Carolina Balazs

PhD, Energy and Resources; University of California Berkeley

MS, Energy and Resources; University of California, Berkeley

BS, Environmental Science; Brown University

drinking water, water justice, environmental health, environmental justice, California water, human right to water

I am a Research Scientist for the California Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA). My research focuses on exposure to drinking water contaminants and the environmental justice implications of this work. I am passionate about working with local communities to address and solve drinking water quality problems using participatory research methods and collaborative approaches. I have worked for over a decade with non-profit organizations, academics and state agencies conducting community engaged water equity research in both California and Latin America. I am the lead on OEHHA’s human right to water work and co-lead the SRP’s Water Equity Science Shop. Prior to joining OEHHA I was a post-doctoral scholar at UC Davis and worked as a Research Scientist with the Community Water Center. I hold a PhD and Masters from UC Berkeley focused on water resources management and environmental health, and a BS in Environmental Science from Brown University.

1. Lubell, M.N. and Balazs, C. Adaptive Governance and Integrated Water Resources, in The Oxford Manual on Water Politics and Policy. 2018.

2. Ranganathan, M and Balazs, C. 2015, Drinking Water Marginalization at the Urban Fringe: Learning Across the North-South Divide. Urban Geography. 36:3, 403-423.

3. Balazs, C and Lubell, M. 2014. Water Justice and Social Learning: The Case of the Upper Kings Basin. Water Policy Special Issue on Justice in Water Governance. 16: 97-120.

4. Balazs, C and Ray, I. 2014. The Drinking Water Disparities Framework: On the Origins and Persistence of Inequities in Exposure, American Journal of Public Health, 104(4): 603-611.

5. Balazs, C and Morello-Frosch, R. 2013. The Three R’s: How Community Based Participatory Research Strengthens the Rigor, Relevance and Reach of Science. Environmental Justice, 1(6): 9-14.

6. Balazs, C., Morello-Frosch, R, Hubbard, A and Ray, I. 2012. Environmental justice implications of arsenic contamination in California’s San Joaquin Valley: a cross-sectional, cluster-design examining exposure and compliance in community drinking water systems. Environmental Health, 11(84): 2-12.

7. Balazs, C., Morello-Frosch, R, Hubbard, A and Ray, I. Just Water? 2011. Social Disparities in Nitrate Contaminated Drinking Water in California’s Central Valley. Environmental Health Perspectives.

UC Presidential Post-Doctoral Fellowship (2013)

Switzer Environmental Leadership Grant for work with Community Water Center (2012)

Switzer Environmental Leadership Fellowship for graduate studies (2009-2010)

National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (2007-2010)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency STAR Graduate Fellowship (2006-2009)

Fulbright Fellowship for study in Bolivia (2002-2003)