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.     

ADDRESSING SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES IN WATER RESOURCES PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT1

Understanding social goals and objectives and incorporating them in water resources planning, management, education and engineering processes is the key to solving many current and emerging water resources problems. Water resources professionals must turn more of their attention to this issue. Various avenues are open for their involvement. They include lobbying, participating in government, education and research, publishing, establishing institutions, interacting with the public and analyzing existing systems.     

USE OF DELPHI METHODOLOGY TO ASSESS GOALS AND SOCIAL IMPACTS OF A WATERSHED PROJECT1

ABSTRACT: The major objective is to report the way the Delphi methodology was employed in an environmental study aimed at identifying and ranking goals and social impacts of Cooper Dam and Reservoir Project located in the East Texas area. The Delphi procedures were modified to accommodate the nature of social field under study. Data were collected through personal interviews from twenty-seven respondents representing the government agency responsible for planning the Project and three communities geographically contiguous to the project. The respondents were provided an initial list of the Project's goals and social impacts and were asked to rank them in terms of degree of importance and to add to the list other goals and impacts that they would consider necessary. Respondents were interviewed in two successive rounds. Data show that on the whole the Delphi procedures were helpful in action analysis of the Project by identifying and ranking its goals and social impacts in terms of selected criteria.     

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.     

THE DEVELOPMENT OF A PLAN OF STUDY – AN INTERAGENCY APPROACH TO MULTIOBJECTIVE PLANNING AND EVALUATION OF WATER AND LAND RESOURCE USE1

ABSTRACT The paper presents a systems approach for planning and evaluating alternative plans for resource use incorporating the concepts of multiobjective planning and evaluation (MOPE). The need for multidisciplinary input and strong interagency cooperation in planning for resource use is related to the logical and orderly completion of the planning steps. The paper briefly describes MOPE, emphasizing two important concepts: (1) the relationship of the study problems and objectives to national social objectives, and (2) the display of alternative solutions showing tradeoffs. Several important characteristics of a plan of study which implements MOPE are presented and discussed. A proposed MOPE analytical system is discussed in detail. The MOPE analytical system is divided into eight interdependent subsystems that describe data collection, use, analysis, and results. A linear program (L.P.) model is proposed to analyze the present and future demand relationships for natural resources. The model will also evaluate the interaction of agriculture, forestry, and recreation with the resource base of the basin, considering National Economic Development, Environmental Quality, and Regional Development.     

THE SOCIAL IMPACT OF WATERSHED DEVELOPMENT: A LONGITUDINAL STUDY1

ABSTRACT: The psychosocial impact of a large water impoundment project upon members of a small farming community located within central Ohio was evaluated using a study-restudy research design. Attitudes toward selected community variables were examined during the initial stages of land acquisition and reevaluated four years later at the completion of the project. The findings revealed that fragmentation of the “social fabric” of the community did not occur. Several statistically significant differences were observed between the two data sets but the findings indicated that community residents held more positive attitudes toward their community following the development action than at the beginning of the project.     

OF DOGS AND TAILS: WATER POLICY AND SOCIAL POLICY IN ARIZONA1

ABSTRACT: The general relationship between water policy and social policy in the Western United States is examined by utilizing the example of the Arizona Groundwater Management Act. Too often, this is a relationship which goes largely unexamined, at least in any explicit way. In areas of perceived or real water scarcity, it is often the case that the setting of water policy severely constrains the social policy. Too many fundamental social policy issues are left to unstated assumptions through such a procedure. But, this paper asks, should not the social policy lead, and the water policy follow? In other words, in this relationship, which is the dog, and which is the tail?     

SOCIAL WELL-BEING AND WATER RESOURCES PLANNING1

ABSTRACT: For many years, Federal water resources projects have been subjected to benefit-cost analysis to establish their economic feasibility. Several years ago social well-being was added as a consideration. This paper discusses the state-of-the-art in analyzing and evaluating aspects of social well-being. It stresses current short-falls and advocates a direction for further efforts.     

