The Innovation Deficit in Urban Water: The Need for an Integrated Perspective on Institutions, Organizations, and Technology

Environmental Engineering Science (Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.) | August 1st, 2013

Interaction between institutional change and technological change poses important constraints on transitions of urban water systems to a state that can meet fut

Interaction between institutional change and technological change poses important constraints on transitions of urban water systems to a state that can meet future needs. Research on urban water and other technology- dependent systems provides insights that are valuable to technology researchers interested in assuring that their efforts will have an impact. In the context of research on institutional change, innovation is the development, application, diffusion, and utilization of new knowledge and technology. This definition is intentionally inclusive: technological innovation will play a key role in reinvention of urban water systems, but is only part of what is necessary. Innovation usually depends on context, such that major changes to infrastructure include not only the technological inventions that drive greater efficiencies and physical transformations of water treatment and delivery systems, but also the political, cultural, social, and economic factors that hinder and enable such changes. On the basis of past and present changes in urban water systems, institutional innovation will be of similar importance to technological innovation in urban water reinvention. To solve current urban water infrastructure challenges, technology-focused researchers need to recognize the intertwined nature of technologies and institutions and the social systems that control change.

The Instream Flow Incremental Methodology: A Primer for IFIM

U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) | March 1st, 1995

This booklet is a primer on the Instream Flow Incremental Methodology (IFIM). Our objective for this primer is to give you a short but comprehensive introduction to the b

This booklet is a primer on the Instream Flow Incremental Methodology (IFIM). Our objective for this primer is to give you a short but comprehensive introduction to the background, philosophical and ecological underpinnings, individual components, and steps in applying IFIM. As a primer, we have tried to keep it simple. Scientific names and other technical details have been avoided, but the primer includes relevant definitions (with key words or phrases indicated in italics for their first use), summaries of the literature where you may wish to turn for further reading, and explanations to increase your understanding of what IFIM is all about and how it works. The primer should reinforce your growing knowledge and provide the necessary stepping stones into more advanced, certified training in IFIM methods. This primer is divided into five more or less independent sections. The first section reviews the history of instream flow problems in the United States. Reading this section should provide you with an understanding ofwhy IFIM emerged to solve certain complex water management problems and hint at future directions. The second section discusses the choice of instream flow methods and, more importantly, provides a framework for deciding whether IFIM is appropriate for the kind of problems you might be facing. The third section reviews the ecological underpinnings of IFIM from a historical perspective. This section is meant to show you the degree to which IFIM components, or models, represent the essence of the biological systems that we are attempting to understand. It is more detailed than the other sections and meant specifically to be of interest to biologists and ecologists. Section four delves into the broader philosophical, problem-solving approach embodied in IFIM.  This perspective is important because the 'facts' alone rarely dictate good decisions; it is how we employ those facts to resolve instream flow problems in an interdisciplinary decision making arena that is important. The fifth section outlines the logical steps in applying IFIM and the information flow that holds them together. Here you will learn how to navigate through the IFIM process from tentative problem identification to problem resolution.

The Inundation of the Salton Basin by the Colorado River and How It Was Caused

Scientific American | April 14th, 1906

If the Colorado River continues to flow through the channel which it has been occupying during the last six months, the geography of the Southwest must be radically ch

If the Colorado River continues to flow through the channel which it has been occupying during the last six months, the geography of the Southwest must be radically changed, for at the present time but little water from the river reaches the Gulf of California, which until recently has formed its main estuary. Except when the river is in flood, the bulk of the water flows into what is known as the Salton Sink in southern California-a distance of fully 160 miles from the gulf.  The new channel of the Colorado takes a northwesterly course, while the channeI it formerly occupied is nearly south. It is perhaps needless to say that this watercourse is not only one of the most important in the Southwest, but is notable for the immense volume of water which it carries, especially during the flood seasons. But the quantity of detritus which it holds in solution is enormous, and is nearly equal to that carried down by the Mississippi at certain seasons of the year, owing to the topography of the region which drains into it. An idea of the quantity of water carried by the Colorado at different times of the year can be gained, when it is stated that actual measurements indicate a flow ranging as high as 30,000 cubic feet per second. It is estimated that if the silt and other material brought down the river in the course of a year were spread evenly over a given 'surface, it would cover no less than 35,000 acres to a minimum depth of one foot. Consequently, the Colorado is almost as much of a "land maker" as the Mississippi, acting like a gigantic suction dredge in carrying away the material in its vicinity and depositing it upon the lowlands near its mouth and in the Gulf of California.

