Investigating technology opportunities toward improved Colorado water monitoring: Insights from key informant interviews and stakeholder surveys

Abstract

Prolonged drought conditions in the western United States have prompted an interest in improved water resource management. In the past two decades, Colorado has experienced decreasing precipitation and increasing temperatures, causing persistent meteorological and agricultural drought. In times of limited water resources, more precise water accounting and water conservation is often required. We investigated technological and monitoring gaps in Colorado water resource management using a sequential explanatory mix-method approach, including key informant interviews and a survey study. Key informant interviews gave insight into water monitoring concerns and informed a state-wide survey on monitoring gaps and water resource challenges. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of interview transcripts and survey results found that the most critical monitoring gaps for water managers in Colorado are: (1) streamflow forecasting and improved understanding of Colorado snowpack, (2) expanding groundwater and soil moisture monitoring, (3) wildfire impacts on watershed health, (4) improved accuracy and reliability of data sources, and (5) addressing these gaps while maintaining an emphasis on community collaboration. Challenges for Colorado managers varied by stakeholder basin and sector but included changes in hydrologic systems due to the effects of extended drought, climate change, and related anthropogenic impacts and negative impacts of intensifying wildfire seasons on water quality and watershed health.