ANALYZIIG RIPARIAN SITE CAPABILITY AND MANAGEMENT OPTIONS1

ABSTRACT: Riparian areas interact with aquatic and upland conditions and therefore help determine the degree of functionality (streambank stability, shade, sediment, and debris filtering) found in a watershed or catchment. Thus, conditions in riparian areas exert significant influence on water quality. Physical and biological factors (biophysical determinants) that influence these conditions and determine long‐term site ecology include topographic variables, geology, climate, soil texture, and others. These conditions are further modified by management infrastructure (roads, dikes, etc.). Our objective was to develop a system for evaluating site condition in relation to site capability. Since biophysical determinants and infrastructure interact with water quality, our first task was to acquire data concerning the spatial distribution of biophysical determinants and infrastructure constraints and to import them into a GIS system where they could be managed and processed. To expedite analysis, determinants and infrastructure constraints were placed into a hierarchy capable of isolating various site capability types. The hierarchy was designed to incorporate multiscale effects. Site capability areas are georeferenced in this process thereby enabling efficient monitoring and providing a way to focus management on those areas needing improvement. Study tasks included: (1) landscape characterization and hierarchy selection, (2) field assessment, (3) information management and data mining, and (4) information interpretation and adaptive management. This approach appears to be an effective way to isolate general ripananstandardsmaycon site conditions, to provide indications about water quality, and to create strategies necessary for alleviating water quality problems.     

EFFECTS OF INCREASED DELTA EXPORTS ON SACRAMENTO VALLEY'S ECONOMY AND WATER MANAGEMENT1

ABSTRACT: Exports from the Sacramento‐San Joaquin Delta are an important source of water for Central Valley and Southern California users. The purpose of this paper is to estimate and analyze the effects increased exports to south of Delta users would have on the Sacramento Valley economy and water management if water were managed and reallocated for purely economic benefits, as if there were an ideal Sacramento Valley water market. Current Delta exports of 6,190 thousand acre‐feet per year were increased incrementally to maximum export pumping plant capacities. Initial increases in Delta exports did not increase regional water scarcity, but decreased surplus Delta flows. Further export increases raised agricultural scarcity. Urban users suffer increased scarcity only for exports exceeding 10,393 taf/yr. Expanding exports raises the economic value of expanding key facilities (such as Engle bright Lake and South Folsom Canal) and the opportunity costs of environmental requirements. The study illustrates the physical and economic capacity of the Sacramento Valley to further increase exports of water to drier parts of the state, even within significant environmental flow restrictions. More generally, the results illustrate the physical capacity for greater economic benefits and flexibility in water management within environmental constraints, given institutional capability to reoperate or reallocate water resources, as implied by water markets.     

APPLICATION OF AN ENVIRONMENTAL AND ECONOMIC MODELING SYSTEM FOR WATERSHED ASSESSMENTS1

ABSTRACT: A National Pilot Project (NPP) on Livestock and the Environment was initiated in 1992 to help provide solutions to environmental problems associated with livestock production. A major development of the NPP was the Comprehensive Economic and Environmental Optimization Tool‐Livestock and Poultry (CEEOT‐LP), an integrated modeling system designed to produce economic and environmental indicators for alternative policy scenarios applied to intensive livestock production watersheds. The system consists of a farm‐level economic model (FEM) and two environmental models: the field‐scale APEX model and the watershed‐level SWAT model. To date, CEEOT‐LP has been applied to two watersheds in Texas and one in Iowa. Predicted reductions in P losses for two P‐based manure application rate scenarios, relative to baseline conditions, ranged from ?4 to ?54 percent across the three watersheds; however, N loss impacts ranged from a decrease of 34 percent to an increase of 79 percent. For five other alternative scenarios that were simulated for only one watershed, N and P loss impacts ranged between a reduction of 78 percent to an increase of 20 percent. Aggregate watershed‐level economic impacts of the seven scenarios spanned a spectrum of a 27 percent decrease to a 25 percent increase in profit, relative to the baseline.     