The irrigation efficiency trap: rational farm-scale decisions can lead to poor hydrologic outcomes at the basin scale

Frontiers in Environmental Science | August 28th, 2023

Agricultural irrigation practices have changed through time as technology has enabled more efficient conveyance and application. In some agricultural regions, irrigation

Agricultural irrigation practices have changed through time as technology has enabled more efficient conveyance and application. In some agricultural regions, irrigation can contribute to incidental aquifer recharge important for groundwater return flows to streams. The Henrys Fork Snake River, Idaho (United States) overlies a portion of the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer, where irrigated agriculture has occurred for over a century. Using irrigator interviews, aerial and satellite imagery, and statistical streamflow analysis, we document the impact of farm-scale decisions on basin-scale hydrology. Motivated to improve economic efficiency, irrigators began converting from surface to center-pivot sprinkler irrigation in the 1950s, with rapid adoption of center-pivot sprinklers through 2000. Between 1978–2000 and 2001–2022, annual surface-water diversion decreased by 311 Mm3 (23%) and annual return flow to the river decreased by 299 Mm3 over the same period. Some reaches that gained water during 1978–2000 lost water to the aquifer during the later period. We use an interdisciplinary approach to demonstrate how individual farm-scale improvements in irrigation efficiency can cumulatively affect hydrology at the landscape scale and alter groundwater-surface water relationships. Return flows are an important part of basin hydrology in irrigated landscapes and we discuss how managed and incidental aquifer recharge can be implemented to recover return flows to rivers.

The Ives Expedition of 1858

Imperial Irrigation District (IID) | October 1st, 1956

The key role of dry days in changing regional climate and precipitation regimes

Nature Portfolio (Springer Nature) | March 13th, 2014

Future changes in the number of dry days per year can either reinforce or counteract projected increases in daily precipitation intensity as the climate warms. We

Future changes in the number of dry days per year can either reinforce or counteract projected increases in daily precipitation intensity as the climate warms. We analyze climate model projected changes in the number of dry days using 28 coupled global climate models from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project, version 5 (CMIP5). We find that the Mediterranean Sea region, parts of Central and South America, and western Indonesia could experience up to 30 more dry days per year by the end of this century. We illustrate how changes in the number of dry days and the precipitation intensity on precipitating days combine to produce changes in annual precipitation, and show that over much of the subtropics the change in number of dry days dominates the annual changes in precipitation and accounts for a large part of the change in interannual precipitation variability.

The key role of dry days in changing regional climate and precipitation regimes

Nature Portfolio (Springer Nature) | March 13th, 2014

Future changes in the number of dry days per year can either reinforce or counteract projected increases in daily precipitation intensity as the climate warms. We

Future changes in the number of dry days per year can either reinforce or counteract projected increases in daily precipitation intensity as the climate warms. We analyze climate model projected changes in the number of dry days using 28 coupled global climate models from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project, version 5 (CMIP5). We find that the Mediterranean Sea region, parts of Central and South America, and western Indonesia could experience up to 30 more dry days per year by the end of this century. We illustrate how changes in the number of dry days and the precipitation intensity on precipitating days combine to produce changes in annual precipitation, and show that over much of the subtropics the change in number of dry days dominates the annual changes in precipitation and accounts for a large part of the change in interannual precipitation variability.

The Key Role of Heavy Precipitation Events in Climate Model Disagreements of Future Annual Precipitation Changes in California

American Meteorological Society (AMS) | August 6th, 2013

Climate model simulations disagree on whether future precipitation will increase or decrease over Cal- ifornia, which has impeded efforts to anticipate and adapt

Climate model simulations disagree on whether future precipitation will increase or decrease over Cal- ifornia, which has impeded efforts to anticipate and adapt to human-induced climate change. This dis- agreement is explored in terms of daily precipitation frequency and intensity. It is found that divergent model projections of changes in the incidence of rare heavy (.60 mm day21) daily precipitation events explain much of the model disagreement on annual time scales, yet represent only 0.3% of precipitating days and 9% of annual precipitation volume. Of the 25 downscaled model projections examined here, 21 agree that pre- cipitation frequency will decrease by the 2060s, with a mean reduction of 6–14 days yr21. This reduces Cal- ifornia’s mean annual precipitation by about 5.7%. Partly offsetting this, 16 of the 25 projections agree that daily precipitation intensity will increase, which accounts for a model average 5.3% increase in annual pre- cipitation. Between these conflicting tendencies, 12 projections show drier annual conditions by the 2060s and 13 show wetter. These results are obtained from 16 global general circulation models downscaled with dif- ferent combinations of dynamical methods [Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF), Regional Spectral Model (RSM), and version 3 of the Regional Climate Model (RegCM3)] and statistical methods [bias cor- rection with spatial disaggregation (BCSD) and bias correction with constructed analogs (BCCA)], although not all downscaling methods were applied to each global model. Model disagreements in the projected change in occurrence of the heaviest precipitation days (.60 mm day21) account for the majority of disagreement in the projected change in annual precipitation, and occur preferentially over the Sierra Nevada and Northern California. When such events are excluded, nearly twice as many projections show drier future conditions.

The Klamath River’s dams are being removed. Inside the effort to restore a scarred watershed

Los Angeles Times | March 24th, 2024

HORNBROOK, Calif. — Near the California-Oregon border, reservoirs that once submerged valleys have been drained, revealing a stark landscape that had been underwater fo

HORNBROOK, Calif. — Near the California-Oregon border, reservoirs that once submerged valleys have been drained, revealing a stark landscape that had been underwater for generations. A thick layer of muddy sediment covers the sloping ground, where workers have been scattering seeds and leaving meandering trails of footprints. In the cracked mud, seeds are sprouting and tiny green shoots are appearing. With water passing freely through tunnels in three dams, the Klamath River has returned to its ancient channel and is flowing unhindered for the first time in more than a century through miles of waterlogged lands.

The Lower Colorado Basin Fiscal Years 2019 & 2020

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) | January 4th, 2021