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Topics
The symposium will concentrate on three topics, each of which poses multiple challenges.
Each topic will be approached from the point of view of state and local decision-makers.
Across the Northwest, the physical infrastructure by which
public agencies store and convey water is aging and changing ownership. It is possible
that the very hydrology around which water infrastructure is designed is now altering
as a response to climate change. Some of the challenges posed to decision-makers:
- What are the alternatives for replacing or repairing old, aging and leaking
facilities? At what cost, and who should bear that cost?
- There is impetus for the "de-acquisition" of
some Federal water projects to other governmental or quasi-governmental organizations.
How should potential recipient organizations evaluate the costs and benefits of such
transfers, to make the best choices for the long term?
- Should we be decommissioning
dams to serve ecological values, or constructing them to maintain storage capacity
in the face of diminishing winter snowpack? Can states develop water-storage policies
that incorporate both goals? What do such policies look like?
- Are there opportunities
to downsize new infrastructure through water conservation? Is demand-side water management
sufficiently reliable to offset engineered concrete and steel?
Fresh waters, whether above or below ground, are
one resource. State laws may acknowledge the physical connection, but the associated
regulations frequently do not, and surface and ground water are often managed at
cross purposes. To manage water as a unitary resource, we must address these issues:
- How can or should water-rights systems that have become deeply entrenched over
100+ years be made to accommodate our current understanding of the inter-connectedness
of surface and ground waters?
- What different approaches have states taken to identify
subsurface zones of recharge to surface waters, and what are the advantages and disadvantages
of each? o In practical terms, is it really possible to understand individual aquifers
well enough to manage them "conjunctively" with their associated streams
and rivers?
- Can ground water be exploited in lieu of surface water, for the benefit
of fish and wildlife?
- Is there a role for non-regulatory conjunctive management
of ground and surface water, for example, by watershed coordinating committees?
With population growing in many Northwestern
communities, much attention is paid to how development affects water. Unfortunately,
land-use regulation may be in conflict with water regulation, and long-term, large-scale
evaluations often simply cannot be conducted. Vexing issues faced by policy-makers
include:
- How much should be required of land developers in demonstrating and mitigating
their developments' effects on water resources?
- Local government establishes regulations
concerning development of lands within floodplains. As watersheds are covered with
impervious surfaces, are flood maps keeping up to date? What is the liability of
government when permitted buildings are flooded?
- The establishment of minimum building
setbacks from surface waters has traditionally rested on aesthetic considerations.
How should considerations of water quality - e.g. discharge of slightly-treated septic
leachate - be incorporated into setback decisions?
- When land that has been irrigated
for many decades is converted to suburbs, the local ground and surface water hydrology
changes. Water tables fall in some places and rise in others; streams may become
intermittent. Given the incremental nature of land development, is there a way to
project cumulative changes and develop plans or regulations to protect water resources?
- What happens to water rights when irrigated ranches are converted to subdivisions?
Do state or local governments have an interest in the disposition of those rights?
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