WATERSHED MANAGEMENT MANPOWER AND EMPLOYER SURVEY1

ABSTRACT: Two surveys were conducted to determine the supply and demand for students trained in watershed management in the United States. The first survey of 23 educational institutions was conducted in 1978. Annual production of about 100 watershed graduates and employment success greater than 85 percent at all degree levels was indicated. The second survey of watershed employment within the U.S. Forest Service (conducted in 1979) indicated one-third of the annual supply of watershed graduates could be employed by the agency; a fact verified by employment data supplied by educational institutions.     

INTEGRATING DIFFUSEINONPOINT POLLUTION CONTROL AND WATER BODY RESTORATION INTO WATERSHED MANAGEMENT1

ABSTRACT: The objective of water quality/watershed management is attainment of water quality goals specified by the Clean Water Act. The Total Maximal Daily Load (TMDL) planning process is a tool to set up watershed management. However, TMDL methodologies and concepts have several problems, including determination of Loading Capacity for only low flow critical periods that preclude consideration of wet weather sources in water quality management. Research is needed to develop watershed pollutant loading and receiving waters Loading Capacity models that will link wet and dry weather pollution loads to the probability of the exceedence of water quality standards. The long term impact of traditional Best Management Practices as well as ponds and wetlands, must be reassessed to consider long term accumulation of conservative toxic compounds. Socioeconomic research should focus on providing information on economic and social feasibility of implementation of additional controls in water quality limited watersheds.     

EVALUATING THE OPTIONS FOR WATER QUALITY MANAGEMENT1

ABSTRACT: The agricultural revolution occurred because the un-managed environment was not providing food in either the quantity or quality that society desired. The “environmental revolution” is developing because the unmanaged environment is clearly not capable of assimilating societal wastes without being seriously degraded. Effective environmental management will require regional and site-specific modification of general principles and practices that can be used at a national or international level. An environmental management system can be operated in the same manner as any industrial quality control system with three basic components: (a) sensors at appropriate locations, (b) rapid generation and feedback of information, and (c) a quality control group capable of taking immediate effective action when system performance is outside predetermined boundary conditions. This discussion focuses primarily on three areas: (a) management options available to regulate intrusion of societal wastes into natural systems, (b) types of methods available for predicting and validating effects on natural systems, and (c) modifications of present legislation that would permit the most flexibility in selecting from the various management options. Also considered are multispecies toxicity tests using species with cosmopolitan distribution in test systems with a high degree of environmental realism. Among the many values of such tests is the ability to exchange information from all parts of the world effectively because the test organisms are not restricted to a particular geographic region.     

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF IRRIGATION PRODUCTION FUNCTIONS: AN APPLICATION OF LINEAR PROGRAMMING1

ABSTRACT: Economic analysis of irrigation production functions is discussed using linear programming. The method provides advantages over the partial one-crop type of analyses because it captures intercrop tradeoffs in water and land use in response to economic policies or changes in water supply. A numerical example is used.     

AN ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF TWO WATERSHED MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN TAIWAN1

ABSTRACT: The main purpose of this study is to evaluate the management practice effects on Ming-Hu and Ming-Tan reservoir watersheds during the past 15 years. It is difficult to economically evaluate a watershed project consisting of a number of multisectoral and long term management practices and regulations. However, the reservoirs’ hydropower operations and their associated benefits and costs are highlighted in this study. The estimated management practice value (net present value) of 351 million NT (New Taiwan) dollars and a benefit-cost ratio of 1.189 are obtained for the Ming-Hu subwatershed. Because the Ming-Tan hydropower station only began commercial operation in 1992 the estimated management practice value is negative 103 million NT dollars (net present value) and the benefit-cost ratio is 0.653 in the Ming-Tan subwatershed. If the analysis period is contained to the year 2010, the benefit-cost ratio of Ming-Tan reservoir subwatershed becomes 1.103. Ming-Hu and Ming-Tan subwatersheds together share the benefit-cost ratio of 1.182 and the net present value of 1,589 million NT dollars. The results of the analyses indicate that the Taiwan Power Company, the watershed management agency, has implemented economically efficient watershed practices and regulations in Ming-Hu and Ming-Tan reservoir watersheds and the watershed management practices are worthwhile and should be sustained.     

