Arkansas - UNC - Inquiries into Buy and Dry_May2008

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Project, in legislation and rule-making and then implementation, to understand what went right and wrong, and what might help (and enlisting Dr. Jeff Tranel to devise a Water Lease Rate Calculator). Incomplete and ill-informed markets are a problem. Increased participation by environmental and recreational interests is needed, and the interests are now being more clearly located and specified by the Non-Consumptive Needs Assessment process in progress. Another missing piece of the markets and discussions is the local interest in "amenity values", for local recreation and attraction (to distinguish them from recreational values as commercially provided to visitors), or which support visitation and attendant economic impacts, and from environmental interests and qualities needed to meet federal and state requirements. Amenity values are critical for local quality of life and attractiveness, and drive rural county economic growth now. Another problem is lack of appropriate outreach and education concerning alternative water transfer forms, due to lack of funding to follow the established extension and demonstration pattern of agricultural innovation in the U.S. West. (See Wiener, J.D., 2005, Learning From and About Co-Operative Extension Services, Session Report and annotated references, from Panel Discussion at Climate Prediction Applications Science Workshop II, Tallahassee, FL, March 2004. Posted as Appendix to Wiener, 2005 presentation at Climate Prediction Applications Science Workshop III, Palisade, NY, <http://iri.columbia.edu/outreach/meeting/CPASW2005/Presentation/JWiener.pdf/> this also includes posting of memorandum on Arkansas Water Bank Pilot Program). The next question was, "What if we get new forms of water management?" We have followed some of the fears and concerns over water leasing, and some can be "checked off" as manageable problems. Work at present concerns review of literature and interviewing on the effects of moving water from environments that are "hybrids" of "natural" and human-influenced situations. It would help every known interest (except maybe lawyers) to avoid cumulative impact problems such as water quality total maximum daily load limits, or endangered species problems. We have held workshops on on-farm management issues, and on social and economic issues, using a diverse group of participants, with help from the Central Plains Irrigation Association, the Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District, and the Colorado Water Resources Institute as well as many agencies and individuals participating. Additional previous studies were presented to SWSI and to the Arkansas Basin Roundtable and IBCC in memoranda from Wiener, as discussion evolved and in collected form (most recently to the Roundtable and Management at the inception of the Basin Roundtable, through Eric Hecox, and to any one else on request). These materials are still available. They include a large set of references on the topics addressed. Wiener has given 29 relevant presentations/posters on the Arkansas research and many are available (most recently, Colorado Water Congress, 2007 and 2008, Ditch and Reservoir Company Alliance and Central Plains Irrigation Association) posters with extended hand-outs 2007, Climate Prediction Applications Science Workshop 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, and Universities Council on Water Resources 2007, Society for Conservation Biology 2006, American Society of Civil Engineers Environment and Water Resources Institute 2006. CURRENT INVOLVEMENT: Smith is facilitating the discussions of the Water Transfers Guidelines Committee of the Arkansas Basin Roundtable; Weber and Wiener are advisors to the Committee. Other relevant studies include the many items listed in SWSI Phase 1, and the Phase 2 Technical Roundtable Reports, the Howe and Weber, and Howe and Howe and Goemans work on impacts of Zo