Abstract
Largely because water resource planning in the U.S. has been separated from land-use planning, opportunities for explicitly linking planning policies to water availability remain unexamined. The pressing need for better coordination between land-use planning and water management is amplified by changes in the global climate, which will place even greater importance on managing water supplies and demands than in the past. By surveying land and water managers in two urbanizing regions of the western United States—Portland, Oregon and Phoenix Arizona—we assessed the extent to which their perspectives regarding municipal water resource management align or differ. We specifically focus on characterizing how they perceive water scarcity problems (i.e., stressors) and solutions (i.e., strategies). Overall, the results show a general agreement across both regions and professions that long-term drought, population growth, and outdoor water use are the most important stressors to urban water systems. The results of the survey indicated more agreement across cities than across professions with regard to effective strategies, reinforcing the idea that land-use planners and water managers remain divided in their conception of the solutions to urban water management. To conclude, we recommend potential pathways for coordinating the fields of land and water management for urban sustainability.
Highlights
Despite the breadth and depth of the literatures on water supply and demand management, the operation of these systems have been viewed largely in isolation from land-use planning [1]
Phoenix professionals were generally more focused on long-term drought than Portland professionals; 83% of Phoenix water managers identified this as an important contributor to water stress, and 62% of Phoenix land-use planners agreed (Figure 2)
To what extent do urban water use managers and land-use planners share perspectives regarding the stressors to and strategies for water management systems both within and between the two locations and professional fields? Overall, survey responses were mostly consistent for the stressors facing water resource management, while responses to the effectiveness of strategies were more varied by both region and profession
Summary
Despite the breadth and depth of the literatures on water supply and demand management, the operation of these systems have been viewed largely in isolation from land-use planning [1]. Residential development patterns, which in some cases are the direct and intentional outcome of land-use planning initiatives, are a potentially important exogenous influence on water management [2,3,4]. Integrated planning across the land and water sectors is rarely if ever practiced. To better coordinate planning for land and water resources, information about professional perspectives and practices is required. Such information can reveal areas of converging and diverging viewpoints, thereby identifying the potential for collaborations as well as for conflicts as efforts to integrate across sectors continue
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
