Wheeler Institute for Water Law & Policy
The Wheeler Institute for Water Law and Policy
at Berkeley Law's Center for Law, Energy & the Environment
Fresh water is one of our most precious and increasingly scarce resources. Growing demand for agricultural, industrial and domestic water uses, declining water quality, and aging infrastructure are among the mounting pressures on our global water supplies.
In 2012, CLEE established the Wheeler Institute for Water Law & Policy to address these challenges. The Wheeler Institute partners with scientists, engineers and economists at UC Berkeley to study California and national water issues, and propose law, policy and scientific solutions to fresh water challenges. The Institute also collaborates with and draws upon the expertise of the academic, non-profit, government, and private sector communities to carry-out this important work.
Effective domestic and international water law are critical to meeting the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goal of reducing by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water. In California's Central Valley and Central Coast regions, more than 90% of communities depend on groundwater for drinking water, and nitrate levels in this groundwater are often well above safe limits, posing serious health risks to residents.
At the same time, scientists and engineers at UC Berkeley and other institutions are developing promising tools to track pollution sources, test drinking water quality, and advance water reuse and recycling.
Current Wheeler Institute projects focus on aquifer management, water reuse and recycling, and drinking water quality and access.