ALTERNATIVE APPROACH TO THE FORMULATION OF BASIN HYDRAULIC GEOMETRY EQUATIONS1

ABSTRACT: Along a drainage network, there is a systematic variation of average flow parameters (width, depth, and velocity) at flows having the same flow duration. Hydraulic geometry equations mathematically express this interdependent relationship of stream-flow characteristics for a basin for annual flow durations varying from 10 to 90 percent. However, the equations proposed so far have had rather poor predictive performance for low flows. An independent investigation of the variation of discharge with drainage area and annual flow duration demonstrates a consistent relationship between these parameters. The relationship for the high to median-flow range differs, however, from that for the median— to low-flow range. The proposed equations provide a better predictive performance for low flows than previous formulations and a versatile means of estimating flow parameters for streams throughout a basin. The improved basin hydraulic geometry equations have a wide range of applications in areas such as stream habitat assessment, water quality modeling, channel design, and stream restoration projects.     

AN IMPLICIT APPROACH TO PRICING AGRICULTURAL WATER TRANSFERS TO URBAN USES1

ABSTRACT: The increased agricultural efficiency of the American farmer has been a substantial impetus to this nation's rapid urbanization. In many western regions where total water supplies are limited, urbanization has required the transfer of heretofore agricultural water rights to the urban use. A major problem in such transfers has been the value or price of the water. A management level model of a typical urban water system was developed to optimize water supply, distribution, and wastewater treatment alternatives. The values of agricultural transfers were determined as the cost advantages of increasing allowable reuse levels of urban effluents which imply the use of a downstream right. This procedure is justified by the economic theory of alternative cost. Results for a test application to the Denver, Colorado area indicate values on the order of $1,000 per acre-foot of transferable water depending on effluent water quality restrictions and operational policies.     

SOCIAL FEASIBILITY AS AN ALTERNATIVE APPROACH TO WATER RESOURCE PLANNING1

ABSTRACT: Research suggests that conflict over public participation in water resource planning is due, in part, to confusion over the nature of the policies involved. This article examines the roadblocks to citizen involvement in water resource planning in terms of two policy models: (1) the Social Feasibility Model and (2) the Political Feasibility Model. Each model posits a different role for public participation. Although the Political Feasibility Model has been widely accepted in water resource planning, changes in the nature of the policies involved in water resource management have weakened its appropriateness. Currently, social and redistributive policies involving value conflicts often dominate water planning and these policies are best chosen through the Social Feasibility Model. The article discusses the nature of the social feasibility model, the new types of policy decisions facing water resource managers, and how the social feasibility model can help overcome the roadblocks to increased public participation in water resource policy making.     

AN APPROACH TO MARGINAL ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF HYDROMETRIC DATA COLLECTION1

ABSTRACT: A procedure for computing the benefit/cost ratio of a hydrometric network is outlined. It consists of two steps: firstly, establishing a relationship between hydrometric station density and error in hydrologic parameters and, secondly, relating hydrologic eror to changes in project cost. The procedure was applied to both the whole Canadian hydrometric network and the provincial networks.     

WATER FOR ENERGY: AN APPROACH TO COMPREHENSIVE IMPACT ASSESSMENT1

ABSTRACT: The effects of energy development on the water resources of the Colorado River and Great Basin regions is expected to be substantial. Complex physical, economic and institutional interactions may be expected. Most research on these impacts appears single purpose, fragmented, uncoordinated, and often inaccessible to potential users - particularly those with responsibility for energy/water policy and program decisions. A comprehensive, integrative framework for assessing alternative water allocation decisions is outlined, taking a heuristic decision making model for evaluating impacts on maximization of gross (or net) regional product, and regional social welfare, and for assessing the region's contribution to national objectives. The suggested model provides a structure for application and integration of data of various kinds to a range of situations arising from possible impacts from energy proposals. The focus is on water and energy relationships but the model may provide a framework for comprehensive analysis of a variety of environmental actions and resulting system perturbations and effects.     

