PLANNING CHANGE: CASE STUDIES ILLUSTRATING THE BENEFITS OF GIS AND LAND-USE DATA IN ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING

A well-established protocol for planning environmentally sustainable development has yet to be agreed upon. Experiences from two highly-studied basins in the United States illustrate some early attempts, their successes, and the obstacles that continue to impede widespread adoption of environmental planning. The first, located in a heavily-populated humid region, has emphasized improvements to water quality and aquatic habitat to sustain the quality of life enjoyed by residents in the face of large projected population growth. Analyses are concentrating on detailed characterization of surface waters, and evaluation of the costs and benefits of various development strategies in terms of their impacts on water quality. The second, located in a semi-arid region, is focused on achieving sustainable yield from finite groundwater resources, and in doing so preserving perennial flow in one of the regions last free-flowing desert rivers. Analyses have concentrated on detailed characterization of the regional groundwater system, and evaluating the costs and benefits of alternative strategies for reducing current water-table declines. In cases, GIS and remotely-sensed land use data is playing, or has played, a central role in facilitating scientific analyses and environmental decision-making