Topic: Água

Oji Alexander, CEO of People's Housing+ in New Orleans and a former Fulcrum Fellow, in front of two People's Housing+ homes.

Q&A: Fellows in Focus

By Jon Gorey, Março 15, 2024

 

The Lincoln Institute provides a variety of early- and mid-career fellowship opportunities for researchers. In this series, we follow up with our fellows to learn more about their work—from building housing in New Orleans to conserving water in the West, from developing new tax appraisal tools to studying how post-pandemic retail patterns intersect with land use.

Exploring the New Economics of Downtown
Economist Lindsay Relihan has spent years studying the connections among cities, technology, consumption, and our shifting shopping habits. We caught up with Relihan, a participant in the Lincoln Institute Scholars Program, to find out what she’s learning in the wake of the pandemic.

Mapping Our Most Resilient Landscapes
As director of The Nature Conservancy’s North America Center for Resilient Conservation Science, ecologist and former Kingsbury Browne fellow Mark Anderson is leading a comprehensive mapping project to document connected, climate-resilient landscapes.

Building Affordable Homeownership Opportunities in New Orleans
After Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005, housing in New Orleans became scarce and expensive. Fulcrum Fellow Oji Alexander (shown above) is working to expand affordable homeownership opportunities in the city and address the racial wealth gap.

Designing a New Approach to Property Tax Appraisals
Appraising property is a complicated undertaking, but new tools are democratizing and modernizing the field, including an approach developed by Paul Bidanset, a former C. Lowell Harriss Dissertation Fellow at the Lincoln Institute.

Rethinking Stormwater Management in the West
Former Babbitt Center fellow Neha Gupta is a joint assistant research professor of hydrology and atmospheric sciences at the University of Arizona. We caught up with her to talk about climate change, urban stormwater, and her favorite cli-fi novels.

Jon Gorey is a staff writer at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.

Lead image: Oji Alexander, CEO of People’s Housing+ in New Orleans and a former Fulcrum Fellow, in front of two People’s Housing+ homes. Credit: Courtesy photo.

Incorporating Water into Comprehensive Planning

Manual

The Babbitt Center for Land and Water Policy authored a manual to help land use planners incorporate water management into comprehensive plans. The comprehensive plan and its development process provide an opportunity for a community to bring goals and policies for water issues to the forefront of their future vision, solicit public input, and foster public buy-in for a more sustainable future. This manual demonstrates how land use planners can facilitate a comprehensive planning process and resulting plan that will ensure integration of water management into their community’s future vision, as well as the water-related topics such a vision might include.

The questions below prompt a land and water planning team to consider the water issues that may be relevant to their comprehensive plan. These questions supplement the Water Topics and Examples sections that form the bulk of the Incorporating Water into Comprehensive Planning manual. These questions can be used to quickly generate ideas about water topics that may be pertinent to a community, or identify topics that require additional data or information to answer and address. Further, these questions could be used in a public brainstorming workshop to gauge community members’ knowledge and values about local water issues.

Water-Related Questions to Answer in a Comprehensive Planning Process

Questions to guide integration of water management into comprehensive planning

Evaluation

The Babbitt Center reviewed comprehensive plans in the Colorado River Basin to evaluate the degree to which communities have integrated water management into their land use plans. These plan reviews were conducted using a matrix of 20 criteria and a scale that assigned a weight to the level of implementation of the criteria. Findings from this review, and examples from communities across the Colorado River Basin, are included in our manual.

Background

The Babbitt Center’s review of comprehensive plans throughout the Colorado River Basin sought to determine

  • the state of land use and water planning integration in Colorado River Basin communities and;
  • the gaps and opportunities to be addressed in land and water planning and management practices.

Comprehensive plans may not represent the whole suite of land and water planning activities in a community, but they reveal important information about which communities, regions, and states are incorporating water into foundational land use planning processes. Furthermore, they provide an opportunity to engage the public on water issues and can lay the groundwork for linking water to other land use processes, such as development review, zoning, data and modeling, or ordinances.

Methods

The Babbitt Center worked extensively through literature, peer, and plan review to identify water topics appropriate for inclusion in a comprehensive plan. This included an initial phase of plan reviews focused on Arizona and Colorado communities, followed by a revision that resulted in more broadly applicable evaluation categories and a matrix.

Sample Evaluation Matrix

Sample plan evaluation matrix for fictitious jurisdictions, where darker blue coloring indicates that the criteria is described in the plan alongside actions for implementation and stronger land and water planning integration, and lighter blue coloring indicates that the criteria is described in the plan in very general terms and weaker land and water planning integration.

