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Researchers representing each of the Colorado River Basin states as well as the Secretary of the Interior were presented with an interactive computer simulation of a progressively increasing drought and were given the collective opportunity to change the ways in which basin-wide and within-state water management were conducted. The purpose of this ?gaming? exercise was to identify rules for managing the Colorado River which are effective in preventing drought-caused damages to basin water users. This water management game was conducted three times, varying the collective choice roles for management of the river yet staying substantially within the current institution for management of the Colorado River known as...
In many interstate river basins, the institutional arrangements for the governance and management of the shared water resource are not adequately designed to effectively address the many political, legal, social, and economic issues that arise when the demands on the resource exceed the available supplies. Even under normal hydrologic conditions, this problem is frequently seen in the Colorado River Basin. During severe sustained drought, it is likely that the deficiencies of the existing arrangements would present a formidable barrier to an effective drought response, interfering with efforts to quickly and efficiently conserve and reallocate available supplies to support a variety of critical needs. In the United...
Declining reservoir storage has raised the specter of the first water shortage on the Lower Colorado River since the completion of Glen Canyon and Hoover Dams. This focusing event spurred modeling efforts to frame alternatives for managing the reservoir system during prolonged droughts. This paper addresses the management challenges that arise when using modeling tools to manage water scarcity under variable hydroclimatology, shifting use patterns, and institutional complexity. Assumptions specified in modeling simulations are an integral feature of public processes. The policymaking and management implications of assumptions are examined by analyzing four interacting sources of physical and institutional uncertainty:...
Our nation periodically reviews national water policy and considers its directions for the future. The most recent examination was directed at the western United States and the role of the federal agencies in meeting its needs. The West is no longer the frontier, but rather contains vibrant cities and booming centers of international trade, as well as tourism, mineral, and oil and gas development, agricultural, and other development. In this changing environment, federal water policies need to consider the long term sustainability of the West, provide justice to Indian tribes, protect the rivers and ecosystems on which natural systems depend, balance the needs of newcomers with those of agricultural users and communities,...
The impacts of a severe sustained drought on Colorado River system water resources were investigated by simulating the physical and institutional constraints within the Colorado River Basin and testing the response of the system to different hydrologic scenarios. Simulations using Hydrosphere's Colorado River Model compared a 38-year severe sustained drought derived from 500 years of reconstructed streamfiows for the Colorado River basin with a 38-year streamfiow trace extracted from the recent historic record. The impacts of the severe drought on streamfiows, water allocation, storage, hydropower generation, and salinity were assessed. Estimated deliveries to consumptive uses in the Upper Basin states of Colorado,...
Evaluation criteria for reservoir and stream resources were developed to provide decision makers with feedback on environmental consequences of water allocation decisions under conditions of severe sustained drought within the Colorado River Basin by using the AZCOL gaming simulation model. Seven categories of flow dependent resources were identified which highlight resource states associated with reservoirs or river reaches within the AZCOL model. AZCOL directly simulates impact of water management decisions on five resource categories: threatened, endangered or sensitive fish; native nonlisted fish; wetland and riparian elements; national or state wildlife refuges; and hatcheries or other flow dependent facilities....
Water management agencies seek the next generation of modeling tools for planning and operating river basins. Previous site-specific models such as U,S. Bureau of Reclamation's (USBR) Colorado River Simulation System and Tennessee Valley Authority's (TVA) Daily Scheduling Model have become obsolete; however, new models are difficult and expensive to develop and maintain. Previous generalized river basin modeling tools are limited in their ability to represent diverse physical system and operating policy details for a wide range of applications. RiverWard (TM), a new generalized river basin modeling tool, provides a construction kit for developing and running detailed, site-specific models without the need to develop...
We evaluated the effects of institutional responses developed for coping with a severe sustained drought (SSD) in the Colorado River Basin on selected system variables using a SSD inflow hydrology derived from the drought which occurred in the Colorado River basin from 1579-1616. Institutional responses considered are reverse equalization, salinity reduction, minimum flow requirements, and temporary suspension of the delivery obligation of the Colorado River Compact. Selected system variables (reservoir contents, streamflows, consumptive uses, salinity, and power generation) from scenarios incorporating the drought-coping responses were compared to those from Baseline conditions using the current operating criteria....
