TY - JOUR
T1 - A systems approach to municipal water portfolio security
T2 - A case study of the phoenix metropolitan area
AU - Rushforth, Richard R.
AU - Messerschmidt, Maggie
AU - Ruddell, Benjamin L.
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding: The authors acknowledge funding from The Nature Conservancy in Arizona and the Northern Arizona University TRIF. The Nature Conservancy in Arizona commissioned a study of the effects of flow restoration on downstream urban water users’ water security and owns original data products upon which the study was partially based. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. ACI-1639529 and USDA Grant No. 2017-08812. The findings and opinions of this paper are those of the authors and not necessarily of the funding agencies.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 by the authors.
PY - 2020/6/1
Y1 - 2020/6/1
N2 - We present a rigorous quantitative, systems-based model to measure a municipality's water portfolio security using four objectives: Sustainability, Resilience, Vulnerability, and Cost (SRVC). Water engineers and planners can operationalize this simple model using readily available data to capture dimensions of water security that go far beyond typical reliability and cost analysis. We implement this model for the Phoenix Metropolitan Area under several scenarios to assess multi-objective water security outcomes at the municipal-level and metropolitan area-level to water shocks and drought. We find the benefits of adaptive water security policies are dependent on a municipality's predominant water source, calling for a variegated approach to water security planning across a tightly interrelated metropolitan area. Additionally, we find little correlation between sustainability, resilience, and vulnerability versus cost. Therefore, municipalities can enhance water security along cost-neutral, adaptive policy pathways. Residential water conservation and upstream flow augmentation are cost-effective policies to improve water security that also improve sustainability, resilience, and vulnerability and are adequate adaptations to a short-term Colorado River shortage. The Phoenix Metropolitan Area's resilience to drought is higher than that of any of its constituent municipalities, underscoring the benefits of coordinated water planning at the metropolitan area-level.
AB - We present a rigorous quantitative, systems-based model to measure a municipality's water portfolio security using four objectives: Sustainability, Resilience, Vulnerability, and Cost (SRVC). Water engineers and planners can operationalize this simple model using readily available data to capture dimensions of water security that go far beyond typical reliability and cost analysis. We implement this model for the Phoenix Metropolitan Area under several scenarios to assess multi-objective water security outcomes at the municipal-level and metropolitan area-level to water shocks and drought. We find the benefits of adaptive water security policies are dependent on a municipality's predominant water source, calling for a variegated approach to water security planning across a tightly interrelated metropolitan area. Additionally, we find little correlation between sustainability, resilience, and vulnerability versus cost. Therefore, municipalities can enhance water security along cost-neutral, adaptive policy pathways. Residential water conservation and upstream flow augmentation are cost-effective policies to improve water security that also improve sustainability, resilience, and vulnerability and are adequate adaptations to a short-term Colorado River shortage. The Phoenix Metropolitan Area's resilience to drought is higher than that of any of its constituent municipalities, underscoring the benefits of coordinated water planning at the metropolitan area-level.
KW - Adaptive capacity
KW - Systems assessment
KW - Water policy
KW - Water portfolio planning
KW - Water resources management
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U2 - 10.3390/W12061663
DO - 10.3390/W12061663
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85087511701
SN - 2073-4441
VL - 12
JO - Water (Switzerland)
JF - Water (Switzerland)
IS - 6
M1 - 1663
ER -