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Washington Water Market Game

Water rights holders in the Okanogan, Methow, Walla Walla, and Yakima River basins are invited to participate in a 30-minute online water market game created by WSU! This game will help you become familiar with water markets, and you will receive $100-$200 for participating. Meanwhile, WSU researchers can better understand people’s connection to their land and water.

If you are a water rights holder or know someone in these basins who is, please reach out to Suhina Deol at suhina.deol@wsu.edu or (636) 688-9596 to access the game online or at an in-person location.

How do I participate?

  1. If you received a recruitment letter, we have verified you are a water rights holder in one of the basins listed above. Provide either your email or phone number in the self-addressed stamped envelope and Suhina Deol will reach out to you to access the game online or at an in-person location.
  2. If you have not been contacted but would like to participate, contact Suhina Deol at suhina.deol@wsu.edu or (636) 688-9596.

How do I receive payment for participating?

Once you complete the game, you will receive $100-$200 in the form of a gift card. You can select your gift card from a variety of stores such as Wal-Mart, Target, or Amazon.

WSU Water Market Research

This game is part of WSU’s ongoing water market research under Technology for Trade, a project funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and led by the State of Washington Water Research Center, which focuses on developing new technology and practices that could provide better information to guide decisions about water – and ultimately, make more water available for people, fish and river flows.

In Spring 2021, Washington irrigators shared their thoughts in a Water Management survey . Responses to the survey showed that familiarity with water markets is relatively low and potential for computer-aided markets may be substantial. Overall, only one third of respondents said they were “comfortable” or “very comfortable” with buying, leasing, or selling water. Many people who had participated in a transaction reported facing challenges like regulatory hurdles and finding a willing partner to transact the water with.

Other insights from the 2021 Water Management Survey:

  • Irrigators have complex, and sometimes conflicting views about whether water should be treated as a private property right or a public resource. This likely reflects the inherent reality of water. The State of Washington holds water as a natural resource in trust for its residents, the public. A water right is authorization for an individual or entity to use water in a prescribed manner, and this right to use the water is privately held.
  • Understanding the value of a water right is difficult. Knowing the prices at which others have transacted water could help with this and encourage participation in water markets. However, there are a variety of views across eastern Washington about whether this should be required. When asked if they would support state-mandated price disclosure for water market transactions (like real estate transactions require), 60% of respondents said they would vote yes in a hypothetical county referendum mandating price disclosure. Support was higher in Methow (89% yes) and Walla Walla (65% yes). In Yakima, 60% said they would vote yes, but only a minority supported it in Okanogan (36% yes).

Questions/More information

Contact Suhina Deol at suhina.deol@wsu.edu or by cell at (636) 688-9596.

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Organizations

State of Washington Water Research Center

School of Economic Sciences

Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources

Washington State University – Pullman

 

People

Joseph Cook

Suhina Deol

Jonathan Yoder

Michael Brady

Georgine Yorgey

 

WSU water researchers: Would you like a funded trip to attend a water symposium in Alexandria, Egypt?

Nile, Water, Egypt

 

WSU water researchers,

You may have heard that the state of Washington Water Research Center is a collaborator on behalf of WSU in a USAID project to develop the Egyptian Center of Excellence for Water, now named the Alexandria Water Resilience Center of Excellence.  Julie Padowski (SoE, CEREO, WRC) and I are leading this effort.

WSU water faculty and students (you!) have two opportunities by virtue of WSU’s involvement in this project.  These include: 

1) An upcoming call for proposals for research funding available only to US faculty (and their students) of consortium members (including WSU). Proposal awards are for up to $500,000 and Egyptian-US partnerships are a requirement for these funding programs.   We will send the call for proposals when it is released (expect sometime this Fall 2022). 

2) The AWR-COE is hosting The Alexandria University International Water Symposium: Sustainable Water Solutions.  This is coming up soon — September 6-7, 2022.  The draft agenda is here.  We have funding to send one (perhaps two) representatives from WSU to this symposium. All travel and lodging would be paid.  While you will not have an opportunity to give a formal presentation at the symposium, this would be an excellent opportunity to meet Egyptian water researchers who could become collaborators on upcoming COE funded research.   

Please contact me at yoder@wsu.edu soon If you are potentially interested in attending this symposium in Alexandria, Egypt next month.  Note that funding is not guaranteed for any given individual, especially if we receive several interested faculty.

