Research

The Challenges to Building Resilient Water Systems Webinar Series will run monthly from September 2024 through February 2025 and cover topics such as new long-term weather monitoring and prediction tools, temperature and precipitation extremes, and post-2026 Colorado River Basin water policy. In winter 2025, WWA will convene an in-person symposium on the Front Range of Colorado and Utah’s Wasatch Front to connect water managers with researchers to share recent research and hazard resilience efforts.

[Project 6]
Water system managers in the Intermountain West face enormous challenges navigating unpredictable streamflow forecasts, changing snowpack behavior, and the increasingly dangerous threat of wildfire to both water quality and quantity. In this project, we aim to engage directly with water system managers in an iterative project to (1) increase understanding of their perceptions of water system resilience, (2) identify key components of regional water system resilience across a range of scales from small rural systems to larger urban systems, and (3) convene cross-scale water manager conversations to support peer learning and identify opportunities to collaboratively build equitable and just regional water system resilience. This project stems directly from conversations with the US Forest Service, Northern Water, and Denver Water.

[Project 3]
In this project, we will engage with water providers, tribal representatives, agricultural and other water users, ecological interests, and recreational groups about future snowpack and streamflow conditions, increasing understanding of how they view water system resilience to natural hazards such as wildfire and flooding. This continued engagement is essential to disseminate new research findings and to understand evolving information and planning landscapes.

In Spring 2024, Western Water Assessment launched a new project focusing on understanding risks to natural hazards such as wildfire smoke and extreme heat and building resilience within mobile home park communities. Mobile home park residents face unique and disproportionate exposure to natural hazards, including heat, wildfires, and flooding. Further, mobile home residents often are left out of many hazard and disaster-related assistance programs, due to the unique housing structure of mobile home parks. Addressing the needs of mobile home park communities is key to building resilience.

This project works with social services and public health professionals, who are a critical part of the social infrastructure in community recovery, as well as rural community partners to understand the often overlooked community impacts of wildfire. WWA is partnering with CLIMAS, the Arizona and New Mexico CAP team, to explore these questions in Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico.