type non profit founded 2008 headquarters new york new york key people upmanu lall director ; pierre gentine assistant professor ; india affiliate the centers for international projects trust website www.water.columbia.edu the columbia water center cwc was established in january 2008 as a branch of the earth institute at columbia university . the center focuses on researching and addressing global water related challenges including water scarcity access quality and climate risks . 1 the center s stated mission is to creatively tackle water challenges of a rapidly changing world where water and climate interact with food energy ecosystems and urbanization by combining the rigor of scientific research with the impact of effective policy . 2 the columbia water center takes a multidisciplinary approach to water challenges employing hydrologists climatologists environmental engineers and water policy analysts . the director of the center is upmanu lall the carol silberstein professor of earth and environmental engineering and civil engineering and engineering mechanics at columbia university . 3 pierre gentine an assistant professor in the department of earth and environmental engineering also takes a leading role in the center with his own phd and post doctoral team focusing on the interactions between soil and atmospheric moisture . 4 5 the center currently divides its projects into five themes america s water the global floods initiative data analytics and multi scale predictions risk and financial instruments and the water food energy nexus . 6 contents 1 background 2 current research 2.1 america s water 2.2 the global floods initiative 2.3 data analytics and multi scale predictions 2.4 risk and financial instruments 2.5 water food energy nexus 3 references 4 external links background edit the earth institute under the leadership of jeff sachs is a research institution that supports sustainable development from various angles . 7 in 2008 the pepsico foundation awarded the earth institute 6 million to address these water related issues . the pepsico grant led to the establishment of the columbia water center under the leadership of columbia university engineering professor upmanu lall . this three year grant made possible projects in four countries india china mali and brazil . 7 8 in brazil cwc has partnered with the federal university of cear in the northeast to focus on sophisticated climate based forecasting systems used for water allocation decisions across diverse use sectors . in addition the cwc team recently completed a municipal water plan pam for milh a rural area in central cear . the project outlines a plan for the municipality to deliver water to all of its 14 000 residents . as part of the project the cwc designed and built water infrastructure demonstration projects for ing and pedra fina two communities in milh . the project provides water to 500 people in the area . 9 in india the project focuses on reducing water consumption in the agricultural sector by encouraging sustainable crop choice patterns as well as working with corporations to deploy better irrigation technologies and increase reliability throughout their supply chains . a key objective is to reduce the groundwater stress in the region . primary project locations are in the states of punjab and gujarat . 10 in punjab the cwc has partnered with punjab agricultural university to come up with innovative solutions to reduce farmer irrigation . some of the methods developed including the use of inexpensive tensiometers to measure soil moisture and direct seeding of rice were field tested in the 2010 planting season with over 500 farmers participating . 11 the punjab agricultural university team reports that participating farmers saved 25 to 30 percent of their normal water use by implementing the new approaches . the cwc pau team plans to scale up the pilot project in 2011 by recruiting 5 000 rice farmers to use tensiometers . 12 in gujarat the columbia water center is working with the state government to reform electricity subsidies to provide a greater incentive for farmers to conserve water . in conjunction with subsidy reform the cwc is also piloting water saving technologies among farmers . 13 the work in mali coincides with the millennium villages project . cwc is focusing on designing irrigation and cropping systems that can be operated and maintained locally in order to provide farmers with higher value cash crops . the center has installed large pumps that improved the amount of water available . projects emphasize bringing together local partners market forces and public private partnerships . current research edit in recent years the columbia water center has expanded the scope of its initiatives to encompass five broad research themes . 14 america s water edit the america s water initiative is aims to build a network of academic institutions government agencies and private industry to inform water infrastructure improvements in the united states and address other water challenges . the initiative focuses on all aspects of water from policy to drought and flood forecasting and the potential for disruptive water technology to provide distributed water infrastructure that is less expensive than replacing legacy systems . 15 on march 12 2015 the initiative held its first annual symposium which brought together water experts from various groups representing the industry utilities policy and non profit sectors among others . the meeting was intended to be a first step toward a broader working relationship that can help set a water research agenda and develop solutions for national water challenges . 16 17 the global floods initiative edit the global floods initiative aims to apply cutting edge and continually evolving climate forecasting techniques to help helping policymakers disaster relief agencies infrastructure designers financial institutions and others better prepare for manage and respond to extreme floods . 