CESD scientists are helping transform the way we treat and use water to transition to a circular water economy in a sustainable, inclusive, efficient, and resilient way and achieve a water-secure future for all. 

As a leader of the National Alliance for Water Innovation, Berkeley Lab is involved with research aimed to treat unconventional water sources used in various sectors, from power to resource extraction, industry, municipalities, and agriculture. Research activities span from advancing desalination knowledge, technologies, and methods to investigating the impacts of water-treatment technologies and systems-level improvements on a broader suite of economic, societal, and environmental metrics. Modeling regional water systems is essential to this research.

CESD experts also link controlled laboratory experiments with field observations to remediate groundwater contamination at sites of relevance to DOE, particularly those expected to be at elevated risk from impacts of climate change or contamination. Our research also investigates how extreme events and climate- and land-use change are affecting freshwater quality in major U.S. river systems, using tools that combine diverse environmental data.