Project Progress

The Babbitt Center continues to review plans and share insights about water in comprehensive planning through presentations about the work and by consultations with communities on how to integrate water management into their comprehensive plans.

For more information please contact the Babbitt Center at babbittcenter@lincolninst.edu or 602-393-4309.

Partners

Anne Castle, senior fellow at the Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy, and the Environment at the University of Colorado Law School is a co-author.
Erin Rugland, former Program Manager at the Babbitt Center for Land and Water Policy is a co-author.
The Babbitt Center for Land and Water Policy is a project funder.
The Colorado Water Conservation Board is a project funder.

The Problem

The State of Colorado has required retail water providers serving 2,000 acre-feet or more to submit Water Efficiency Plans (WEPs) since 1991. In 2015, Colorado Senate Bill 8 stipulated that WEPs must evaluate “best management practices for water demand management, water efficiency, and water conservation that may be implemented through land use planning efforts.” Colorado has provided extensive guidance on the preparation of these plans; however, new requirements for incorporating land use practices into WEPs were not covered in the previous guidance. The Addendum bridges this gap.

The Addendum, adopted by the CWCB in January 2019, includes land use best practices that can be implemented by water providers, either independently, or through collaboration with a land use authority. It is tailored to Colorado communities, uses numerous examples and additional resources, and is designed to be adapted as applicable to varying local circumstances.

Methods

The Addendum was developed through an extensive review of literature on integrating land use and water planning; interviews with ten Colorado water providers; valuable input from regional experts; and a workshop focused on the use and readability of the guidance.

Taking the Addendum into Action

The Babbitt Center and Water Education Colorado worked to educate practitioners, consultants, engineers, and other stakeholders about the Addendum during the fall of 2019. This education and outreach included two webinars hosted in collaboration with Colorado’s Special District Association and Colorado Municipal League, and four workshops around Colorado. Watch the webinars below.

October 25, 2019 Webinar

August 12, 2019 Webinar

 

For more information, please contact the Babbitt Center at babbittcenter@lincolninst.edu or 602-393-4309.

Growing Water Smart

Communities across the Colorado River Basin and beyond are making critical decisions about how and where to grow amid changing water conditions. Since 2017, Growing Water Smart has provided training and technical assistance to more than 130 communities across the West, helping local leaders better align land use decisions with water availability and plan for a more resilient future.

Through immersive workshops, peer exchange, practical resources, and ongoing implementation support, Growing Water Smart builds the capacity of communities to integrate land use and water planning. The program brings together interdisciplinary teams of planners, water providers, elected officials, and community leaders to strengthen partnerships, address local water and growth challenges, and develop actionable strategies that communities can carry forward.

Explore the Growing Water Smart Story Map

Nearly a decade of workshops and partnerships have generated a wealth of community experiences, lessons, and accomplishments. The Growing Water Smart Story Map highlights how participating communities are translating workshop learning into action through planning, policy changes, and new approaches to collaboration.

Explore community stories, participant perspectives, and examples of how Growing Water Smart is helping communities build more water-resilient futures.

View the Story Map

A Growing Regional Partnership

Growing Water Smart was cofounded in 2017 by the Sonoran Institute and Lincoln Institute of Land Policy’s Babbitt Center for Land and Water Policy to strengthen the connection between land use planning and water management. The program was launched in Colorado, where the founding partners worked with the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) to help communities translate the goals of Colorado’s Water Plan into local planning and action. Building on this foundation, Growing Water Smart has since expanded to Arizona, Utah, California, and communities along the US-Mexico border.

The program’s expansion reflects a growing network of regional partnerships that include Utah State University, the Utah Division of Water Resources, Western Resource Advocates, and Water Education for Latino Leaders (WELL). While each workshop is tailored to local needs and priorities, Growing Water Smart maintains a shared approach grounded in interdisciplinary collaboration, peer learning, and practical expertise. Beyond the workshops, the program supports communities in translating their action plans into meaningful policy and planning changes, strengthening local capacity, and sustaining partnerships that advance integrated land and water management over time.

Tools, Guidebooks, and Resources

Explore Growing Water Smart’s state-specific guidebooks and resources to support integrated land and water planning.

For additional program information, news, and resources, visit resilientwest.org/growing-water-smart.

