Geography 4501:

Geography 4501

Water Resources and Management in the U.S. West

University of Colorado, Boulder Summer Session B: 2007

12:45 – 2:20 pm, M-F Guggenheim Geography Room 205

Instructor: Dr. Paul Lander

Email: plander@colorado.edu Final Review Notes

Phone: 303. 413. 7407

Office hours: flexible, by appointment

Course Description

Water is a fundamental resource that is, and has been, a key factor in the political and social development of the western U.S. The unique distribution, timing, quantity, and quality of western water all have combined to create a dynamic tension in the management of this resource so critical to the future sustainability of the region.

The objective of this course is to provide an overview of the concepts, issues and problems of western water resources and management so that students can make their own evaluation of water issues. The topics to be addressed include:

1. The physical attributes of water resources, including the unique attributes of: Q Q

quality, quantity, timing, and distribution T D

2. The social attributes of water management, including, but certainly not limited to:

demographics, scales of control, philosophies, values, economics

This course will review the many methods, techniques, and disciplines directed at understanding these attributes, including:

Planning & Management Measurement and Modeling

Basis of Life Appreciation and Celebration

Material for the course will be presented through lectures, videos, slides, and guest speakers and analyzed through group interaction, book reviews, and student presentations. Students are encouraged to participate actively during discussion periods.

Textbooks: 1) Geography 4501 Course Reader

Additional readings may be placed on reserve during the semester.

Grading

Examinations: there will be a midterm and a cumulative final, both of which will be a combination of multiple choice and short essay questions.

Book summary: there will be one book summary assignment, to be completed by each student and due at the end of the fourth week of class. The purpose of this project is to analyze one particular book’s presentation of a western water issue. Each book summary is to include:

* Main message(s) of the book.

* Main audience for the book.

* Author’s perspective/background/experience on the issue.

* What the book contributes to the understanding of western water resources.

* Your response/reaction to the book.

* Minimum of 1000, maximum of 1100 words, including at least three citations from the book.

Presentations: Each student will participate in a group presentation of a water issue from one western state. Each presentation will include: (partial list- to be refined by the class in week two)

* The state and/or sub-region of interest and a current water issue for that area, including:

all relevant background information (scope of issue, history of issue, stakeholders, etc.)

* A proposed solution to the issue

* A 30-minute in-class presentation, and 5-page paper outlining the key elements of the project,

with participation in both elements by all members of the group.

Grading scheme

· Midterm exam (Review doc) 30%

· Final exam (Review notes) 30%

· Presentation 25%

· Book summary 15%

Field Trip (Optional) 5%

Academic Dishonesty: It is my policy to penalize anyone who engages in "academic dishonesty" with course failure. Academic dishonesty includes, among other offenses, plagiarism of the writing of others, cheating on exams, falsification and fabrication of data, and submitting the assignments or papers of others as your own.

Disabilities Assistance

Any student eligible for and needing academic adjustments or accommodations because of a disability is requested to speak to me no later than the end of the second full week of classes.

The College will make reasonable accommodations for persons with documented disabilities. Students should notify the Counselor for Students with Disabilities, Disability Services Office, located in Willard 322 (phone 303-492-8671) and their instructors of any special needs. If you have specific physical, psychiatric, or learning disabilities and require accommodations, please let me know early in the semester so that your learning needs may be appropriately met. You will need to provide documentation of your disability to the Disability Services Office in Willard 322 (phone 303-492-8671).

This University abides by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 which stipulates that no student shall be denied the benefits of an education "solely by reason of a handicap." Disabilities covered by law include but are not limited to learning disabilities and hearing, sight or mobility impairments. If you have a disability that may have some impact on your work in this class and for which you may require accommodations, please see me or the Coordinator of Services to students with disabilities in the Disability Services Office, Willard 322 (phone 303-492-8671), so that such accommodations may be arranged.

I encourage students with disabilities, including non-visible disabilities such as chronic diseases, learning disabilities, head injury and attention deficit/hyperactive disorder, psychiatric disabilities, to discuss with me, after class or during my office hours, appropriate accommodations.

Religious Observances

If conflicts arise between class meetings, assignment deadlines, or examinations and holidays or celebrations observed by your religion, please notify me during the first week of the class so that suitable schedule accommodations can be made.

Geography 4501 Summer 2007 Course Schedule and Assignments

Week/Day/Presenter Topic Readings/Resources

Tue, July 10 Introduction to the course Gleick ‘00

Wed, July 11 Geo-context Lewis Ch. 9, 13, & 15; Graf ‘91

Thu, July 12 History Wescoat/White

Fri, July 13 Management & Planning: Fort

Modelling, Instream Flow, Climate Change

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Mon, July 16 History Worster

Tue, July 17 Nichols

Sheila Murphy Water quality -watershed, climate chang

Wed, July 18 Scales of Control-Philosophies MacDonnell Ch.23, 24, & 29

Of Management

Thu, July 19 Western Urban Issues McPherson, Saarinen, Poyner, Morris

Peter Mayer

Fri, July 20 Scales of Control-Philosophies

Of Management

SAT, JULY 21 FIELD TRIP* 8-11 a.m. Bob Crifasi

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Mon, July 23 Basis of Life Bates, Postel Ch. 2 & 3

Tue, July 24 Scales of Control and Graf ’93; Gleick ‘04

Curry Rosato Management- U.S. B.O.R

Wed, July 25 Mid-term exam

Thu, July 26 Social Dimensions Cortese, Freeman

Lyn Kathlene

Fri, July 27 Basics :Western Water Law http://cfwe.org/CitGuides/CG-Law2004.pdf

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Mon, July 30 Western Landscapes Wescoat, Burmil

