Bio

A hydrologist and water resources specialist, Freyberg studies reservoir sedimentation and hydrology; surface water-ground water interactions, especially in reservoir/sediment systems; collaborative governance of trans-national water resources; and the design, scaling, and spatial structure of recycled water systems.

Academic Appointments

  • Emeritus Faculty, Acad Council, Civil and Environmental Engineering

Administrative Appointments

  • Co-director of Graduate Studies, Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering (2019 - Present)
  • Member, Stanford Faculty Senate (2017 - 2019)

Honors & Awards

  • Community Service Award, Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, Inc. (CUAHSI) (2014)
  • Eugene Grant Award for Excellence in Teaching, Eugene L. Grant (2009, 2019)
  • University Fellow in Undergraduate Education, Landreth Family (2002-2007)
  • Bing Teaching Fellow, Stanford University (1994)
  • Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, Tau Beta Pi (1993, 2009)
  • Presidential Young Investigator, National Science Foundation (1985-1990)

Boards, Advisory Committees, Professional Organizations

  • Member, Technical Advisory Committee, San Francisco Estuary Institute, Peninsula Watershed Historical Ecology Study (2017 - 2021)
  • Member, Environmental Engineering Program (1981 - Present)
  • Stanford Representative, Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, Inc. (CUAHSI) (2008 - Present)
  • Member, Education & Outreach Committee, Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, Inc. (CUAHSI) (2016 - Present)
  • Member, Advisory Board, NSF HydroLearn Project (2017 - Present)
  • Member, Technical Advisory Committee, Santa Clara Valley Urban Runoff Pollution Prevention Program, Stormwater Resource Program (2018 - Present)
  • Member, Science Advisory Panel, Sempervirens Fund (2018 - Present)

Program Affiliations

  • Center for East Asian Studies

Professional Education

  • PhD, Stanford University (1981)

Contact

  • Academic
    freyberg@stanford.edu
    University - Emeritus faculty Department: Civil and Environmental Engineering Position: Emeritus Faculty, Acad Council
    • 473 VIA ORTEGA
    • Rm 257
    • STANFORD,  California  94305 
    (650) 725-9720 (fax)

Additional Info

  • Mail Code: 4020

Current Research and Scholarly Interests

My students and I study sediment and water balances in aging reservoirs, collaborative governance of transnational fresh waters, the design of centralized and decentralized wastewater collection, treatment, and reuse systems in urban areas, and hydrologic ecosystem services in urban areas and in systems for which sediment production, transport, and deposition have significant consequences.

Our methods typically combine field data collection and analysis with numerical modeling, both of physical process models and systems models with optimization.

2024-25 Courses

Stanford Advisees

All Publications

  • Van Norman Complex Retrospective Risk Evaluation: Assessing the San Fernando Dam Performance during the San Fernando Earthquake McCann, M. W., Mehta, J., Davis, C. A., Freyberg, D. L., Davis, C. A., Yu, K., Taciroglu, E. AMER SOC CIVIL ENGINEERS. 2022: 13-24

    View details for Web of Science ID 000905068100002

  • Climate-informed hydrologic modeling and policy typology to guide managed aquifer recharge. Science advances He, X., Bryant, B. P., Moran, T., Mach, K. J., Wei, Z., Freyberg, D. L. 2021; 7 (17)

    Abstract

    Harvesting floodwaters to recharge depleted groundwater aquifers can simultaneously reduce flood and drought risks and enhance groundwater sustainability. However, deployment of this multibeneficial adaptation option is fundamentally constrained by how much water is available for recharge (WAFR) at present and under future climate change. Here, we develop a climate-informed and policy-relevant framework to quantify WAFR, its uncertainty, and associated policy actions. Despite robust and widespread increases in future projected WAFR in our case study of California (for 56/80% of subbasins in 2070-2099 under RCP4.5/RCP8.5), strong nonlinear interactions between diversion infrastructure and policy uncertainties constrain how much WAFR can be captured. To tap future elevated recharge potential through infrastructure expansion under deep uncertainties, we outline a novel robustness-based policy typology to identify priority areas of investment needs. Our WAFR analysis can inform effective investment decisions to adapt to future climate-fueled drought and flood risk over depleted aquifers, in California and beyond.

