Adaptive water quantity management: Designing for sustainability and resiliency in water scarce regions

Abstract

Water quantity management in the southwestern (SW) United States is becoming increasingly complex, challenging and controversial. Key factors driving this include: Rapid population growth within multi-jurisdiction metropolitan areas, drought and an increasing awareness of climatic variability and global climate change, needs to reallocate existing supplies as well as to make water available for environmental purposes, and the magnitude of the costs and benefits at stake. © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2009.