Award Date

5-2011

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Political Science

Department

Political Science

First Committee Member

Steven Parker, Chair

Second Committee Member

Dennis Pirages

Third Committee Member

Kenneth E. Fernandez

Graduate Faculty Representative

William Smith

Number of Pages

138

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify current issues in water allocation in the Lower Colorado River Basin and to locate existing areas of consensus among its stakeholders. Surveys, both paper and web-based provided the data required to measure overwhelming agreement on issues. The data analysis served to locate the areas of agreement within and between interest groups. While overwhelming agreement between all groups proved to be a relatively rare occurrence, the existence of issue specific agreement between two or more groups was more common than expected. Accord was demonstrated in all four major areas: allocation, augmentation, conservation, and environmental protection. The conclusion here is that while important differences of opinion remain in the basin, agreement is more prevalent than anticipated. The existence of these areas of consensus augurs the possibility of successful future negotiations on the reallocation of Colorado River water. If managed well, through practiced consensus building techniques, stakeholders exhibit the potential to navigate future shortages competently while protecting the interests of their respective constituencies.

Keywords

Allocation; Augmentation; Colorado River Commission; Consensus; Conservation; Environmental protection; North America – Colorado River Watershed; Resource allocation; Water resources management; Water rights; Water supply

Disciplines

Natural Resources Management and Policy | Policy Design, Analysis, and Evaluation | Public Policy | Water Resource Management

File Format

pdf

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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