    View details for DOI 10.1126/sciadv.abe6025

    View details for PubMedID 33883132

  • A Retrospective Evaluation of the Performance of the Lower San Fernando Dam McCann, M. W., Mehta, J., Davis, C. A., Freyberg, D. L., Meehan, C. L., Pando, M. A., Leshchinsky, B. A., Jafari, N. H. AMER SOC CIVIL ENGINEERS. 2021: 89-100

    View details for Web of Science ID 000774216000010

  • Decision support toolkit for integrated analysis and design of reclaimed water infrastructure WATER RESEARCH Lee, E., Criddle, C. S., Geza, M., Cath, T. Y., Freyberg, D. L. 2018; 134: 234–52

    Abstract

    Planning of water reuse systems is a complex endeavor. We have developed a software toolkit, IRIPT (Integrated Urban Reclaimed Water Infrastructure Planning Toolkit) that facilitates planning and design of reclaimed water infrastructure for both centralized and hybrid configurations that incorporate satellite treatment plants (STPs). The toolkit includes a Pipeline Designer (PRODOT) that optimizes routing and sizing of pipelines for wastewater capture and reclaimed water distribution, a Selector (SelWTP) that assembles and optimizes wastewater treatment trains, and a Calculator (CalcBenefit) that estimates fees, revenues, and subsidies of alternative designs. For hybrid configurations, a Locator (LocSTP) optimizes siting of STPs and associated wastewater diversions by identifying manhole locations where the flowrates are sufficient to ensure that wastewater extracted and treated at an adjacent STP can generate the revenue needed to pay for treatment and delivery to customers. Practical local constraints are also applied to screen and identify STP locations. Once suitable sites are selected, System Integrator (ToolIntegrator) identifies a set of centralized and hybrid configurations that: (1) maximize reclaimed water supply, (2) maximize reclaimed water supply while also ensuring a financial benefit for the system, and (3) maximize the net financial benefit for the system. The resulting configurations are then evaluated by an Analyst (SANNA) that uses monetary and non-monetary criteria, with weights assigned to appropriate metrics by a decision-maker, to identify a preferred configuration. To illustrate the structure, assumptions, and use of IRIPT, we apply it to a case study for the city of Golden, CO. The criteria weightings provided by a local decision-maker lead to a preference for a centralized configuration in this case. The Golden case study demonstrates that IRIPT can efficiently analyze centralized and hybrid water reuse configurations and rank them according to decision-makers' preferences.

    View details for PubMedID 29427965

  • Reachability Analysis as a Design Tool for Stormwater Systems Chapman, M. P., Smith, K. M., Cheng, V., Freyberg, D. L., Tomlin, C. J., IEEE IEEE. 2018: 165–72

    View details for Web of Science ID 000469109500034

  • Historical Analysis of Hydraulic Bridge Collapses in the Continental United States JOURNAL OF INFRASTRUCTURE SYSTEMS Flint, M. M., Fringer, O., Billington, S. L., Freyberg, D., Diffenbaugh, N. S. 2017; 23 (3)

    View details for DOI 10.1061/(ASCE)IS.1943-555X.0000354

    View details for Web of Science ID 000400524200015

  • An integrated planning tool for design of recycled water distribution networks ENVIRONMENTAL MODELLING & SOFTWARE Lee, E. J., Freyberg, D. L., Criddle, C. S. 2016; 84: 311-325

    View details for DOI 10.1016/j.envsoft.2016.07.004

    View details for Web of Science ID 000385595200024

  • Impacts of Land-Use Change on Groundwater Supply: Ecosystem Services Assessment in Kona, Hawaii JOURNAL OF WATER RESOURCES PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT Brauman, K. A., Freyberg, D. L., Daily, G. C. 2015; 141 (12)