INERTIA AND RECOVERY: AN APPROACH TO STREAM CLASSIFICATION AND STRESS EVALUATION1

ABSTRACT: The concepts of inertia and elasticity were applied to existing fish data from Conowingo Creek. It was determined that these two concepts could form the foundation for a stream classification system based on the structure and function of fish communities. Inertia appears to be more useful for predicting the effects of potential stress than elasticity (a stress must first occur before elasticity can be fully evaluated). The relationship between structural and functional redundancy and their influences on the inertia index is discussed.     

A PROPOSED METHOD OF EVALUATING FLOOD DAMAGES TO HISTORIC HOMES - AN EXTERNALITY APPROACH1

ABSTRACT: Traditional procedures for evaluating flood damages to residential dwellings do not reflect intrinsic values when applied to historic homes. Such structures are worth more than that determined by using depth-damage curves provided by insurance companies who assess damage values based upon current labor and material costs. The evaluation of the worth of a historic home and subsequent damages due to inundation can be regarded as a problem of externalities. An assessment technique reflecting historic amenities or what has been termed replication cost is proposed in this paper. Replication costs would have widespread use not only in solving flood dammage problems, but also in any study where historic entities are subject to damages from catastrophies such as hurricanes, soil and beach erosion, and increasing urbanization. If adopted as a technique, it would enhance and preserve the ever-decreasing enclaves of historic homes and neighborhoods.     

FLOODPLAIN DELINEATION: AN ECONOMIC APPROACH1

ABSTRACT: Errors inherent in the conputation of water surface profiles are magnified by the shallow lateral slopes typical of most flood-plains, producing significant floodplain mapping errors. An economic optimization procedure which weighs the cost of overstating the location of a floodplain boundary against the cost of understanding the location provides a means for establishing the boundary location. In most cases the cost of overstating the boundary location exceeds the cost of understating the location by several magnitudes so that the boundary location should coincide with the minimum water surface elevation which would be expected to result from a flood of specified recurrence interval.     

AN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF WATER CONSERVATION POLICY1

Water conservation is a much emphasized policy of the Federal government. Discussion of water conservation proposals often involves confusion between a conservation “ethic,” which is an end in itself, and conservation as a means for attaining various economic objectives. Analysis indicates that outside of ground water “mining.” water is usually a renewable and reusable resource. During periods of normal precipitation, water conservation should be employed only when the value of the water saved exceeds the cost of effecting the savings. Water conservation is most valuable as a drought contingency tactic. Water conservation as a substitute for structural provision to meet normal water demand growth is apt to prove shortsighted.     

A REGIONAL APPROACH TO PROJECT EVALUATION1

ABSTRACT. Water and related land resource planning has generally been characterized by project evaluation in isolation. Feasible alternatives have been ignored because the economic analysis did not include the interdependence of such subregional and regional variables as factor and product prices and production possibilities. This paper presents an economic framework, consistent with a regional development objective and an efficiency criterion, for proposing and evaluating resource projects. Subregional and regional derived demand curves for water are developed under alternative assumptions of subregional competition, regional market restraints, and yield and price uncertainty. The derivation of water demand curves using the proposed regional framework as compared to sub regional isolation has the desirable properties of (1) a marginal analysis that is more flexible over time is substituted for a static average analysis; (2) range estimates incorporating probabilities are substituted for point estimates; (3) approximations to functional demand curves are substituted for “needs”; and (4) fewer resources are required to meet a regional market restraint.     

A PHENOMENOLOGICAL APPROACH TO NATURAL LANDSCAPE COGNITION

The over-emphasis on positivist methodology in the study of landscape aesthetics has limited the benefits to be obtained from the study of individual's personal experiences. Phenomenology, on the other hand, is directly concerned with such subjective experiences. The present study examines how a person interprets landscapes, an examination carried out using phenomenological methodology. Sixteen participants were asked to view various photos of natural landscapes on a display monitor, and their landscape cognition was assessed by means of in-depth interviews. After qualitative analysis, 11 main categories of cognitive aspects were extracted, and a common structure in the cognition of natural landscapes was identified: encountering each landscape evoked each participant's memories and background, and filtered through these influences, imagination/association, impression, aesthetic judgements, and meaning and attractiveness of nature played their roles in the evaluation of each landscape. Photographs in contrast with real-life scenes and comparison between landscapes also affected cognition. Moreover, changes within/between sessions occurred, leading both subtle and dynamic changes of landscape cognition as a whole. Thus, it was indicated that each person had idiosyncrasies that affected each particular transaction occurring between the person and the landscapes. Discussion is provided on some chief aspects of landscape cognition and on methodology for the landscape research.     

