Education
Research Interests
Environmental justice, water access, water governance, geospatial analysis, political ecology, community-engaged scholarship
Research Description
I use mixed methods approaches to improve our understanding of the patterns and drivers of inequitable water access in efforts to provide organizers, advocates, and policymakers with the information needed to strengthen community-based solutions to longstanding water injustices. In recent research, I have used geospatial modeling and archival analysis to examine how land ownership patterns affect groundwater access and well drilling behavior, and I have characterized violations of the human right to water in rural and incarcerated communities. With the Water Equity Science Shop, I am creating tools to make drinking water data more accessible to policymakers and to community members reliant on domestic groundwater wells in California.
Selected Publications
Belfer, E. and Rempel, J. (2020). “Surfacing Overlying Rights: Assessing Transitions in Overlying Rights to California’s Groundwater Basins.” Master’s Thesis. Energy & Resources Group, University of California, Berkeley.