Science and Public Policy, published by Oxford Journals, is a leading international journal on public policies for science, technology and innovation. It covers all types of science and technology in both developed and developing countries.

DCDC publications having an impact include the following articles published in Science and Public Policy in 2010 and 2011 that were most cited during 2012.

Dave D. White, Amber Wutich, Kelli L. Larson, Patricia Gober, Timothy Lant and Clea Senneville.2010. Credibility, salience, and legitimacy of boundary objects: water managers’ assessment of a simulation model in an immersive decision theater. Science and Public Policy 37(3):219-232.

Abstract

The connection between scientific knowledge and environmental policy is enhanced through boundary organizations and objects that are perceived to be credible, salient, and legitimate. In this study, water resource decision makers evaluated the knowledge embedded in WaterSim, an interactive simulation model of water supply and demand presented in an immersive decision theater. Content analysis of individual responses demonstrated that stakeholders were fairly critical of the model’s validity, relevance, and bias. Differing perspectives reveal tradeoffs in achieving credible, salient, and legitimate boundary objects, along with the need for iterative processes that engage them in the co-production of knowledge and action.

Sonia Talwar, Arnim Wiek and John Robinson. 2011. User engagement in sustainability research. Science and Policy (38)5:379-390.

Abstract

User engagement, stakeholder involvement, and public consultation in sustainability research have received increased attention over the last decade. Key driving factors behind this are that social outcomes, policy relevance, and user engagement have all become requirements for securing research funding. Many articles have provided compelling arguments for the need to reconsider why, when and how users are engaged within the research process. We propose a typology of user engagement strategies in research, focusing on the actual research process and emphasizing types of engagement in research. We illustrate these types with a comparative analysis of empirical examples from three interactive sustainability research projects, based in Canada and Switzerland. The article discusses the challenges that require a reconfiguration of institutional and organizational structures to seize the full potential of interactive sustainability research.

By Fernanda Santos of The New York Times

June 16, 2013

PHOENIX — The hiss of sprinklers serenades improbably green neighborhoods early in the morning and late at night, the moisture guarding against the oppressive heat. This is the time of year when temperatures soar, water consumption spikes and water bills skyrocket in this city, particularly for those whose idea of desert living includes cultivating a healthy expanse of grass.

Half of the water consumed in homes here is used to irrigate lawns, but there is a certain curiosity about the way water is used in Phoenix, which gets barely eight inches of rain a year but is not necessarily parched.

The per capita consumption here, 108 gallons a day, is less than in Los Angeles, where residents average 123 gallons a day. And though humid Southeastern cities like Atlanta have grappled with recurrent water shortages, there is no limit here to how many times someone can wash a car or water flowers in a yard.

“We’re often maligned as being an unsustainable place simply for existing in an arid climate,” said Colin Tetreault, senior policy adviser for sustainability for Mayor Greg Stanton. “But that’s just myopic.”

Phoenix gathers its water from several places. It relies on melting snow in the north to feed the rivers that supply its water system: the Salt and the Verde, which begin and end in Arizona, and the overstretched Colorado, which slices the Southwest. It pumps from aquifers, strained by development over time, and then works to replenish them whenever water is in surplus, which happens occasionally.

To irrigate its many golf courses, it reuses most of the water drained from bathroom faucets and washing machines. It uses treated wastewater to cool a nuclear power generating station and to feed a man-made wetland complex known as Tres Rios, home to more than 150 species of birds.

A system of canals crisscrosses the city and stretches beyond its boundaries, a legacy of the prehistoric Hohokam Indians that allowed fertile farms to flourish in the desert. To this day, half of all the water used in the Sun Corridor, the area from Phoenix to Tucson, goes to agriculture, according to a 2011 report by the Morrison Institute for Public Policy at Arizona State University. Steadily, though, much of the farmland has given way to development.

Figuring out how water will be used here is like solving a puzzle speckled with blank pieces, in which the unknowns are the housing market and climate change.

Water managers weigh wet and dry cycles over the past 100 years against climate change models designed in the previous year and demographic projections. They also analyze the way parcels of land are zoned to make assumptions about how water will be used.