WATER RESOURCES AND SOCIAL CHOICES1

ABSTRACT The problem of water resources management can be viewed as one requiring the existence and application of some type of “collective decision” mechanism. Currently, the general water resource decision problem is solved using an “individual decision” format without explicit consideration of the dominant social decision system. This paper demonstrates the need for blending technical planning activities with organized societal processes and then proposes a specific public decision framework to satisfy this requirement. The key element in this planning framework is a generalized “bargaining arena” which serves to link technical activities with the social system. Using this bargaining device we can (1) specify policy at a local level, (2) incorporate “social decision” rules into the planning process, and (3) provide local access to the decision process. A simple case of regional water quality management is used to describe the application of this planning procedure and to offer encouragement for successful use in more complex real-world cases.     

SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS OF SEVERE SUSTAINED DROUGHT CASE STUDIES IN CALIFORNIA AND COLORADO1

ABSTRACT: Survey data collected in the San Joaquin Valley of southern California and the Grand Valley of western Colorado reveal that residents of both areas believe that a severe sustained drought is likely to occur within the next 20–25 years and that their communities would be seriously impacted by such an event. Although a severe sustained drought affecting the Colorado River Basin would cause major economic and social disruptions in these and other communities, residents express little support for water management alternatives that would require significant shifts in economic development activities or in water use and allocation patterns. In particular, residents of these areas express little support for strategies such as construction and growth moratoriums, mandatory water conservation programs, water transfers from low-to high-population areas, water marketing, or reallocations of water from agricultural to municipal/industrial uses. This rejection of water management strategies that would require a departure from “business as usual” with respect to water use and allocations severely restricts the capacity of these and similar communities to respond effectively should a severe sustained drought occur.     

ENHANCING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN DEFINING WATER RESOURCE POLICY1

ABSTRACT: Federal regulations require agencies administering water resource projects to inform and educate citizens so that they will understand and participate effectively in local programs. Government officials and public involvement specialists have proposed positive outcomes which should derive from agency educational efforts. Eleven interdependent educational goals are identified in this study such that achievement of each goal improves the likelihood of achieving others. Evaluations indicate that educational programs are inadequate and goals are not attained fully. The incorporation of mechanisms employed by professional educators is a potential remedy. Educational and social psychology contain an abundance of effective educational devices and methodologies appropriate for use in informal adult educational programs. An individualized educational program is recommended to meet the needs of a heterogeneous adult audience.     

A DYNAMIC MODEL FOR WATER AND RELATED LAND RESOURCE PLANNING1

ABSTRACT. Planning an optimal system of activities for generating economic goods and services within an existing natural resource capacity is a difficult problem to solve. A mathematical programming model with the capacity to check multiple resource demand and supply compatibility over many time periods was developed for the solution to this type of problem. The characteristics of natural resource supply and the demand of activities were utilized to reduce the number of time periods and to minimize the loss of the dynamic reality of the problem. Reduction in the number of time periods extended the capability of the model to the solution of complex resource planning problems without oversimplification.     

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY IMPACTS OF A WATER RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT1

ABSTRACT: At a time in history when water resource development in the United States is being condemned as both economically inefficient and an environmental disaster, perhaps economists need to look back at previous development to see what the fruits of water development (be they sweet or sour) have been. The Boise Project of south-western Idaho is 70 years old and to some people it represents a gross error in resource use, while to others it represents a means of livelihood and well being. A recent research project at the University of Idaho attempted to measure not only the direct economic income benefits of the project (from irrigation), but also the indirect or secondary income benefits (from the food processing industry). Periodic regional input-output tables were constructed to assess the income generated from irrigation and food processing over the period from 1946 to 1970. Input-output analysis allowed researchers to evaluate the direct and indirect impacts of both the irrigation sector and the food processing sector and to compare their growth over time.     