Tue, Jul 31 Water for All Life Gleick, WW ‘03: Ch. 1 & 6

Andrea Ray

Wed, Aug 1 State Presentations: AZ, WA

Thu, Aug 2 Urban Water Conservation Gleick:Waste Not. ‘03

Bart Miller

Fri, Aug 3 State Presentations: NV, OR

Book summary due

Week/Day/Presenter Topic Resources

Mon, Aug 6 State Presentations: CA, N&S

Tue, Aug 7 Water Education & Appreciation

Gordon Meurer

Wed, Aug 8 State Presentations: UT, NM

Thu, Aug 9 Review/Wrap Up

Fri, Aug 10 F I N A L

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Readings:

1) Book excerpts

In Bates, Sarah F., and others. 1993. Searching Out the Headwaters. Change and Rediscovery in Western Water Policy. Covelo, CA: Island Press. [ Ch. 1: The West’s Gordian Knot; Ch. 2: Water in a Changing West; Map on page 92; Ch. 8: Change and Rediscovery in Western Water]

In Gleick, Peter H. and others. 2003. Waste Not, Want Not: The Potential for Urban Water Conservation in California. Oakland, CA: Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment and Security.

[ Executive Summary]

In Gleick, Peter H. and others. 2003. The World’s Water 2002-2003: The Biennial Report on Freshwater Resources. Covelo, CA: Island Press. [Ch. 1: (Wolff & Gleick) The Soft Path for Water; Ch. 6: (Cohen) Managing Across Boundaries…]

In Gleick, Peter H. and others. 2004. The World’s Water: The Biennial Report on Freshwater Resources. Covelo, CA: Island Press. [Data Table 20: U.S. Population & Water Withdrawals, 1900 to 2000; Data Table 21: U.S. Econ. Productivity of Water, 1900 to 2000; Water Units, Data Conversions and Constants]

In Leopold, Luna B. 1994. A View of the River. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. [Ch. 6: Rivers of the World]

In Lewis, William M. 2003. Water and Climate in the Western United States . Boulder, CO: University

Press of Colorado. [Ch. 9: (E. Stakhiv) What Can Water Managers Do…; Ch. 13: (B. Travis) A Changing Geography…; Ch. 15 (J. Loomis & others) Economic and Institutional Strategies…]

In MacDonnell, Lawrence J. 1999. From Reclamation to Sustainability: Water, Agriculture, and the Environment in the American West. Boulder, CO: University of Colorado Press. [Ch. 23: The Salmon;

Ch. 24: Taking Stock; Ch. 29: Getting There]

In Nichols, Peter D. and others. 2001. Water and Growth in Colorado, A Review of Legal And Policy Issues. Boulder, CO: University of Colorado School of Law. [Interstate Obligations, pages 32-33; Colorado River Basin Map, page 82]

In Postel, Sandra and Brian Richter. 2003. Rivers for Life. Managing Water for People and Nature. Covelo, CA: Island Press. [Ch.2: How Much Water Does a River Need?; Ch. 3: The Policy Toolbox]

Wescoat, James L., Jr. 1990. [ Ch. 10: Challenging the American Desert] In The Making of the American Landscape, M. Conzen, ed. Unwin Hyman.

In Wescoat, James L., Jr, and Gilbert F. White. 2003. Water for Life. Water Management and Environmental Policy. New York: Cambridge University Press. [Ch. 11: Decision Processes; Ch. 12: Integrative Approaches]

In Worster, Donald. 1985. Rivers of Empire. New York: Oxford University Press. [Ch 2; Ch 6; Ch. 7]

ON RESERVE IN NORLIN

2) Articles

Burmil, Shmuel and others. 1999. Human values and perceptions of water in arid landscapes. Landscape and Urban Planning, 44: 99-109.

Cortese, Charles F. 1999. The Social Context of Western Water Development. Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 35: 567-578.

Freeman, David. M. 2000. Wicked Water Problems: Sociology and Local Water Organizations in Addressing Water Resources Policy. Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 36: 483-491.

Fort, Denise D. 1999. The Western Water Commission: Watershed Management Receives The Attention of a New Generation. Journal of the American Water Resources Association 35: 223-232.

Gleick, Peter H. 2000. The Changing Water Paradigm, A Look at Twenty-first Century Water Resources Development. Water International, 25: 127-138.

Graf, William L. 1991. Science, public policy, and western American rivers. Transactions Institute of British Geographers, 17: 5-19.

Graf, William L 1993. Landscapes, Commodities, and Ecosystems: The Relationship Between Policy and Science for American Rivers. In Sustaining Our Water Resources. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.

McPherson, E. Gregory and R. A. Haip. 1989. Emerging Desert Landscape in Tucson. Geography Review, 79: 435-449.

Morris, Robert and others. 1997. Urbanization and Water Conservation in Las Vegas Valley, Nevada. Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, May/June 1997, pp. 189-195.

Poyner, Ann Marie. 1998. Watering Las Vegas. Geography, 83: 37-45.

Saarinen, Thomas F. 1988. Public Perception of the Desert in Tucson, Arizona. The Journal of Architectural and Planning Research, 5: 197-207.

Presenters

Bob Crifasi

Water Resources

Open Space & Mt. Parks

City of Boulder

www.bouldercolordo.gov

Lyn Kathlene, Ph.D. Peter Mayer, P.E.

Director, Colorado Institute of Public Policy Vice President

103 University Services Center 2709 Pine Street

Colorado State University Aquacraft Water Engineering and Management