficult challenges facing California. With broad integration, local creativity and ample state support, a sustainable water future above and below ground may just be attainable. It will take time, patience, and good faith effort, but it will be worth it.
Michael Kiparsky interviewed by NewsDeeply, May 1, 2018
“The first key question for Groundwater Sustainability Agencies to answer is, how does groundwater management in their basin affect surface water and its beneficial uses? That implies that Groundwater Sustainability Agencies need to understand something about the hydrology of the basin and about those beneficial uses.”
Michael Kiparsky quoted by WIRED, Feb. 9. 2018
“Cape Town is a warning shot for us,” says Michael Kiparsky. … “What we can see is that it’s very possible for water crises—which emerge all the time around the world—to get close to the point of real, massive human disaster.”
Michael Kiparsky co-writes for The Sacramento Bee, Feb. 8, 2017
Few people realize how outdated our systems for water information are. Because of data limitations, real-time, transparent decisions about drought management, flood response and groundwater protection have eluded the state for the past century. Without basic numbers on where, when and how much water is available and being used, we can’t improve how we manage our most precious water and natural resources.
Michael Kiparsky quoted by Bohemian.com, Dec. 7, 2016
Up until last year, when the law went into effect, groundwater could generally be pumped with impunity. “It was in essence a race to the bottom,” says Michael Kiparsky, director of UC Berkeley School of Law’s Wheeler Water Institute.
Michael Kiparsky and Holly Doremus write for News Deeply, June 8, 2016
Achieving groundwater sustainability is too important, and too challenging, to leave in the hands of haphazardly designed agencies.
Holly Doremus and Michael Kiparsky write for The Fresno Bee, May 16, 2016
Groundwater provides about one-third to half of the state’s water supply and an essential lifeline when rivers run low during drought. Groundwater mismanagement is distressingly common; with lack of regulation and heavy pumping, overuse has destroyed infrastructure and put farms, communities and ecosystems at risk.
Michael Kiparsky quoted in ClimateWire, September 4, 2014
Mike Kiparsky … said that recently, there’s been “an explosion of interest” in adaptation strategies. “It’s an issue the state is going to have to grapple with in the near term” and in the longer term.
Michael Kiparsky quoted in Sunset Magazine, April 2014
“It’s very easy to say, rhetorically, that there haven’t been any instances of water contamination documented in the state, so what’s there to worry about,” says environmental scientist Michael Kiparsky…. Moreover, Kiparsky says, it could take decades or longer before contamination migrates far enough to be detected. “The problem then becomes similar to Superfund sites, where the activity that caused the pollution didn’t come to light as hazardous until later, and often until the perpetrator was long gone.”
Michael Kiparsky quoted in Salon, March 1, 2014
“By farming this tremendous annual crop of Kentucky bluegrass, we contribute to the annual amount of water that needs to be supplied,” notes Michael Kiparsky…. It’s estimated that half of residential water in the state is used outdoors.