Gaylord V. Skogerboe’s research while affiliated with University of Arizona and other places

The increased agricultural efficiency of the American farmer has been a substantial impetus to this nation's rapid urbanization. In many western regions where total water supplies are limited, urbanization has required the transfer of heretofore agricultural water rights to the urban use. A major problem in such transfers has been the value or price of the water. A management level model of a typical urban water system was developed to optimize water supply, distribution, and wastewater treatment alternatives. The values of agricultural transfers were determined as the cost advantages of increasing allowable reuse levels of urban effluents which imply the use of a downstream right. This procedure is justified by the economic theory of alternative cost. Results for a test application to the Denver, Colorado area indicate values on the order of $1,000 per acre-foot of transferable water depending on effluent water quality restrictions and operational policies.

Recently, Congress designated irrigated agriculture under the “nonpoint source” category, covered by Section 208 of P.L. 92-500 and involves the use of “best management practices.” Generally, the most appropriate solutions for pollution abatement from irrigated agriculture involve the delivery and use of water rather than the treatment of irrigation return flows. 1. Technological alternatives should be utilized that are sensitive to local conditions and acceptable to the farmers. 2. Informational and educational programs to assist farm operators individually and collectively must be instituted prior to the start of the project; imaginatively conceived, and continuously modified and upgraded if motivation for change is to be encouraged. 3. Technical assistance personnel should be given short courses in skills needed for working effectively with irrigators. 4. Communication techniques used for working with farmers as individuals and groups should be designed into the implementation program and evaluated. 5. Credibility and trustworthiness of Federal and state agencies in the eyes of the irrigators provide the important final ingredient in effectively implementing change and reducing nonpoint source pollution from irrigated agriculture.

Optimal policies for supplying rapidly expanding urban centers with additional water supplies are shown to be dependent on water quality goals for the urban effluent. As effluents are required to meet increasingly stringent standards, the unit costs associated with adding capacity to existing wastewater treatment systems to renovate some waters for reuse are shown to substantially decrease. A nonlinear elimination algorithm is developed to delineate optimal policies. A model employing the technique was applied to the wastewater treatment system of a typical urban system and the water quality objectives varied. A comparison of costs with and without various levels of reuse were made and unit costs of reused water under these conditions determined.

A Management level model has been formulated in which a system analysis format is employed to answer some of the basic questions regarding urban water management strategies The model incorporates a multilevel optimization scheme to coordinate urban water supply, distribution, and wastewater management. A test of the model's utility is made in an application to the water management problems of the Denver, Colorado metropolitan area. Denver has utilized both agricultural transfers and transmountain diversions to supplement the natural stream resources of the South Platte River. Although plans are being made to increase the capacity of these sources, increasingly stringent standards on the area's effluents are enhancing the feasibility of reclaiming and recycling a portion of the wastewater. The urban model used in this study indicates the decision points at which respective strategies are introduced. However, by formulating the model from a planner's viewpoint, the most important results gained from the analysis are the costs of various institutional constraints which may restrict the decision maker's ability to implement optimal policies.

The Upper Colorado River Basin contains appreciable amounts of undeveloped fuel resources. Large quantities of oil shale, coal, and uranium have attracted recent economic and commercial interests. Development of these resources and subsequent conversion to alternative energy forms require an adequate supply of water. Water use for large scale energy development will place increasing demands on an already overstressed allocation of Colorado River water. Present water quality is at a concentration where increased salinity will result in economic detriments to holders of downstream water rights. The salt and water exchange in mining, processing, and spent fuel disposal processes has been incorporated as part of a two-level minimum cost linear programming algorithm. Mathematical simulation results provide an optimal use of Upper Colorado River water for levels of energy output such that salinity concentrations are maintained below predetermined levels.

Most of Utah's rapid population and industrial expansion is taking place along the western base of the Wasatch Mountains, with consequent increases in water demand. As a part of Utah's “Developing a State Water Plan,” a foundation investigation of the Utah Lake drainage area, which is at the Southern end of the Wasatch Front, was completed which delineated the quantity and quality of the water resources, present water uses, and opportunities for further water conservation. To prepare water budgets, land use data was collected to delineate all areas using water in excess of normal precipitation, which includes agricultural croplands, phreatophytes, open water surfaces, industrial areas, and urban areas. The water budgets were prepared for the time base 1931‐1960, but adjusted to physical conditions existing in 1960. The Initial Phase of the Bonneville Unit of the Central Utah Project is presently under construction, with costs expected to exceed 300 million dollars. The principal feature of this project is the exportation of waters from the Colorado River Basin into the Utah Lake drainage area (Great Basin). This importation provides a large number of alternatives for allocation, reallocation of present supplies, and exportation. The possible effects of the Central Utah Project for realizing some of the above alternatives is delineated. Fortunately, the features of this project allow a wide latitude for water management in Utah, thereby facilitating its corporation into a “State Water Plan.”

A process has been developed for converting an irrigation project presently being operated by the government (agency‐managed irrigation system) to a farmer‐managed irrigation system. This joint management turnover process has three phases: (1) initial organization; (2) joint management agreement; and (3) joint management implementation. Maintenance and operation (M&O) guidelines are provided for achieving turnover of system management to farmers.

A learning process has been developed, based on experiences in Thailand, Sri Lanka and Nepal, for improving the maintenance and operations practices of an irrigation project or system. This learning process has been designed to:– minimize the investment (O&M) costs so as to avoid rehabilitation; – increase credibility of irrigation project staff with central headquarters through improved financial management practices and accountability; and – develop more knowledge about what is occurring within the system in order to meet the needs of farmers.