Over all, demand for water has declined steadily in this and in many other metropolitan areas, because of water-efficient technologies like low-flow toilets, and stricter building codes. Still, the draining of rivers and other water sources — from overdevelopment, poor management, climate change or a little bit of all of these — has forced communities to rethink their strategies. Some have used money as the main incentive to get people to give up their addiction to turf.

Tucson, where grass is hard to find and true desert living is a source of pride among residents, consumes less water than Phoenix, but it has a bigger problem. The city relies heavily on a dwindling supply of groundwater. To safeguard its supply, the city has an aggressive conservation campaign that includes rebates for residents who harvest rainwater or use water reclaimed from bathroom faucets for landscaping.

The city of Mesa pays residents $500 for every 500 square feet of grass they remove from their yards. Scottsdale, which has the highest per-person water consumption among Arizona’s cities, offers at least $125 for removing the same amount. Las Vegas pays $1.50 a square foot of grass replaced by landscaping appropriate for dry regions.

Phoenix, where water consumption is down from 250 daily gallons a person in 1990, does not have rebate programs. “It costs all the taxpayers money if you do that kind of thing,” said its deputy water services director, Brandy Kelso.

“I don’t want to mean that we don’t do conservation,” Ms. Kelso added. “We just approach it differently.”

A modest list of zoning and other rules — controlling responsibilities over leak repairs, limiting the amount of potable water used to irrigate 10 or more acres of grass, and imposing restrictions on the types of plants allowed in certain public rights of way, to name a few — have helped the city evenly reduce indoor water use over time, she said.

Reductions in outdoor use have been much less homogeneous, though. Affluent neighborhoods like Arcadia, a former citrus grove on the eastern edge of the city, remain lush oases. But in Phoenix’s outer ring, where most new housing has sprouted, grass has largely given way to rocks and dirt.

Master-plan communities like Fireside at Norterra, in the city’s northern fringe, go as far as regulating the kinds of trees, shrubs and flowers that can be planted.

“You may want to plant begonias,” Tamara Swanson, the development’s general manager, recalled having told prospective buyers, “but they wouldn’t do well here anyway.”

But is green in the desert a bad thing? Not necessarily. Dave D. White, a director of the National Science Foundation’s Decision Center for a Desert City, which studies water management decisions in central Arizona, said grass “cools off the landscape” and trees provide shade.

The idea, Dr. White said, is striking the right balance between conservation and growth. In the verdant corners of Phoenix, he and other researchers are looking at whether a homeowner’s switch to desert landscaping might cause a ripple effect that would eventually change the neighborhood.

“There’s a need to use water to make our community livable, but in an intelligent way that thinks about long-term sustainability,” he said. “Because there’s no new supply out there.”

View the article at The New York Times.

On May 1, 2013, students engaged in DCDC education programs participated in our annual poster symposium. Graduate students from the Community of Graduate Scholars program, undergraduate interns from the Internship for Science-Practice Integration program, and undergraduates working with faculty researchers as Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU’s) presented their research results.

CGS Posters

Farmers’ Resilience to Socio-Ecological Change in Central Arizona [poster]
– Julia C. Bausch (CGS), Cathy Rubiños, Hallie Eakin, Abigail York, and Rimjhim Aggarwal

Quenching our Thirst: Future Scenarios of Water in Phoenix [poster]
– Lauren Withycombe Keeler (CGS), Arnim Wiek, Dave White, Ray Quay, David Sampson, and John Quinn

Fostering Perspective-Taking in Collaborative Decision Making through an Interactive Computer Simulation [poster]
– Rashmi Krishnamurthy (CGS), Erik W. Johnston, Manikandan Vijayakumar (CGS), and Ajay Vinze

Actual vs. Perceived Amounts of De facto Wastewater Reuse in the Continental United States [poster]
– Jacelyn Rice (CGS) and Paul Westerhoff

Cross-cultural Perspectives on Uncertainty in Climate Science: Preliminary Results from DCDC and the Global Ethnohydrology Study [poster]
– Jose Rosales Chavez (CGS), Amber Wutich, Dave White, Kelli Larson, and Alexandra Brewis

Uncertainty Frames in Water Policy Debates [poster]
– Dave White and V. Kelly Turner (CGS)

