TECHNOLOGY,INSTITUTIONS, AND SOCIAL GOALS1

ABSTRACT: The cries of pending water crises are usually cast in terms of water availability and/or water quality. Unfortunately, the real factors underlying a perceived crisis are often overlooked and the solutions prescribed are fax from optimal when measured in either economic or social terms. Today's technology outstrips its implementation, yesterday's solutions are imposed on a new breed of problems, and a static game is being played in a dynamic world. There is a need for the application of innovative and revolutionary tactics, for modernizing institutions, and for educating technologists and decision makers alike in the art of communicating their views and skills. This is the challenge. If it is met, some predicted crises will not materialize, and many others will be diminished in scale. An exciting opportunity exists to extend the boundaries of a new era in water management.     

IDENTIFYING AND MEASURING POTENTIAL CONFLICT IN WATER INSTITUTIONS1

ABSTRACT: Scarcity combined with differences in values, beliefs, and attitudes can lead to behavior differences and conflicts over water. This paper develops an index for measuring potential conflict using survey information about water attitudes and beliefs of individuals in three groups in a Florida case study. The index helps in assessing the current capability of the institution to reduce conflict. The results suggest that the current institution is effective, but changes may help to streamline the consumptive-use permitting process, to improve educational programs, and to seek improved institutional arrangements to reduce future conflict over economic uses of water.     

A DIGITAL MODEL APPLIED TO GROUND WATER RECHARGE AND MANAGEMENT1

ABSTRACT: Under Colorado's appropriative water right system, withdrawals by junior ground water rights must be curtailed to protect senior surface water appropriators sharing the same river system unless the ground water users replace the amount of their injury to the river under an approved plan for augmentation. Compensation of such injury with surface water may not only be expensive but unreliable in dry years. As an alternative, the curtailment of pumping may be obviated by recharging unused surface water into the aquifer when available and withdrawing it when needed. In order to manage such an operation, a practical tool is required to accurately determine that portion of the recharge water that does not return to the river before pumping for irrigation. A digital model was used for this purpose in a demonstration recharge project located in the South Platte River basin in northeastern Colorado. This paper summarizes the experiences gained from this project, the results of the digital model, the economic value of recharge, and the feasibility of the operation. It was determined through the use of the digital model that, with the given conditions in the area, 77 percent of the recharged water remained available for pumping. Economic analyses showed that water could be recharged inexpensively averaging about two dollars per acre foot.     

PHOSPHORUS MANAGEMENT TO PROTECT LAKE WATER QUALITY1

ABSTRACT: The Hallett Quarry gravel pit lakes are an active sand and gravel extraction operation located 0.4 km north of the City of Ames, Iowa. During periods of drought, these lakes serve as a supplemental water supply for Ames. A modified version of the Vollenweider input-output model was used to predict future water quality under various watershed land use, drainage, and lake configurations. The dominant factor controlling the future water quality of the lakes was found to be the nutrient input. It is recommended that a management plan to protect the future water quality should be oriented towards reducing the sources of phosphorus to the lakes.     

OPTIMUM CROPPING AND GROUND WATER MANAGEMENT1

ABSTRACT: A decision model for optimum cropping pattern and ground water manaement alternatives in canal irrigated areas is pre sented. Various ground water management alternatives in conjunction with optimum cropping pattern and based on water production functions are compared. The model developed also ensures optimum utilization of surface and poor quality ground water and proper soil conditions for plant growth.     

WATER MARKETS AND DECENTRALIZED WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT: INTERNATIONAL PROBLEMS AND OPPORTUNITIES1

ABSTRACT: Because of its importance and the perceived inability of private sector sources to meet water demands, many countries have depended on the public sector to provide water services for their populations. Yet this has resulted in many inefficient public water projects and in inadequate supplies of good quality and reliable water. Decentralization of water management, including the use of water markets, cannot solve all of these water problems, but it can improve the efficiency of water allocation. When given adequate responsibility and authority, water user associations have effectively taken over water management activities at a savings to tax payers. Moreover, water markets add the potential benefit of improving water efficiency within a sector as well as providing a mechanism for reallocating water among sectors. The key question involves developing innovative mechanisms for reducing the transaction costs of organizing water users and of making water trades. Water rights need to be established which are recorded, tradable, enforceable, and separate from land if markets are to operate effectively. Also, institutions are needed that effectively resolve conflicts over water rights, including third party impacts and water quality concerns.     

