Research
WATER MANAGEMENT
Adjudication, Sustainability and Equity
This state funded project is evaluating the climate change adaptation strategies for California’s adjudicated groundwater basins to assess impacts on water sustainability for vulnerable communities.. Court-adjudicated basins are where water users turn to the court to manage a groundwater basin. They encompass a very large area of Southern California and include a significant portion of the state’s DACs. Over time, they have experienced diminished groundwater storage and other unacceptable impacts, but they are exempt from California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) that requires planning for basin sustainability and equity. This proposal is evaluating whether and how the management of these basins is aligning with SGMA requirements for sustainability and equity and is a follow up to a 2015 state report.
Adjudicated Groundwater Basins and Special Act Districts.
In 2016, we completed a detailed evaluation for the State Water Resources Control Board of California’s adjudicated basins and special act districts, two distinct institutional arrangements to manage groundwater in California. Initial work provided a comprehensive evaluation of these basins that culminated in reports to the SWRCB (Langridge et al. a,b, 2015).Subsequent research funded by NSF resulted in a comparison of the legal and administrative foundations for these institutional arrangements and examined the implications for groundwater use (Langridge and Ansell 2018)
Polycentric Systems and Groundwater Governance
Drawing on the initial comparison of the legal and administrative foundations for the institutional arrangements to govern groundwater, this NSF funded project focused on institutional structures and processes that influence decisions regarding groundwater management including their polycentric character, and the implications of these developmental processes on groundwater sustainability. We developed an evolutionary framework to shed light on opportunities and constraints for cooperation on management decisions throughout the evolutionary process and illustrated the framework with a case study of groundwater institutions in the San Gabriel River Watershed in Southern California.
CLIMATE CHANGE
Central Coast Regional Reports for California's Fourth and Fifth Climate Assessments
California is already experiencing increased impacts from climate change with severe droughts, floods, wildfires, rising seas, and record temperatures occurring in the past decade. The State has developed Climate Change Assessments every five years, and Langridge contributed to the Third Assessment and was the Coordinating Lead Author for the Fourth Assessment’s Central Coast Regional Report.
California’s Fifth Climate Assessment, now underway, is a multi-year research effort to understand and adapt to climate change impacts, particularly for vulnerable communities. Langridge is again the Coordinating Lead Author for the Central Coast Regional Report along with a team of authors and advisors.
DROUGHT
Linkages Between Drought, Climate Change and Groundwater
This NSF project documented and assessed the critical issues and relationships between drought and groundwater under climate change (Langridge and Van Schmidt 2020; Langridge and Fencl 2020).
Local Drought Reserves
This NOAA funded project explored a proactive approach to increase a community’s resilience to future prolonged droughts - the establishment and maintenance of local strategic groundwater reserves. It included case studies of individual management approaches to develop and sustain such reserves (Langridge et. al. 2018; Langridge and Daniels 2017; Langridge et. al. 2012; Langridge 2012).
LAND USE AND WATER
The Impacts of land use (LULC) Trends on the Vulnerability of Human and Natural Communities to Water Shortages on California’s Central Coast
This state funded project examined how climate and LULC trends impacted the vulnerability of human and natural communities to water shortages in the Central Coast region, including disadvantaged communities in the Salinas Valley (Wilson et. al. 2020; Van Schmidt et. al. 2022 pending).
The Relationships Between Urban Development-Housing and Water Sustainability in Five Central Coast Counties
This project provided a collaborative evaluation of relationships between water sustainability and affordable housing for communities in California’s Central Coast under two state laws, SGMA-regulating groundwater for sustainability and equity, and RHNA-regulating housing development.