AN EXPANSION OF ROGER BARKER'S BEHAVIOR SETTING SURVEY FOR AN ETHNO-ECOLOGICAL APPROACH TO PERSON–ENVIRONMENT INTERACTIONS

Roger Barker's Behavior Setting Survey is generally recognized as the first major effort to bring physical and social contexts into psychological methodologies for studying human behavior. Since Barker's day, advances in social theory, speech act philosophy, pragmatics and other disciplines within the human sciences have converged with Barker's concerns in various ways, making it possible to sharpen and enrich a number of his formulations. The methodological school of critical qualitative research in many ways occupies the vanguard of approaches synthesizing advances in social theory for methodological application. Critical qualitative research, however, has yet to take advantage of Barker's work on behavior settings. Thus both Barker's work and the work of critical ethnographers can be enriched through a synthesis of their theoretical constructs and procedures. This pilot study explores the advantages of synthesizing behavior setting survey and critical qualitative methodology. A university department was studied through a truncated version of the Behavior Setting Survey (BSS) and also with Carspecken's five-stage model for critical social research. Results are significant on both substantive and analytical levels. It was found that departmental behavior patterns discovered through the BSS are only explicable when their cultural conditions are reconstructed via critical qualitative data analysis. This was true particularly with respect to the ‘circuitry’ discovered by the BSS but explained through cultural reconstructions.     

WELMM, A SYSTEMS APPROACH TO ENERGY RESOURCES

In assessing energy resources it is interesting to consider their systems aspects and interrelationships with other natural and/or human resources. This is the purpose of the WELMM approach (Water, Energy, Land, Materials, Manpower) which analyzes resources requirements through the use of various Data Bases. Present applications focus on the comparison of various energy options and assessment of various long term strategies. The method can also be used for Integrated Resources Management.     

THE CONTINUING EVOLUTION OF AN AUSTRALIAN WATER RESOURCES POLICY1

ABSTRACT: Australia's extremely limited water resources highlight the need for policy guidelines for management. During the 1970s, there was the gradual evolution of a national water resources policy, facilitated by a nationally agreed statement of objectives and culminating in a federal policy statement presented in 1979. However, the Australian constitution gives major responsibility for water resources to the states. Further, the federal policy statement seems to assume that each state has a water resources policy and that it accords with the nationally agreed objectives. This is not the case, and the practical management of Australia's water resources falls short of the principles set out in the policy document. The River Murray, the nation's major water resource, provides ample evidence of this fact. With very limited water resources, Australia urgently needs to reduce the disparity between principle and practice in their management.     

THE LOCAL-STATE-FEDERAL TEAM APPROACH TO FLOODPLAIN MANAGEMENT1

Results of the establishment of a Local Flood Relations program in 1953 by TVA are discussed. In 16 years TVA has produced local floodplain information reports for 126 communities. As of September 1, 1969, 66 valley communities had adopted floodplain provisions in their zoning ordinances or subdivision regulations, or both. The local-state-Federal team approach to floodplain management is viable and any other appears to be doomed to failure. A floodplain management program can be expected to succeed as a collaborative effort at all levels of government, each playing the part and assuming the responsibilities best fitted to it. Most of us now accept that our flood problems will not be solved by engineering works alone or even in combination with upstream land management. The solution requires a linking of broad community planning with traditional engineering works. This means that the local, state, and Federal objectives and policies must be effectively coordinated. This method has been developed and satisfactorily applied in the Tennessee Valley during the past decade. The need for more effective means for coping with mounting local flood losses was recognized by the Tennessee Valley Authority and led to the establishment of its Local Flood Relations program in 1953. Since a working relationship with the people of the Valley and their state and local institutions had been carefully nurtured by TVA for over twenty years, it was only natural that the new program would also be a cooperative one.