Decision support experiments and evaluations using seasonal to ...

local water supply sector: the growing use of
integrated water resource planning (or IWRP)
as an alternative to conventional supply-side
approaches for meeting future demands. IWRP
is gaining acceptance in chronically water-short
regions such as the Southwest and portions of
the Midwest, including Southern California,
Kansas, Southern Nevada, and New Mexico
(e.g., Beecher, 1995; Warren et al., 1995; Fiske
and Dong, 1995; Wade, 2001).
IWRP’s goal is to “balanc(e) water supply
and demand management considerations by
identifying feasible planning alternatives that
meet the test of least cost without sacrificing
other policy goals” (Beecher, 1995). This can
be variously achieved through depleted aquifer
recharge, seasonal groundwater recharge,
conservation incentives, adopting growth management
strategies, wastewater reuse, and/or
applying least cost planning principles to large
investor-owned water utilities. The latter may
encourage IWRP by demonstrating the relative
efficiency of efforts to reduce demand as opposed
to building more supply infrastructure.
A particularly challenging alternative is the
need to enhance regional planning among water
utilities in order to capitalize on the resources of
every water user, eliminate unnecessary duplication
of effort, and avoid the cost of building
new facilities for water supply (Atwater and
Blomquist, 2002).
In some cases, short-term applications of least
cost planning may increase long-term project
costs, especially when environmental impacts,
resource depletion, and energy and maintenance
costs are included. The significance of least cost
planning is that it underscores the importance
of long- and short-term costs (in this case, of
water) as an influence on the value of certain
kinds of information for decisions. Models and
forecasts that predict water availability under
different climate scenarios can be especially
useful to least cost planning and make more
credible efforts to reducing demand. Specific
questions IWRP raises for decision support
given a changing climate include: How precise
must climate information be to enhance longterm
planning? How might predicted climate
change provide an incentive for IWRP strategies?
and, What climate information is needed
to optimize decisions on water pricing, re-use,
Decision-Support Experiments and Evaluations using Seasonal to
Interannual Forecasts and Observational Data: A Focus on Water Resources
shifting from surface to groundwater use, and
conservation?
Case Study C:
Approaches to Building User Knowledge and
Enhancing Capacity Building—the Arizona
Water Institute
The Arizona Water Institute was initiated in
2006 to focus the resources of the State of
Arizona’s university system on the issue of
water sustainability. Because there are 400
faculty and staff members in the three Arizona
universities who work on water-related topics,
it is clear that asking them and their students
to assist the state in addressing the major water
quantity and quality issues should make a
significant contribution to water sustainability.
This is particularly relevant given that the state
budget for supporting water resources related
work is exceedingly small by comparison to
many other states, and the fact that Arizona is
one of the fastest-growing states in the United
States. In addition to working towards water
sustainability, the Institute’s mission includes
water-related technology transfer from the
universities to the private sector to create and
develop economic opportunities, as well as
build capacity, to enhance the use of scientific
information in decision making.
The Institute was designed from the beginning
as a “boundary organization” to build pathways
for innovation between the universities and state
agencies, communities, Native American tribal
representatives, and the private sector. In addi-
In some cases, shortterm
applications of
least cost planning
may increase longterm
project costs,
especially when
environmental
impacts, resource
depletion, and energy
and maintenance
costs are included.
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