zagona

Modern water management approaches on tap during USAID visit

Anonymous — Thu, 06 Jun 2024 21:20:05 +0000

Modern water management approaches on tap during USAID visit Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 06/06/2024 - 15:20

Susan Glairon

Research Professor Edith Zagona introduced modern water management approaches during a U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)-sponsored visit to Armenia.

The weeklong visit, from May 20-24, included a seminar for the students and faculty of Yerevan State University, as part of cooperation with USAID’s Improved Water Resources Management for Sustainable Economic Growth in Armenia program. �鶹��Ժ from other partnering universities, including the National University of Architecture and Construction in Armenia and Armenian National Agrarian University, also attended the meeting.

"It was important for the CU Boulder team to better understand the needs of the Armenian government and their stakeholders for improving water management," said Zagona, a research professor in CU Boulder's Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering and the director of CU Boulder's Center for Advanced Decision for Water and Environmental Systems (CADSWES).

The program is led by Deloitte LLP, which, among other areas, specializes in helping government agencies mitigate the impacts of climate change and achieve their climate equity, resilience and sustainability goals, with technical assistance from University of Colorado Boulder.

During the visit, the CU Boulder team also participated in a stakeholder workshop, where they shared and discussed best practices in water resources management with state and academic stakeholders. The topics covered included innovative digital tools, activities planned within the USAID Program for managing and improving water resources in Armenia, access to water-related data, existing challenges, and issues related to transboundary water resources management and monitoring.

The program’s objective is to improve Armenia’s water management by ensuring equitable access to water while protecting freshwater resources, said Kat Demaree, a project manager at CU Boulder's Mortenson Center in Global Engineering & Resilience, who is part of the team working closely with the USAID-sponsored program along with Teaching Assistant Professor Carlo Salvinelli. The CU Boulder team is providing technical and advisory services, including training, applied research and analysis, support for local communities, engagement with the private sector and partnerships with universities.

"Poor water resource management in Armenia has led to the overuse of existing resources, creating an urgent need to reshape how natural resources are managed and distributed," Demaree said.

Armenia’s rural communities are running out of water for irrigation and drinking due to uncontrolled and excessive use by fish farms and pollution caused by untreated mining tailings. Climate change exacerbates the situation further. Insufficient water flow also means some hydroelectric plants cannot operate at full capacity, leading to economic losses for power producers. Currently, about 30 communities in the Ararat Valley and 85 communities in the Syunik region are experiencing serious water shortages, she added.

The visit was particularly significant for establishing the academic program for the Armenian students enrolled in the CU Boulder online graduate certificate program in global engineering. The program was launched this summer with the first cohort of Armenian students, who have received approximately 95 percent tuition reimbursement through Mortenson Center and USAID Program grants.

The Mortenson Center provides multiple pathways for engineers to enter the field of global engineering including through its online certificate curriculum. Courses offered to students and working professionals of Armenia under this program include water profession (leadership and management), introduction to water quality, water monitoring technologies, introduction to water resource management, simulation modeling, introduction to development economics and data analytics for development. The program also includes a practicum, allowing selected students to intern with the USAID Armenia Improved Water Management for Sustainable Economic Growth program.

Read the Yerevan State University story Related news

Professor Edith Zagona provided technical and advisory services during a USAID-sponsored visit to Armenia, addressing water scarcity in rural communities affected by uncontrolled fish farm use and pollution from untreated mining tailings.

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PhD Student Madeline Pernat honored with prestigious NSF fellowship

Anonymous — Mon, 15 Apr 2024 15:03:15 +0000

PhD Student Madeline Pernat honored with prestigious NSF fellowship Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 04/15/2024 - 09:03

Susan Glairon

Civil Engineering PhD Student Madeline Pernat received a 2024 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (GFRP), a prestigious award that recognizes and supports outstanding students in a wide variety of science-related disciplines, for her research on large-scale water management in the Colorado River Basin. Pernat is advised by Associate Professor Joseph Kasprzyk and Research Professor Edie Zagona, the director of the Center for Advanced Decision Support for Water and Environmental Systems (CADSWES).

The GRFP recognizes outstanding graduate students from across the country in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields, paving the way for their continued work exploring some of the most complex and pressing issues of our time. This year the NSF awarded 27 University of Colorado Boulder students, including 18 from the College of Engineering and Applied Science, with the graduate research fellowship.

Fellows receive a three-year annual stipend of $37,000 and full coverage of tuition, fees and insurance, along with opportunities for international research and professional development that span five years.

What does it mean to you to have received the NSF GRFP?
Firstly, I am honored to receive the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. I am passionate about the research that I do, and I like to think that my enthusiasm for my work resonated with the reviewers. Secondly, I am grateful to everyone who has helped me reach this point in my academic journey, from my family, partner and undergraduate professors at Montana State University, to my current professors and advisors here at CU Boulder. I really see this award as a testament to the support of all these individuals – without them, I don’t believe I would be where I am today.

