Water Planning for Growing Southwestern Communities - Design with the Desert: Conservation and Sustainable Development - page 267

15
Water Planning for Growing
Southwest ern Communities
Sharon B. Megdal and Joanna B. Nadeau
CONTENTS
15.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 269
15.2 Traditional and Nontraditional Water Supplies ............................................................ 271
15.3 Investments in Water Infrastructure............................................................................... 274
15.4 Regulatory Considerations ............................................................................................... 276
15.5 Uncertainties in Water Planning ..................................................................................... 278
15.6 Planning by and for Whom and What? .......................................................................... 281
15.7 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 283
References ..................................................................................................................................... 283
15.1 Introduction
The Southwest is known for its diversity of topography, ecology, economic activity, and
cultures. Communities large and small have been growing rapidly. Population changes
reflect the net inflow of people into communities as well as the net growth of the existing
population. The relative importance of these two components of growth will vary across
regions within a state and across states. Planning for growth is a challenging endeavor.
It requires vision and careful consideration of alternatives. Failure to plan will not stop
growth, but effective planning will influence the pattern of land development that results
from increasing populations in Southwestern urban centers and changing economic
activities.
Water is essential to life and living communities. Yet the water supplies are not always
where the people and their associated economic activities locate, as is apparent in the
widespread reliance on imported supplies to meet the needs of large Western cities, such
as Las Vegas, Phoenix, and San Diego. The Southwest is home to dams and constructed
water projects that are technological marvels (Figure 15.1). It is also home to rivers that only
flow during storm events and degraded riparian areas. Federal funding has been essential
to the growth of the Southwest. Witness water delivery projects such as the Salt River
Project, Central Arizona Project (CAP), and Central Valley Project. But the engineering and
calculus of water planning have changed. Rather than dams, there is focus on desalination
technology. Location of wastewater treatment facilities must now consider the potential for
reuse of the water rather than only the disposal of the outflows. The natural environment
is being recognized more and more as a water using sector, in addition to the traditional
three: agricultural, municipal, and industrial.
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