Water Resilience in Rural California

Lead Investigators: Dr. Janine Stone and Dr. Anita Chaudhry 

Since 2014, nearly 6,000 domestic wells in California have gone dry, with over half of those occurring during the severe drought from 2020-2022. While the State has deployed millions of dollars in short-term, emergency funding for rural households and small community water systems to mitigate the problem, long-term solutions available to a rural community are still unknown.  

Funded by the Lantis Award at Chico State, our goal in this research project is to create a framework for evaluating local costs and benefits of alternative sources of water supplies for households facing dry or declining wells. 

Currently, we are conducting interviews of local and state public officials to understand current policies being considered and the economic and institutional challenges in building long term water resilience in rural California.

This study has cleared the IRB (Institutional Review Board) review process at California State University, Chico. The IRB reviews research studies to ensure that they comply with applicable regulations, meet commonly accepted ethical standards, follow institutional policies, and adequately protect research participants.