{"id":8715673,"date":"2023-01-13T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-01-13T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eastbaytimes.com\/?p=8715673&preview=true&preview_id=8715673"},"modified":"2023-01-13T09:30:21","modified_gmt":"2023-01-13T17:30:21","slug":"helping-california-companies-adapt-to-drought-flood-climate-change-waterplan-scientist-nick-silverman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eastbaytimes.com\/2023\/01\/13\/helping-california-companies-adapt-to-drought-flood-climate-change-waterplan-scientist-nick-silverman\/","title":{"rendered":"Helping California companies adapt to drought, flood, climate change: Waterplan scientist Nick Silverman"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earth pulling Isaac Newton\u2019s apple toward the ground taught gravity to humanity. Now gravity pulling satellites toward Earth is teaching Californians how little water we have \u2014 and helping businesses cope with the scarcity of a resource as crucial to the state\u2019s economy as it is to humanity\u2019s survival.<\/p>\n

As the state\u2019s water supply shrinks from too much consumption and not enough replenishment amid climate change and long-term drought, and extreme weather brings floods, companies are paying increased attention to water, and the risks to commerce \u2014 including regulation \u2014 that arise when supply can\u2019t meet demand.<\/p>\n

\u201cWater is the new carbon,\u201d says water-resources engineer Nick Silverman, chief scientist at Bay Area water-risk analysis firm Waterplan, which counts major companies including Facebook parent Meta of Menlo Park \u2014 which, like Google, has its headquarters at close to sea level near the San Francisco Bay \u2014 among its customers.<\/p>\n

From 2000 to 2021, California and the southwestern U.S. have seen the driest 22-year period since at least 800 A.D., \u201cwhich may be a harbinger of more global warming-fueled extreme megadrought in the future,\u201d according to a December paper<\/a> in the journal Nature co-written by former NASA senior water scientist and Waterplan adviser Jay\u00a0Famiglietti. \u201cStress on groundwater resources under these drying conditions will likely increase in the coming decades, and will be exacerbated by the need to provide more water and produce more food for a growing population.\u201d Recent torrential storms notwithstanding, almost half of long-parched California remained under severe drought as of Jan. 10, according to<\/a> the U.S. Drought Monitor.<\/p>\n

Waterplan uses data from NASA\u2019s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment<\/a>, a program known as GRACE. Variations in the relative positions of the program\u2019s pair of satellites reflect gravity\u2019s pull, and the amount of pull can be analyzed to provide information about where water, including snow and ice, lies on and under the earth. Waterplan, headquartered in San Francisco and launched in 2020, has analyzed every watershed on Earth.<\/p>\n

Satellite data, supplemented with information from other sources including client companies, allows Waterplan to calculate a firm\u2019s risks related to water supply, water quality, and flooding, along with hazards associated with regulation and corporate reputation.<\/p>\n

The Bay Area News Group asked Silverman about Waterplan\u2019s work. His comments have been edited for length and clarity.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong> What types of business are affected by water risk?<\/p>\n

A:<\/strong> Every type of business. It\u2019s more like, \u2018Is it direct or indirect?\u2019 Maybe it\u2019s a supply chain kind of issue, where it\u2019s not your water risk where you\u2019re located but it\u2019s that supply chain: Where do you get your products from? We use water in so many different ways, we use if for cooling in data centers, we use it for energy generation. And of course we use it in agriculture. I\u2019m not aware of a major economic sector that shouldn\u2019t be concerned. Any company has water risk that they should be concerned about.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong> How does water risk affect a business?<\/p>\n

A:<\/strong> If a facility does not have access to water, let\u2019s say, that can be either their water runs out, or water quality decreases \u2026 it\u2019s a financial risk. The water risk itself can be translated to financial risk through some fairly simple calculations which I think can hit home for a lot of corporations. You use 100 gallons to produce 100 units of such and such, you sell each unit for this amount, you can calculate how much a gallon of water is worth.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong> How large a market does Waterplan see in California for its services?<\/p>\n

A:<\/strong> The market in California is huge. California\u2019s economy is hugely based on water. I don\u2019t need to tell you how important agriculture is for the state\u2026 also all the data centers out there and technology centers. Fifty percent of the state uses groundwater as a water supply, and it\u2019s difficult to track groundwater availability and changes. A third of California\u2019s water supply comes from snowpack. Tracking the amount of water that\u2019s way up in the mountains, oftentimes inaccessible, and also stored deeply underground, which is really hard to track \u2026 becomes really critical in terms of California understanding its water.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong> What are the causes of water risk in California beyond consumption exceeding supply?<\/p>\n

A:<\/strong> We can\u2019t forget about water quality as aquifers deplete. Contaminants that are in those aquifers get more concentrated. You also get intrusion in a lot of places of water from the ocean. Saltwater is flowing into the groundwater.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong> How do you assess water risk?<\/p>\n

A:<\/strong> We define it as the combination of hazard exposure and vulnerability. Flooding is a really good example. What\u2019s the probability of magnitude of a flood event? Is your facility located within a flood plain? (What is) the value of infrastructure that\u2019s exposed? Do you have some sort of coping mechanisms if your facility gets flooded? We then break down hazard exposure and vulnerability into indicators that we can capture from hydrologic models or satellite imagery, and also facility-level information that our client provides.<\/p>\n