Sustainability, Collaboration and Uncertainty: A Scenario Based Evaluation of Water Issues for Desert Cities Using Computer Simulation [poster]
– Manikandan Vijayakumar (CGS), Erik Johnston, Rashmi Krishnamurthy (CGS), and Ajay Vinze

Using Structured Discussions to Explore Cross-Cutting Themes in Research at the Decision Center for a Desert City – Community of Graduate Scholars Group Poster [poster]
– Julia C. Bausch, Jacelyn Rice, Jose Rosales Chavez, Lauren Withycombe Keeler, Rashmi Krishnamurthy, Rebecca Neel, Jorge Cazáres Rodriguez, V. Kelly Turner, and Manikandan Vijayakumar

ISPI Posters

Residential Landscaping Decisions and Water Usage in the City of Phoenix [poster]
– Emily Allen, ISPI Intern with the City of Phoenix
– Doug Frost, Mentor, City of Phoenix
– Elizabeth Wentz, ASU Faculty Mentor

Analysis of Water Consumption Trends in the City of Goodyear [poster]
– Christopher Berg, ISPI Intern with the City of Goodyear
– Mark Holmes, Mentor, City of Goodyear
– Ray Quay, ASU Faculty Mentor

Implementation of Low Impact Development Paving Strategies in Central Arizona [poster]
– Erin Brechbiel, ISPI Intern with the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension
– Summer Waters, Mentor, U of A Cooperative Extension
– Abigail York, ASU Faculty Mentor

Potential Attributes of Water Use Variation in Mixed Use Residential Landscapes [poster]
– Joseph Hennessy, ISPI Intern with the City of Phoenix
– Douglas Frost and Adam Miller, Mentors, City of Phoenix
– Dave White, ASU Faculty Mentor

Modeling Well Specific Pumping at the Provider Level [poster]
– Taylor Ketchum, ISPI Intern with Arizona Department of Water Resources
– Dale Mason and Frank Corkhill, Mentors, Arizona Department of Water Resources
– David Sampson, ASU Faculty Mentor

Criteria-Based Risk Assessment for Sustainable Water Quality in Municipal Wells [poster]
– Samantha Kohlwey, ISPI Intern with the City of Mesa
– Brian Draper and Colette Moore, Mentors, City of Mesa
– Ray Quay, ASU Faculty Mentor

Complexities of Analyzing the Water/Energy Nexus in Small Hillside Water Distribution Systems [poster]
– Winnie (Ching Yan) Lau, ISPI Intern with the City of Phoenix
– Andy Terrey, Mentor, City of Phoenix
– Benjamin Ruddell, ASU Faculty Mentor

Effective Engagements at the Rio Salado Habitat Restoration Area [poster]
– Martin Montes de Oca, ISPI Intern with the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension
– Summer Waters, Mentor, University of Arizona Cooperative Extension
– Monica Elser, ASU Faculty Mentor

Effectiveness of the Modified Field Trip Curriculum: Teaching the Importance of Good Conservation Habits [poster]
– Andrew Wittig, ISPI Intern with Audubon Arizona
– Lyana Guevara, Mentor, Audubon Arizona
– Joni Adamson and Monica Elser, ASU Faculty Mentors

REU Posters

When Scientists Disagree: How We Frame Uncertainty Influences Public Trust of Science [poster]
– Rebecca Neel, Nicholas Murtha (REU), Susan Ledlow, Steven Neuberg, and Douglas Kenrick

The Future of Water in the Desert: Convergence and Divergence between Decision Makers and Students [poster]
– John Quinn (REU), Dave White, Lauren Withycombe Keeler, Arnim Wiek, and Kelli Larson

The Upside of Flip-Flopping: How Former Skeptics Can Shift Public Opinion on Climate Change [poster]
– Megan Ringel (REU), Rebecca Neel, Jaimie Krems, and Steven Neuberg

The Future of Arizona’s Forests: Anticipating the effects of climate change and fire on water sustainability

Arizona’s forests are not only mountain playgrounds for recreation and tourism but also sustain critical ecosystem functions such as water storage, filtration, and release for downstream uses.

In the face of climate change, forest ecosystems are being stressed from higher temperatures and lower precipitation, making them more vulnerable to insect infestations and more frequent and intense wildfires.

