In recent years we have seen increasing debate over the allocation of PNW water resources. In particular there are conflicts over using the river system for irrigation vs. electricity production. Denying the hydroelectric system water implies higher costs to electricity consumers as producers substitute more expensive nonhydro resources. This research looked at the impact of new irrigation on PNW electricity consumers. This was done under varying assumptions of demand response and farmer payments for pumping of irrigation water. The study also examined the difference between the current policy of allowing farmers to take all the water they need, and a policy in which withdrawals are limited in periods of low streamflow. Simulations were run to determine the amount of electricity production lost because of withdrawals. These results were then used in a series of simulations to estimate the economic impacts under the various assumptions and policies. It was found that irrigation caused losses to electricity consumers. In some cases this loss was on the order of $200/acre of irrigated land. The loss was significantly mitigated under the interruptible policy. Farmer payments for irrigation energy also reduced the loss to consumers. / Graduation date: 1985

The growing demand for water in the arid regions of the West increases the need for optimal allocation of water among competing uses. An efficient allocation of water between instream and out-of-stream uses has been impeded by institutional constraints and the scarcity of information regarding instream flow benefits. The objectives of this thesis were to provide preliminary economic data on the value of instream water in "producing" recreational fishing and to examine the effect of forestry, agriculture, and livestock practices on temporal streamflow patterns and anadromous fish production. The steelhead trout (Salmo gairdneri) sport fishery within the John Day River basin in north-central Oregon provided the setting for this research. The interdisciplinary methodology employed in estimating the marginal value of water with respect to steelhead production consisted of two tasks. The first task involved valuing a marginal change in the quality of the steelhead recreational fishery. The contingent valuation method (CVM) was selected for this purpose. Both open- and closed-ended willingness-to-pay (WTP) questions were included in a questionnaire administered to John Day River steelhead anglers during the 1986/87 steelhead fishing season. Survey data were analyzed to arrive at individual and aggregate bid functions relating WTP to expected angling success rates. Results indicate that, under current conditions, the average angler is willing to pay approximately $7.20 to catch an additional steelhead. The second task of the instream water valuation methodology was directed at deriving a streamflow/steelhead production relationship. By including variables influencing steelhead production in a Ricker stock-recruitment model, it was possible to develop a model which could be estimated using linear regression techniques. Some difficulty arose, however, with interpretation of the model due to the unavailability of cohort escapement data and the subsequent use of standing crop data. While possibly masking the true magnitude of streamflow's effect on fish production, this drawback was not deemed limiting within the general context of the interdisciplinary methodology. Results of the biological model conformed to a priori expectations. Increases in summer and winter streamflows led to increased steelhead survival, whereas higher spring flows increased mortality levels. Other results indicate that the John Day Dam was responsible for a 31.5 percent decline in the population index for the 1969-1983 period. Combining the economic and biological results into one equation yielded an estimate of the marginal value of summer instream water in "producing" recreational steelhead angling. Similar equations were developed for winter and spring flows. The marginal value of water in producing recreational steelhead fishing within the John Day basin was estimated at $0.56 per acre-foot for summer flows, $0.046 for winter flows, and -$0.075 for spring flows. By including out-of-basin benefits, these values increased to $2.26, $0.19, and -$0.30, respectively. In comparison, water's value in irrigation within the John Day basin has been estimated at between $10 to $24 per acre-foot. However, nonuse values of steelhead, as well as the increased production of other fish species (such as spring chinook salmon) were not included in the instream water values. In addition, no attempt was made at valuing instream water's contribution to boating, camping, or other benefit-producing activities. A secondary objective of this thesis was to briefly examine the possible benefits accruing to other instream and out-of-stream users due to an alteration in streamflow patterns. In addition, the impact of activities by other resource users -- namely forestry, agriculture, and livestock production --on anadromous fish production was reviewed. Improper management practices by these activities can negatively impact the aquatic and riparian ecosystems. While no firm conclusions were drawn, it appears the quality of these ecosystems, as opposed to the amount of streamflow, has the largest marginal impact on anadromous fish populations. / Graduation date: 1988

