Publications on Water Resources Management and Planning

EEED conducts extensive research on the topic of water resources management and planning. This page provides a complete, chronological list of our publications. To learn more about our research, please visit our Water Resources Management and Planning program area.

2013

Making Good Decisions Without Predictions: Robust Decision Making for Planning Under Deep Uncertainty — 2013

Quantitative analysis is often indispensable to sound planning. But with deep uncertainty, predictions can lead decisionmakers astray. Robust Decision Making supports good decisions without predictions by testing plans against many futures.

2011

Recommended Research Priorities for the Qatar Foundation's Environment and Energy Research Institute — 2011

The Qatar Foundation is establishing a national research institute to conduct and collaborate on applied research in energy, environment, and water issues, the Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute. This book recommends research priorities for the new institution and reports on a survey of relevant research institutions in the region.

2008

Estimating the Value of Water-Use Efficiency in the Intermountain West — 2008

This report presents an economic framework for estimating a water agency’s avoided costs and environmental benefits of increasing water-use efficiency. The report demonstrates this framework by evaluating the benefits of Denver Water’s efficiency programs and utilizes an exploratory modeling approach to accommodate significant uncertainty. The analysis highlights the importance of considering both long- and short-run costs and benefits.

Identifying and Reducing Climate-Change Vulnerabilities in Water-Management Plans — 2008

This research brief summarizes work with Southern California's Inland Empire Utilities Agency to help it identify climate-change vulnerabilities in its long-term water plans and evaluate its most effective options for managing those risks.

Preparing for an Uncertain Future Climate in the Inland Empire: Identifying Robust Water-Management Strategies — 2008

As part of a multiyear study on climate-change decisionmaking under uncertainty, RAND researchers are helping water agencies in California better understand how climate change might affect their systems and what actions they may need to take to address this challenge. This briefing presents an analysis of how different adaptive water-management strategies may reduce the region’s vulnerability to climate change and other planning uncertainties.

Presenting Uncertainty About Climate Change to Water-Resource Managers: A Summary of Workshops with the Inland Empire Utilities Agency — 2008

As part of a multiyear study on climate-change decisionmaking under uncertainty, RAND researchers are working with water agencies in California to help them better understand how climate change might affect their systems and what actions they may need to take to address this challenge. This report documents the methods and observations used to preserve an archive of the study and provide a basis for refining the approach for future applications.

2007

Evaluating the Benefits and Costs of Increased Water-Use Efficiency in Commercial Buildings — 2007

This report presents an analytical framework and a spreadsheet-based tool to help commercial building owners select water-efficiency investments. It considers costs typically incurred when improving efficiency and includes many tangible financial benefits. The report examines a specific building with two configurations of devices. The case with pre-1992 fixtures benefited from upgrading to 1992 standards and replacing urinals with non-water-using designs; the case with newer fixtures did best to do the latter alone.

A New Analytic Method for Finding Policy-Relevant Scenarios — 2007

Description of a new analytic method, based on robust decisionmaking, that could be applied to water resource management in California and climate change policy questions.

A New Tool Can Help Commercial-Building Owners Make Better Water-Efficiency Decisions — 2007

This fact sheet describes a case study of commercial-building water efficiency and the Building Water Efficiency Analysis Model used to conduct it. The model allows convenient assessment of potential value of water-efficiency investments.

2006

From Flood Control to Integrated Water Resource Management: Lessons for the Gulf Coast from Flooding in Other Places in the Last Sixty Years — 2006

The loss of life and devastation in the Gulf coast region of the United States after the hurricane season of 2005 has led to considerable debate about how to recover from the damage and mitigate damage from future incidents. This document reports the experiences of four major floods since 1948 (two in the United States, one in the Netherlands, and one in China), to draw lessons for the Gulf coast restoration effort.

Success Matters: Recasting the Relationship Among Geophysical, Biological, and Behavioral Scientists to Support Decision Making on Major Environmental Challenges — 2006

A potentially rich vein of transdiciplinary research is to integrate the psychology of decision making, known as judgment and decision making, of JDM, with the development of technical information and decision support tools for complex, long-term environmental problems.

2005

Improving Contracting at the City of Los Angeles Airports, Port, and Department of Water and Power — 2005

The Los Angeles World Airports, the Port of Los Angeles, and the Department of Water and Power together contract for more than a billion dollars worth of goods and services annually. In 2003 and 2004, the City of Los Angeles Controller issued audit reports on the contracting and leasing practices of the three departments, citing a lack of both transparency and documentation. This documented briefing presents analysis from a 90-day study to find ways to make these activities of three departments more transparent and efficient while gaining the public trust.

1998

Building a New Vision for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California: Options for Key Policy Decisions — 1998

Drawing on over 100 interviews with a wide range of people and organizations, this report identifies issues that the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California must address as it reevaluates its role in the Southern California water industry.

The Impact of Water Supply Reductions on San Joaquin Valley Agriculture During the 1986-1992 Drought — 1998

This report attempts to improve understanding of the likely effects of water supply reductions on agriculture.

1993

Assessment of the Economic Impacts of California's Drought on Urban Areas: A Research Agenda — 1993

1987-91 California drought, evaluates existing work on the economic effects of the drought, and presents an agenda for future research to make an overall estimate of the economic costs of the drought in urban areas.