Jay Lund notes that agricultural water needs are vastly greater than urban water needs. As Director of the Center for Watershed Sciences at UC Davis, Lund's research interest is in the application of systems analysis and economic methods to public works problems. He has led development and application of a large-scale optimization modeling for California's water supply. Outside of California, he has been involved in optimization modeling of other major river systems, including the Columbia River system, the Missouri River system and the Panama Canal.

Lund is co-author of several books and reports on the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, published by the Public Policy Institute of California and University of California Press.