Thrust Area 5: Additional Research Areas

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Thrust Area 5 Additional Research Areas

• Analysis of Stakeholder Issues and Conflicts
• Public Perceptions on Use of Models for Water
  Resources Decision Making
• Analysis of Influence of Trans-Jurisdictional
  Variables
• Characterization and Evaluation of Hydrologic
  Information to Improve Water Management Decisions
• Development of Mathematical Tools to Assist Water
  Managers Make Operational Decisions

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Case Studies

• Upper San Pedro
• Gila/Salt-Verde
• Middle Rio Grande
• Conchos

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Analysis of Stakeholder Issues and Conflicts
Major Research Issues

• What are stakeholders perspectives on water
  management, water policy, and water research
  needs?
• What is the feasibility and utility of combining
  hydrologic models and alternative dispute
  resolution scenarios to solve water resources
  problems?

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Analysis of Stakeholder Issues and Conflicts
Upper San Pedro  

• Groundwater supply and demand in Mexico
• Growth and growth management in U.S.
• Legal and policy challenges and opportunities

Photo National Geographic
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Upper San Pedro Stakeholders (US and Mexico)

• Federal resource management, research and
  regulatory agencies SEMARNAT, CNA, CILA, IMTA,
  CANABIO, INE, BLM, EPA, DOD, NPS, USFWS, USFS,
  USGS, ARS
• State Agencies IMADES, CoAPAES, SIUE, ADWR,
  ADEQ, ADSL, NRDC
• Local Governments Naco, Cananea, Cochise County,
  Sierra Vista, Huachuca City, Benson, Tombstone
• Researchers UNISON, COLSON, IMADES, SALSA, UA,
  ASU, SCERP
• Interest Groups Asociación de Agricultores de
  San Pedro, Asociación de Ganadero de Cananea,
  Asociación de Productores Rurales de Canaea,
  Enlace Ecológico, Grupo Ecologista, Border
  Ecology Project, San Pedro Alliance, San Pedro
  100, Huachuca Audubon Society, Friends of the San
  Pedro, The Nature Conservancy, Southeastern
  Arizona Bird Observatory, People for the USA
• Others Developer industries in the basin, e.g.,
  Ft. Huachucha, Cananea mines residents of the
  basin people who recreate in the basin

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Analysis of Stakeholder Issues and
ConflictsFuture Activities

• Determine implications of recent and pending
  water adjudication decisions in Arizona
• Explore growth management options on U.S. side
  and facilitate coordination among Mexican
  stakeholders and Mexican environmental
  initiatives
• Focus on Native American water rights issues and
  conflict resolution in Verde river basin

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Public Perceptions on Use of Models for Water
Resources Decision Making

• Surveys carried out both at the San Pedro and the
  Gila/Salt basins

• Groundwater hydrology in Mexican portion largely
  unknown
• Poor water delivery and poor water quality in
  Mexican portion
• Trends indicate increasing overdraft due to
  mining expansion and rapid residential
  development on border
• Need for transparency and cooperation in policy,
  research and management on border

• Water allocation among competing interests and
  basin in overdraft
• Growth management?
• Groundwater and surface water
• Careful allocation among competing users
• Geographic competition
• Value orientations

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Analysis of Influence of Transjurisdictional
Variables
Research Issues

• Laws of many states have not kept pace with
  advances in the science of hydrology
•  
• Many states have developed entirely separate
  systems for regulating groundwater and surface
  water
•   
• The consequences is a set of legal rules that
  fail to conform to physical reality

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Example Arizona Supreme Court Ruling
Arizona is one of those states. This has created
for the state two important legal questions

•  
• Do Federal Reserve Water Rights Extend To
  Groundwater That Is Not Subject To Prior
  Appropriation Under State Law?
•  Are Federal Reserved Water Rights Holders
  Entitled To Greater Protection From Groundwater
  Pumping Than Are Water Users Who Hold Only State
  Law Rights?
•  

The Arizona Supreme Court has recently answered
YES to both questions
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Arizona Supreme Court Ruling Implications

• Science Question

• What is the implication of these decisions to
• water users,
• water management institutions, and
• to the evolution of water law?

Although these are for Arizona the ruling has
broader implications in semi-arid regions in the
US
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Characterization of Hydrologic Information to
Improve Water Management Decisions
Research Issue

• Lack of accurate, timely hydrologic information
  is an impediment to improved water management
  models and decisions

Examples

• Groundwater-surface water interaction in San
  Pedro Basin
• Groundwater-surface water interaction in
  Gila/Salt-Verde
• Drought characterization in Conchos River

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Characterization of Hydrologic Information to
Improve Water Management Decisions Río Conchos,
Mexico

• 14 of Rio Grande/Bravo area
• 80 of Rio Grande/Bravo flows below Fort Quitman
• International Treaty (1944)

Annual Flows at Ojinaga
Mean Flow 812 Hm3/yr (658,300 acre-ft/yr) Mean
Precip. 380 mm/yr
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Conchos River Basin Droughts
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Conchos River Basin Drought-Area-Frequency
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Research Questions Conchos River Basin

• Analyze alternative definitions of drought
  temporal and spatial scales
• Drought Prediction evaluate impact of climatic
  precursors on forecast of droughts
• Demand Characterization

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Mathematical Tools to Assist Water Managers Make
Operational Decisions
Current and future activities

• Development of farms module for allocation of
  irrigation water at district level
• Development of stream water quality model for
  Upper Rio Grande Water Operations Model (URGWOM)
• Development of DSS for complex water resources
  systems

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Mathematical Tools to Assist Water Managers Make
Operational Decisions

• Main Objective
• Develop decision support systems (DSS) for the
  management of complex water resources systems
• Application
• San Pedro River Natural Conservation Area
  (SPRNCA)
• Issues
• Threats to wild-life, agency and users conflicts

Hydrologic Model
Water Quality Model
Optimization Model
Decision Makers
Reliability Analysis