    View details for DOI 10.1061/(ASCE)WR.1943-5452.0000495

    View details for Web of Science ID 000365122000001

  • Estimating aquifer recharge in fractured hard rock: analysis of the methodological challenges and application to obtain a water balance (Jaisamand Lake Basin, India) HYDROGEOLOGY JOURNAL Rohde, M. M., Edmunds, W. M., Freyberg, D., Sharma, O. P., Sharma, A. 2015; 23 (7): 1573-1586

    View details for DOI 10.1007/s10040-015-1291-9

    View details for Web of Science ID 000363550100017

  • Fog, fog drip, and streamflow in the Santa Cruz Mountains of the California Coast Range ECOHYDROLOGY Sawaske, S. R., Freyberg, D. L. 2015; 8 (4): 695-713

    View details for DOI 10.1002/eco.1537

    View details for Web of Science ID 000356628900013

  • An analysis of trends in baseflow recession and low-flows in rain-dominated coastal streams of the pacific coast JOURNAL OF HYDROLOGY Sawaske, S. R., Freyberg, D. L. 2014; 519: 599-610

    View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2014.07.046

    View details for Web of Science ID 000347589500049

  • Assessing the scale of resource recovery for centralized and satellite wastewater treatment. Environmental science & technology Lee, E. J., Criddle, C. S., Bobel, P., Freyberg, D. L. 2013; 47 (19): 10762-10770

    Abstract

    Wastewater treatment to recover water, energy, and other resources is largely carried out at centralized treatment facilities. An alternative is local treatment at satellite facilities where wastewater is removed from a collection system, resources are recovered locally, and the residuals are returned to the collection system. Satellite systems decrease the pipe and energy required for delivery of treated water and may decrease cost. But decisions regarding the geographic scale of resource recovery require consideration of many criteria. In this study, we rank water and energy recovery options for a simplified test case at three scale configurations: a centralized configuration and two hybrid configurations. We first choose criteria for decision-making. Quantitative performance metrics are defined for each criterion, weighted, and computed for each configuration. We then rank configurations. Rankings depend upon the decision-making strategy. For our test case, though, several strategies yield the same top-ranked configuration: a hybrid where communities close to the centralized facility use centralized resource recovery; communities far from the centralized facility use satellite resource recovery. Our ranking is sensitive to initial investment cost for satellite treatment. The results underscore the importance of cost-effective treatment systems and of an accurate and comprehensive analysis of design components.

    View details for DOI 10.1021/es401011k

    View details for PubMedID 23930682

  • Land cover effects on groundwater recharge in the tropics: ecohydrologic mechanisms ECOHYDROLOGY Brauman, K. A., Freyberg, D. L., Daily, G. C. 2012; 5 (4): 435-444

    View details for DOI 10.1002/eco.236

    View details for Web of Science ID 000307882700007

  • Potential evapotranspiration from forest and pasture in the tropics: A case study in Kona, Hawai ' i JOURNAL OF HYDROLOGY Brauman, K. A., Freyberg, D. L., Daily, G. C. 2012; 440: 52-61

    View details for DOI 10.1016/j.Thydrol.2012.03.014

    View details for Web of Science ID 000304514000005

  • A comparison of past small dam removals in highly sediment-impacted systems in the U.S. GEOMORPHOLOGY Sawaske, S. R., Freyberg, D. L. 2012; 151: 50-58

    View details for DOI 10.1016/j.geomorph.2012.01.013

    View details for Web of Science ID 000302427200005

  • Retention of nutrients and sediment by vegetation NATURAL CAPITAL: THEORY & PRACTICE OF MAPPING ECOSYSTEM SERVICES Conte, M., Ennaanay, D., Mendoza, G., Walter, M., Wolny, S., Freyberg, D., Nelson, E., Solorzano, L., Kareiva, P., Tallis, H., Ricketts, T. H., Daily, G. C., Polasky, S. 2011: 89-110

