Water

Professor and Environmental Champion Bales Retires, But Research and Advocacy Continue

November 10, 2025

Professors Roger Bales and Martha Conklin arrived in Merced in 2003, the first non-administrative faculty members at UC Merced. They came with a vision: to create a research university that would serve California’s future. Now, after more than 22 years of building institutions, mentoring...

Photo depicts UC Merced environmental engineering Professor Josué Medellín-Azuara.

Climate Change is Transforming California Agriculture — But There are Ways to Adapt

California's agriculture faces challenges from a highly variable climate with temperatures that will increase over the next several decades. Droughts are worsening and the Sierra snowpack,...

Photo depicts concrete supports lining a canal in Keyes, California.

Solar Canal Project Earns Environmental Award as Construction Begins

Construction has begun on a pilot project to install solar panels above two sections of Central Valley canals. This innovative initiative, which studies significant power and water issues, has...

NSF-Funded Project Promotes Reuse of 'Greywater' in Households Integrating AI Toward Equity

Almost 3 billion people worldwide are projected to suffer from severe water scarcity by 2025. Thousands have already been affected in California alone, where more than 1,200 wells ran dry in...

Students compete in the Aqua Arcade Game Jam at UC Merced.

Students Create Games to Teach About Safe Water

Ensuring people have access to reliable, clean water is no game. Except when it is. UC Merced's Secure Water Future interns, administrative assistant and coordinator joined the university...

Gov. Gavin Newsom discusses upcoming federal and state solar projects with other officials.

New Canal Project Expands on UC Merced Solar Research

Federal and state government officials journeyed to the western corner of Merced County on Thursday to announce a new project to place solar panels on the water in the Delta-Mendota Canal. The...

An almond orchard with irrigation lines is pictured.

Water Risks to Agriculture: Too Little and Too Much

Water is among the most precious resources on the planet. Some areas don't get enough; some get too much. And climate change is driving both of those circumstances to ever-growing extremes....

An irrigation water delivery canal in the San Joaquin Valley of California,

An Invisible Water Surcharge: Climate Warming Increases Crop Water Demand in the San Joaquin Valley's Groundwater-Dependent Irrigated Agriculture

University of California researchers from the USDA-funded Secure Water Future project recently found that increases in crop water demand explain half of the cumulative deficits of the agricultural...

Public Radio Highlights Natural Reserves, New Program for Undergraduates

The latest installment of North State Public Radio’s Blue Dot podcast focuses on the UC Natural Reserve System and the national parks and features a segment about the UC Merced ¿field...

A forest fire is pictured in a photo from "California's Watershed Healing"

New Film Profiles Immediate Actions to Restore California's Wildfire-vulnerable Forests

The new film "California's Watershed Healing" documents the huge benefits that result from restoring forests to healthier densities. UC Merced's Sierra Nevada Research Institute...