Papers by Josue Medellin-Azuara
Remote Sensing
The ability to accurately monitor and anticipate changes in consumptive water use associated with... more The ability to accurately monitor and anticipate changes in consumptive water use associated with changing land use and land management is critical to developing sustainable water management strategies in water-limited climatic regions. In this paper, we present an application of a remote sensing data fusion technique for developing high spatiotemporal resolution maps of evapotranspiration (ET) at scales that can be associated with changes in land use. The fusion approach combines ET map timeseries developed using an multi-scale energy balance algorithm applied to thermal data from Earth observation platforms with high spatial but low temporal resolution (e.g., Landsat) and with moderate resolution but frequent temporal coverage (e.g., MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer)). The approach is applied over the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta region in California-an area critical to both agricultural production and drinking water supply within the state that has recently experienced stresses on water resources due to a multi-year (2012-2017) extreme drought. ET "datacubes" with 30-m resolution and daily timesteps were constructed for the 2015-2016 water years and related to detailed maps of land use developed at the same spatial scale. The ET retrievals are evaluated at flux sites over multiple land covers to establish a metric of accuracy in the annual water use estimates, yielding root-mean-square errors of 1.0, 0.8, and 0.3 mm day −1 at daily, monthly, and yearly timesteps, respectively, for all sites combined. Annual ET averaged over the Delta changed only 3 mm year −1 between water years, from 822 to 819 mm year −1 , translating to an area-integrated total change in consumptive water use of seven thousand acre-feet (TAF). Changes were largest in areas with recorded land-use change between water years-most significantly, fallowing of crop land presumably in response to reductions in water availability and allocations due to the drought. Moreover, the time evolution in water use associated with wetland restoration-an effort aimed at reducing subsidence and carbon emissions within the inner Delta-is assessed using a sample wetland chronosequence. Region-specific matrices of consumptive water use associated with land use changes may be an effective tool for policymakers and farmers to understand how land use conversion could impact consumptive use and demand.
... my acknowledgements to Julio Navarro, Héctor Verdín, Jesús Paredes, and Jesús Flores from the... more ... my acknowledgements to Julio Navarro, Héctor Verdín, Jesús Paredes, and Jesús Flores from the ... Antonio Juárez, Alberto Martínez, Oscar Falcón, Rodolfo Hernández, Juan Trujillo, Carlos Del ... Susan, Rocío, Jim, Alejandro, George, Dan, Gorm, Yuko, Craig, Jen, Carlos, Stacy ...
Each actor evaluating potential management strategies brings her/his own distinct set of objectiv... more Each actor evaluating potential management strategies brings her/his own distinct set of objectives to a complex decision space of system uncertainties. The diversity of these objectives and uncertainties requires detailed and rigorous analyses that respond to multifaceted challenges. The utility of this information depends on the accessibility of scientific information to decision makers. This paper demonstrates data visualization tools for presenting scientific results to decision makers in two case studies, La Paz/El Alto, Bolivia, and Yuba County, California. Visualization output from the case studies combines spatiotemporal, multivariate and multirun/multiscenario information to produce information corresponding to the objectives and uncertainties described by key actors. These tools can manage complex data and distill scientific information into accessible formats. Using the visualizations, scientists and decision makers can navigate the decision space and potential objective trade-offs to facilitate discussion and consensus building. These efforts can help identify stable negotiated agreements between different stakeholders.
California's complex water management system often defies comprehensive analysis. We summariz... more California's complex water management system often defies comprehensive analysis. We summarize the results of a decade of quantification and analysis of this system from a hydro-economic perspective using the CALVIN Model. The general approach taken dates back to Roman times, when Frontinus (97 AD) began his oversight of Rome's water system with a systematic inventory and quantification of its water
Water Science & Technology: Water Supply, 2008
The northern border of Baja California hosts prominent agriculture and fast-growing cities under ... more The northern border of Baja California hosts prominent agriculture and fast-growing cities under an extreme-arid climate. This paper provides an economic-engineering analysis of water supply alternatives to cope with agricultural, environmental and urban water needs projected to year 2025. Analysed alternatives include idealised water markets, wastewater reuse, seawater desalination and infrastructural expansions. Network flow optimisation using CALVIN (CALifornia Value Integrated Network) was employed. A database of the water system was built to include hydrology; agricultural, environmental and urban demands infrastructure, and economic information on operating costs and economic value of water. For the coastal cities, results show that wastewater reuse along with other already projected infrastructure expansions is overall the most economically promising alternative. Water markets offer leverage and flexibility for future urban needs. However, some locations cannot take advantage of domestic water markets with current aqueduct capacities. Worthwhile investments in infrastructure include an expanded aqueduct connecting coast and inland water supply systems. Furthermore, at current urban water prices and operating costs, seawater desalination is uneconomical for Baja California.
World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2011, 2011
Handbook on Climate Change and Agriculture, 2011
... Transboundary Freshwater Ecosystem Restoration: The Role of Law, Process and Lawyers: Applyin... more ... Transboundary Freshwater Ecosystem Restoration: The Role of Law, Process and Lawyers: Applying Economic-Engineering Systems Analysis to the Colorado ... nesting for shorebirds while the Cattail Zone (ecozone "D") houses the Cienega de Santa Clara ("CSC"), a 4200 ...
Fast growing cities and arid climate characterize northern Baja California, Mexico and Southern C... more Fast growing cities and arid climate characterize northern Baja California, Mexico and Southern California in the United States. This paper presents a quantitative approach to identify promising water management alternatives, to cope with demands northwestern Baja California for year 2025. The California Value Integrated Model (CALVIN) is used as the main analysis tool to undertake this analysis. Economic water demand functions for urban and agricultural water uses in the cities of Ensenada and Tijuana, Baja California were estimated and used as an input for CALVIN. Water supply alternatives for year 2025 in Baja California include expanded infrastructure capacity, wastewater reuse, seawater desalination and aquifer overdraft. Results show that wastewater reuse can significantly reduce projected water scarcity and its costs for year 2025. In contrast seawater desalination seems to be a less promising alternative if its costs remain as high. This systems approach could effectively shed some light on future directions for water planning in this and other hydrologically connected regions including Southern California.
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Papers by Josue Medellin-Azuara