A reflection on the first 50 years of Water Resources Research

The year 2015 marks the 50th anniversary of Water Resources Research (WRR), which was founded in 1965. More than 15,000 papers have been published in WRR since its inception, and these papers have been cited more than 430,000 times. The history of hydrology and the water sciences are also reflected in WRR, which has served as a premier publication outlet and instigator of scientific growth over the last 50 years. The legacy of WRR provides a strong scientific foundation for the hydrology community to rise to the challenges of sustainable water resources management in a future where dramatic environmental change and increasing human population are expected to stress the world’s water resources from local to global scales.