What We Do
The Columbia Water Center combines multidisciplinary academic research with solutions-based fieldwork to develop and test creative responses to water challenges around the world.
In collaboration with other Earth Institute units and external partners, the CWC is leading intellectual inquiry into the assessment, understanding and resolution of the most pressing global water issues.
Water Risk & Security ● Floods ● Global initiatives ● Global Climate Forecasts
Basic & Applied Research
Researchers at the Columbia Water Center pose and explore critical questions at the nexus of water-climate-food-energy-materials-infrastructure in the context of social, ecological and financial outcomes. They do it with hydrologic and climate modeling, risk analytics, infrastructure systems and financial modeling.
Field Projects
The CWC engages with governments, corporates or NGOs to develop technical and policy solutions to specific problems.
Thought Leadership
The CWC convenes and joins focused meetings and webinars and disseminates research through publications, blogs, and interviews in different media. It also serves as advisor to federal, state, and city governments, and to development banks, public and private corporations.
Where We Are
To address the globally interconnected character of the world’s water crisis, CWC has assembled expert teams in key hot spots around the world, directed by a core group of researchers at Columbia University in New York.