The impacts of climate and landscape changes and wildfire include increased erosion, sedimentation, and warmer water temperatures, which in turn affect municipal water supplies and riparian habitats.

Please join us as we explore the critical research and policy priorities regarding the interaction between Arizona’s climate, forests, and water.

Panelists

Erik Nielsen
Assistant Professor School of Earth Sciences and Environmental Sustainability
Northern Arizona University

Thomas Sisk
Olajos-Goslow Professor of Environmental Science and Policy
Northern Arizona University

Abe Springer
Professor of Geology
Northern Arizona University

Dave White
Moderator and Co-Director
Decision Center for a Desert City
Arizona State University

When

Tuesday, April 23, 2013, 12:00-1:30 p.m.
Lunch will be served. Please RSVP to: Sarah.Jones.2@asu.edu

Location

Decision Center for a Desert City, 21 East 6th Street, Suite 126B, Tempe Map

Gary Dirks, director of Arizona State University’s LightWorks Initiative and former president of BP China and BP Pacific-Asia, has been appointed director of ASU’s Global Institute of Sustainability (GIOS), with the goal of expanding the global impact of ASU.

“GIOS’s charter is to advance research, education, business practices and global partnerships that aid in the transformation of today’s world into a more sustainable endeavor,” said ASU President Michael Crow. “With the appointment of Gary Dirks as director of GIOS, we look to increase the global impact of our work and surge ahead as a leader in sustainability.”

Dirks was chosen for this role to help GIOS solve global sustainability challenges. Dirks is a distinguished sustainability scientist, Julie Ann Wrigley Chair of Sustainable Practices, and teaching faculty member in the School of Sustainability at ASU.

“Gary possesses exactly the combination of skills, experience and intellectual curiosity to lead the Institute,” said Julie Ann Wrigley, co-chair of the GIOS Board of Directors. “As a former global business executive, member of the GIOS Board of Directors and leader of ASU LightWorks Initiative, a better leader could not have been chosen at this point in the development of the Institute.”

While in China, Dirks grew the BP operation from 30 employees and no revenue in 1995 to more than 1,300 employees and revenues of about $4 billion in 2008.

“Gary has demonstrated his ability to set a grand vision, align projects and people around that vision to create solutions to grand challenges that impact our society,” said Sethuraman “Panch” Panchanathan, senior vice president for ASU’s Office of Knowledge Enterprise Development. “He does all of this in a rapid time frame that is consistent with the spirit of the New American University.”

As director, Gary will chair the GIOS 3-person Directorate. The Directorate oversees the Insititute’s complex, pan-university mission and consists of the director, an executive dean and the dean of the School of Sustainability.

Dirks received his doctorate in chemistry from ASU in 1980, and after working in the energy industry, returned to ASU to lead the LightWorks in 2009. The LightWorks Initiative is ASU’s multidisciplinary research effort to harness the energy of sunlight and apply it across a broad spectrum of technology related challenges. Dirks will continue to lead the initiative as part of his new role at GIOS.

Dirks previously served as chairman of the British Chamber of Commerce in Beijing and as the only foreign member of the British Prime Minister’s China Task Force. He was a founding director of the China Business Council for Sustainable Development, past chairman of the China U.S. Center for Sustainable Development and served as a board member of the India Council for Sustainable Development.

In 2003 Dirks received China’s “Friendship Award,” the highest recognition granted to foreign citizens, and was appointed Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George from the UK in 2005. In December 2008, he was recognized by the People’s Daily as one of the 10 most influential multinational company leaders of the last 30 years of China’s economic development.

“GIOS is an extraordinary place with people who understand sustainability at a very deep level and who know how to apply sustainability concepts to solve real-world problems,” said Dirks. “The challenge for me will be building on a very strong foundation to extend the reach and impact of the Institute.”

via Amelia Huggins, Office of Knowledge Enterprise and Development, ASU

Using social media, DCDC is reaching out to the public presenting ideas from experts and community partners on such topics as urban heat island, water re-use, and the energy-water nexus to name a few.

Follow us on Twitter for the latest news about DCDC, ASU, water, urban climate adaptation, and sustainability. The list goes on and on! Check us out @DCDC_ASU.

