Project Updates
Read about our latest project updates
Q1-Q2 2025
Agricultural Systems
The agricultural systems team commenced an irrigation experiment with sweet sorghum, collected plant respiration, evapotranspiration, and soil moisture data at a drip-irrigated young pistachio orchard in southern New Mexico, and investigated a new pistachio study site in western New Mexico.
Conservation Readiness Assessment
The conservation readiness assessment team identified key areas of emphasis for “Conservation Readiness” workshops to engage local stakeholders in discussing realistic water scarcity solutions. Workshop planners will take into consideration which projects and practices already have a mechanism for funding when planning content.
Data-Driven Water Budgets & Community Accessible Decision Tools
The data-driven water budgets & community accessible decision tools team members are coordinating with NASA on the development of a new version of the North American Land Data Assimilation System Version 3 (NLDAS-3) which will generate data on snow, rain, snow, runoff, soil moisture, evapotranspiration, groundwater storage, and other water, vegetation, and energy parameters. This information is useful for calculating water budgets and understanding water availability, drought, crop health, and more.
Ethnographic Community Assessment
The ethnographic community assessment team has engaged with various stakeholders across southern Idaho to identify needs and opportunities and build relationships. The team lead is also working closely with other project-internal teams to ensure complementarity.
Integrated System-Based Modeling
The integrated system-based modeling team is developing a comprehensive and easy-to-understand system dynamics model. This model will combine research from other RAWCS teams with real-world information about water, agriculture, communities, and stakeholder concerns in the western United States. The goal is to help communities, farmers, and decision-makers find ways of increasing resilience to water scarcity.
Water Manager Certification Program
The Water Manager Certification Program team elaborated a proposal that describes the creation of a Water Resource Manager Certification Program at New Mexico State University (NMSU) to address the growing need for professionally trained water resource managers, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions such as the southwestern United States. The certification program will prepare working professionals, graduate students, and community stakeholders to make informed decisions about water management, planning, and sustainability.
Water Systems
Water systems team members have taken early steps toward implementing the Western Water Network by engaging in modeling and research activities to support integrating community engagement, collaborative modeling, and data-sharing practices across institutional and geographic boundaries.
Graduate students participating in the water systems modeling and review activities are gaining hands-on experience with integrated water modeling tools and research design, directly supporting workforce development in water resources management.
Water Technician Training
Team members working on the Water Technician Training have made progress in developing a 2.5-day (20-hour) short-course that will offer participants practical hands-on training and basic knowledge for climate-based irrigation management. The program covers soil-water relationships, evapotranspiration estimation, crop water requirements, and irrigation scheduling using climate data. Participants will gain hands-on experience installing and maintaining weather stations, measuring soil moisture and infiltration in the field, and using specialized software from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations for irrigation planning. This course provides students and practitioners with the essential tools for managing irrigation water and improving water use efficiency in agriculture.
Western Water Network
The Western Water Network (WWN) team coordinated discussions with the WWN regarding project activities, including alignment of priorities and identification of collaborative opportunities. Members also provided constructive feedback on the development and organization of the WWN webpage to enhance accessibility and clarity, and communicated potential data sharing strategies and opportunities to strengthen integration and collaboration across the network.
Extension Animation and Videos
The extension animation and videos team has made progress on the project’s website design, content, colors, and branding. The logo for RAWCS has been completed, and a branding style guide will be created.
Facilitated Technical Support
Facilitated technical support created social media accounts for Western Water Network to enhance stakeholder communication.