INTEGRATED MODELING FOR WATERSHED MANAGEMENT: MULTIPLE OBJECTIVES AND SPATIAL EFFECTS1

ABSTRACT: This paper presents an optimization framework for prioritizing sites for wetlands restoration on a watershed or landscape scale. The framework is designed for analyzing the potential environmental impacts of alternative management strategies while accounting for economic constraints, thereby aiding decision makers in explicitly considering multiple management objectives. The modeling strategy consists of two phases. First, relationships between the configuration of land use types in a watershed and valued ecosystem services are specified mathematically. Second, those functions are incorporated into a spatial optimization model that allows comparisons of the expected environmental impacts and economic costs of management strategies that change the configuration of land use in the watershed. By way of a stylized example, this paper develops the general structure of the framework, presents simulation results based on two production functions for ecosystem services, and discusses the potential utility of the methodology for watershed management.     

ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF RIPARIAN BUFFERS IN AN AGRICULTURAL WATERSHED1

ABSTRACT: This study determines the most cost effective spatial pattern of farming systems for improving water quality and evaluates the economic value of riparian buffers in reducing agricultural nonpoint source pollution in a Midwestern agricultural watershed. Economic and water quality impacts of alternative farming systems are evaluated using the CARE and SWAT models, respectively. The water quality benefits of riparian buffers are estimated by combining experimental data and simulated water quality impacts of fanning systems obtained using SWAT. The net economic value of riparian buffers in improving water quality is estimated by total watershed net return with riparian buffers minus total watershed net return without riparian buffers minus the opportunity cost of riparian buffers. Exclusive of maintenance cost, the net economic value of riparian buffers in reducing atrazine concentration from 45 to 24 ppb is $612,117 and the savings in government cost is $631,710. Results strongly support efforts that encourage farmers to develop or maintain riparian buffers adjacent to streams.     

ESTABLISHING WATERSHED MANAGEMENT IN LAW: NEW ZEALAND'S EXPERIENCE1

ABSTRACT: New Zealand is one of the first countries in the world to enshrine the concept of watershed management in law, through institutional arrangements and the Resource Management Act of 1991 ‐ a law constructed on a watershed management legacy begun in 1941. This paper outlines the development of New Zealand's Resource Management Act (as it applies to water management) and the lessons that have been learned in its implementation.     

EFFECTWENESS OF INTEGRATED STORMWATER MANAGEMENT IN A PORTLAND,OREGON, WATERSHED1

ABSTRACT: The City of Portland's stormwater management program, winner of EPA's Environmental Excellence Award for 1996, is committed to partnership-based, cost-effective, “green” approaches to healthy neighborhoods and water quality. The stormwater program encourages innovative, non-structural pollution reduction techniques like native landscaping, stormwater pollution reduction bioswales and ponds, and public involvement and education. Effectiveness of stormwater best management practices (BMPs) has been difficult to determine on a citywide basis. Recognizing this problem, the City of Portland launched the Parkrose Pilot Project in 1994 to test the effectiveness of a wide range of BMPs in a small watershed in north Portland, the Parkrose catchment, and monitor the results prior to citywide implementation. This catchment was selected because of its small size (144 acres), its representative mix of land uses, and an extensive record of water quality monitoring data. This paper examines the City's strategy in selecting the Parkrose study area as a pilot watershed, the BMPs chosen for use in the watershed, and the results of the program to date. Final success of the Parkrose project will be gauged by the attainment of measurable pollution reduction within the catchment while providing opportunities for meaningful participation by the local community in achieving water quality. Involvement by private citizens in the community is crucial to the success of the project and to ensure compliance with the federal mandate to reduce pollutants to the maximum extent practicable.     