    View details for Web of Science ID 000355681600007

  • Water supply as an ecosystem service for hydropower and irrigation NATURAL CAPITAL: THEORY & PRACTICE OF MAPPING ECOSYSTEM SERVICES Mendoza, G., Ennaanay, D., Conte, M., Walter, M., Freyberg, D., Wolny, S., Hay, L., White, S., Nelson, E., Solorzano, L., Kareiva, P., Tallis, H., Ricketts, T. H., Daily, G. C., Polasky, S. 2011: 53-72

    View details for Web of Science ID 000355681600005

  • Forest structure influences on rainfall partitioning and cloud interception: A comparison of native forest sites in Kona, Hawai'i AGRICULTURAL AND FOREST METEOROLOGY Brauman, K. A., Freyberg, D. L., Daily, G. C. 2010; 150 (2): 265-275

    View details for DOI 10.1016/j.agrformet.2009.11.011

    View details for Web of Science ID 000274871800013

  • The Effect of Social Presence on Affective and Cognitive Learning in an International Engineering Course Taught via Distance Learning JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING EDUCATION Mackey, K. R., Freyberg, D. L. 2010; 99 (1): 23-34

    View details for Web of Science ID 000274072300003

  • Implementing Hydrologic Boundary Conditions in a Multiphysics Model JOURNAL OF HYDROLOGIC ENGINEERING Chui, T. F., Freyberg, D. L. 2009; 14 (12): 1374-1377

    View details for DOI 10.1061/(ASCE)HE.1943-5584.0000113

    View details for Web of Science ID 000271912900013

  • Simulating a lake as a high-conductivity variably saturated porous medium GROUND WATER Chui, T. F., Freyberg, D. L. 2008; 46 (5): 688-694

    Abstract

    One approach for simulating ground water-lake interactions is to incorporate the lake into the ground water solution domain as a high-conductivity region. Previous studies have developed this approach using fully saturated models. This study extends this approach to variably saturated models, so that ground water-lake interactions may be more easily simulated with commonly used or public domain variably saturated codes that do not explicitly support coupled lake-water balance modeling. General guidelines are developed for the choices of saturated hydraulic conductivity and moisture retention and relative permeability curves for the lake region. When applied to an example ground water-lake system, model results are very similar to those from a model in which the lake is represented as a specified head boundary continuously updated by a lake mass balance. The high-conductivity region approach is most suitable for relatively simple geometries and lakes with slower and smaller fluctuations when the overall flow pattern and system fluxes, rather than the detailed flow pattern around the intersection of the lake and land surfaces, are of interest.

    View details for DOI 10.1111/j.1745-6584.2008.00463.x

    View details for Web of Science ID 000259193300006

    View details for PubMedID 18624695

  • Hydrostratigraphy and geochemistry at a coastal sandfill in Singapore HYDROGEOLOGY JOURNAL Chua, L. H., Lo, E. Y., Freyberg, D. L., Shuy, E. B., Lim, T. T., Tan, S. K., Ngonidzashe, M. 2007; 15 (8): 1591-1604

    View details for DOI 10.1007/s10040-007-0195-8

    View details for Web of Science ID 000251144400011

  • On using the equivalent conductivity to characterize solute spreading in environments with low-permeability lenses WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH Guswa, A. J., Freyberg, D. L. 2002; 38 (8)

    View details for DOI 10.1029/2001WR000528

    View details for Web of Science ID 000179003000014

  • Slow advection and diffusion through low permeability inclusions JOURNAL OF CONTAMINANT HYDROLOGY Guswa, A. J., Freyberg, D. L. 2000; 46 (3-4): 205-232

    View details for Web of Science ID 000166218900001

  • Solute transport at the borden field experiment: Grain- and field-scale rate limitations 27th Congress of the International-Association-for-Hydraulic-Research Cunningham, J., FREYBERG, D., Roberts, P. AMER SOC CIVIL ENGINEERS. 1997: 65–70

