• 

• 
  • Overview
  • Letter from the Directors

• 
  • Core Research Areas
  • Environmental Venture Projects
  • Public Opinion Surveys
  • Strategic Collaborations:
    1.     » Center for Ocean Solutions
    2.     » Food Security & the Environment
    3.     » Natural Capital Project
  • Townhall Meetings:
    1.     » Sustainable Built Environment

• 
  • Strategic Collaborations:
    1.     » Food Security & the Environment
    2.     » Natural Capital Project
  • Uncommon Dialogues:
    1.     » Biofuels
    2.     » Carbon Offsets
    3.     » Climate Change
    4.     » Pacific Salmon
    5.     » U.S. Farm Bill
  • Townhall Meetings:
    1.     » Sustainable Built Environment

• 
  • Overview
  • K-12 Project
  • Goldman Honors Program
  • Energy Seminar
  • Student Group Projects

• 
  • Overview
  • Leopold Leadership Program
  • Stanford Training Workshops
  • One-on-One Coaching
  • First Nations Futures Institute
  • Fisheries Leadership and Sustainability Forum

• 
  • Staff
  • Woods Faculty
  • Advisory Council
  • Environmental Faculty Database
  • Leopold Leadership Fellows

• 
  • In The News
  • Newsletters

• 
  • Featured Events
  • Stanford Environmental Calendar

• 

• 

Freshwater is crucial to human survival and well-being, yet 1.1 billion people have no access to safe water supplies, and 2.4 billion lack access to basic sanitation facilities. It is estimated that two-thirds of the world's population, including 25 African countries, will live in water-stressed areas by the year 2025.

Today, waterborne diseases from fecal pollution of surface waters are a major cause of illness, and polluted water contributes to the death of 15 million children annually. In Bangladesh and West Bengal, tens of millions of people depend on pathogen- and arsenic-laden water supplies. Finally, unsustainable diversions of water for agriculture have resulted in devastating changes to freshwater systems, such as Africa's Lake Chad, and the collapse of fisheries in critical regions, including the Aral Sea in central Asia.

Woods-Sponsored Research Projects

• Environmental Venture Projects
• Pacific Salmon Workshop

Stanford Faculty with expertise related to 'Freshwater'

Problem-Solving Areas

• Water quality and human health
• Water efficiency
• Environmental water use
• Water allocation under uncertainty
• Restoration of natural water systems

Related Programs and Projects

• Environmental and Natural Resources Law and Policy Program
• Environmental Fluid Mechanics Lab
• Environmental & Water Studies, Civil & Environmental Engineering
• Stanford Hydrogeology Program, School of Earth Sciences