From his office in the Davis, California David Purkey leads the Water Group within the US Center, with staff located in both the Somerville, Massachusetts and Davis office. 

He also serves as the theme leader of Managing Environmental Systems.  Much of his work centers around the development, dissemination and application of SEI's Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) system. His research interests include understanding the potential impacts of and adaptation to climate change in the water sector and aquatic ecosystems, integrated water resources management that focuses on linking the management of surface water and groundwater to meet a broad spectrum of objectives, and equitable management of transboundary water resources. David and his team are experienced in applying a range of hydrologic, hydraulic, and planning models in setting as diversion as California, the US-Mexico border, the Great Lakes, and West and Southern Africa, and Latin America.

David received his Ph.D. in hydrology from the University of California, Davis in 1998 and holds a B.A. in Geology for Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota.

Publications

• Irrigation demand and supply, given projections of climate and land-use change, in Yolo County, California (Journal article - 2013)

• Scenario-based water resources planning for utilities in the Lake Victoria region (Journal article - 2013)

• Integrated assessment of policy interventions for promoting sustainable irrigation in semi-arid environments: A hydro-economic modeling approach (Journal article - 2013)

• Water Management Adaptations to Prevent Loss of Spring-Run Chinook Salmon in California under Climate Change (Journal article - 2012)

• Water in a Low-Carbon Economy: Resource Scarcity, Climate Change and Business in a Finite World (Policy brief) (Policy brief - 2012)

• Water for Electricity: Resource Scarcity, Climate Change and Business in a Finite World (Project report - 2012)

• Integrating the WEAP and LEAP systems to support planning and analysis at the water-energy nexus (Fact sheet - 2012)

• Simulating the implications of glaciers’ retreat for water management: a case study in the Rio Santa basin, Peru (Journal article - 2012)

• Un Marco de Apoyo a la Toma de Decisiones para Adaptación al Cambio Climático (Report - 2012)

• Modelling the hydrologic role of glaciers within a Water Evaluation and Planning System (WEAP): A case study in the Rio Santa watershed (Peru) (Journal article - 2011)

Complete list of publications »

Projects

• Economic Assessment of Climate Change Linking WEAP to an Agricultural Production Model

  
  

• Water Resources Planning through Climate Change Capacity Building: “Ríos del páramo al valle, por urbes y campiñas”

  
  

• Improving Water Productivity and Reducing Water-Related Conflict in the Andes

  
  

• Reducing Climate Vulnerability through Adaptation in Planning Process in La Paz-El Alto, Bolivia

  
  

• Modeling the role of páramo in mountain hydrology under climate change

  
  

• Afghanistan Development Planning: WEAP Scenario Analysis for Robust Decision Making Under Uncertainty

  
  

• The Water-Energy-Food Nexus in the Inter American Development Bank's 2011 Sustainability Report

  
  

• 3C - Resource scarcity

  
  

• Removing Barriers to Effective Integrated Water Resources Management

  
  

• Quantifying climate change impacts on water resources

  
  

• The California climate change initiative

  
  

• Support for a national water plan in the Dominican Republic

  
  

• Protecting Chinook Salmon in California

  
  

• Agent-Based Modeling for Water Resources Planning

  
  

• Integrating Surface Water and Groundwater into a Single Water Resources Modeling Tool for California

  
  

• Adapting to the Loss of Glaciers in the Peruvian Andes

  
  

• Agricultural Adaptation Strategies for Climate Change in California

  
  

• Updating the California Water Plan

  
  

• Decision Support for Water Resource Policy in South Africa

  
  

• Preventing Loss of Ecosystem Services Provided by Chinook Salmon in California

  
  

• Sharpening Drought Plans for Climate Change

  
  

• Climate change in the Sierra Nevada mountains: Implications for the management of hydropower facilities and aquatic ecosystems

  
  

• Supporting Long-Term Water Management Negotiations in the Klamath River Basin

  
  

• WEAP: Water Evaluation And Planning System

  
  

• Integrating Water Supply Planning and Ecological Flow Requirements

  
  

• Impacts of small reservoirs on livelihoods and food security

  
  

• Decision making and Climate Change

  
  

• The Netherlands Climate Assistance Programme (NCAP)