WATERSHED MANAGEMENT AND POLICY IN HAWAII: COMING FULL CIRCLE1

ABSTRACT: Changes in watershed management and policy in Hawaii are an instructive case study on the evolution of resource management from a traditional vertically integrated system, to a segmented central government‐based system, and now towards a community and watershed focus. The rise of European social and economic influences coupled with the precipitous decline in the Hawaiian population in the years following European contact led to the destruction of traditional management structures. Subsequently, the dominance of outside interests in Hawaii society and politics, culminating with the sugar industry, facilitated the unrestricted use and privatization of land and water resources. The post‐World War II era ushered in fundamental changes in Hawaii society and politics including renewed appreciation of traditional management practices. Government policies, increased community interest in resource management, and a renaissance in Hawaiian culture have converged in recent years to facilitate the development of new management structures that draw on both traditional and contemporary management. These structures hold great promise for improving Hawaiian watershed management. Our observations suggest that other jurisdictions may find it productive to examine traditional management and policy structures and try to relate them to contemporary community‐based resource management policies and activities.     

CHANGES IN LAND USE/MANAGEMENT AND WATER QUALITY IN THE LONG CREEK WATERSHED1

ABSTRACT: Surface water in the Long Creek watershed, located in western Piedmont region of North Carolina, was monitored from 1993 to 2001. The 8,190 ha watershed has undergone considerable land use and management changes during this period. Land use surveys have documented a 60 percent decrease in cropland area and a more than 200 percent increase in areas being developed into new homes. In addition, more than 200 conservation practices have been applied to the cropland and other agricultural land that remains in production. The water quality of Long Creek was monitored by collecting grab samples at four sites along Long Creek and continuously monitoring discharge at one site. The monitoring has documented a 70 percent reduction in median total phosphorus (TP) concentrations, with little reductions in nitrate and total Kjel‐dahl nitrogen, or suspended sediment levels. Fecal coliform (FC) and streptococci (FS) levels declined significantly downstream as compared to upstream during the last four years of monitoring. This decrease was attributed to the implementation of waste management practices and livestock exclusion fencing on three dairy operations in the watershed. Annual rainfall and discharge increased steadily until peaking in the third year of the monitoring period and varied while generally decreasing during the last four years of the project. An array of observation, pollutant concentration, and hydrologic data provide considerable evidence to suggest that the implementation of BMPs in the watershed have significantly reduced phosphorus and bacteria levels in Long Creek.     

COST MINIMIZATION OF NUTRIENT REDUCTION IN WATERSHED MANAGEMENT USING LINEAR PROGRAMMING1

ABSTRACT: Linear programming is applied to identify the least cost strategy for reaching politically specified phosphorus and total suspended solids reduction targets for the Fox-Wolf river basin in Northeast Wisconsin. The programming model uses data collected on annualized unit reduction costs associated with five categories of sources of phosphorus and total suspended solids discharge in each of the 41 sub-watersheds in the basin to determine the least cost management strategy. Results indicate that: (1) cost-effective nutrient reduction requires careful selection of geographic areas and source categories to address throughout the watershed; (2) agricultural sources are the most cost-effective to address in the basin; and (3) care should be exercised in setting nutrient reduction targets, given that there are likely to be significantly increasing marginal costs of nutrient reduction; the model predicts that lowering the most restrictive target by 33 percent would cut reduction expenditures by about 75 percent. Policy implications of the model include support for the investigation and potential development of institutional arrangements that enable cost-effective nutrient reduction activities to occur, such as the creation of an agency with authority over a given watershed, coordinated watershed management activities, or nutrient trading programs.     

INTEGRATED WATERSHED MANAGEMENT ON THE TRUCKEE RWER IN NEVADA1

ABSTRACT: The Truckee River is a vitally important water source for eastern California and western Nevada. It runs 100 miles from Lake Tahoe to Pyramid Lake in the Nevada desert and serves urban populations in greater Reno-Sparks and agricultural users in three Nevada counties. In the 1980s and 1990s, a number of state and local groups initiated projects which, taken collectively, have accomplished much to improve watershed management on the Truckee River. However, the task of writing a management plan for the entire watershed has not yet been undertaken. Key players in state, federal and local government agencies have instead chosen to focus specific improvement efforts on more manageable, achievable goals. The projects currently underway include a new agreement on reservoir operation, restoration of high priority sub-watersheds, public education and involvement, water conservation education, and water resource planning for the major urban population centers. The approach which has been adopted on the Truckee River continues to evolve as more and more people take an interest in the river's future. The many positive projects underway on the watershed are evaluated in terms of how well they meet the definition of the ambitious water resources strategy, “integrated watershed management.”     

