CITRIS PI and UC Merced associate professor of environmental engineering Josué Medellín-Azuara led a report, co-authored by Joshua Viers, campus director of CITRIS at UC Merced, that measured the financial impact of the 2021 drought in California at over $1.1 billion dollars.
Considering other economic sectors, the total impact is estimated to be upwards of $1.7 billion.