Enhancing stateholder feedback on the 2011 long-term forecast of water supply and demand for the Columbia River basin

Poster presented at the 2012 Washington State University Academic Showcase.Every five years, the Department of Ecology’s Office of Columbia River (OCR) is required to submit a long-term water supply and demand forecast to the Legislature.A significant portion of the 2011 Forecast was carried out in partnership by an interdisciplinary WSU team (see poster #617, “Assessing the impact of climate change on Columbia River Basin agriculture through integrated crop systems, hydrologic, and water management modeling,”for a more detailed description of the Forecast). To gather feedback, the WSU team organized a series of educational workshops and an online survey coinciding with the release of the draft Forecast results. The computer modeling that was central to the 2011 Forecast was assumed to be challenging material for a public outreach process. Research suggests that public knowledge about the nature and purpose of scientific models is low (Schwarz and White 2005). Based on this, workshops provided a non-technical overview of the methodologies used, followed by guided discussion to elicit participant questions and stakeholder responses. In similar contexts, the Department of Ecology normally solicits and responds to written and oral comments submitted by individuals or organizations. To supplement this feedback, we surveyed workshop participants using a wireless response system. The survey was also open during the public comment period through a web portal. Results from the workshops provide insight into the perceived usefulness of various portions of the Forecast, and will help prioritize work on the 2016 ForecastFunding Agency: Washington Department of Ecology, Washington State University, Pullman, WAYorgey, Georgine et al. Enhancing stateholder feedback on the 2011 long-term forecast of water supply and demand for the Columbia River basin. Poster presented at the Washington State University Academic Showcase, Pullman, WA