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UC Davis experts: Nitrogen in drinking water and agriculture

UC Davis faculty members from a variety of disciplines are available to discuss issues related to nitrogen in drinking water and agriculture. If you need information on a topic not listed, please contact Kat Kerlin, News Service, (530) 752-7704, kekerlin@ucdavis.edu or Patricia Bailey, News Service, (530) 752-9843, pjbailey@ucdavis.edu.

Nitrate in groundwater and drinking water

Thomas Harter is a UC Davis Cooperative Extension groundwater hydrologist and faculty at the Center for Watershed Sciences. He researches nonpoint-source pollution of groundwater and the impacts of agriculture and human activity on groundwater flow and contaminant transport in aquifers and soil systems. He is the lead principal investigator on the state-mandated SBX2 1 Groundwater Nitrate Project, which characterized groundwater nitrate source loading, estimated groundwater nitrate levels, identified affected drinking water systems, and evaluated alternative drinking water supply options in the Tulare Lake Basin and Salinas Valley of California. Contact: Thomas Harter, Land, Air and Water Resources, (530) 752-8664, thharter@ucdavis.edu.

Water systems, economics and problems

Jay Lund is director of the Center for Watershed Sciences and professor of environmental engineering. He has a long history of work on urban water supply issues from an engineering policy and economic perspective. Lund has authored many articles and books on water problems in California and has a particular interest in trying to resolve difficult water issues in the state from a technical perspective. He is a principal investigator on the state-mandated SBX2 1 Groundwater Nitrate Project, which evaluated nitrate in California’s drinking water and groundwater in California’s Tulare Lake Basin and Salinas Valley. Contact: Jay Lund, Center for Watershed Sciences, (530) 752-5671, jrlund@ucdavis.edu.

Costs of reducing nitrate in water

Josué Medellín-Azuara is a research scientist in the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences. He developed with Richard Howitt, a Statewide Agricultural Production Model (SWAP) application to estimate the costs of reducing nitrate loads to groundwater. He was also on the research team for the state-mandated SBX2 1 Groundwater Nitrate Project, which evaluated nitrate in California’s drinking water and groundwater in the Tulare Lake Basin and Salinas Valley. His research includes modeling economics of water use and agricultural production in California and the U.S.-Mexican border. He has also analyzed water quality implications for agricultural production in the Central Valley and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in California. He speaks Spanish and English. Contact: Josué Medellín-Azuara, Center for Watershed Sciences, (530) 754-9354, jmedellin@ucdavis.edu. 

About the California Nitrogen Assessment

Tom Tomich is founding director of the UC Davis Agricultural Sustainability Institute and the UC system-wide Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (SAREP). He holds the W.K. Kellogg Endowed Chair in Sustainable Food Systems at UC Davis. He is principal investigator for the California Nitrogen Assessment, a forthcoming assessment of the state of knowledge about nitrogen in California. Tomich is an economist with expertise in policy implications of the nature of nitrogen as both a nutrient and a pollutant, and how nitrogen use will affect the future sustainability of agriculture and natural resources. Tomich was raised on a small family farm growing nearly 100 different varieties of fruit trees near Sacramento. Contact: Tom Tomich. Agricultural Sustainability Institute, (530) 752-2379, tptomich@ucdavis.edu.

Plant-soil-microbe interactions and nitrogen cycling

Alison Berry, a UC Davis professor of environmental horticulture, focuses her research on the biology and applications of nitrogen fixation, a key ecosystem process. She is currently assessing legume cover crops as sources of fertilizer in orchards and vineyards, nitrogen fixers in natural ecosystems, and urban impacts on soil processes. Ongoing investigations are also concerned with the development and function of nitrogen-fixing root nodules. Contact: Alison Berry, Environmental Horticulture, (530) 752-7683, amberry@ucdavis.edu.

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Last updated March 12, 2012