Dr. Andy Jones
Regional Water Systems Topic Area LeadAt Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Dr. Andy Jones works at the interface of human and environmental systems. His research uses quantitative models and data analysis to understand human-Earth system interactions at decision-relevant scales. He collaborates with social scientists and interacts closely with stakeholders to understand how science can more effectively provide actionable insight into strategies for increasing resilience of energy, water, food, and urban systems.
The Challenge
Novel water technologies can contribute to reliable, affordable, and energy-efficient water systems that perform well across a range of increasingly uncertain conditions. However, to realize this potential, it is important to understand the regional implications of scaling up technology use, including impacts on infrastructure function, waste management, variability over time, and interactions across the water and energy sectors. The Regional Water Systems Topic Area conducts regional studies to characterize risks to water systems, evaluates the contributions and tradeoffs of nontraditional waters, and identifies water portfolios that meet affordability, reliability, and energy-efficiency objectives across a range of future uncertainties.
Our Approach
The Regional Water Systems Topic Area has three main objectives:
- Support research and development across the NAWI portfolio by identifying when, where, and how non-traditional water technologies can advance water reliability and affordability goals in a regional water systems context;
- Deliver advanced modeling and analysis tools for robust water management portfolio planning; and
- Cultivate a community of practice around shared tools and methods for adaptive water management and planning.
NAWI engages with regional partners to understand the opportunity landscape for technology innovation and identify critical information barriers that must be overcome to support robust regional investments. Technical experts from across the NAWI consortium contribute to this effort by developing and applying advanced computational modeling and analysis approaches in close collaboration with regional partners.