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The goal of this project is to develop a new team of university faculty and agricultural water providers in the Colorado River Basin (CRB) to identify and address innovative options and new methods to sustain irrigated agriculture in the Basin. The Planning Grant Team will implement four key activities to develop a plan for integrating and increasing the accessibility of university research, education, and Extension resources to address agricultural water security in the CRB. These activities are designed to: 1) develop a University team with strong external partnerships in the seven CRB states, and 2) identify strategies and tactics we can immediately undertake to enhance the conservation and sharing of water among agriculture, the environment and municipal water providers. <P> Coordinating with existing federal, state, and local water entities and developing linkages and partnerships with environmental NGOs will be essential to our success. Engaging irrigators and nontraditional audiences will strengthen our ability to help implement on-the-ground solutions to water shortage and stress. <P>The following interrelated objectives are fundamental to the planning efforts for developing a multi-year, funded project. <OL> <LI> Identify opportunities and impediments in the seven states of the CRB for water conservation and sharing arrangements. These opportunities will be identified through stakeholder workshops, surveys, and interviews. <LI> Develop GIS layers pinpointing the institutional framework for agricultural water management in the CRB, including: irrigation districts, ditch companies, and conservancy and conservation districts; agricultural lands served by surface and groundwater; special districts; watershed forums; tribal lands under agricultural production; other water buying/leasing entities such as energy companies. <LI>The Planning Grant Team will foster communications to provide public information on project outcomes, provide direct linkages on regional water resources issues, and assist in providing information to diverse clientele. Suitable content developed from findings based on focus groups, surveys, and participatory mapping exercises will be made available through a project website that will host an interactive web-based database and a listserv, serving the Community of Practice. Project activities will also be made available to eXtension. <LI> Members of the Planning Grant Team and others as appropriate will prepare a seven-state, multi-year proposal aimed at providing an integrated approach to research, teaching, outreach, and policy engagement on agricultural water security in the CRB.
Non-Technical Summary: <BR>Population growth and a changing climate are taxing the future reliability of Colorado River water supply. This vulnerability has been witnessed in the first decade of the 21st century due to the recent prolonged dry spell in the western U.S., including the Colorado River Basin (CRB). Freshwater in the CRB is already fully appropriated, and agriculture is the biggest consumer in this region, using an estimated 80% of consumptive freshwater. Municipal use by growing urban areas is the second largest demand on freshwater supplies, and is expected to increase dramatically with rapid urban growth in arid regions. Population in the southwestern US is estimated to increase by as much as 80% by 2025. In western North America, the timing of spring snowmelt has shifted to earlier in the year from 1948 to 2000 due to warmer temperatures. These scenarios have implications for the sustainability of irrigated agriculture in the CRB, especially given increased pressure on water resources from cities. In short, if innovative new strategies are not forthcoming, water shortage in the CRB will inevitably result in farms being dried up to provide water for urban use. That in turn will affect the economic viability of rural communities, undercutting social stability, and threatening a valued way of life, wildlife habitat, and food production. Both the problems and solutions to water scarcity in the CRB lie within agriculture, thus agricultural water security is tightly linked to water security for the environmental, industrial, and municipal sectors. Due to the complexities involved, an integrated, multi-state, and multi-disciplinary project is needed to address water scarcity in the CRB because of the area's geographic reach, number of water governance organizations, rapidly changing urban-rural landscape, and the significant presence of federal lands and reclamation projects. Furthermore, the existence of common water issues across the region serves as the basis for regional coordination to efficiently allocate and target personnel and funding resources for problem identification, education, and management, and the resolution of current and emerging water quality and quantity problems from regional to local levels. The following are the expected deliverables of the planning project 1) build a cohesive team of passionate faculty in the 7 CRB states that share a common interest in ag water security in the West; 2) generate new information and published reports on water conservation, water security, and opportunities for water sharing arrangements; 3) develop an up-to-date analysis of priority research and outreach needs regarding water security; 4) develop the first comprehensive GIS layers of agricultural water use and governance to help in analysis of CRB water sharing needs and opportunities; 5) develop a communications website and database of information and tools related to agricultural water security; 6) develop and publish technical bulletins, peer-reviewed journal articles, and fact sheets; 7) present results at regional and national meetings; and 8) develop a seven-state multi-year proposal on agricultural water security in the CRB. <P> Approach: <BR> Objective 1 Task 1: Host one or more workshops for the purpose of identifying key research and education needs and developing a team of university faculty and external partners in the Basin to build on work currently being done by universities and Extension, the Western States Water Council/Western Governors, and NGOs. The workshop will facilitate the goal of arriving at a mutual understanding and consensus on key components of the survey instruments, interview procedure, GIS mapping, pilot projects, and communications platform. Objective 1 Task 2: Survey water governance organizations, ag producers, and environmental and municipal interests to determine their views on the barriers that must be overcome to improve ag water security through innovative sharing arrangements. The questionnaire will be developed in consultation with our advisors and administered as a mail or Internet survey. A target response of 35% is desired to allow for statewide estimates with a confidence level of 95% and an error rate of +/- 5%. Standard statistical methods will be used to summarize and analyze survey responses to better understand knowledge levels, values, attitudes, and preferences regarding the allocation and management of water resources in the CRB. Objective 1 Task 3: Conduct interviews with all irrigation districts to identify pilot projects under which water could be conserved, banked, or temporarily leased. A discrete set of questions will be developed by the Planning Grant Team and reviewed by our advisors before piloting. Objective 2 Task 1: Spatially characterize ag water use with particular attention to key data on irrigated ag and organizations charged with managing water. Objective 2 Task 1A: Collaborate on the necessary data architecture by centralizing key data layers and developing a relational database that links unique layers and data. Complete a preliminary data assessment and compile data-relaying information about land use patterns, climate change, precipitation, temperature, and river flows. Objective 2 Task 1B: Participatory Geographic Information Systems (PGIS) mapping will display water resources geographically and conservation activities within the institutional landscape. A pilot Community of Practice will be identified based on select criteria. Four meetings will be held to: 1) introduce the concept and gather stakeholder input and response, 2) implement the PGIS activity, 3) retrieve feedback and discuss initial results, and 4) discuss results. We will discuss ways in which the information can be shared with up and downstream communities and organizations and identify appropriate venues through which to report such findings. A Web-based mapping application of collected and organized data layers that represent the overlapping governance structure will be constructed for widespread dissemination. Objective 3 Task 1: Employ a Web-based communications strategy to provide data and reports developed through surveys and the GIS mapping project. Objective 4: Prepare a seven-state, multi-year proposal aimed at providing an integrated approach to research, teaching, outreach, and policy engagement on ag water security in the CRB.