At-Risk Water Resources Research

Project Completed

Flagstaff, Az. (March 24, 2009) – A one-year project was recently completed by the Coconino Plateau Water Advisory Council’s (CPWAC) Technical Advisory Committee, in cooperation with Northern Arizona University. The project was funded in part by a grant from the Arizona Water Institute.

The research project was to develop a methodology for identifying and assessing waters that may be at-risk from climate change, land management changes, or surface water or groundwater use changes.

The report calls for the establishment of an interdisciplinary team trained to assess the values and risks of all at-risk water resources on the Coconino Plateau. It will also prioritize the aquifers, springs, streams and standing water bodies by their values and risks, and prioritize the sites for conservation, management mitigation or restoration.

The CPWAC believes this project will provide valuable information to help address conservation, environmental, supply and growth issues relative to the Coconino Plateau. Prioritizing environmental needs for sustainable water use is part of the CPWAC Strategic Plan.

The project included convening a diverse group of local, Tribal, State and Federal experts to participate in a workshop to review and test scoring and risk criteria related to cultural, historical, political and scientific values associated with various types of water resources on the Plateau.

The workshop was led by Larry Stevens, Museum of Northern Arizona curator of Ecology and Conservation, who used a similar process for the Arizona Water Institute’s Heritage Waters Project.

The complete report may be found on the CPWAC website at www.cpwac.org; under Education, Studies.

For more information, call Abe Springer, Professor, Department of Geology, Northern Arizona University, at (928) 523-7198.