WATERSHED COUNCILS: AN EMERGING FORM OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT1

ABSTRACT: There is increasing interest in using watershed councils to provide information to public natural resource managers, particularly in the western states. Watershed councils are composed of interested governmental and nongovernmental stakeholders that form to collaboratively manage water and other natural resources at the scale of a watershed. This research is the first step in a multi-step policy analysis designed to answer the question of whether watershed councils are an improvement over traditional methods of public involvement in natural resource management. This paper outlines why watershed councils form and discusses their structure and operation. There is considerable variability in terms of watershed councils' goals, their effectiveness, stakeholder composition, their involvement in the “real” decision-making process, types of participation that are allowed, leadership, financing, decision-making procedures, efficiency, and temporal scale. These structural components are presented as a framework that can be used by researchers to develop criteria to evaluate watershed councils.     

ON THE MISMATCH BETWEEN DATA AND MODELS OF HYDROLOGIC AND WATER RESOURCE SYSTEMS1

ABSTRACT: Many difficulties exist in the matching of models with data. This paper identifies elements of this problem and discusses considerations involved in model evaluation. The well known multivariate linear regression model is used to illustrate the distinctions between accuracy and precision and between estimation and prediction (because the model is commonly misused.) No amount of additional data will improve the accuracy of a poor model. A high R², while indicative of a good matching between the observed data and model estimates, is a poor criterion for judging adequacy of the model to make good predictions of future events. Model evaluation also includes the problem of introducing secondary data and proxy variables into a model. Secondary data frequently enter, for example, the mass, energy and water budget equations because of difficulties in measuring the primary variables. Proxy variables arise because of a desire to collapse a vector of incomparable values, say, of water quality into a single number. Review of the above issues indicates that model evaluation is a multi-criterion problem, often imbedded in a larger framework where models are intended to meet multiple objectives. The mismatch of models and data has increasing legal and social consequences.     

CLUSTER ANALYSIS AND WATER PROJECT EVALUATION1

Large-scale water projects have long been undertaken for the benefit of people. Information appears to be needed as to who benefits as a result of these projects. The hypothesis was tested that regional income and employment benefits would be closely related to areas where water projects were located. The analytical procedure centered on cluster analysis used to delineate counties in the Tennessee River Watershed on the basis of changes in selected variables over different periods. The hypothesis was rejected. It was concluded that benefits of water projects were not necessarily confined to isolated areas near projects but were regional.     

CULTURAL ASPECTS OF WATER RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT PAST,PRESENT, AND FUTURE1

ABSTRACT Attitudes toward the development of the American West have undergone important changes over the past century just as the nature of water resources as factors in development have changed. Viewing these changes processually, stages for water resources definition and use can be identified in the total process of western cultural development. The first stage involves the value of water resource development as a stimulus to population and economic growth in the West. The second stage, still in process', adopts a dominant cultural norm which sees water resource development as inevitable if not necessary to keep up with growth. A third stage to this evolutionary process is incipient. Future cultural values and thinking with respect to water resource development will be to look at development as a means for controlling or managing both the location and quantity of population and economic growth. To this end planners will have to become concerned with the questions of human adaptation. Concern will have to be given to the problems of getting a living which enables individuals to meet the subsistence needs of self and family, to establishing community which provides for cooperation among individuals and the management of conflict, to establishing improved communication which promotes interpersonal interaction, and for fostering innovation which provides the new ideas necessary to adapt to new environmental situations.,     

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.     

WATER RESOURCES AS SOCIAL PROBLEMS1

ABSTRACT. Evidence from 1969 studies in Virginia and Ohio suggests that neither community leaders nor the general public are likely to define water related problems as major problem areas. An examination of the components of a social problem tends to indicate that water problems have not moved beyond a level of minimal public concern. When respondents were willing to describe existing or potential water problems, perceptions as well as possible solutions were described in abstract rather than action-oriented terms. It is suggested that efforts to eliminate water resource problems are not likely to be effective until public concern moves to motivational and behavioral levels.