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 Fresno
State researchers work could help decision makers develop sustainability
practices and water management policies to guide business and
residential growth in California's foothills.
Dr. John Suen, a professor of hydrogeology at California State
University, Fresno, heads the Foothill/Mountain Water Capacity Study
Project, a five-year, more than $5 million investigation of how much
water is available now and in the future in that fast-growing region.
Some of Suen's students help with the research.
A complication in the Sierra foothills along the eastern San Joaquin
Valley is fractured rock hydrology, which means "the amount of ground
water available is significantly less than the amount of ground water
available from the Valley floor," Suen said.
Throughout his 17 years at Fresno State, Suen has worked to develop ways
to find and recover more groundwater in the foothills to meet
ever-higher demand and be sure there's enough to sustain development. He
has developed close working relationships with the Sierra and Foothill
Citizens Alliance, Sierra Resource Conservation District and Millerton
Area Watershed Coalition.
"Based on the past successes, this project will use technology such as
hydrogeology, geophysics, isotope hydrology and computer modeling
analysis to develop solutions and to formulate water management policy
for similar terrain," Suen said.
To meet the local organizations' needs, Suen proposed additional
research in partnership with the University of California's Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California, Merced.
The Fresno County Board of Supervisors supports the study.
"This project not only will provide our students educational and
training opportunities, it will showcase how Fresno State serves our
community by striving to help solve critical problems and contributing
to the economic well-being of the entire Central Valley," Suen said.
The project in the California foothills will be informed by fracture
hydrology research conducted by the U.S. Department of Energy study in
Nevada. The results were reported at a Groundwater Resources Association
Symposium earlier this year, and related data will be reported at the
American Geophysical Union meeting in December, the world's largest
gathering of earth scientists.
Funding for Suen's project is being sought from state and federal
sources.
"We are hopeful because findings from this project will help the Fresno
County area and can be applied to other foothill communities along the
Sierra," Suen said.
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