Solving a “super wicked” water problem
Known as the “river of the west,” the Colorado River Basin (CRB) is one of the most productive and influential, economically and environmentally, yet conflicted regions of the United States. The Basin spans seven states, with its northernmost borders stretching into Wyoming, across Colorado and Utah, and down into Nevada, southern California, Arizona and New Mexico. From there, the basin expands into northern Mexico where the Colorado River reaches toward the Gulf of California.
Water in the Basin originates as snowmelt high in the Rocky and Wasatch Mountains. Along the Colorado River’s 1,400 mile journey, the landscape and climate varies considerably: from high alpine forests to barren desert, from rural farms to massive metropolitan areas.
In addition to its environmental role, the economic importance of the CRB cannot be overstated: the Colorado River supports $1.4 trillion in annual economic activity and 16 million jobs – the equivalent to about 1/12 of the total gross domestic product in the U.S. It is estimated that if 10 percent of the river’s water were unavailable (a decline quite possible under projected climate change scenarios of 10-30 percent flow reductions by 2050), there would be a loss of $143 billion in economic activity and 1.6 million jobs, in just one year.
The CRB supplies more than one in 10 Americans with some, if not all, of their water for municipal use, including drinking water. The basin provides irrigation to more than 5.5 million acres of land and is essential as a physical, economic, and cultural resource to at least 22 federally recognized tribes. In addition, dams across the Colorado River Basin support 4,200 megawatts of electrical generating capacity, providing power to millions of people and some of the U.S.’s largest cities.
The Law of the River
As the West continued to develop in the early 1900s, a collection of statutes, court decisions and decrees, interstate agreements, and international treaties emerged from disputes over the allocation of the Colorado River’s water.
Loosely described as the ‘Law of the River’, a collection of the primary basin-wide agreements governing the CRB developed to aid in the Basin’s management. This was despite internal processes for each state’s management of water resources.
Over-allocated, the CRB is threatened by the ongoing impacts of climate change and has become an icon of controversy. It has become clear that under current and projected conditions, the Colorado River is no longer able to meet the demands of its many users. Challenges are emerging that will require the acceptance of a new reality among stakeholders in the CRB.
The “aridification” of the American West and its resultant impacts have led to intervention by the US Federal government, which ultimately forced key states to craft an agreement to use less water. Arizona, California, and Nevada agreed to take less water from the CRB – a breakthrough agreement that, for now, keeps the river from falling so low that it would jeopardize water supplies for major Western cities like Phoenix and Los Angeles as well as for some of America’s most productive farmland.
The agreement also calls for the federal government to pay about $1.2 billion to irrigation districts, cities and Native American tribes in the three states if they temporarily use less water. The states have also agreed to make additional cuts beyond the ones tied to the federal payments to generate the total reductions needed to prevent the collapse of the river.
Taken together, those reductions would amount to about 13 percent of the total water use in the lower Colorado Basin. This is among the most aggressive ever experienced in the region, and is likely to require significant water restrictions for residential and agricultural uses. Another element of the strategy must include reducing water demand in the public sector, agricultural, industrial, and residential/commercial sectors throughout the CRB. By reducing water demand from households, it has a direct, positive impact on water availability. Coupled with reductions in non-revenue water (NRW) – water lost in the network from aging infrastructure and water theft – and decentralized water reuse, these measures can help to meet reduction targets.
The Super Wicked Problem of Water
Despite the agreement, the CRB and the states and ecosystems that rely upon it, face daunting challenges. This agreement is in no way a path to building a sustainable and resilient watershed. These challenges, in our view, should be framed as “wicked water problems” if not “super wicked water problems.”
Briefly, wicked problems are characterized by:
- Difficult to clearly define
- Have many interdependencies and are often multi-causal
- Attempts to address wicked problems often lead to unforeseen consequences
- Often not stable, with no clear solution, and socially complex
- Involve changing behavior
Super “wicked problems” (e.g., climate change, water)
- There is a significant time deadline for finding the solution
- There is no central authority dedicated to finding a solution
- Those seeking to solve the problem are also causing it
- Certain policies irrationally impede future progress
This leads us to ask the question of who solves super wicked water problems. The answer, in short, is all stakeholders, unified and working together with a collective purpose. From entrepreneurs to water utilities, from industry to investors and from researchers to agriculture, these organizations are helping to tame, if not solve, these problems.
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About the authors
Will Sarni is the CEO of Water Foundry and founder and general partner, Water Foundry Ventures and Tom Freyberg, is the Founder & Managing Director of Atlantean Media.