Outdoor water use by single-family residences in the desert city of Tucson, Arizona is investigated as a multi-scaled coupled human-environment system, using remotely sensed images, GIS data, household water use records and survey responses. Like many desert cities, Tucson's municipal water system faces stresses at multiple spatial and temporal scales: rising demand, limited supplies, competition for distant resources and the likelihood of shortages due to regional climate change. Though the need for demand management is recognized, conflict between the long-term regional scale of the ecosystem that sustains Tucson's water supply and the short-term, local scale of the municipal utility results in a "lack of fit", shown here as the inability to reduce consumption to sustainable levels.While direct regulation of outdoor water use has not been successful, geographic research suggests that modification of the built environment, the focus of the three studies comprising this dissertation, holds promise as a demand management strategy. The first study is a spatial analysis of survey responses on outdoor water use practices during a drought. Next, the potential for substituting common amenities (irrigated landscapes and swimming pools) for private ones is investigated. Residential use was found to be sensitive to park proximity, greenness (proxied by the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index), size and presence of a park pool. Most small parks were net water savers; large parks offered the opportunity to substitute reclaimed water for potable supplies.The last study correlates long-term Landsat-based vegetation and water use trends and integrates these with a spatial analysis of kinetic temperatures. Findings indicate that despite reduced water use, Tucson became greener over the 1995 - 2008 period. This effect is attributed to a pulse of vegetation establishment in response to a shift in the El Niño - Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) around 1976 and to irrigation prior to the study period. I conclude that although the coupled human-environment system of Tucson's municipal water supply and use practices is complex, there are scale-dependent competitive advantages to be gained through thoughtful modification of the built environment.

The pulp and paper industry holds a reputation in the public eye for being a large consumer of water. This dissertation analyses water usage within the industry with a particular application to the South African pulp and paper industry. Unlike in other paper-producing countries, water in South Africa is a scarce commodity with a wide range of consumers. Faced with this, it is important for the leaders of the paper industry to have a tool with which to manage water consumption. This dissertation analyses the water usage aspects (including volumes needed and water quality needed) of the different processes, as well as the impact of different products, describing the reasons for water usage in each process. The application of best available technologies for water reduction is discussed. A theoretical or expected range and norm for water usage for each of seventeen South African mills is derived, based on each mill's particular processes, capacities and products. The actual water usage by each mill was surveyed by personally interviewing personnel at each mill. Comparisons are made between expected and actual water usage, and the total daily water consumption of the industry is derived. Only two mills operate below the expected norm level, most smaller mills operate close to the norm level, while five of the larger mills need to apply various techniques to reduce their water usage. The approximation of mill water usage to the predicted or expected norm clearly supports the hypothesis that water usage can be predicted by analysing process and capacity, and indicates that this dissertation can be used as a tool to manage water usage within the industry. / Thesis (M.Sc.Eng.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2004.

The pulp and paper industry holds a reputation in the public eye for being a large consumer of water. This dissertation analyses water usage within the industry with a particular application to the South African pulp and paper industry. Unlike in other paper-producing countries, water in South Africa is a scarce commodity with a wide range of consumers. Faced with this, it is important for the leaders of the paper industry to have a tool with which to manage water consumption. This dissertation analyses the water usage aspects (including volumes needed and water quality needed) of the different processes, as well as the impact of different products, describing the reasons for water usage in each process. The application of best available technologies for water reduction is discussed. A theoretical or expected range and norm for water usage for each of seventeen South African mills is derived, based on each mill's particular processes, capacities and products. The actual water usage by each mill was surveyed by personally interviewing personnel at each mill. Comparisons are made between expected and actual water usage, and the total daily water consumption of the industry is derived. Only two mills operate below the expected norm level, most smaller mills operate close to the norm level, while five of the larger mills need to apply various techniques to reduce their water usage. The approximation of mill water usage to the predicted or expected norm clearly supports the hypothesis that water usage can be predicted by analysing process and capacity, and indicates that this dissertation can be used as a tool to manage water usage within the industry. / Thesis (M.Sc.Eng.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2004.