TREATING WATER INSTITUTIONS AS ENDOGENOUS VARIABLES: DEMONSTRATION OF A CONCEPTUAL MODEL1

ABSTRACT: Institutional innovation is central to many water resource problems. (In this context “institutions” refers to the laws and regulations governing water allocation and use.) Yet, typically, economic analyses treat institutions as exogenous and fixed. Unfortunately, this conventional assumption does not allow economists to address many modern problems. This paper develops an economic framework in which institutions are treated as endogenous. The model accounts for (1) factors that stimulate calls for formal institutional change, (2) the role of interest groups in policymaking, and (3) actual institutional change as it impacts choice domains and thus economic performance. The model is compared to a specific case of change in Colorado's water institutions, namely, instream water rights legislation in the 1970's. The empirical evidence is generally consistent with model hypotheses. The model promises to be useful to scholars and policymakers interested in institutional innovation.     

WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT: INTERNATIONAL CHALLENGE AND OPPORTUNITIES1

The entire water resources field is not contemplated, although reference thereto will be registered. Water supply for potable and hygienic purposes will be presented as symbolic of the global issues confronting 4.8 billion people. Some two billion of these live in the so-called developing or less favored countries. They are either underserved or not served at all by utility systems of whatever grade. Targets for meeting their needs were exemplified by the international agencies in the International Water and Sanitation Decade of 1980-1990. Some successes are apparent, but, in general, hopes are not fulfilled. The pace of accomplishment is very slow. Constraints will be reviewed in some detail. Challenges for reducing these and increasing pace of installations are presented. The potential for a global public works program unprecedented in history is reviewed. Several issues will not be discussed in this paper. Their omission rests primarily upon the fact that their resolution is improbable for decades ahead, if ever. Economists have categorized water as any other economic commodity - and should always be subject to benefit-cost scrutiny. I do not share that view. People could well live without the telephone or the automobile, a destroyer. Without water, their survival is a matter of days. Cost-benefit seems unreal and singularly inappropriate under such circumstances. Secondly, the search for quantifying the health impact of safe water goes on forever. My view is that the results speak for themselves - while sturdy souls continue to seek out the exact correlation figure. Thirdly, the population explosion, although softened a bit, proceeds apace while I write. Lastly, the exposition herein is restricted to potable water and its associated sanitation aspects. Other major uses of water, obviously highly important, are not addressed.     

WATER YIELD AUGMENTATION THROUGH FOREST AND RANGE MANAGEMENT - ISSUES FOR THE FUTURE1

The demand for more water is increasing throughout the country. Research on upland watersheds clearly demonstrates that water yield can be increased using forest and range management practices. Based on the experience of the past several decades and a review of six papers in a recent AWRA series on water yield augmentation through vegetation management, the following issues and concerns are discussed: predicting increased yields from large basins; economic evaluation of additional flows; court acceptance and need for system models; the legal question of ownership and transferability of increased yields; and management emphasis on private and federal lands. The immediate potential for water yield augmentation is on carefully selected watersheds that have the bio-physical potential to produce high value water under environmentally acceptable multiple use management. We predict water yield management on a broader scale will result from increased pressures to solve the legal and economic issues involved.     

KNOWLEDGE UTILIZATION IN WATER MANAGEMENT IN THE NETHERLANDS RELATED TO DESICCATION1

ABSTRACT: The use of scientific knowledge in environmental policy making is an important topic. However, the relation between knowledge producers and policy makers is not a straightforward producer-user relationship. The development of a national desiccation policy in the Netherlands and the implementation of desiccation plans in local situations are used as a case study to investigate the knowledge policy relationship. Three theoretical explanations were used to analyze this case: a difference between the cultures of producers and users; a different rationality of the policy making and research processes; and processes of social construction of problem definitions which imply that different knowledge stocks are used depending on the framing of the policy problem. Emergence of the policy issue at the national level is demonstrated to develop in close interaction between knowledge producers and policy makers, while the interactions at the local level were more based on integration of expert knowledge through personal expertise and closely tied to the development of management plans. This case study thus reveals a difference between general knowledge supporting measures at the national policy level and the way in which specific knowledge is applied in local cases. Therefore more attention should be paid to the translation of policy problems from rather high levels of political authority to the conceptualization at lower management levels. A final conclusion is that knowledge use in Dutch desiccation policy can be understood by pointing to multiple theoretical perspectives. The rational actor model and a construc-tivist perspective turned out to be especially useful in explaining the different ways knowledge was used at the national and the local level.     

BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES FOR STORM WATER AND INFILTRATION CONTROL1

ABSTRACT: Water quality controls of storm water runoff and infiltration should be a major part of a nonpoint source control program. Although surface runoff and ground water controls are often approached separately, coordination between the two is essential. For practical reasons, a rather simplified technology-based approach appears to be desirable. Areas affected vary greatly as to their sensitivity to pollution; and the various classes of pollutant source vary greatly as to their potential harmfulness. In effect, a matrix approach appears best, in which both vulnerability of the area and harmfulness of the pollutant source would have weight in determining which level of best management practices (BMP) would be appropriate, whether standard, special, or complete prohibition of the type facility under given circumstances.     

WATER MANAGEMENT IN ONTARIO1

ABSTRACT: The Ontario Ministry of the Environment has based its water quality management approach on a set of guidelines published in 1970. In light of the changing societal and economic background, advancement in technology and scientific knowledge, and philosophical attitudes towards water management, the water management program was recently revised. Factors influencing the revised approach, including federal-provincial interrelationships and international commitments under the Canada-U.S. Agreement, are summarized. The revised program consists of a goal statement, policies to implement this goal, revised water quality objectives, and detailed implementation procedures for field staff use. Rather than promulgating regulations to impose arbitrary effluent or receiving water standards on a province-wide basis, the revised approach involves the imposition of legally enforceable effluent requirements on a case-by-case basis. Although the paper emphasizes the surface water quality program, it also outlines the Ministry's goals, policies, and procedures for the management of surface-water quantity, as well as ground water quality and quantity.     

USING INFILTRATION ENHANCEMENT AND SOIL WATER MANAGEMENT TO REDUCE DIAZINON IN RUNOFF1

ABSTRACT: Pesticide runoff from dormant sprayed orchards is a major water quality problem in California's Central Valley. During the past several years, diazinon levels in the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers have exceeded water quality criteria for aquatic organisms. Orchard water management, via post‐application irrigation, and infiltration enhancement, through the use of a vegetative ground cover, are management practices that are believed to reduce pesticide loading to surface waters. Field experiments were conducted in Davis, California, to measure the effectiveness of these management practices in reducing the toxicity of storm water runoff. Treatments using a vegetative ground cover significantly reduced peak concentrations and cumulative pesticide mass in runoff for first flush experiments compared with bare soil treatments. Post‐application irrigation was found to be an effective means of reducing peak concentrations and cumulative mass in runoff from bare soil treatments, but showed no significant effect on vegetated treatments.     

USE OF CLIMATE PREDICTIONS TO DECIDE A WATER MANAGEMENT PROBLEM1

ABSTRACT: Seasonal precipitation predictions were utilized in a water management decision with major economic, societal, and political ramifications. A summer (1984) drought had created a situation calling for possible fall season use of state waters from two major multipurpose reservoirs with an ensuing effect on water price negotiations. Choices facing management and use of water from the reservoirs were to invoke expensive water restrictions with a 33 percent chance of being right, do nothing (66 percent chance of wrong outcome), or use the precipitation predictors (for above normal fall rain) having a 50 percent chance of error. Hydrologists chose to follow the precipitation predictions, which proved to be accurate for the fall of 1984, helping to reveal the long-term value of using well understood climate predictions in water management.     

APPLICATION OF LINEAR SYSTEM'S THEORY AND LINEAR PROGRAMMING TO GROUND WATER MANAGEMENT IN KANSAS1

ABSTRACT: A ground water management model based on the linear systems theory and the use of linear programming is formulated and solved. The model maximizes the total amount of pound water that can be pumped from the system subject to the physical capability of the system and institutional constraints. The results are compared With analytical and numerical solutions. Then, this model is applied to the Pawnee Valley area of south-central Kansas. The results of this application support the previous studies about the future ground water resources of the Valley. These results provide a guide for the ground water resources management of the area over the next ten years.     

