Author: edit_riverlab

SF Bay Regional Water Board | Environmental Scientist

The San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board has an opening for an Environmental Scientist in the Watershed Management Division. The position is located at 1515 Clay Street, Suite 1400, Oakland, CA 94612. The position will play a key role in the Region’s municipal stormwater program team, coordinating implementation of the statewide small and non-traditional municipal urban stormwater permit, and will permit of creek and wetland fill projects, including projects in the Bay margin, among key tasks.

See full job posting here.

Applications are due on or before November 22.

SF Bay Regional Water Board | Water Resource Control Engineer
The San Francisco Bay Regional Water Board is now advertising for a Water Resource Control Engineer (WRCE) to work in the dredging and sediment disposal program in the Planning Division. The application link can be found here:
 
 
Note the position closes 11/07/19.
 
The Water Board is an amazing place to work. Or mission is to preserve, enhance, and restore the quality of California’s water resources and drinking water for the protection of the environment, public health, and all beneficial uses, and to ensure proper water resource allocation and efficient use, for the benefit of present and future generations.
 
The duties for this position include issuing and overseeing 401 water quality certifications for navigational dredging of the federal navigation channels, as well as dredging within ports, refineries, and marinas. The incumbent will also play an important role in encouraging the beneficial reuse of sediment, which is a critical resource needed to help our Bay respond to climate change and sea level rise so that the Bay is resilient as possible. Additional duties include managing permits for large scale tidal wetland restoration projects, and serving on a multi-agency committee that coordinates dredging permitting with state and federal partners. Please feel free to apply if you are interested or share this announcement with others who want to join our Water Board Team. Background on the dredging program can be found on our website:https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/sanfranciscobay/water_issues/programs/dredging.html.
 
For questions about the position, please email or call using the contact information below.
 
Kevin Lunde, Senior Environmental Scientist
State Water Resources Control Board
Ph: 510-622-2431
Innovations in River Management, Germany and USA: Integrating Ecosystem Restoration Into Flood Risk Management

Thursday, October 17th, 2019

223 Moses Hall – UC Berkeley

>> Link to program

Agenda

08.30      Coffee

08.45      Welcome & Introductions

Anna Serra-Llobet, Sonja Jähnig, Matt Kondolf

09.00      Policy Innovations: USA, California, EU, Germany

Eileen Fretz-Shader (American Rivers),  John Cain (River Partners), Anna Serra-Llobet (UC Berkeley), Sonja Jähnig (IGB Berlin)

10.00      Coffee break

10.20      Successful Projects: USA, California                                                      Jeff Opperman (World Wildlife Fund), Sarah Yarnell (UC Davis), Ted Grantham (UC Berkeley)

11.20      Discussion Led by Matt Kondolf (UC Berkeley)

11.40      Group Photo & Lunch

1.00 p     Successful Projects: EU, Germany

Mathias Scholz (Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Leipzig), Jürgen Geist (Technical University of Munich), Christian Damm (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology)

2.00p      Discussion Led by Sonja Jähnig (IGB Berlin)

3.00p      Reflections: When can flood risk management and ecosystem restoration work together?

Jay Lund (UC Davis)

3.30p      Coffee break

3.50p      Open Discussion: What can we learn from each other?  What elements can we draw from the other country to improve our approach?  Led by Heidi Hall (DWR) and Rafael Schmitt (Stanford University)

5.00p      Closing Comments  Sonja Jähnig & Matt Kondolf

5.30p      Adjourn

Contemporizing Traditional Water-Architecture: Birkha Bawari, a 21st-Century Step Well
Tuesday 15 October 230-4pm.  Rm 223 Moses Hall
Presented by A Mridul, Architect, Jodhpur, India

>> Event Poster

Step wells are large wells that allow people to descend via steps to the water table, where they can obtain water to carry back up to the surface.  These features were widespread in India and in active use from the 2nd century AD to the end of the 19th Century, when they were superseded by more modern water infrastructure of canals and pipes and largely forgotten.  Today these step wells are being revisited as sustainable water management features, and appreciated for their exquisite beauty.  Following traditional patterns, a new such step-well was recently built in Jodhpur, a water-stressed city on the fringe of the Thar Desert of India, with capacity of >17 million liters of rainwater.  Architect A Mridul discusses step wells and his design for the Jodhpur well, using site-quarried sandstone and local artisans.

A Mridul is a Jodhpur-based architect whose practice emphasizes integrating cultural heritage, contemporizing traditional practices to make them timeless and relevant to current generations.  He is passionate about the ancient water heritage of India and has been campaigning for its regeneration, mainstreaming and replication.

This talk is presented as part of the Institute of International Studies Interdisciplinary Faculty Seminar Water Management: Past and Future Adaptation and is co-sponsored by the Institute for South Asia Studies.

SFEI hiring mid-level geomorphologist/hydrologist

SFEI is hiring a mid-level (i.e., M.S. + several years) geomorphologist/hydrologist. An idea candidate would be a  scientist with a background in restoration planning and watershed management, and experience leading both field- and desktop-based geomorphic/hydrologic analyses. Experience managing projects and staff is also desirable.

For more information, contact Scott Dusterhoff at  [email protected]
SFEI hiring hydrologist or water resources systems analyst

San Francisco Estuary Institute is seeking an experienced Hydrologist or Water Resources Systems Analyst to join the Institute and lead a growing focus area related to watershed hydrology and water resources management. The hydrologist will play a leadership role in coordinating and integrating hydrologic science and modeling across SFEI programs and implementing projects to inform Bay Area and statewide decisions regarding watershed and urban hydrology, urban greening, stormwater management, water quality, habitat restoration, and climate change.