The pulp and paper industry holds a reputation in the public eye for being a large consumer of water. This dissertation analyses water usage within the industry with a particular application to the South African pulp and paper industry. Unlike in other paper-producing countries, water in South Africa is a scarce commodity with a wide range of consumers. Faced with this, it is important for the leaders of the paper industry to have a tool with which to manage water consumption. This dissertation analyses the water usage aspects (including volumes needed and water quality needed) of the different processes, as well as the impact of different products, describing the reasons for water usage in each process. The application of best available technologies for water reduction is discussed. A theoretical or expected range and norm for water usage for each of seventeen South African mills is derived, based on each mill's particular processes, capacities and products. The actual water usage by each mill was surveyed by personally interviewing personnel at each mill. Comparisons are made between expected and actual water usage, and the total daily water consumption of the industry is derived. Only two mills operate below the expected norm level, most smaller mills operate close to the norm level, while five of the larger mills need to apply various techniques to reduce their water usage. The approximation of mill water usage to the predicted or expected norm clearly supports the hypothesis that water usage can be predicted by analysing process and capacity, and indicates that this dissertation can be used as a tool to manage water usage within the industry. / Thesis (M.Sc.Eng.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2004.

The arrival of the North American Monsoon System (NAMS) terminates a presummer hyperarid period in the southwestern United States (U.S.), providing summer moisture that is favorable for forest growth. Montane forests in this region rely on winter snowpack to drive much of their growth; the extent to which they use NAMS moisture is uncertain. We addressed this by studying stable carbon and oxygen isotopes in earlywood and latewood from 11 sites along a latitudinal gradient extending from Arizona and New Mexico to Utah. This study provides the first regional perspective on the relative roles of winter versus summer precipitation as an ecophysiological resource. Here we present evidence that Ponderosa pine uses NAMS moisture differentially across this gradient. C-13/C-12 ratios suggest that photosynthetic water use efficiency during latewood formation is more sensitive to summer precipitation at the northern than at the southern sites. This is likely due to the fact that NAMS moisture provides sufficiently favorable conditions for tree photosynthesis and growth during most years in the southern sites, whereas the northern sites experience larger summer moisture variability, which in some years is limiting growth. Cellulose O-18 and C-13 values revealed that photoassimilates in the southern sites were produced under higher vapor pressure deficit conditions during spring compared to summer, demonstrating a previously underappreciated effect of seasonal differences in atmospheric humidity on tree ring isotope ratios. Our findings suggest that future changes in NAMS will potentially alter productivity and photosynthetic water use dynamics differentially along latitudinal gradients in southwestern U.S. montane forests.

