Abstract
Global freshwater resources are increasingly strained in many regions, driven by agricultural expansion, population growth, energy production, and climate change. Research in water science and management seeks to address challenges that industrialized societies face to ensure water of sufficient quality and quantity. What themes have been prominent in water research in past decades and how have these themes changed over time? While the field of water management has often relied on expert judgement to identify research needs, recent analytical tools provide novel opportunities to evaluate the evolution of research priorities in water management. This paper presents a thematic analysis of water research projects in California using keyword analysis with Natural Language Processing models and a database of fifty years of funded research. Results indicate that some themes, such as groundwater management, have remained consistent over time, while others, including aquatic ecosystem management, have emerged more recently with recognized environmental degradation. Research has appeared to respond to changes in water policy priorities and climate variability, with drought-related research projects corresponding to periods of significant drought in California. The analysis demonstrates a replicable methodology for evaluating research themes and outcomes in water research using inductive thematic analysis, which can be applied to more examples from Water Resources Research Act funded projects and other water research initiatives.
