Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
hundreds of miles (Reisner
1993
). More recently, population growth in sprawling
urban regions like Phoenix and Las Vegas have replaced agricultural areas. Initially,
this transformation led to a decline in water use since, acre for acre, extensive
(e.g., single-family-home) residential areas use less water than agricultural areas.
However, development that extends beyond the traditional reach of agriculture, to
the desert, and more intensive, vertical residential development will increase Phoe-
nix metropolitan water demand beyond that previously used by predominantly
agricultural systems (Gober
2005
). Additionally, most climate models predict that
the southwestern U.S. will become drier with precipitation occurring in fewer, more
extreme events (Allan and Soden
2008
). Winter precipitation in the mountains is less
likely to fall as snow and the smaller snow pack will melt earlier in the spring
(Barnett et al.
2008
). The shift in both supply and demand will challenge water
management structures that were built under the assumption that variation in natural
systems occurs within a historic range of experience (Milly et al.
2008
).
As with many water governance structures, public information is an important,
but poorly understood policy tool
1
(Weiss and Tschirhart
1994
; Steyaert and Jiggins
2007
; Larson et al.
2009
). The ways that Phoenix chooses to mitigate for and adapt
to the impacts of climate change on water and related elements of the environment
depends on the priorities of the local policy community as well as residents and
their ability to make decisions or take action; as individuals and groups. Public
information concerning water, established through formal and informal policy
channels, can inform decision making at neighborhood, municipal, and larger
political scales. The information available, and the people to whom it is available,
will make a difference in the types of questions that get asked about our future and
the answers that people find acceptable. Should I buy a house with a pool? Should
I support a homeowner association policy to prohibit xeriscaping? Should we adopt
a different price structure for water? Should we maintain groundwater stores for the
future at the expense of growth? Should we try to negotiate new interstate water
agreements and build pipelines to carry water from the Mississippi River? Should
we elect officials who promote an economy that is less dependent on growth?
Often the ways researchers examine knowledge transfer to the public through
outreach and information campaigns are not consistent with the way the public
experiences this information
in situ.
In Arizona, for example, the state govern-
ment mandates that water companies serving over 250 acres include an education
component in their conservation strategies (Jacobs and Holway
2004
). Some
cities provide additional public information programs as part of an alternative to
realizing reductions in per capita water use (Hirt et al.
2008
). Additionally,
environmental groups, museums, and other special interests also play a role in
educating the community about local water issues. Each program addresses
some of the ecological and social components of water conservation, water
1
Following Carr and Wilkinson (
2005
), politics are defined as the policy, legislative, management,
and resource allocation decisions. In this case, the resource being allocated is public information
about water supply and water quality in metropolitan Phoenix, AZ.