Irrigation agriculture is the largest use of water (~80%) in the United States ('Irrigation and Water Use', 2016) A combination of irrigation and precipitation infiltrates through the Earth's subsurface and represents the primary inputs to an agricultural field's groundwater system. This water propagates down from the surface, with some of it recharging the underlying groundwater storage as return flow. The difference between the amount of irrigation water applied and the return flow to the aquifer, represents the consumptive use of the system. The alterations in the quality and distribution of water from groundwater pumping and irrigation places greater emphasis on the need to understand the connection between agricultural consumption and subsurface groundwater flux. Temperature fluctuations in the Earth's shallow subsurface are mainly governed by spatial and temporal variations in temperature at the ground surface (Hatch et al., 2006). These temperature signals at depth are primarily controlled by advection, dispersion, and thermal conduction. It has been shown for streambeds that when temperature propagates through the subsurface, it is a nonlinear function of fluid velocity, the frequency of the surface temperature variations, and the sediment and fluid thermal properties (Stallman, 1965). This information has been useful for understanding fluxes for saturated conditions such as in stream systems, but has not yet been applied to understand consumptive use in unsaturated conditions such as in agricultural systems. Temperature propagation in unsaturated conditions is different than saturated conditions due to changes in soil and thermal properties. Previous models have had difficulty estimating groundwater fluxes for some unsaturated conditions. This study experiments with the possibility of using a combination of MATLAB and HYDRUS 1D to infer unsaturated groundwater fluxes, saturated hydraulic conductivity, and saturated water content. One application of this type of flux estimation could be the inference of root water uptake and the consumptive use of an agricultural system. The method is designed to calculate root water uptake under steady-state conditions; and therefore might have limitations for quantifying consumptive use in field applications.It is beneficial to research the consumptive use in agricultural systems in order to gain understanding of the effects of irrigation on the total flux in groundwater storage. Other applications of consumptive use include: site specific farm efficiency and crop use parameters, nonpoint source pollution to estimate nutrient fluxes, irrigation efficiency, soil salinization, waste isolation, and slope stability.

The goal of this project was to determine the genetic architecture of water-use efficiency (WUE) for foxtail pine, which included genomic loci, and effect sizes of this trait. Foxtail pine is a subalpine endemic conifer that inhabits two distinct regional populations separated by 500 km in the mountains of California. In order to achieve this goal, a robust linkage map containing thousands of genetic markers was created using four megagametophyte arrays ranging in size from approximately 70 to 95 megagametophytes. Quantitative trait loci (QTL) discovered for WUE were mapped along the linkage map using linear mixed models and five half-sibling families grown in a common garden. Effect sizes of these QTL were tested for differences between the two regional populations of foxtail pine.

Thesis (M.Sc.)--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Science, School of Geography, Archaeology & Environmental Studies, 2016. / The aim of this thesis is to expose the effects of water scarcity on rural livelihoods. The chosen study site for this investigation is Borakalalo village in Lehurutshe region (North West Province). The aim of this study was to explore the water usage patterns of households in Borakalalo village in order to unpack the various water-related activities that households in Borakalalo engage with. The main argument made in this thesis is that in order to comprehend the effects of water scarcity on rural livelihoods, it is paramount that the water usage trends of rural dwellers be documented and, the contribution made by various water-related activities in generating a livelihood income be scrutinised. Therefore, using the sustainable rural livelihood framework of analysis, the goal of this study was to investigate the role that water plays in securing a livelihood for households in Borakalalo village. The introduction chapter explains the relevance of this study in the context of South Africa as a whole, also paying special attention to Borakalalo village, which is the chosen study site for this investigation. The methodology chapter highlights the advantages and disadvantages of methodological techniques employed in this study. A critical engagement with literature on water scarcity reveals some of the key conceptual dilemmas in defining water scarcity. Furthermore, the social, political and economic impacts of water scarcity on a global and national scale are looked into. A household survey that was conducted with 150 households in Borakalalo village aimed to uncover the water usage trends of rural households and, to examine how water serves the livelihoods of households in Borakalalo village. In the discussion chapter some of the main findings in this investigation are brought forth through looking at the ways in which water-related activities such as agriculture, livestock herding and small water-related rural enterprises sustain rural livelihoods. Although the discussion uncovers the role of water in a productivist rural economy, the results also seem to suggest that there is a shift in the rural economy from productivist to post-productivist livelihood activities. Henceforth, as much as water scarcity poses a threat to productivist livelihood activities, it also limits the expansion of the emerging post-productivist rural livelihoods. Furthermore, the increased need for monetary income in rural households in order to compensate for the loss of productive rural activities is evident. However, high levels of unemployment in rural areas limit the capacity of rural households to generate monetary income, and henceforth, livelihoods in Borakalalo village are enormously threatened by current water shortages in the village. / MT2016