2010-11 Deliverables
Task 3 Research
Principal Investigator(s): Ari Michelsen
In collaboration with Ron Lacewell, Ed Rister, Allen Sturdivant, and Zhuping Sheng, Texas AgriLife Research and Frank Ward, Brian Hurd, Leeann DeMouche, Bobby Creel and Tom McGuckin, NMSU. We mutually agree for Ari Michelsen to deliver the following during the period of July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2011 using funds from the Rio Grande Basin Initiative:
- Produce and broadly distribute "Drought Watch on the Rio Grande," an informational and educational outreach publication to increase awareness and knowledge of current river water supply, conservation, storage and water allocation conditions in the upper Rio Grande Basin and bi‑state Rio Grande Project region of New Mexico and Texas. Drought Watch is produced in collaboration with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Ari Michelsen, Texas AgriLife Research and Filiberto Cortez, El Paso Office, USBR.
- Continue development of the Rio Grande Coordinated Water Resources Database, GIS and hydrologic model. Development of the Coordinated Water Resources Database and GIS will continue providing readily available water manager and public access to real‑time and historical water resources information. Major elements are increased access to the Database and GIS, coordination with the Upper Rio Grande River Operations Model. This project is being conducted with the Paso del Norte Watershed Council in partnership with numerous local, state, federal agencies and organizations. Resources and partnerships are being leveraged with support from the USACE and USBR. Efforts involve AgriLife Research scientists (Zhuping Sheng, Ari Michelsen, Srinivasan), NMSU scientists (Phil King, Bobby Creel, Chris Brown), University of Juarez scientists (Alfredo Granados) and other stakeholders. Information and results from RGBI Tasks 1, 3, 4 and 8 are contributing to development of this effort.
- Provide technical support to the Far West Texas Water Planning Group in development of the State 5 Year Water Plan. The 2012 State Water Plan identifies water supply and management strategies over the 50 year planning period (2010-2060) that would be implemented to meet projected demands for agriculture, municipal, industrial, power generation and other uses during worst drought of record conditions. Members of the Planning Group include El Paso Water Utilities, El Paso County Water Improvement District #1, Hudspeth County Conservation and Reclamation District #1, Hudspeth County Underground Water Conservation District, Fort Bliss, and rural and environmental interests. El Paso Center scientists providing their expertise and technical support to the Far West Texas Water Planning Group include Ari Michelsen, Zhuping Sheng and Girisha Ganjegunte.
- Continue analyses of the benefits and impacts of alternative water management and incentive policies such as water marketing and transfers and water reuse using integrated hydrologic, institutional and economic methods and models. Results will be presented at meetings and papers submitted for peer reviewed journal publication. Ari Michelsen, Ron Lacewell, Zhuping Sheng, Ed Rister and Allen Sturdivant, Texas AgriLife Research with Frank Ward, Brian Hurd and Leeann DeMouch NMSU.
- Respond to requests and continue assistance in local, state, regional and national water management efforts and meetings to coordinate and further improvements in water resources research, education and related activities. Organizations include: Rio Grande Salinity Management Coalition, Rio Grande Coordinating Committee, Far West Texas Water Planning Group, Paso del Norte Watershed Council, Paso del Norte Water Task Force, and Consortium for Hi-technology Investigations in Water and Wastewater.