Visit https://www.sfei.org/content/Hydrologist-Water-Resources-Systems-Analyst for more details and to apply.

15th Annual Berkeley River Restoration Symposium

Save the date for the 15th Annual Berkeley River Restoration Symposium! This will include a keynote talk, presentation of graduate student research in river restoration, and discussion by expert panel. Our keynote speakers this year will be:

Hervé Piégay – ‘Revitalizing rivers: learning from the European experience?’

Damion Ciotti – ‘Process-Based Design Criteria for Ecological Restoration’

More details to come.

AGU Session: Managing multifunctional watersheds for the 21st century

Join us at American Geophysical Union (AGU) fall meeting in the session “Managing multifunctional watersheds for the 21st century‘ (Session # GC052). Organized by Rafael Schmidt (RiverLab alum), P. James Dennedy-Frank, and Dr. Kondolf, this session will tackle the increasing demand for watershed services and capacity of green-grey solutions to meet this demand. We invite submissions to this session that showcase both exemplary case studies and systematic cross-site analyses addressing key questions for an integrated and strategic  management of multifunctional watersheds:  (1) at what scales and contexts do green solutions provide tangible benefits to society; (2) and how can  combined  grey and green infrastructure portfolios be designed to maximize benefits for both nature and people?

The deadline for abstract submission is 31 July 2019 23:59 EDT/03:59 +1 GMT.

2019 AGU Fall Meeting

The American Geophysical Union (AGU) annual fall meeting will be held 9 – 13 December 2019 in Moscone Center, San Francisco. The Fall Meeting is the largest international Earth and space science meeting in the world, with speakers from around the globe presenting and facilitating discussion on cross-disciplinary geophysical topics, including atmospheric and ocean sciences; solid-Earth sciences; hydrologic sciences; and space sciences.

You might find us at one of these sessions:

Managing Multifunctional Watersheds for the 21st Century (GC052)

A changing climate and growing population will lead people to demand more and potentially different watershed services, including water resource regulation, energy generation, and geomorphic hazard reduction. Green solutions such as watershed restoration and improved agricultural practices have been shown to have important benefits for local livelihoods and biodiversity. These solutions are a corrective to grey infrastructure such as dams and levees that provide valuable services but may also produce major environmental externalities. However, alone these green solutions may not provide the magnitude of services required. We invite submissions showcasing both exemplary case studies and systematic cross-site analyses addressing key questions for an integrated and strategic  management of multifunctional watersheds:  (1) at what scales and contexts do green solutions provide tangible benefits to society; (2) and how can  combined  grey and green infrastructure portfolios be designed to maximize benefits for both nature and people?

Biophysical Processes of Rivers Under Extreme and Changing Conditions (EP006)

Rivers are naturally dynamic systems, characterized by a suite of biophysical processes that are regularly subject to exogenous factors. Under ranges of natural variability, the physics and biota of rivers are resilient to external changes. However, river basins globally are undergoing landscape-scale changes. These changes, which are associated with widespread land use, water management, and climate change, can fundamentally alter biophysical processes. This session focuses on the science and management of integrated biophysical processes in river systems undergoing changing variability, including greater and/or more frequent extremes. Topics may address questions such as: How do changing and extreme events (e.g. streamflow magnitude, frequency, timing, temperature) influence river processes or form and resultant ecosystem structure and function (e.g. habitat quality and availability, egg survival, food webs, algal blooms)? How should management and restoration of rivers be designed and prioritized to mitigate and/or be resilient to these large-scale changes?

Managing and Modeling Tradeoffs and Challenges of Environmental and Low Flows in the 21st Century. (H094)

Rivers are the main source of water, food and energy for billions of people, but the (mis-)management of this critical resource has deteriorated aquatic ecosystems globally. Quantifying how much flow is needed to maintain the ecological integrity of rivers, especially during low flow periods, has become a point of conflict and convergence, particularly in arid regions where most large rivers are regulated. Better managing tradeoffs between environmental flows and consumptive demands requires an improved understanding of watershed hydrology and the low flow characteristics of riverine systems, along with cascading effects on fluvial geomorphology, aquatic ecology, and social systems. This session invites contributions demonstrating recent advances in understanding and resolving competing water demands together with methodological advances on novel ways to define and simulate low flows. We invite contributions that bridge across scientific disciplines and that represent a diversity of regions around the world where water management conflicts are emerging.

Reservoir Sedimentation in Disturbed Landscapes: A Real Look at Lost Water Storage and Fish Passage Opportunities (EP033)

Aging infrastructure and loss of water storage capacity due to sedimentation will cause the social, economic, environmental, and political importance of reservoirs to increase progressively. Reservoirs provide flood control, water supply, and power generation but may hinder survival of anadromous fish. Sediment regimes in disturbed and contaminated landscapes, including the hydraulic mining-impacted Sierra Nevada, complicate efforts to restore storage capacity due to concern about contaminant mobilization. The best available science on mercury fate and transport can stimulate new discussion about sediment removal and maintenance activities. Measures to address sedimentation at reservoirs nearing total storage loss need to be identified and solutions evaluated, including installation of upstream traps, sediment pass-through, flushing or mechanical removal. Site-specific reservoir sedimentation surveys that account for unique sediment regimes of disturbed landscapes are needed to inform cost-benefit analysis of maintaining aging infrastructure at the expense of restoring volitional fish passage.

 

You are invited to submit an abstract for a presentation or poster to any of these sessions;  the abstract submission deadline is 31 July 2019 23:59 EDT/03:59 +1 GMT.