California Water Data Hackathon

The Division of Data Science at UC Berkeley is collaborating with the state of California and the Whitehouse CEQ to challenge students on finding innovative ways to increase community access to safe drinking water,  vulnerabilities, and identify and deploy solutions. Join us at the Berkeley Institute for Data Science on Friday and Saturday, September 7th-8th for a fun and incredible learning experience with speakers from the state and data professionals. 

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On any given day in California, around 200,000 Californians turn on their taps and the water that comes out is unsafe to drink and may be unsafe to use for basic needs like bathing. Annually, up to 1 million Californians lack access to clean, safe drinking water at some point during the year. Droughts and other disruptions in water supply can limit or eliminate access to safe drinking water for days, months, or years. Some communities have been exposed to unsafe water for more than a decade.

Small water systems and domestic well users are particularly vulnerable to disruptions in their access to safe drinking water. While the most publicized examples are in rural areas of the state, delivering sufficient, safe, and affordable drinking water poses a challenge to small systems and domestic well users in almost every region of the state. Many of the most vulnerable systems and domestic well users rely primarily on groundwater for their water supply.