A contingent of faculty, graduate students and undergraduate students from the Decision Center for a Desert City (DCDC) at Arizona State University will present their research at a special poster session at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Annual Meeting in Boston, MA on February 17. Dave White, DCDC’s Director and Principal Investigator and Margaret Nelson, DCDC Co-PI and education program coordinator, will accompany the group.

Students from DCDC Community of Graduate Scholars (CGS) have organized a special section for the AAAS general poster session focused on decision making under uncertainty (DMUU) since 2011. The ASU students coordinated with students and faculty from universities that host projects funded by the National Science Foundation under the NSF’s DMUU program, which, along with ASU, includes Columbia University, Carnegie Mellon University and University of Chicago. The DCDC students and their faculty mentors will present research that employs interdisciplinary social science methods to develop knowledge and tools for water sustainability and climate change adaptation in urban areas. Two undergraduate students funded under DCDC’s Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program will also attend.

According to Margaret Nelson, an anthropologist and Vice Dean of Barrett, The Honors College, “The students in the Community of Graduate Scholars represent multiple disciplines, including psychology, anthropology, public policy, sustainability, computer science and geography. Through the seminar, students become familiar with the issues, perspectives, and language of the researchers within DCDC, as well as with issues that emerge from interdisciplinary collaborations.”

“The CGS students have not only been instrumental in developing interdisciplinary collaborations at ASU, but have fostered cooperation between the DMUU centers,” says White, a Senior Sustainability Scientist at ASU’s Global Institute of Sustainability. “Their efforts have helped develop a network of research efforts focused on improving environmental decision making.”

Research posters will be presented by the following students:

• Rebecca Neel, CGS, Using upward trends to promote sustainable behaviors. [Poster]
• Nicholas Murtha, REU, (Rebecca Neel 1st author), When scientists disagree: How we frame uncertainty influences public trust of science. [Poster]
• Lauren Withycombe Keeler, CGS, Quenching our thirst: Future scenarios of water in Phoenix. [Poster]
• V. Kelly Turner, CGS (Dave White 1st author), Uncertainty frames in water policy debates. [Poster]
• Rashmi Krishnamurthy, CGS, Fostering perspective-taking in collaborative decision making through an interactive computer simulation. [Poster]
• Jose Rosales Chavez, CGS, Cross-cultural perspectives on uncertainty in climate science: Preliminary results from DCDC and the Global Ethnohydrology Study. [Poster]
• Julia C. Bausch, CGS, Farmers’ Resilience to Socio-Ecological Change in Central Arizona. [Poster]
• Manikandan Vijayakumar, CGS, Sustainability, Collaboration and Uncertainty: A Scenario-­‐based Evaluation of Water Issues for Desert Cities Using Computer Simulation. [Poster]
• Jacelyn Rice, CGS, Actual vs. perceived amounts of de facto wastewater reuse in the Continental United States. [Poster]
• John Quinn, REU, The future of water in the desert: Convergence and divergence between decision makers and students. [Poster]

The AAAS is an international non-profit organization dedicated to advancing science around the world by serving as an educator, leader, spokesperson and professional association.

The Decision Center for a Desert City (DCDC) at Arizona State University (ASU) was established in 2004 by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to advance scientific understanding of environmental decision making under conditions of uncertainty.

DCDC researchers shared their research at several conferences and meetings in the first half of the 2012-2013 academic year. From topics ranging from The Social Ecology of Residential Land Management to An Application Programmer’s Interface (API) to WaterSim: WaterSim 5.0, DCDC’s interdis­ciplinary research projects form a broad effort to inform urban decision makers about the evolving challenges of coping with a changing climate.

Our researchers participated in the following poster symposia:

• 15th Annual CAP LTER Poster Symposium and All Scientist Meeting, Scottsdale, AZ, January 11, 2013
• American Geophysical Union Fall meeting, San Francisco, CA, December 3-7, 2012
• PhD Design, Environment, and the Arts Student Research Poster Exhibit and Reception, Tempe, AZ, October 4, 2012
• Long-Term Ecological Research All Scientist Meeting, Estes Park, Colorado, September 12, 2012

Larson, K.L., E. Cook, J. Brumand, S. Hall, and K. Feldbauer. 2013. The social ecology of residential land management: Complex effects, tradeoffs and legacies in the Sonoran Desert of Phoenix, AZ. Poster presented at the 11 January 2013, 15th Annual CAP LTER Poster Symposium and All Scientist Meeting 2013, Skysong, Scottsdale, AZ.