Columbia River Basin Long-Term Water Supply and Demand Forecast Delivered to Ecology

Data Access Website

Every five years, the WRC works with the Washington State Department of Ecology and researchers from WSU and other universities to produce a Columbia River Basin Long-Term Water Supply & Demand Forecast.  The 2021 forecast was released on August 1 2022.  The WSU press release is available here.  For more information including an Executive Summary, the full technical report (due out in late August), and a data repository, visit the WRC CRB Long-Term Water Supply and Demand Forecast Project page.

USGS Grant Opportunities: 104g General, AIS, and PFAS

Water Researchers,

The following grant opportunities are available with proposal submission through the WRC.  Please contact WRC Director Jonathan Yoder (yoder@wsu.edu) if you are considering proposal submission.

WRRA National Competitive Grant Program FY2022 (104g) General:
https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=338699
Applications due May 10.  Max award $250K.  Priorities this year include research on (a) legacy nutrients, (b) integrated water processes, and (c) water conflict.

WRRA National Competitive Grant Program FY2022 for Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS):
https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=338681
Applications due May 10.  Max award $250K.

WRRA National Competitive Grant Program FY2022 for Per-and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS):
https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=338700
Applications due May 10.  Max award $250K.

Skagit Basin Water Supply and Demand Synthesis: A Story Map

A screenshot of the Skagit S&D website to illustrate what it looks like

The State of Washington Water Research Center led an effort to collect and synthesize available data and information about water supply and demand in the Skagit Basin (WRIAs 3 and 4). This synthesis was developed in response to a request by the Washington State Legislature Joint Task Force on Water Supply. The research team was comprised of researchers from Washington State University, the University of Washington, HDR Engineering, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The final product is this Story Map Series website, a synthesis of published science and technical knowledge of the Skagit hydrologic system. Virtually all maps and graphics on the website are interactive to provide multiple perspectives on data.  Check it out!

Toward Convergent Solutions to Water Security: Interdisciplinary Workshop, Bozeman MT May 2022

The Montana Water Center (another of the National Institutes for Water Resources along with the WRC) is excited to co-sponsor Water in the West: Toward Convergent Solutions to Water Security, an interdisciplinary regional workshop to be held in Bozeman, Montana in May 2022. The workshop with bring together individuals working across a wide variety of water-focused disciplines to consider the challenges of fostering convergent research (collaborative transdisciplinary research for social benefit) to protect our regional water resources. 

The workshop format will include interactive facilitated sessions, lightning talks by participants, keynote speakers and public events. Keynote speakers will include John Doyle (Crow Tribal member with 35 years of experience working on water and health issues for Crow Reservation) and Dr. Faith Kearns (California Water Institute, UC Berkeley). 

Travel support will be provided for participants and applications will be accepted through January 24th, 2022.  

See the full call for proposals attached, and apply at: http://www.montana.edu/stes/regional-workshop.html 

Seminar: Hydraulic geometry: Looking at an old concept in new ways

  • Wednesday, 8 April 2015
  • Lighty 405, 2-3pm
  • Washington State University, Pullman

Sponsored by The Center for Environmental Research, Education and Outreach

Throughout history, humans have relied on rivers for a variety of uses including transportation, food, water for drinking and irrigation, renewable energy, and recreation. River channels also form the physical basis for riparian ecosystems with flow and sediment processes in the channel coevolving with flora and fauna. This process often leads to a state of dynamic equilibrium where the channel is essentially stable in form. Both anthropogenic activities and natural events may alter flow and sediment dynamics in the channel, disrupting this equilibrium. Disruptions may be due to direct or indirect impacts and often have significant environmental effects. Direct impacts occur within the channel and include channelization, instream structures, and gravel mining. Indirect impacts occur outside of the channel and alter the magnitude and timing of water and sediment delivery to streams. Examples of indirect impacts include changes in land use or climate. Hydraulic geometry, or regime equations, is a tool to relate hydrologic variables to channel form. While this concept is more than 50 years old, regional regime equations now form the basis of many stream restoration projects. This presentation revisits the concept of hydraulic geometry and investigates new applications. Using example data, it is demonstrated how hydraulic geometry clarifies the physics underlying fluvial processes as well as predicts generalized changes in channel form.

Dr. Petrie is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering at WSU.  His research focuses on rivers and sediment transport and the impact of hydropower operations on river morphology and ecology.