The Science-Policy Interface: Experience of a Workshop for Climate Change Researchers and Water Managers

This report summarizes a workshop for Arizona water managers and climate change researchers. The key technical conclusions of the workshop emphasize the need for improved monitoring, prediction, and engineering to deal with hydrologic non-stationarities generated by a combination of increasing temperatures, changing snow hydrology, and enhanced precipitation variability. Participants suggested a need to improve methodologies for valuing ecosystem services and understanding the nexus between energy production in the water resources arena. Paleohydrologic reconstructions, well-defined climate change scenarios, better data visualization and collaborative learning opportunities between water managers and scientists all can support more effective water management decisions. We note the importance of maximizing discussion and social interaction in workshops in order to remove barriers between scientists and practitioners. In particular: (1) holding the workshop in a location that maximizes community-building, (2) limiting the time devoted to plenary talks, and (3) introducing informal cafe-style discussions early in the workshop, are all important.