14 18 the initiative builds on almost two decades of research on how the quasi periodic climate cycles such as el nino la nina and the pacific decadal oscillation interact to increase the risk of flooding in particular locations . more recent research into hydrometerology which looks at the interaction of land water and atmosphere at a more local scale adds additional layers to the potential for flood prediction . 14 data analytics and multi scale predictions edit the columbia water center is a leader in predicting seasonal hydroclimate forecasts and associated risk analyses . these forecasts are used for a variety of applications including integrating climate forecasts into water allocation procedures for urban industrial and agricultural consumers . 19 new ways of representing convection and vegetation response to water stress are also major areas of research the results of which could offer new understandings of the carbon and hydrological cycle . 20 risk and financial instruments edit climate forecasting can also be used to develop flood and drought risk metrics for companies with global supply chains . these metrics can help companies address challenges through new sourcing strategies novel regional financial risk management products e.g. cat bonds index insurance pre emptive maintenance and mitigation reservoir reallocation agreements and other tools . 21 water food energy nexus edit the columbia water center studies how the water food and energy sectors are interrelated and how climate affects this relationship . projects include policy research and recommendations to promote water and energy savings in the agricultural sector in water stressed farming regions development of seasonal forecasts to guide decision making in the water and energy sectors and testing and implementation of low cost soil moisture and nitrogen sensors to improve irrigation efficiency reducing fertilizer use and groundwater pollution and saving energy from groundwater pumping . 22 23 references edit the earth institute water . earth institute . retrieved 2009 09 15 . columbia water center about us . columbia water center . retrieved 2015 04 21 . the earth institute profiles upmanu lall . earth institute . retrieved 2015 04 21 . http www.columbia.edu pg2328 website pierre gentines homepage lab.html http blogs.ei.columbia.edu 2011 05 11 earth water and sky a conversation with pierre gentine a new columbia water center scientist the columbia water center research themes . columbia water center . retrieved 2015 04 21 . a b pepsico foundation announces major new grant to the earth institute at columbia university to promote global water sustainability . earth institute . retrieved 2009 09 15 . http www.pepsico.com purpose environmental sustainability water carrie loewenthal massey 2010 06 01 . columbia water center at work across globe . america.gov . retrieved 2010 06 02 . j. carl ganter 2010 06 04 . u.s. india working together to address india s water needs . circle of blue water news . retrieved 2011 01 13 . carrie loewenthal massey 2010 05 28 . u.s. india working together to address india s water needs . america.gov . retrieved 2010 06 02 . lakis polycarpou 2010 11 17 . small is also beautiful appropriate technology cuts rice famers water use by 30 percent in punjab india . blogs.ei.columbia.edu . eryn ashlei bailey 2010 12 03 . incentives for water conservation in gujarat . waterwideweb.org . retrieved 2011 01 15 . a b c columbia water center research themes . the columbia water center . retrieved 2015 04 21 . cite error invalid ref tag ; name global floods initiative defined multiple times with different content see the help page . cite error invalid ref tag ; name global floods initiative defined multiple times with different content see the help page . columbia water center research themes . the columbia water center . retrieved 2015 04 21 . http piscesfoundation.org partnering with academia to address u s water challenges http blogs.ei.columbia.edu 2015 03 19 waking up to americas water challenges http blogs.ei.columbia.edu 2011 05 11 earth water and sky a conversation with pierre gentine a new columbia water center scientist columbia water center research themes . the columbia water center . retrieved 2015 04 21 . http water.columbia.edu research themes data analytics and multi scale predictions 5115 2 columbia water center research themes . the columbia water center . retrieved 2015 04 21 . columbia water center research themes . the columbia water center . retrieved 2015 04 21 . http www.circleofblue.org waternews 2010 world qa upmanu lall gives insight to indias nexus of energy food and water external links edit the columbia water center partnership institutions the earth institute pepsico foundation columbia university coordinates 40 48 34 n 73 57 36 w 40.80945 n 73.95999 w 40.80945 ; 73.95999 v t e the earth institute of columbia university director jeffrey sachs research units ldeo cwc center for rivers and estuaries ccsr cerc eec lcse cghed cnhde cgsd cssr the center on capitalism and society csud ciesin iri chrr partnership institutions the black rock forest consortium cred cicar giss projects millennium villages project millennium cities initiative retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title columbia water center & oldid 667218728 categories columbia universityresearch institutes in the united statessustainable developmentenvironmental research instituteswater and societyinternational developmenthidden categories pages with reference errorspages with duplicate reference namescoordinates not on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 16 june 2015 at 16 42 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view