    View details for Web of Science ID 000078867000010

  • UPSCALED SOIL-WATER RETENTION USING VAN GENUCHTEN'S FUNCTION JOURNAL OF HYDROLOGIC ENGINEERING Green, T. R., Constantz, J. E., Freyberg, D. L. 1996; 1 (3): 123-130

    View details for Web of Science ID 000207774100004

  • Use of sedimentological information for geometric simulation of natural porous media structure WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH Scheibe, T. D., Freyberg, D. L. 1995; 31 (12): 3259-3270

    View details for Web of Science ID A1995TK64700032

  • STATE-DEPENDENT ANISOTROPY - COMPARISONS OF QUASI-ANALYTICAL SOLUTIONS WITH STOCHASTIC RESULTS FOR STEADY GRAVITY DRAINAGE WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH Green, T. R., Freyberg, D. L. 1995; 31 (9): 2201-2211

    View details for Web of Science ID A1995RT30100007

  • EFFICIENT SIMULATION OF SINGLE-SPECIES AND MULTISPECIES TRANSPORT IN GROUNDWATER WITH LOCAL ADAPTIVE-GRID REFINEMENT WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH Wolfsberg, A. V., Freyberg, D. L. 1994; 30 (11): 2979-2991

    View details for Web of Science ID A1994PP21300011

  • SIMULATION OF ONE-DIMENSIONAL CORRELATED FIELDS USING A MATRIX-FACTORIZATION MOVING AVERAGE APPROACH MATHEMATICAL GEOLOGY Black, T. C., Freyberg, D. L. 1990; 22 (1): 39-62

    View details for Web of Science ID A1990CH89500003

  • AN EXERCISE IN GROUNDWATER MODEL CALIBRATION AND PREDICTION GROUND WATER Freyberg, D. L. 1988; 26 (3): 350-360

    View details for Web of Science ID A1988N425100010

  • STOCHASTIC MODELING OF VERTICALLY AVERAGED CONCENTRATION UNCERTAINTY IN A PERFECTLY STRATIFIED AQUIFER WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH Black, T. C., Freyberg, D. L. 1987; 23 (6): 997-1004

    View details for Web of Science ID A1987H782600003

  • A NATURAL GRADIENT EXPERIMENT ON SOLUTE TRANSPORT IN A SAND AQUIFER .1. APPROACH AND OVERVIEW OF PLUME MOVEMENT WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH Mackay, D. M., Freyberg, D. L., Roberts, P. V. 1986; 22 (13): 2017-2029

    View details for Web of Science ID A1986F309300025

  • A NATURAL GRADIENT EXPERIMENT ON SOLUTE TRANSPORT IN A SAND AQUIFER .2. SPATIAL MOMENTS AND THE ADVECTION AND DISPERSION OF NONREACTIVE TRACERS WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH Freyberg, D. L. 1986; 22 (13): 2031-2046

    View details for Web of Science ID A1986F309300026

  • MODELING THE EFFECTS OF A TIME-DEPENDENT WETTED-PERIMETER ON INFILTRATION FROM EPHEMERAL CHANNELS WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH Freyberg, D. L. 1983; 19 (2): 559-566

    View details for Web of Science ID A1983QV00300030

  • APPLICATION OF THE GREEN-AMPT MODEL TO INFILTRATION UNDER TIME-DEPENDENT SURFACE-WATER DEPTHS WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH Freyberg, D. L., Reeder, J. W., FRANZINI, J. B., Remson, I. 1980; 16 (3): 517-528

    View details for Web of Science ID A1980JY13400009

  • INFILTRATION UNDER RAPIDLY VARYING SURFACE-WATER DEPTHS WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH Reeder, J. W., Freyberg, D. L., FRANZINI, J. B., Remson, I. 1980; 16 (1): 97-104

    View details for Web of Science ID A1980JN06500009