EPIC: California State Water Resources Control Board, Office of Information Management and Analysis – Remote / Sacramento, CA

Job Title: California State Water Resources Control Board Intern

Department/Team: Office of Information Management and Analysis at the California State Water Resources Control Board

Location: Remote; option for hybrid in Sacramento, California

Duration: 35-40 hours per week for ten weeks over the summer

Reports to: Anna Holder (Open Data Science, Equity & Tribal Coordinator), Greg Gearhardt (Deputy Director), and/or Andrew Hamilton (Assistant Deputy Director)

Areas of Interest: Data science, water data accessibility, water data visualization and storytelling, tribal water data, data and equity

Summer 2023 Fellows:

Sam Prieto-Serrano, Josh Davenport

Summer 2024 Fellows:

Kevin Song

Summer 2025 Fellows:

Chloe Cheng

Office Description

The State Water Board’s mission is to preserve, enhance, and restore the quality of California’s water resources and drinking water for the protection of the environment, public health, and all beneficial uses, and to ensure proper water resource allocation and efficient use, for the benefit of present and future generations.

About the Office of Information Management and Analysis:

The Office of Information Management and Analysis (OIMA) was established in 2008 to serve as an advocate for data management, a bridge between data collectors and users, as well as provide transparency of the Water Board’s information management infrastructure. OIMA’s purpose is to empower & support people, so that our water data systems educate communities & inform decisions to protect the environment and public health.

The following four values are at the core of who we are as an office within the Water Boards, and how we work:

We build trust: we strive to be a trusted source of water data, information, and processes, and we invest the time and space required to build, rebuild, and maintain trusting relationships.
We adapt: we strive to be adaptable and innovative in how we work and the products, services, and resources we develop.
We work in partnership: collaboration and partnerships are key to who we are and how we work. We believe the way we work directly impacts what we produce.
We drive quality: we strive to produce quality information, data, products, and services. We know the quality of the systems and processes we use determine the outcomes we are able to achieve.

See the OIMA Values Statement for how each of these values have been operationalized into behaviors that we are all empowered, expected, and held accountable to demonstrating.

Description of the Work

Fellows typically select one or two projects to focus on during their 10-week fellowship. The fellow will be paired with a primary supervisor/mentor who will support the fellow throughout the fellowship and will help introduce the fellow to various collaborators and specialists on projects or other topics of interest. Fellows are asked to work independently and as part of teams with mentors and collaborators, with opportunities to co-work with team members, and present projects to OIMA management and staff for further feedback and guidance.

OIMA’s charge is to provide many options for candidate projects related to turning water data into useful information. Some of the candidate projects for the fellowship are described below, although it is important to note that we likely have many others for the fellow to choose from depending on their interests, skills, and start date.

Examples of specific projects and tools that past fellows have worked on include:

Development and iteration of a Tribal Water Data Map and associated User Manual to increase awareness of and access to the Water Board’s water data resources that intersect with Tribal matters and needs.
Revamp our Safe to Swim Map and associated documentation to make it more user friendly and improve communication / interpretation of data used in the map.

List of Potential Projects or Project Themes:

When onboarding new fellows and interns in our office, we try to match the skills, interests and focus of the people with our candidate projects. Projects continue to evolve and OIMA is confident we can find an exciting project centered around the work of the Water Boards and/or the California Water Quality Monitoring Council that will suit fellow interests and skill sets.

Below is a list of projects activities and themes that have been explored in past fellowships with OIMA, and could continue to be explored and worked on by future fellows:

Build on existing or develop new data tools that inform important intersections between water resource management and racial equity, tribal data, and public health (e.g., Tribal Water Data Map and User Manual, Safe to Swim Map)
Help manage data and increase the value and accessibility of the Water Board’s data via scripts and visualization software to transform and flow data towards open data publication sites to ensure Water Board data is available, reliable, consistent, accessible, secure, and timely.
Aid in the development of web services (e.g., application program interfaces, or APIs) and creation of public data products
Help improve how the Water Board’s monitoring programs collect, use, manage, and publish data
Help improve the Water Board’s data quality and how data quality is measured and communicated
Explore how to improve geospatial data related to public water systems or other Water Boards datasets
Design data storytelling projects around the data ecosystem(s) needed to inform on safety, reliability, and affordability in public water systems or other Water Boards topics

Some of the additional products our team has helped create can be seen in this year’s Water Quality Status Report, on our Webpage, and GitHub.

Desired Skills

In addition to a strong interest in water resources, water quality, and how human and environmental systems interact with water data, the successful candidate will have one or more of the following desired qualities, skills and abilities:

Ability or interest in engaging with the public using data or technology to address stakeholder interests and achieve outcomes
Ability to analyze data using various levels of data science skills to identify insights or build decision-support tools
Interest and ability to work on a team
Experience or interest in learning more about interest-based stakeholder processes
Experience or interest in building knowledge of watershed management principles and water quality assessment procedures and policies
Knowledge of current suite of methods and approaches needed to efficiently collect, store and make accessible data to inform management questions about bioaccumulation, bioassessment, ecological flows, watershed/stream health
Knowledge of principles and practices to apply statistics and biometry to the design and review of water quality monitoring programs aimed at answering complex management questions

Logistics:

EPIC fellows are required to work full-time (35-40 hours per week) for 10 weeks over the summer, and will receive a stipend of $8,000 - $9,500, depending on financial need. This stipend is intended to help cover living and transportation expenses during the fellowship, which the student is expected to arrange and coordinate.
Preferred start date is in mid-June 2026 (exact date to be agreed upon by you and the supervisor).