GROUND WATER MANAGEMENT OPTIMIZATION USING GENETIC ALGORITHMS AND SIMULATED ANNEALING: FORMULATION AND COMPARISON1

ABSTRACT: Genetic algorithms (GA) and simulated annealing (SA), two global search techniques, are coupled with MODFLOW, a commonly used groundwater flow simulation code, for optimal management of ground water resources under general conditions. The coupled simulation-optimization models allow for multiple management periods in which optimal pumping rates vary with time to reflect the changing flow conditions. The objective functions of the management models are of a very general nature, incorporating multiple cost terms such as the drilling cost, the installation cost, and the pumping cost. The models are first applied to two-dimensional maximum yield and minimum cost water supply problems with a single management period, and then to a multiple management period problem. The strengths and limitations of the GA and SA based models are evaluated by comparing the results with those obtained using linear programming, nonlinear programming, and differential dynamic programming. For the three example problems examined in this study, the GA and SA based models yield nearly identical or better solutions than the various programming methods. While SA tends to outperform GA in terms of the number of forward simulations needed, it uses more empirical control parameters which have significant impact on solution efficiency but are difficult to determine.     

WATER MANAGEMENT ISSUES FOR THE NINETIES1

ABSTRACT: This paper summarizes contemporary water management issues as recognized by 19 U.S. organizations. Only the issues are identified herein. Individual organization stands are not presented. Most suggestions for action are those of the author. Addresses of all organizations whose documents were reviewed are included in the Reference section so that those desiring to learn more about an organization's stand can readily make contact.     

STORM WATER MANAGEMENT: THE CONCEPT AND ITS APPLICATION1

ABSTRACT: Storm water management is a concept being applied in many urban areas to deal with the increasing problems of storm runoff control and flood damage prevention. This paper introduces the concept and describes the recently completed storm water management program in Columbus, Georgia. Columbus has spent five years and over $200,000 in the development of their problem which includes several basic elements: soils inventory and analysis, hydrologic data collection, sediment and erosion control ordinance, storm water management handbook, urban flood simulation model, interdepartment coordination study, drainage problem categorization study, and a pilot basin study. The results of the pilot basin study are presented including example output from the urban simulation model. The computer output illustrates both the hydrologic-hydraulic and economic capabilities of the model.     

STATE WATER CONSERVATION STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES1

States have the potential to play a major role in moving water conservation from conferences and reports that identify its advantages to actual practice. The research identifies four generic “strategies” that categorize the states' approaches toward conservation and reports on the states' current conservation activities. The four strategies are: reliance on agricultural advisors, leverage incentives, performance standards, and mandatory actions. Four levels of state conservation activity exist. California and Florida maintain the most extensive programs; Arizona, Massachusetts, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Oklahoma also have numerous programs but significantly lower staff commitments; eight additional states maintain more modest conservation effotts. Elsewhere, state directed conservation actions remain minimal and limited to those provided as agricultural advice. The study found support for water conservation the norm among water supply planners.     

WHAT DO WE MEAN BY “METROPOLITAN WATER MANAGEMENT INSTITUTIONS?”1

ABSTRACT The term “institution” and several variants are used frequently in the literature on metropolitan water management. The state-of-the art investigation on which this paper is based revealed that 1) many uses of the term do not include careful definitions; 2) many users of the term seemed unaware of the general, theoretical literature on the subject of institutions; 3) there was little consistency among uses, either in the practical literature dealing with water or in the conceptual literature dealing with theories of institutions or institutionalization; 4) some usages were without significant meaning; 5) in many cases the term was used as a kind of “black box” to account for behavioral, societal, or managerial factors; 6) the term was often used as a synonym for “organization”. This latter use is frequently found in federal reports, including National Water Commission studies, and is most unfortunate because it tends to slight significant social-psychological factors. A suggested definition is: “An institution is the structured result or outcome of a process by which values are articulated, arranged, and communicated, having continuity over time, and influencing behavior of persons who did not necessarily participate in formulating those values (norms).”