Below, Stanford water experts Newsha Ajami, Rosemary Knight, Felicia Marcus and Barton “Buzz” Thompson discuss lessons learned from previous droughts, imperatives for infrastructure investment and reasons for hope in this arid era.

Ajami, director of urban water policy at Stanford’s Water in the West program, has pioneered novel ways to integrate data science, engineering and policy into water management solutions. Knight is a professor of geophysics in the Stanford School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences (Stanford Earth) who has pioneered the use of geophysical and remote sensing technology to analyze groundwater. Marcus, the William C. Landreth Visiting Fellow at Water in the West, is an attorney and water policy expert who has worked on water-related management and policy issues at the federal, state and local level. Thompson, the Robert E. Paradise Professor in Natural Resources Law, chairs a collaborative effort to help diverse interests in the San Joaquin Valley jointly address drought and long-term water challenges.