Bring Growing Water Smart to Your Community

Communities interested in participating in a future Growing Water Smart workshop are encouraged to reach out to learn more about upcoming opportunities. Workshops are tailored to local priorities, water challenges, and planning contexts, and are often delivered in partnership with regional organizations, water providers, conservancy districts, and other partners representing multiple communities.

growingwatersmart@sonoraninstitute.org (AZ, CO, CA, US-MX Border)

utgrowingwatersmart@usu.edu (UT)

Babbitt Center for Land and Water Policy

Babbitt Center for Land and Water Policy

Past Projects

High-Resolution Mapping

We collaborated with the Conservation Innovation Center of Maryland’s Chesapeake Conservancy on precise high-resolution mapping, down to one square meter, to model how water moves across the landscape and impacts local and regional land use. This collaboration resulted in floodplain mapping for green infrastructure for the Pima County Flood Control District in Arizona; regional land use land cover mapping for the Denver Regional Council of Governments in Colorado; an ArcGIS StoryMap, Swimming Upstream,  of the Endangered Fish Recovery Program for the Colorado Water Conservation Board; and ecosystem service opportunities near Bears Ears National Monument, Utah, in collaboration with the Grand Canyon Trust. These high-resolution mapping products provide organizations with information critical to identifying priorities at the parcel scale, such as green infrastructure placement. This work is invaluable to land and water managers, local planners, and policymakers whose decisions impact the economy and quality of life in their communities.

Colorado Water and Land Use Planning Alliance

The Babbitt Center provided seed funding for a position within the Colorado Department of Local Affairs to spearhead this group and still collaborates with various alliance members. The alliance is a grassroots group of multidisciplinary partners comprising state agencies, local governments, NGOs, and researchers that help local communities effectively incorporate water into comprehensive planning. The alliance’s work supports priorities in the Colorado Water Plan, one of which is to help achieve a Colorado Water Plan goal: by 2025, 75 percent of Coloradans will live in communities that have incorporated water-saving actions into land use planning.

Water, Land, and Growth in Central California

The San Joaquin Valley is one of the fastest growing regions of California, and the state’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) is likely to have far-reaching implications on communities’ future growth there. The valley’s urban, suburban, and rural communities bear the brunt of new growth in the region yet may not have renewable water supplies to meet future demands. The Babbitt Center worked with the Public Policy Institute of California’s Water Policy Center to understand the implications of California’s SGMA on urban, suburban, and rural communities in the San Joaquin Valley.

2019 Journalists Forum

In partnership with the Walton Family Foundation, the Gates Family Foundation, and the Arizona State University Cronkite School of Journalism, we hosted a Journalists Forum that explored the history, science, and politics of water management, and delved into innovative policies and practices that help forge a sustainable water future.

Presentations, session video clips, and the agenda from the forum are hosted online.

View Forum Materials

Enhance Colorado’s Water Efficiency Plans

We worked with the Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy, and the Environment at the University of Colorado Law School to write Best Practices for Implementing Water Conservation and Demand Management Through Land Use Planning Efforts. This document, adopted by the Colorado Water Conservation Board in January 2019, updated the State of Colorado’s water efficiency plan guidance to include land use practices that foster water savings.

Lessons from the Colorado River: Climate, Land, and Drought

Previous US Interior Secretary and Arizona Governor Bruce Babbitt and former US Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Brenda Burman discussed the future of the Colorado River. Moderated by Babbitt Center for Land and Water Policy Director Jim Holway, this 75th Anniversary Lincoln Institute Dialogue covered Colorado River conditions; current and emerging policy challenges; lessons on international and interstate river management; and how local governments, water utilities, land managers, and Native American nations can promote water sustainability.

View the Recording of the Dialogue and Related Resources

Trouble in Paradise: Arizona’s Distressed Golf Courses

The Babbitt Center catalogued Arizona’s golf courses, detailing information on location, state of operations, relation to nearby homes, and water use to pinpoint courses that are either already distressed or could become distressed. If a golf course is identified as distressed, the Babbitt Center and the impacted community can study best-case scenarios to revitalize or adapt it to enhance financial stability, optimize livability, and promote more sustainable use of valuable land.

Water & Tribes Initiative

Thirty Native American Indian tribes have inhabited the Colorado River Basin region for millennia. They depend on the waters of the Colorado River and its tributaries and are major water rights holders. However, many tribes are unable to access their water rights and have traditionally been excluded from the development of Colorado River policy. The Water & Tribes Initiative (WTI) was founded in 2017 to address these issues. The goals: facilitate connections among tribes and other leaders, build trust and understanding, and create opportunities to explore shared interests and take collaborative action. The Babbitt Center is proud to serve as the founding and managing funder and fiscal agent for the Water & Tribes Initiative (WTI).

