Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Michael L. Connor has announced the selection of seven applied science projects to receive $1.2 million funding for the enhancement of water resource management in a changing climate. Facilitating the development of new tools that allow better management of water resources is one of the strategies of the Department of the Interior's WaterSMART Program which paves the way to a sustainable water future. This funding will be leveraged to fund over $2.7 million in applied science projects in Arizona, California, Nevada and Utah.
"The competition is growing for water used by agriculture, municipalities, the energy sector and the environment," Commissioner Connor said. "Growing demand for water will continue with the impacts exacerbated by climate change. At Reclamation, the WaterSMART program and grants such as these enhance the knowledge and tools available to water resource managers so they can use water more efficiently and meet future demands."
These seven projects were selected through a competitive process and are being funded through WaterSMART's Grants to develop climate analysis tools. The selected projects are:
- Desert Research Institute in Nevada will receive $199,761 for the evaluation of evapotranspiration and irrigation water requirements in a changing climate.
- Southern Nevada Water Authority will receive $188,410 to enhance resource management of the Colorado River through understanding changes to water quality and sediment transport in Lake Mead.
- Desert Research Institute in Nevada will receive $126,014 to develop and evaluate regional climate downscaling techniques that will benefit understanding future surface and groundwater supplies.
- Southern Nevada Water Authority will receive $200,000 to evaluate potential future additional utilization of water resources in the eastern great basin.
- Utah State University will receive $141,033 to provide more accurate projections of seasonal precipitation cycles within the upper Colorado River basin.
- University of California at Irvine will receive $200,000 to utilize novel statistical techniques to quantify the uncertainty associated with the current suite of global climate models.
- University of Arizona will receive $200,000 to do a two-phase project where they will use tree-ring data to reconstruct the historical flows of the Klamath and San Joaquin Rivers and update the reconstructed flows of the Sacramento River. The researchers will then construct a database and incorporate the tree-ring data and flow reconstruction into a climatological framework.
These projects will help inform Reclamation activities under the SECURE Water Act and future reports such as the SECURE Water Act Report released on April 25. The projects that were selected help fill the information gaps outlined in the joint Reclamation and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Report, Addressing Climate Change in Long-Term Water Resources Planning and Management: User Needs for Improving Tools and Information published in January 2011.
The results of these projects will be integrated with ongoing activities at the Climate Science Centers, Landscape Conservation Cooperatives, and NOAA Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments – all agencies working together with Reclamation. The agencies jointly support the development of new research and science to manage resources in a sustainable manner.
The WaterSMART Program focuses on improving water conservation and sustainability and helping water resource managers make sound decisions about water use. It identifies strategies to ensure that this and future generations will have sufficient supplies of clean water for drinking, economic activities, recreation and ecosystem health. The program also identifies adaptive measures to address climate change and its impact on future water demands. The SMART in WaterSMART stands for "Sustain and Manage America's Resources for Tomorrow." Since its establishment in 2010, the WaterSMART Program has provided more than $80 million in all competitively awarded funding to non-federal partners, including tribes, water districts and universities.
To learn more about WaterSMART, please visit www.usbr.gov/WaterSMART.
Reclamation is the largest wholesale water supplier in the United States and the nation's second largest producer of hydroelectric power. Its facilities also provide substantial flood control, recreation and fish and wildlife benefits. Visit our website at http://www.usbr.gov.