Steven Gorelick

Gorelick Headshot

SDSS/Earth System Science

2022 IRE Award Winner

Problems of freshwater access and provision in India, with its population of 1.4 billion and average per capita annual income of just $2000 (World Bank, 2020), are among the most challenging in the world and must be addressed as a coupled human-natural system. Our goal is to establish a new, long-term partnership with a major environmental, solution-oriented Indian think tank (ATREE) to address pressing issues of freshwater security. Potential solutions involve innovative portfolios of governmental policies and infrastructure that create equitable water reallocation, efficiency improvements through technology and information, and incentives for farmers, industry, and municipalities to use water efficiently. Building on our existing work with stakeholders in India, we will hold a set of workshops in Pune (near Mumbai) to present and get feedback on potential water sustainability solutions that are likely to work and those which won’t work. Partnering with ATREE, we will assess a set of policy intervention pathways that are initially aimed at freshwater use-efficiency improvements in the agricultural sector and how they can be analyzed and scaled up.

International Research Exploration Seed Grant