The future of water in a desert river basin facing climate change and competing demands: A holistic approach to water sustainability in arid and semi-arid regions. Hargrove, W. L., Heyman, J. M., Mayer, A., Mirchi, A., Granados-Olivas, A., Ganjegunte, G., Gutzler, D., Pennington, D. D., Ward, F. A., Chavira, L. G., Sheng, Z., Kumar, S., Villanueva-Rosales, N., & Walker, W. S. Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies, 46:101336, April, 2023.
The future of water in a desert river basin facing climate change and competing demands: A holistic approach to water sustainability in arid and semi-arid regions [link]Paper  doi  abstract   bibtex   
Study region The Middle Rio Grande (MRG), defined by the portion of the basin from Elephant Butte Reservoir in New Mexico to the confluence with the Rio Conchos in Far West Texas, U.S.A. and Northern Chihuahua, Mexico. Study focus The future of water for the MRG and many other arid and semi-arid regions of the world is challenged by a changing climate, agricultural intensification, growing urban populations, and a segmented governance system in a transboundary setting. The core question for such settings is: how can water be managed so that competing agricultural, urban, and environmental sectors can realize a sustainable future? We synthesize results from interdisciplinary research aimed at “water futures”, considering possible, probable, and preferable outcomes from the known drivers of change in the MRG in a stakeholder participatory mode. We accomplished this by developing and evaluating scenarios using a suite of scientifically rigorous computer models, melded with the input from diverse stakeholders. New hydrological insights for the region Under likely scenarios without significant interventions, relatively cheap and easy to access water will be depleted in about 40 years. Interventions to mitigate this outcome will be very costly. A new approach is called for based on “adaptive cooperation” among sectors and across jurisdictions along four important themes: information sharing, water conservation, greater development and use of alternative water sources, and new limits to water allocation/withdrawals coupled with more flexibility in uses.
@article{hargrove_future_2023,
	title = {The future of water in a desert river basin facing climate change and competing demands: {A} holistic approach to water sustainability in arid and semi-arid regions},
	volume = {46},
	issn = {2214-5818},
	shorttitle = {The future of water in a desert river basin facing climate change and competing demands},
	url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221458182300023X},
	doi = {10.1016/j.ejrh.2023.101336},
	abstract = {Study region
The Middle Rio Grande (MRG), defined by the portion of the basin from Elephant Butte Reservoir in New Mexico to the confluence with the Rio Conchos in Far West Texas, U.S.A. and Northern Chihuahua, Mexico.
Study focus
The future of water for the MRG and many other arid and semi-arid regions of the world is challenged by a changing climate, agricultural intensification, growing urban populations, and a segmented governance system in a transboundary setting. The core question for such settings is: how can water be managed so that competing agricultural, urban, and environmental sectors can realize a sustainable future? We synthesize results from interdisciplinary research aimed at “water futures”, considering possible, probable, and preferable outcomes from the known drivers of change in the MRG in a stakeholder participatory mode. We accomplished this by developing and evaluating scenarios using a suite of scientifically rigorous computer models, melded with the input from diverse stakeholders.
New hydrological insights for the region
Under likely scenarios without significant interventions, relatively cheap and easy to access water will be depleted in about 40 years. Interventions to mitigate this outcome will be very costly. A new approach is called for based on “adaptive cooperation” among sectors and across jurisdictions along four important themes: information sharing, water conservation, greater development and use of alternative water sources, and new limits to water allocation/withdrawals coupled with more flexibility in uses.},
	urldate = {2023-12-30},
	journal = {Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies},
	author = {Hargrove, W. L. and Heyman, J. M. and Mayer, A. and Mirchi, A. and Granados-Olivas, A. and Ganjegunte, G. and Gutzler, D. and Pennington, D. D. and Ward, F. A. and Chavira, L. Garnica and Sheng, Z. and Kumar, S. and Villanueva-Rosales, N. and Walker, W. S.},
	month = apr,
	year = {2023},
	keywords = {swim 1.0},
	pages = {101336},
}

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