Water Planning for Growing Southwestern Communities - Design with the Desert: Conservation and Sustainable Development - page 280

FIGURE 15.6
Stakeholder meeting. (From U.S. Bureau of Reclamation home page for the San Juan-Chama Project Colorado
and New Mexico, http://www.usbr.gov/projects/Project.jsp?proj_Name=San%20Juan-Chama%20Project,
accessed on July 15, 2011.) (Courtesy of the Central Arizona Project.)
underscore this, such as that of California, as do state visioning exercises, such as Envision,
Utah. In Arizona, on the other hand, a statewide water plan is not required of the Arizona
Department of Water Resources. In addition, Arizona shares a border with Mexico, shares
Colorado River water with 6 other states, and is home to 22 Indian Nations and Tribes. Indian
water rights settlements have quantified certain water rights, but some Indian water rights
claims remain unsettled. Surface water rights remain unresolved by the courts. Effective
and comprehensive water planning involves a complex web of players and jurisdictions.
Although separated by oceans, there are lessons to be learned from other countries, espe-
cially those who have dealt with drought and adverse water conditions. Australia is an
example. There, the federal government has required State Natural Resources Management
Plans. In developing them, they must engage a broad set of stakeholders including com-
munity groups and volunteers, local government bodies, industry sector, landholders and
other natural resource users, the federal government, state government and state agencies,
and regional natural resource boards and groups.* In Australia, they are investing heavily
into seawater desalination. As a representative of the Perth Water Utility, Perth, Australia,
stated, their water security is through diversity of water sources. † Areas have been faced with
restrictions residents of the Southwest would consider extreme, such as a ban on outdoor
watering. Perhaps it is a testament to our excellent water planning that, despite extended
drought, communities have not had to impose such severe restrictions. Yet where voluntary
cutbacks have not been successful, consideration of mandatory restrictions is the next step. ‡
Engaging the full range of stakeholders is a crucial part of water planning. Among the
associated challenges to meaningful stakeholder engagement are the following: facilitat-
ing sufficient understanding of complex issues; obtaining the long-term commitment of
the players to participate; developing a customized approach to planning because one size
does not fit all; implementing appropriate communications mechanisms; and, perhaps
most importantly, funding the costs involved (Figure 15.6).
* Slide presented by Dr. Jennifer McKay of the University of South Australia, Seminar at the University of
Arizona, February 20, 2009, Tucson, Arizona.
† Comment in presentation made at the Colorado River Water Users Association Annual Conference . 47
‡ See Lee. 48,49