Water Sustainability in Snow-Fed Arid Land River System

Board Of Regents, Nshe, Obo University Of Nevada, Reno, Reno NV

Investigators

Abstract

This project will create a framework to engage diverse stakeholder communities interacting with regard to water within the Truckee-Carson River System of northern Nevada. The approach, combining a systems-based hydrologic model and an agent-based stakeholder model, has the potential to inform and transform water management in Northern Nevada and the American Southwest. This project will produce new models and actionable information for Tribal, Federal, State, and local resource managers and policy makers. Two federally recognized American Indian tribes (Pyramid Lake Paiute and Fallon Paiute-Shoshone) will be engaged to increase the capacity of the Indian Tribal Governments to effectively steward natural and water resources on reservation lands. Presentations will also be made to the Intertribal Agriculture Council, the Board of the Indian Land Tenure Foundation (600-700 tribal members per meeting) and the Association for International Agriculture and Extension Education. Engagement with Latino groups will occur through the student diversity office. Three post-docs and two graduate students will be trained as well as two UG students who will participate in the summer research REU. This project will develop an integrated systems-based approach (1) to predict (a) the robustness of the Truckee-Carson River System (TCRS) water supply to future hydroclimatic conditions, (b) the resilience of the system to extreme events and changes in land-use and economic growth, and (2) to assess stakeholder acceptance of alternative water policy institutional arrangements designed to enhance sustainability. A water supply model will be linked to both climate projections and extreme weather events, as well as an agent-based model to simulate the behavior of water rights holders and users along the system. Stakeholders will be engaged throughout the project to enhance understanding of how individuals and policy institutions might respond to future hydroclimatic conditions, assess the adaptive capacity of current water management agreements and, as adaptive capacity is reached, test the willingness of stakeholders to accept new policies and practices.