Tuesday, October 14, 2008 : 8:30 a.m.

Integrated Analysis of the Decision Making Process in a “Mined” Ground Water Basin

Katie Bilodeau, Matthew Darrington, Luke Marchant, Matthew Reeves, Jan Boll, PE, Ph.D., Barbara Cosens, LL.M., J.D., Fritz Fiedler, PE, Ph.D. and Charles Harris, Ph.D., University of Idaho

Residents in the Palouse Basin, which straddles the Idaho-Washington border, rely solely on a declining aquifer system for their water supply.  The deeper primary aquifer is thought to receive little if any natural recharge; isotope age dates indicate that the water is “fossil” ranging from 12,000 to 30,000 years old, and water levels have consistently declined for over 100 years.  A shallower secondary aquifer receives an uncertain amount of recharge, and was in rapid decline prior to development of the deeper aquifer.  The evidence is thus that use of Palouse Basin groundwater resources is unsustainable without reduction in use or enhancement of supply from limited surface water resources.  In response, a committee of municipal and institutional representatives was formed in 1992 to coordinate management of the area’s dual-state water resources, but it has made few decisions.  A diverse team of faculty and student researchers, representing disciplines of hydrology, social science, engineering and law, are conducting an interdisciplinary sustainability analysis of this coupled natural-human system. Several key factors have been identified, including: (1) the legal disconnect between both state water allocation and local management of growth, and between water allocation by the two states, prevents consideration of water supply in planning for community growth; (2) uncertainty in physical parameters such as storativity and recharge has lead to decisions being delayed in the hope that more study will end arguments; and (3) the values of local residents, such as their knowledge of the issue, conservation behaviors, and willingness to pay for water to support conservation and/or supply augmentation are unknown or under-appreciated by local officials.  We present the preliminary results of our integrated analysis that identifies approaches to addressing barriers and opportunities for future management that are likely transferable to other settings, thereby facilitating broader sustainable water use.

Katie Bilodeau, University of Idaho Katie Bilodeau earned her B.A. in Japanese with a supplementary degree in Computer Applications from the University of Notre Dame in 2002. She entered the Water Resources Program in the fall of 2007 and is interested in the interaction between social behavior, economics and policy as it pertains to a community’s water resources.

Matthew Darrington, University of Idaho Matt earned a B.A. degree from the University of Utah in Political Science and will graduate from the University of Idaho, College of Law with a JD in May 2008. He plans to take the Idaho bar exam in the summer of 2008. Matt was accepted as one of the first students in the newly created Water Resources program at the University of Idaho. He will receive an M.S. through this unique interdisciplinary program in the spring of 2009. Matt plans to practice water and natural resource law upon graduation.

Luke Marchant, University of Idaho Luke Marchant, from Oakley, Idaho, received his B.S. in Range Science from Brigham Young University. He will graduate in the spring of 2008 from the University of Idaho College of Law and will take the Idaho Bar Exam during the summer of 2008. He has been accepted into the new interdisciplinary Water Resources graduate degree program at UI in which he will complete a MS in Water Resources Law, Management and Policy in 2009. After graduation, he plans to practice law in the natural resources/water arena.

Matthew Reeves, University of Idaho Matthew Reeves earned a B.S. degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Idaho and is currently pursuing a graduate degree in Water Resources from the same institution. He has a background in the timber industry and his primary research interests include ground water surface water interactions and hydrologic modeling.

Jan Boll, PE, Ph.D., University of Idaho Dr. Boll holds a B.S. degree (1985) in Land and Water Use from The Agricultural University of Wageningen, Department of Land and Water Use, two M.S. degrees (1988) in Land and Water Use from The Agricultural University of Wageningen, and in Agricultural Engineering from the University of Idaho, and a Ph.D. degree (1995) in Agricultural and Biological Engineering from Cornell University. He is currently Associate Professor in Biological and Agricultural Engineering at the University of Idaho, and Director of the Water of the West Program.

Barbara Cosens, LL.M., J.D., University of Idaho Barbara is an Associate Professor at the University of Idaho College of Law and faculty in the Water Resources program. She was previously an Assistant Professor in the Environmental Studies Program at San Francisco State University. Research interests include the use of science, negotiation, and mediation in dispute resolution. She received her LL.M. from Lewis and Clark College in 2003; her J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 1990; her M.S. in Geology from the University of Washington in 1982, and her B.S. in Geology from the University of California at Davis in 1977.

Fritz Fiedler, PE, Ph.D., University of Idaho Dr. Fiedler earned B.S. and M.S. degrees from the University of New Hampshire in Civil Engineering / Water Resources, and a Ph.D. from Colorado State University in Civil Engineering / Hydrologic Science and Engineering. He has worked in industry as an environmental consultant and water resources engineer. Dr. Fiedler joined the University of Idaho in 2000. His primary research interests include monitoring and modeling complex hydrologic systems (both groundwater and surface water), short- to long-term hydrologic forecasting, and water resources sustainability. Dr. Fiedler has experience modeling basins across the US, Mexico, Central America, and northern Africa (Nile River).

Charles Harris, Ph.D., University of Idaho Dr. Chuck Harris has been in the University of Idaho’s Department of Conservation Social Sciences for over 20 years, where he is Professor of Environmental Management, Policy, and Planning, as well as Director of the Master of Natural Resources Program in the College of Natural Resources. He has taught, conducted research, and published on human dimensions of water resources management and restoration ecology, integrated resource planning, socio-economic impacts of resource management activities on rural communities, and deliberative public input processes. He serves on the faculty of several University inter-disciplinary programs, including the Water Resources Program and the Environmental Sciences Program.


The NGWA International Conference on Nonrenewable Ground Water Resources — Sociotechnological Aspects of Nonrenewable Ground Water Resources: Half-Empty, Half-Full, Top-Down, Bottom-Up, and Some Paths Forward