Tell me about your research.
My research focuses on large-scale water management in the Colorado River Basin. The Colorado River is a vital source of water for the American Southwest, fueling its productive cities and agricultural regions. The utilization of the Colorado River’s waters is made possible by engineered infrastructure designed to store and deliver the river’s waters effectively – particularly through Lake Powell and Lake Mead, the largest reservoirs in the basin. These reservoirs function as “savings accounts,” storing water during times of surplus and allowing for the release and use of that water during drier periods. However, since the onset of the Southwest's "megadrought" in 2000, these reservoirs have consistently experienced higher rates of withdrawals than replenishment, leading to significant drops in reservoir levels. As of now, Lake Powell and Lake Mead are only about one-third full.

The current policies governing the operations of Lakes Powell and Mead are set to expire at the end of 2026, necessitating the development of new "post-2026" policies. This process is being undertaken by the Bureau of Reclamation, amidst challenging conditions of ongoing drought and low reservoir levels. My research, currently funded by the Bureau of Reclamation, takes place against the backdrop of these negotiations. The development of these new policies involves significant challenges, to name a few: a) many people and stakeholders depend on the Colorado River, often with competing interests that are difficult to balance, and b) the future, especially in terms of hydrology, is uncertain – we don’t know how much water will be available in the post-2026 era.

My research addresses these challenges through a twofold approach. The first part utilizes multiobjective optimization to generate new potential operating policies. This approach is used due to the presence of many conflicting objectives within the basin, such as ensuring water deliveries, producing hydropower, and meeting environmental flow requirements. Given these conflicting objectives, there is no single "optimal" policy that can satisfy all objectives simultaneously. Instead, multiobjective optimization is used to search for a set of policies, where each policy strikes a unique balance among the objectives. The generated policies cover a wide range in terms of performance characteristics, enabling various stakeholders to identify policies that cater to their specific interests while also understanding their tradeoffs and potential shortcomings.

Secondly, I am developing a novel visual framework to enhance the decision-making process. This framework will enable stakeholders and decision-makers to visualize the array of potential future scenarios we could experience post-2026, while also illustrating how various policies would perform across these potential scenarios. Utilizing a visual “map” (as shown in the bottom figure), users can navigate through these potential future scenarios and assess the performance of different policies at a simple glance.

Why is this research important to you?
My research in water management is important because it bridges many important domains: engineering, data science, science communication, politics, economics and social justice. Although my academic background is primarily in engineering, I believe that in order to maximize my impact as a researcher, I must have a comprehensive understanding of these other diverse areas. I view the Colorado River Basin, with its pressing water management issues, as an exceptional case study for understanding this interconnectedness.

My interest in this research began in my undergraduate years after reading “Where the Water Goes” by David Owen, which discusses water management in the Colorado River Basin. Reading this book just seemed to connect the dots for me. It showed me a field where having a strong technical background in engineering is important for understanding the system and its challenges, while also emphasizing the need to understand and appreciate the system's broader societal and environmental dimensions.

Tell me a little more about your work with the Kasprzyk Research Group and CADSWES.
The Kasprzyk Research Group primarily focuses on multiobjective decision problems and the optimization and analysis of environmental systems and CADSWES specializes in water resources systems modeling. Over the years, Professors Kasprzyk and Zagona have not only developed a strong connection between their research interests but have also established collaborative ties with the Bureau of Reclamation. Their collaborative efforts and the work of the many students they have co-advised, have significantly advanced water resources management, especially in the Colorado River Basin. I feel incredibly fortunate to be a part of this team and to learn from some of the best in the field.

Image caption: Madeline Pernat developed a novel visual framework to enhance the decision-making process. Utilizing a visual “map," users can navigate through potential future scenarios and assess the performance of different policies at a glance. The figure on the left displays a map of potential future scenarios, where each hexagon, referred to as a neuron, represents a possible scenario in terms of hydrology and water demand. The figure on the right presents the same map but illustrates how a specific policy performs across each neuron/scenario.

Civil Engineering PhD Student Madeline Pernat received a 2024 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship for her research on large-scale water management in the Colorado River Basin.

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Washington Post: Inside the race to grasp the fate of the Colorado River

Anonymous — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 12:35:23 +0000

Washington Post: Inside the race to grasp the fate of the Colorado River Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 02/14/2024 - 05:35

Susan Glairon

Joseph Kaspryzk and Edith Zagona of the Center for Advanced Decision Support for Water and Environmental Systems (CADSWES), pose in front of their research. Photo credit: Matthew Staver for The Washington Post

Edith Zagona and Joseph Kasprzyk were interviewed by the Washington Post for a new article, discussing how, in an era of climate change, officials are working to ensure that the Colorado River can continue to serve as a lifeline for the 40 million people who depend on it.

The article, titled "Inside the race to grasp the fate of the Colorado River," explores how the federal government is utilizing innovative, web-based tools developed by academics at CU Boulder to forecast the river’s future flows. This cutting-edge approach will aid negotiators in shaping the next significant agreement to allocate the diminishing river's resources for decades to come.