Larson, K.L. 2012. The social ecology of residential land management: Complex effects, tradeoffs and legacies in the Sonoran Desert of Phoenix, AZ. Presented September 12, 2012, at the Long-Term Ecological Research All Scientist Meeting, Estes Park, CO, September 10-13.

Middel, A., K. Häb, A.J. Brazel, C. Martin, and S. Guhathakurta. 2013. Impact of urban form and design on mid-afternoon microclimate in Phoenix neighborhoods . Poster presented at the 11 January 2013, 15th Annual CAP LTER Poster Symposium and All Scientist Meeting 2013, Skysong, Scottsdale, AZ. [Poster]

Middel, A., K. Häb, J.P. Erickson, A.J. Brazel, C. Martin, and S. Guhathakurta. 2012. Impact of microclimate on residential energy consumption in different Phoenix Arizona neighborhood types. Poster presented on October 4, 2012 at the PhD Design, Environment, and the Arts Student Research Poster Exhibit and Reception, Tempe, AZ.

Moreno, H., E. Vivoni, and D. Gochis. 2012. Exploring the limits of flood forecasting in mountain basins by using QPE and QPF Products in a physically-based, distributed hydrologic model during summer convection. Poster presented December 6, 2012 at the American Geophysical Union Fall meeting, December 3-7, 2012, San Francisco, CA. [Poster]

Quay, R., D. Sampson, D. White, C. Kirkwood, and P. Gober. 2013. Using advanced scenario analysis as an anticipatory tool: Exploring the uncertainty of urban water demand and supply within Central Arizona. Poster presented at the 11 January 2013, 15th Annual CAP LTER Poster Symposium and All Scientist Meeting 2013, Skysong, Scottsdale, AZ. [Poster]

Rice, J., and P. Westerhoff. 2013. Indirect potable reuse in the Phoenix metropolitan area: How much wastewater is in Central Arizona-Phoenix source waters? Poster presented at the 11 January 2013, 15th Annual CAP LTER Poster Symposium and All Scientist Meeting 2013, Skysong, Scottsdale, AZ. [Poster]

Rosales Chavez, J., A. Wutich, A. Brewis, A.M. York, and R. Stotts. 2013. Rules, norms, and injustice: A cross-cultural study of perceptions of justice in water institutions. Poster presented at the 11 January 2013, 15th Annual CAP LTER Poster Symposium and All Scientist Meeting 2013, Skysong, Scottsdale, AZ. [Poster]

Sampson, D.A., and R. Quay. 2013. Potential Central Arizona Project water shortages as influenced by climate and Upper Basin delivery schedules. Poster presented at the 11 January 2013, 15th Annual CAP LTER Poster Symposium and All Scientist Meeting 2013, Skysong, Scottsdale, AZ. [Poster]

Sampson, D.A., and R. Quay. 2012. An Application Programmer’s Interface (API) to WaterSim: WaterSim 5.0. Poster presented December 5, 2012 at the American Geophysical Union Fall meeting, December 3-7, 2012, San Francisco, CA. [Poster]

DCDC is proud to co-sponsor the 15th Annual CAP LTER Poster Symposium keynote speaker, William Solecki, Director of the Institute for Sustainable Cities, and Professor, Department of Geography at City University of New York, at this year’s Poster Symposium and All Scientists Meeting.

On Friday, January 11, 2013, Dr. Solecki will be presenting “Transitions in Urban Environmental Systems: Lessons from New York City and Hurricane Sandy.” In this talk, he will reflect on the past urban environmental system crises and transitions. The lens of critical transition theory and writings on urban system resilience can be used to sharpen our analytical capacity to study such issues.

The agenda includes invited presentations on representative current research in the Central Arizona-Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research program. There will also be two interactive poster sessions featuring 60 posters from a variety of CAP LTER research and education projects, including exhibits from high school and middle school students participating in the Ecology Explorers program.

