Final Report: Armstrong 2013 Exploratory Interviews of Water Managers

This report summarizes results from my first year’s iUTAH fellowship (2012-13), which involved exploratory, qualitative research on local water management in the Wasatch Regional Metropolitan Area, specifically focusing on Cache Valley, Heber Valley, and the Red Butte Watershed of Salt Lake City, Utah. Data collection consisted of two types of activities: meeting observations and semi-structured interviews. I reviewed meeting notes and synthetic notes for prevailing themes, and distinguished between patterns that emerged both within and across the three study areas. The structure of water management in the WRMA crosses macro-institutional, meso-watershed, and micro-individual scales. The focus of my research has been at the meso-scale, within which many local water management organizations (LWMOs) make critical decisions surrounding water quality and quantity. In this first phase of my work, I identify five types of key organization decisions made by LWMOs: operational, maintenance, water supply, infrastructure change, and enforcement. I then describe four types of linkages among WRMA water actors and provide examples of how these linkages impact LWMOs’ decisions. I then describe and analyze the ways in which LWMOs are making adaptive decisions in the face of key changes in urbanization and water availability. Two common adaptive processes are: (a) improving infrastructure efficiency, and (b) engaging in organizational partnerships. The report concludes with directions for future research. The LWMO interview instrument is included in the appendix.本报告总结了本人2012-2013年度首届iUTAH奖学金的研究成果，该研究针对瓦萨奇区域都会区（Wasatch Regional Metropolitan Area, WRMA）的地方水资源管理开展探索性定性研究，重点覆盖卡什谷（Cache Valley）、赫伯谷（Heber Valley）以及犹他州盐湖城的红崖流域（Red Butte Watershed）。数据采集包含两类活动：会议观察与半结构化访谈。本人梳理了会议记录与综合笔记中的核心主题，区分了三个研究区域内部以及跨区域出现的共性模式。 瓦萨奇区域都会区的水资源管理架构横跨宏观制度、中观流域与微观个体三个尺度。本研究的核心聚焦点为中观尺度，该尺度下众多地方水资源管理组织（Local Water Management Organizations, LWMO）围绕水质与水量制定关键决策。在本研究的第一阶段，本人归纳出LWMO做出的五类核心决策类型：运营决策、维护决策、供水决策、基础设施变更决策与执法决策。随后本人阐述了WRMA内水资源参与主体间的四类关联关系，并举例说明这些关联如何影响LWMO的决策。接下来，本人描述并分析了面对城市化与水资源可获得性的关键变化时，LWMO开展适应性决策的具体路径。两类常见的适应性流程分别为：(a) 提升基础设施运行效率，以及(b) 建立组织合作伙伴关系。本报告最后给出了未来研究方向，附录中收录了LWMO访谈提纲。