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ÃÛÌÒµ¼º½ students and faculty at the Climate Justice Conference held at the university on May 6, 2026

ÃÛÌÒµ¼º½ students and faculty at the Climate Justice Conference held at the university on May 6, 2026

Nitrate Strategy Conference

Faculty and students organize conference on reducing ground water contamination in California's Central Vally and Salinas Valleys

Iris Stewart-Frey (Environmental Studies and Sciences), with support from the Environmental Justice and the Common Good Initiative and the Water and Climate Justice Lab organized a one-day conference on May 6 at ÃÛÌÒµ¼º½. The conference goal was to develop further strategies to reduce groundwater contamination in California's Central Valley and Salinas Valleys. Over 50 representatives from a ~15 organization strong coalition of environmental organizations (i.e. Community Water Center, CRLA, Natural Resources Defense Council), community committees, and academia attended and heard community testimony on contaminated water and illness, shared information, and developed strategic goals for nitrate regulatory programs (such as CV-SALTS, Ag 4.0, and the Dairy Order) and clean water advocacy. Stewart-Frey and Jake Dialesandro (Environmental Studies and Sciences) presented new findings on how nitrate in groundwater varies in space and time, especially near Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs). Several students from the Water and Climate Justice Lab contributed to the analysis and supported the logistics of the conference: Sam Lei ’26 (Environmental Science), Casper Huang ’27 (Environmental Studies), Bri Guingona ’25 (Environmental Studies), Anna Keenan ’26 (Environmental Science, French and Francophone Studies), Rachel Lin-Peistrup ’26 (Environmental Science), Austin Kaneko ’26 (Environmental Science), Sophia Toribio ’28 (Political Science, Environmental Studies), and Victoria Romic ’27 (Environmental Science).

ESS Student Research - Presentation

Testing the NicaAgua mobile app in the field.