Special working sessions to discuss future research in the areas of water, climate, biodiversity, biogeochemistry, and CAP’s foundational databases are planned for lunchtime. An RSVP is required to participate in these working sessions, at which lunch will be provided.

The Convergence Room at SkySong is in the northeast corner of the building. There is free parking north of the building, and SkySong is also accessible by Valley Metro (bus 72) from the Tempe Transit Center.

December 12, 2012 – via the Bureau of Reclamation

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today announced the release of a study – authorized by Congress and jointly funded and prepared by the Bureau of Reclamation and the seven Colorado River Basin states – that projects water supply and demand imbalances throughout the Colorado River Basin and adjacent areas over the next 50 years. The Colorado River Basin Water Supply and Demand Study, the first of its kind, also includes a wide array of adaptation and mitigation strategies proposed by stakeholders and the public to address the projected imbalances.

The average imbalance in future supply and demand is projected to be greater than 3.2 million acre-feet by 2060, according to the study. One acre-foot of water is approximately the amount of water used by a single household in a year. The study projects that the largest increase in demand will come from municipal and industrial users, owing to population growth. The Colorado River Basin currently provides water to some 40 million people, and the study estimates that this number could nearly double to approximately 76.5 million people by 2060, under a rapid growth scenario.

“There’s no silver bullet to solve the imbalance between the demand for water and the supply in the Colorado River Basin over the next 50 years – rather, it’s going to take diligent planning and collaboration from all stakeholders to identify and move forward with practical solutions,” said Secretary Salazar. “Water is the lifeblood of our communities, and this study provides a solid platform to explore actions we can take toward a sustainable water future. While not all of the proposals included in the study are feasible, they underscore the broad interest in finding a comprehensive set of solutions.”

Authorized by the 2009 SECURE Water Act, the study analyzes future water supply and demand scenarios based on factors such as projected changes in climate and varying levels of growth in communities, agriculture and business in the seven Colorado River Basin states of Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming.

The study includes over 150 proposals from study participants, stakeholders and the public that represent a wide range of potential options to resolve supply and demand imbalances. Proposals include increasing water supply through reuse or desalinization methods, and reducing demand through increased conservation and efficiency efforts. The scope of the study does not include a decision as to how future imbalances should or will be addressed. Reclamation intends to work with stakeholders to explore in-basin strategies, rather than proposals – such as major trans-basin conveyance systems – that are not considered cost effective or practical.

“This study is one of a number of ongoing basin studies that Reclamation is undertaking through Interior’s WaterSMART Program,” said Assistant Secretary for Water and Science Anne Castle. “These analyses pave the way for stakeholders in each basin to come together and determine their own water destiny. This study is a call to action, and we look forward to continuing this collaborative approach as we discuss next steps.”

WaterSMART is Interior’s sustainable water initiative and focuses on using the best available science to improve water conservation and help water-resource managers identify strategies to narrow the gap between supply and demand. The WaterSMART program includes Reclamation’s Water and Energy Efficiency grants, Title XVI Reclamation and Recycling projects, and USGS’s Water Availability and Use Initiative.”This study brings important facts and new information to the table so that we can better focus on solutions that are cost effective, practical and viable” said Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Mike Connor. “We know that no single option will be enough to overcome the supply and demand gap, and this study provides a strong technical foundation to inform our discussions as we look to the future.”

Spanning parts of the seven states, the Colorado River Basin is one of the most critical sources of water in the western United States. The Colorado River and its tributaries provide water to about 40 million people for municipal use; supply water used to irrigate nearly 4 million acres of land, and is also the lifeblood for at least 22 Native American tribes, 7 National Wildlife Refuges, 4 National Recreation Areas, and 11 National Parks. Hydropower facilities along the Colorado River provide more than 4,200 megawatts of generating capacity, helping meet the power needs of the West.

Throughout the course of the three-year study, eight interim reports were published to reflect technical developments and public input. Public comments are encouraged on the final study over the next 90 days; comments will be summarized and posted to the website for consideration in future basin planning activities.

The full study – including a discussion of the methodologies and levels of uncertainty – is available at https://www.usbr.gov/lc/region/programs/crbstudy.html.