Zagona, a research professor in CU Boulder's Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering (CEAE) and the director of the Center for Advanced Decision Support for Water and Environmental Systems (CADSWES), is the principal investigator and principal inventor of RiverWare®, a river, reservoir and hydropower management software licensed by CU Office of Technology Transfer and used by hundreds of water managers, agencies, utilities, researchers and consultants for managing river systems in the US and globally.

Kasprzyk, an associate professor in the department, is an expert in water resources planning and management, and led the research in Decision Making Under Deep Uncertainty that is the basis of the innovative App for collaborative decision making for the Colorado River Basin.

The CADSWES is a research center in the CEAE department. Established in 1986, its mission is to research and develop decision support systems utilized by government agencies and others to improve the management of finite natural resources, particularly water. Research projects are typically funded by federal agencies such as the Bureau of Reclamation and the Department of Energy.

Read the full Washington Post article

Professors Edith Zagona and Joseph Kasprzyk were interviewed by the Washington Post for an article on how the federal government is using CU Boulder's innovative web-based tools to forecast the river’s future flows.

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CEAE professors meet with US Bureau of Reclamation commissioner

Anonymous — Thu, 05 Oct 2023 19:13:56 +0000

CEAE professors meet with US Bureau of Reclamation commissioner Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 10/05/2023 - 13:13

Susan Glairon

Edie Zagona

CEAE Research Professor Edie Zagona, director of the Center for Advanced Decision Support for Water and Environmental Systems (CADSWES), and CEAE Associate Professor Joseph Kasprzyk joined the CADSWES Reclamation Colorado River modeling team in a meeting with Camille Calimlim Touton, commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR), and other Department of Interior officials on Sept. 28 in Washington, D.C.

The meeting was to provide an update on the progress of a web application that is being developed to explore alternatives for use by stakeholders in the upcoming environmental impact statement negotiations regarding new Colorado River operating policies.

“These negotiations are essential as the current policies are set to expire in 2026,” Zagona said. “By that time, new policies must be agreed upon.”

Joseph Kasprzyk

Kasprzyk and Zagona, along with their graduate students, have been at the forefront of the research and development efforts related to decision-making under conditions of deep uncertainty, given the highly unpredictable future under climate change. Their work forms the scientific foundation for the web application and has been made possible through USBR research grants.

Zagona also briefed the officials on the 30-year collaboration between CU Boulder-CADSWES and the USBR.

“This collaboration has led to the development of essential tools and analysis capabilities utilized by the government to successfully finalize agreements with US and Mexico stakeholders,” she said. “Furthermore, many former CU Boulder graduate students have transitioned into roles as USBR scientists, and they’re leading the technical efforts of the upcoming challenging process concerning the Colorado River.”

CEAE Research Professor Edie Zagona, director of CADSWES, and CEAE Associate Professor Joseph Kasprzyk joined the CADSWES Reclamation Colorado River modeling team in a meeting with the commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The meeting's purpose was to provide an update on a web application being developed for stakeholders to explore alternatives in the upcoming environmental impact statement negotiations regarding new Colorado River operating policies.

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CADSWES RiverWare User Group meeting, August 29-30

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Aug 2023 02:37:05 +0000

CADSWES RiverWare User Group meeting, August 29-30 Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 08/01/2023 - 20:37

The Center for Advanced Decision Support for Water and Environmental Systems (CADSWES) is hosting the first post-Covid RiverWare User Group meeting on August 29-30. The agenda includes presentations by many users on their RiverWare applications including the Bureau of Reclamation on the Colorado River Basin modeling, Bonneville Power on managing the Columbia River Basin, the International Boundary and Water Commission on binational management of the Rio Grande, the Tribal Water Settlement in Oklahoma and the Cooperative management of the Nile River.

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CPR NEWS: Parched — The Boldest Idea of All

Anonymous — Wed, 10 May 2023 14:15:26 +0000

CPR NEWS: Parched — The Boldest Idea of All Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 05/10/2023 - 08:15

In this episode of "Parched," CPR's podcast about people who rely on the river that shaped the West and have ideas to save it, Research Professor Edith Zagona explains what it would take to bring more water to the Colorado River states from the Mississippi River.

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KUNC: Snow detectives are in the mountains to solve a mystery: Where’s all the snow going?

Anonymous — Thu, 04 May 2023 22:36:50 +0000

KUNC: Snow detectives are in the mountains to solve a mystery: Where’s all the snow going? Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 05/04/2023 - 16:36

Research Professor Edith Zagona was interviewed for this KUNC (Colorado NPR) story about tracking where the snow is going, including how much snow evaporates before it has a chance to melt.

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Newsweek: How Colorado river levels stand as U.S. mulls plan for failure

Anonymous — Thu, 13 Apr 2023 22:52:40 +0000

Newsweek: How Colorado river levels stand as U.S. mulls plan for failure Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 04/13/2023 - 16:52

In this Newsweek article, Research Professor Edith Zagona discusses what the U.S. Bureau of Reclamations' plans to conserve enough water so that the Hoover and Glen Canyon dams continue to produce hydropower might look like. The Colorado River is flowing at some of the lowest levels ever seen.

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