Arkansas - CSU Geospatial DSS for Integrated Water Mgmt_ Application

Home Browse Search

Water Supply Reserve Account -Grant Application Form Form Revised May 2007 3. Describe how the Water Activity Meets the Evaluation Criteria Promoting Collaboration and Cooperation: a. The proposed Arkansas River GeoDSS is designed for fully integrated, basin-wide water resources management over the entire Arkansas River drainage in Colorado. Geo-spatially integrated water quantity and quality models of surface and groundwater resources, as constrained by legal and administrative requirements, will be applied to issues that are of concern to multiple interests and stakeholders, including (i) municipal and industrial water users within the Arkansas River Basin, as well as those outside the Basin receiving transfer water, (ii) agricultural water users, including individual farmers and ranchers, ditch companies, and conservancy districts within the Basin; (iii) environmental and recreational interests promoting water quality improvement and instream flow uses, (iv) Colorado State government interests related to preservation of water rights, proper use and reuse of foreign waters imported into the Basin and compliance with the Colorado-Kansas Arkansas River compact; and (v) federal interests regarding management of storage ownerships in the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project and John Martin Reservoir. b. The proposed Arkansas River GeoDSS will promote collaboration among water users and interests within the Basin, as well as those outside the Basin, in developing a shared vision of an economically and environmentally healthy Arkansas River Basin. The GeoDSS will allow assessment of impacts on both water quantity and quality of existing and proposed water transfers outside of the Basin, as well as impacts of water right exchanges on the stream-aquifer system. This development will be closely coordinated with another on-going effort by the MIT- USGS Science Impact Collaborative (MUSIC) and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) to construct an agent-based model that captures key social and economic dynamics in the Basin. Working closely with Arkansas Basin stakeholders, the resulting scheme will allowing coupling of the physical system models with an agent-based model to provide complete simulation of key physical, environmental, social, and economic features of the Basin. The agent-based model is being developed collaboratively with a wide range of diverse public and private water resources stakeholders in the Basin. It will be made available for wider community testing and use during and after online development. It is hoped that this coupled modeling approach will empower ordinary water users, particularly in agriculture, to better understand the implications for their own livelihoods of alternative management options. Facilitating Water Activity Implementation: c. Funding from this Account is essential for support of the complex and extensive tasks in data collection and analysis, stream-aquifer system modeling, surface water distribution modeling, water rights modeling, simulation of water quality, consideration of the Colorado-Kansas Arkansas River Compact, evaluation of consumptive use and return flows, and assessment of impacts of alternative water management schemes within the social and economic context. d. Delays in development of the proposed Arkansas River GeoDSS could result in the authorization of plans that have not been properly evaluated as to potential impacts, both adverse and beneficial, on future water development, water supply, water quality, water rights, Arkansas River Compact compliance, and the sensitive balance of the Arkansas Valley stream-aquifer system. e. The 3 year study period for this proposed water activity is necessary for successful completion, considering the scope and complexity of integrated modeling and management of the entire 5