Babbitt Center for Land and Water Policy

Babbitt Center for Land and Water Policy

Our Mission

The Babbitt Center for Land and Water Policy, a center of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, seeks to advance the integration of land and water management to meet the current and future water needs of Colorado River Basin communities, economies, and the environment. We help communities to effectively manage their land and water resources.

Programs of the Babbitt Center

Integration of Urban Land and Water Policy

Many times, as land use plans are developed, current water availability and projects for future water demands are not taken into account. This has led to overdevelopment, strain on water supplies, and limited access to water for both urban and rural needs—affecting economies, environments and food supplies. Through this program, the Babbitt Center seeks to ensure that any land or water use plan that is either in development or review takes the other into account in a uniformed fashion—addressing current and future needs of each natural resource.

Water and Agriculture

Globally, around 70 percent of freshwater withdrawals are used for agriculture, making it the largest consumer of water. In addition to this water use, agricultural production also accounts for more than one-third of global land use. Decisions made regarding how, what, and where crops are grown are often devoid of the water resources necessary to sustainably grow those crops. Additionally, more pressure is being placed on agriculture than ever before to provide a safe and reliable supply of food, feed, fuel, and fiber for the global population. Taking in to account global shifts in population, decreasing amount of land available for agriculture, and increasing pressure for different types of crops, water should be part of all decisions related to land use and production.

Nature-Based Solutions

Nature-based solutions (NBS) are actions that restore, manage, or protect natural ecosystems, which in turn help address societal challenges such as climate change, disaster risk reduction, biodiversity, and human health. While the interventions and outcomes of nature-based solutions are not new, the concept of integrating nature-based solutions in policy is. Land as a natural resource can and should be a driver in opportunities associated with addressing societal challenges through nature.

See All Our Past Projects

Center for Geospatial Solutions

Center for Geospatial Solutions

Contato

cgs@lincolninst.edu

Visit Website

Established in 2020, the Center for Geospatial Solutions (CGS) is a self-sustaining nonprofit enterprise operating out of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. We are a nonprofit data solutions provider, working with external partners to transform how land, water, and social resources are managed and protected.

At CGS, we believe that better decisions—about housing, infrastructure, conservation, and community well-being— depend on better data. That’s why we specialize in building modern, integrated, and actionable geospatial systems for the public good. We approach this work with a commitment to objectivity and service, and our work helps federal agencies, state and local governments, nonprofits, and regional and national networks access the tools and insights they need to tackle complex challenges.

We are more than technologists. We are systems thinkers, designers, data scientists, and community collaborators. Our strength lies in helping mission-aligned organizations use data not just to understand the world—but to change it.

Mission and Vision

CGS was founded to enable data-driven decisions for the greater good of land, water, and people. Our expert team improves how data is accessed, interpreted, and applied to help changemakers big and small fulfill their purpose. ​We envision a world where new technologies—like remote sensing, AI, and geospatial analysis—are used to realize swift and fair outcomes for people and the planet.

Learn More About Our Services
Case Study: Nature Conservancy of Canada

The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) is the leading land conservation organization in Canada. Since 1962, the nonprofit and its partners have helped protect more than 35 million acres (14 million hectares) across Canada. NCC is working with us to develop a long-term technology strategy that streamlines data collection and management across the organization and allows all of its programs to leverage the latest technology to improve conservation prioritization, securement, and management. This strategy is helping reduce the time it takes staff to effectively manage properties and communicate key metrics to outside partners and funders. Access to better technology is also making it easier for NCC to effectively leverage new revenue sources, such as carbon offsets, by quantifying and capitalizing on the ecological benefits of land conservation.

Learn About the Nature Conservancy of Canada

Enabling Better Decisions About Land, Water, and People

At our core, CGS helps partners make better, more informed decisions about how land, water, and other resources are used, governed, protected, and shared. We ensure that data is a decision-making asset—not just a technical resource.

Our clients and collaborators rely on us to translate complex challenges into achievable solutions that are grounded in real-world goals and community values.

 

“The Center for Geospatial Solutions is moving the global environmental field forward to meet ambitious goals set forth by scientists to save and restore our planet.”

—Jack Dangermond, President and CEO of Environmental Systems Research Institute (Esri)

 

Visit our website to learn more.

Faça Parte da Nossa Lista de Contatos

Inscreva-se para receber notificações cada vez que uma edição em inglês da Land Lines for publicada em nosso website, assim como outras atualizações do Programa América Latina e Caribe

Inscreva-se