UCLA geography professor and researcher Glen MacDonald will address what drought conditions might mean for water resources of the future, during his keynote address at the sixth annual Santa Ana River Watershed Conference to be held on Oct. 14 in Riverside.

MacDonald, a recognized expert on climate variability and environmental change and its impact on society, has published  over 150 journal articles, written an award-winning book on biogeography and has testified on climate change to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

“I am delighted to be coming to the conference and sharing general climate research from the current drought and what it bodes for the 21st century,” said MacDonald, who is the Inaugural UCLA John Muir Memorial Chair in the Geography Department.

MacDonald has done research in the Los Angeles area including in the San Bernardino, San Gabriel and San Gorgonio mountains to obtain tree ring data and examine long-term precipitation patterns. “When we tackle the water sustainability issues of the 21st century we have to look not only at the imported water supply but also to our own backyard and the local watershed,” he said.

MacDonald’s work has shown the extreme climatological vulnerability of our region to prolonged droughts and the role of ocean circulation in helping to determine such events.

The Santa Ana River Watershed Conference is convened by the Santa Ana River Watershed Project Authority (SAWPA) and coordinated by the Water Education Foundation. The annual conference is expected to draw hundreds of decision-makers from across the Santa Ana River watershed, which drains a 2,650 square-mile area in Southern California and is home to six million people.

In February, the SAWPA Commission adopted the “One Water One Watershed” (OWOW) 2.0 Plan. This 20-year plan includes innovative approaches to reduce water demand and support local reliability instead of relying solely on continued imported water deliveries.

“We are thrilled to have Dr. MacDonald speak during our conference. In the Santa Ana River watershed, we face unheralded population growth and water resource challenges in the future. His research reinforces what our OWOW strategy strives to address,” said Celeste Cantú, SAWPA general manager.

The conference will be held at the Riverside Convention Center, 3637 5th Street in Riverside, from 9 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. on Oct. 14. Registration will begin at 8:30 a.m.

Click here to learn more and to register online.