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF WETLAND RESTORATION ALONG THE ILLINOIS RIVER1

Creating and restoring wetland and riparian ecosystems between farms and adjacent streams and rivers in the Upper Mississippi River Basin would reduce nitrogen loads and hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico and increase local environmental benefits. Economic efficiency and economic impacts of the Hennepin and Hopper Lakes Restoration Project in Illinois were evaluated. The project converted 999 ha of cropland to bottomland forest, backwater lakes, and flood‐plain wetland habitat. Project benefits were estimated by summing the economic values of wetlands estimated in other studies. Project costs were estimated by the loss in the gross value of agricultural production from the conversion of corn and soybean acreage to wetlands. Estimated annual net benefit of wetland restoration in the project area amounted to US$1,827 per ha of restored wetland or US$1.83 million for the project area, indicating that the project is economically efficient. Impacts of the project on the regional economy were estimated (using IMPLAN) in terms of changes in total output, household income, and employment. The project is estimated to increase total output by US$2,028,576, household income by US$1,379,676, and employment by 56 persons, indicating that it has positive net economic impacts on the regional economy.     

A GAMING EVALUATION OF COLORADO RWER DROUGHT MANAGEMENT INSTITUTIONAL OPTIONS1

ABSTRACT: Researchers representing each of the Colorado River Basin states as well as the Secretary of the Interior were presented with an interactive computer simulation of a progressively increasing drought and were given the collective opportunity to change the ways in which basin-wide and within-state water management were conducted. The purpose of this “gaming” exercise was to identify rules for managing the Colorado River which are effective in preventing drought-caused damages to basin water users. This water management game was conducted three times, varying the collective choice roles for management of the river yet staying substantially within the current institution for management of the Colorado River known as the “Law of the River.” The Law of the River was quite effective in minimizing drought impacts upon consumptive water uses. Additional effective drought-coping measures to protect consumptive uses consisted mostly of intrastate water management improvements which states were able to implement independently. The Law of the River did not protect non-consumptive water uses, such as hydroelectric power generation, water-based recreation, endangered species, and water quality from drought, as well as it protected consumptive water uses. Players reached collective choice decisions to cope with rising salinity, equalize storage between the upper and lower basins, and protect endangered species. While these measures had some success, only reductions in withdrawals for consumptive uses, particularly in the upper basin, could have substantially lessened adverse impacts.     

INTEGRATING SOCIO‐ECONOMIC AND BIOPHYSICAL DATA TO UNDERPIN COLLABORATIVE WATERSHED MANAGEMENT1

ABSTRACT: Watersheds are widely accepted as a useful geography for organizing natural resource management in Australia and the United States. It is assumed that effective action needs to be underpinned by an understanding of the interactions between people and the environment. While there has been some social research as part of watershed planning, there have been few attempts to integrate socio‐economic and biophysical data to improve the efficacy of watershed management. This paper explores that topic. With limited resources for social research, watershed partners in Australia chose to focus on gathering spatially referenced socio‐economic data using a mail survey to private landholders that would enable them to identify and refine priority issues, develop and improve communication with private landholders, choose policy options to accomplish watershed targets, and evaluate the achievement of intermediate watershed plan objectives. Experience with seven large watershed projects provides considerable insight about the needs of watershed planners, how to effectively engage them, and how to collect and integrate social data as part of watershed management.     

WATERSHED MODELS AND THEIR APPLICABILITY TO CONJUNCTIVE USE MANAGEMENT1

ABSTRACT: Techniques employed to simulate infiltration and subsurface ground-water flow were examined for a number of available watershed models. The large number of processes that these models simulate prohibits detailed analysis of subsurface flow, due to excessive computer and data requirements. Such models emphasize surface flow and include only that portion of water lost to the subsurface and the portion returned to the stream as baseflow. Problems were examined in adopting conjunctive use models, which allow the coordinated exploitation and management of both surface and ground-water resources. The application of conjunctive use models in water resources management is expected to increase dramatically over the next decade.