Kaweah River Watershed
Projects
Kaweah River Watershed Hydrologic Observatory
The Kaweah River watershed is located on the western slopes of southern Sierre Nevada. We have two active projects in this watershed funded by the NRCS/USDA ARS and NSF to understand hydrologic processes from headwaters to the Central Valley aquifer system.
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Our goals are to:
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Understand groundwater flow paths and residence times from headwaters to the Central Valley.
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Quantify mountain system recharge rates in response to climate variability and land cover change.
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Assess the impacts of irrigation management practices on groundwater recharge.
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Develop educational materials for high school teachers.
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Engage citizen scientistis in data collection.
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The Kaweah River watershed is part of the NRCS Conservations Effects Assessment Project (CEAP).
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PI: Associate Professor Hoori Ajami
Postdoctoral Fellows: Dr. Juan S. Acero Triana
Dr. Sandra Armengol Vall
Dr. Yusen Yuan
PhD Student: Eric Wineteer
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Collaborators: Professor James Sickman
Dr. Dong Wang, USDA ARS
Dr. Ray Anderson, USDA ARS
Dr. Jason Kelly, USDA ARS
Dr. Adam Schreiner-McGraw, USDA ARS
NSF CAREER:Characterizing Mountain System Aquifer Recharge in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California
This project will integrate several research methods to investigate the most important drivers of groundwater recharge in the Kaweah River watershed. We combine groundwater and surface water chemistry and remotely sensed data with numerical models to understand and quantify groundwater response to climate variability, droughts, and changes in vegetation.
ParFlow.CLM (Maxwell and Condon, 2016)
Education
The project aims to improve hydrologic sciences education and problem-solving skills for groups underrepresented in STEM disciplines by developing online learning modules focused on hydrologic processes of mountain catchments and GIS.
The project will train high school teachers from Southern California and design online educational resources for STEM teaching in high schools.
2021 High School Teachers Workshop @ UCR
Citizen Scientisits
We will involve the Kaweah River watershed citizens in data collection, the project will increase public awareness of complex factors that affect water resources in California.