The Modular Modeling System (MMS) is an integrated system of computer software that is being developed to provide the research and operational framework needed to support development, testing, and evaluation of physical-process algorithms, and to facilitate integration of user-selected sets of algorithms into operational physical-process models. MMS uses a module library that contains compatible modules for simulating a variety of water, energy, and biogeochemical processes. A model is created by selectively linking modules from the library using MMS model-building tools. A geographic information system (GIS) interface also is being developed for MMS to support a variety of GIS tools for use in characterizing and...
Dissolved mineral salts (salinity) adversely affects numerous urban and agricultural users of Colorado River water in southwestern United States and in Mexico. More than a third of the salt load is thought to be induced by drainage from irrigated lands onto highly saline groundwater deposits in the Upper Colorado Basin in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. Various public policy initiatives are proposed to induce farmers to reduce discharges of this nonpoint pollutant. Taxes on water, water conservation subsidies, and land and water rights purchases are analyzed in a linear programming framework. The allocative efficiency and the distribution of control costs and damages among irrigators, water users, and taxpayers are...
The arid Southwest of the United States is confronted with increasing water demands and a limited resource. Past efforts to meet water demand have been directed toward development of scarce water resources. While development programs have been successful in stretching available supply, few feasible development options remain. Furthermore, heavy water utilization has affected water quality within drainage basins. It seems likely that water management will play a much more significant role in water resource allocation in the future. This paper will examine water development activity in the Southwest to date. Attention will be given to several of the problems that have arisen. The paper will then examine water management...
Concentrations of atmospheric CO2 and other radiatively active trace gases have risen since the Industrial Revolution. Such atmospheric modifications can alter the global climate and hydrologic cycle, in turn affecting water resources. The clear physical and biological sensitivities of water resources to climate, the indication that climate change may be occurring, and the substantial social and economic dependencies on water resources have instigated considerable research activity in the area of potential water resource impacts. We discuss how the literature on climate change and water resources responds to three basic research needs: (1) a need for water managers to clearly describe the climatic and hydrologic...
Survey data collected in the San Joaquin Valley of southern California and the Grand Valley of western Colorado reveal that residents of both areas believe that a severe sustained drought is likely to occur within the next 20–25 years and that their communities would be seriously impacted by such an event. Although a severe sustained drought affecting the Colorado River Basin would cause major economic and social disruptions in these and other communities, residents express little support for water management alternatives that would require significant shifts in economic development activities or in water use and allocation patterns. In particular, residents of these areas express little support for strategies...
This paper details a case study of economic and natural system responses to alternative water management policies in the Cache La Poudre River basin, Colorado, 1980?1994. The case study is presented to highlight the value and application of a conceptual integration of economic, salmonid population, physical habitat, and water allocation models. Five alternative regimes, all intended to increase low winter flows, were investigated. Habitat enhancements created by alternative regimes were translated to population responses and economic benefits. Analysis concluded that instream flows cannot compete on the northern Colorado water rental market; cooperative agreements offer an economically feasible way to enhance instream...
Most southwestern cities were founded along rivers or in areas having springs or readily available ground water. Because of the generally sparse precipitation, the renewable fresh water supply in the Southwest is smaller than most other areas of the United States. Despite the arid climate, water use has increased rapidly, first in the form of irrigation, and more recently the use in cities. This has caused extensive development of local water resources and overdraft of ground water basins in some areas. It is difficult to implement new local supplies and importation projects due to a myriad of environmental and legal constraints and a general shortage of public funds. Various opportunities and plans for water management,...
Agreements between states, or compacts, provide a mechanism for resolving transboundary resource issues. The twenty-two compacts allocating the water of rivers among states in the western United States are examined to provide guidance for drafters of future compacts. The method of allocation selected for a compact reflects the state's allocation of the risk of dry years. Allocations based on models have been unsuccessful. Percentage allocations are good for fairly apportioning risk, but conflict with principles of prior appropriation. Guarantees of minimum flows should be used with great care, to avoid any state becoming a guarantor of natural phenomena over which it has no control. Disputes should be anticipated,...