Role Play

We had our last Con Soc discussion yesterday. I was really dreading it (and feared another PowerPoint assignment), but I was elated when I discovered that we would be participating in an Environmental Conflict Resolution (ECR) role play scenario.

The conflict:
"Recent headlines about water scarcity in the Culebra River watershed have caused a lot of concern. In fact, several years ago, when seepage from tailings ponds at the local copper mine contaminated some wells of the city of Springfield, the municipal water suppliers had to buy water to assure residents of enough drinking water. More recently, people have begun to suspect that there isn't as much water in the river as there used to be. A technical committee has confirmed the suspicion, announcing that an expected drop in the water table, caused by too much water use, will more than likely lead to a loss of surface water in the Culebra River. The committee has warned that unless some changes are made, access to water will be insecure, and the consequences for the community will be far more serious than what happened after the mine seepage. A meeting of diverse stakeholders in the watershed has been called to discuss these issues and to try to come to a long-term resolution."

The stakeholders:
-The miners: Although mining in the region has decreased significantly in the last 50 years, Dover Copper Mines, Inc. continues to use 20,000 acre-feet per year of groundwater and hopes to double their copper extraction in the next 25-years, indicating a doubling of water usage.
-The conservationists: The local environmental group, Friends of the Culebra River, wishes to reform water-use policies and tighten regulations. This group also hopes to increase the acreage used for riparian and buffer zones along the river.
-The developers: A development company has purchased 25,000 acres of land in Springfield and wishes to build planned housing communities and golf courses. This construction would place additional strain on the river's water supply.
-Urban users: Local politicians and the Board of Supervisors are fighting to ensure that local citizens are supplied with adequate clean drinking water and enough water for other uses, such as showers, car washing, lawn watering, etc. After the mine seepage a few years ago, the city had to purchase drinking water, which was very costly and frankly, embarrassing.
-The Native Americans: The local Indian tribe is granted a certain amount of water rights by the federal government, but they have never demanded these rights. Now, they claim that there is not enough water in the river for their crops, so they wish to call in their debt.

And last... the agriculturalists. I was one of the two representatives for this party; the name assigned in the game was "Chris Channel," but since both Amanda and I were playing this role, and since we're both of the female persuasion, we changed our names to... Chrissy and Candy Chanel. Love it!

Of course, the first thing Amanda says after we discovered our role was, "Oh, this is going to suck because we're the bad guys." If I had a dollar for every time someone called the farmers the bad guys in one of my environmental science classes, I'd be rolling in dough. So then I had to explain that agriculture is not an evil industry; agriculture provides food which we NEED. And agricultural and environmental interests don't have to be pitted against each other--if we manage our resources and control runoff and other forms of pollutants, these two sectors can be compatible. (Oh, I am my mother's daughter.) I'm not sure whether Amanda conceded or not, but she let me address the issue and gave me license to speak on the issue when we conferenced with the other stakeholders.

Here's what I typed up during the discussion:

We represent 460 agricultural constituents in the Culebra River Irrigation District. In accordance with our needs, here are our requests:
• Over the next 25 years, we would like to maintain our current water usage—50,000 acre-feet per year.
o Although we take 50,000 acre-feet, we return 30% of the water to the system, so our net usage is 35,000 acre-feet
• Crops: Pecans and alfalfa
• We use 50% of the districts surface water supply—35,000 of the 72,000 acre-feet—but we also generate $17.2 million per year, about equal with the revenue generated from the urban, mining, recreation, and conservation sectors combined.

Unlike other parties involved in this negotiation, we are NOT asking for increased water rights. Rather, we simply wish to continue our present water usage, as decreed by a court agreement that predates dam construction.

Willingness to negotiate:
• Willing to sell 2,000 acres of land for conservation or donate (along with associated water rights: 6,000 acre-feet per year/4,000 net acre-feet per year)
o 6,000 acre-feet is 17% of 35,000 acre-feet
o 4,000 acre-feet is 11% of 35,000 acre-feet (+ increased conservation methods, such as grey water and effluence)

Offers
Friends of River:
• Offer to donate 500 acres (1,500 acre-feet of water per year)
• More conservation methods in next 25 years
• WE WILL reduce pollution nutrients (by 10%) and pesticides (20%) over 25 years—can we keep our water levels?
Director of City Water Department:
• No offer; don’t need anything from us
Miners:
• Are we willing to contribute money/land to build grey water facility?
o Contribute 500 acres?
• Biggest conflicts with municipal and developers, who are competing for the same water sources
Board of Supervisors:
• Want us to reduce 20%, but want most reduction from miners
• “Fuck the miners” –Doug
• We can donate land for grey water plant
o Offered to contribute 1000 acres to Friends of River
Developers:
• Want to buy 1500 acres of our land
o Will give us a good price
• Committed to building sustainable houses
• Miners agreed to buy you low-flow showerheads and appliances
• If we sell them 1,500 acres of land, they will build grey water plant
o They will assume cost of building plant- we split water 50%
o DEAL?
Native Americans:
• Have legal right to water supply
• Want to increase from 2.00 acre-feet to 3,000 acre-feet

Developers (Hannah, Josie, and Evan)
Want to build houses and golf course (26,500 acres)
• Will build on 20,000 acres; donate 5,000 to conservation
Population is growing quickly- need housing
1.6 acre-feet of water per home
• Possibility to decrease yby using grey water in toilets
Using effluent water for golf courses
Using grey water in the homes
Will devote 20% of land to conservation
Buy 1,500 acres from agriculture/25,000 of undeveloped land

Becks County Board of Supervisors (Doug and Farra)
Wants all parties to cut back 20%
Ultimate approval rests with Supervisors

Sandy Wells, Director of City Water Dept (Angelica and Diego)
Have been using ground water- increased costs to switch to treated water
Want to continue pumping ground water at same rate
• Population of city is growing, need increased water
• Don’t want to buy water-too expensive
Prioritize ground water delegated
Conservation methods: reduce recharge, increase effluence use
Start public campaign to promote efficient water usage
Most conflict with miners- because they use/contaminate groundwater

Native American Tribe (Julia S and Chaim)
Wants tribe to preserve way of life/culture
River needs to flow consistently through land- no lack of water
Willing to sell water rights to “some” land (undisclosed amount)

Miners- Jesse Lane (Julia H, Darcy, and Ethan)
Increase usage up to 40,000 acre-feet per year (increase of 20,000)
Use groundwater
Use recharge, other conservation methods
Leave strip of land along water, turn into river park
With expansion- reopen closed mines (more water; don’t need more land)
$14 million in revenue per 12,000 (doesn’t include closed minds)
• Expecting to double the revenue→ more extraction from mines, employ more workers

Val Matters the Hydrologist (Kaitlyn)
Will explain environmental issues
Impartial
• Tragedy of the commons- no one is secure with water usage
• Currently using more water than is sustainable
• Recent mine contamination- decreased water availability
• Watershed recharge- how water gets back into water body
• Low rainfall in summer
o Mining- account for negative impacts
o Development- cannot expand unmitigated
o Agriculture- reduce, reuse, become more efficient
• Grey water initiative
• Erosion control
• Nutrient management
• Use of effluent
• Increase crop water productivity
 More efficient crops/more efficient practices

Bobby Waters, Friends of Culebra River (Brian and Aylesse)
1. Sustainability
2. Biodiversity
3. Increased regulation
Maintain water reserves for recreational purposes, to maintain ecotourism
$1.8 million/year to conservation comes from ecotourism



After a looooong discussion/argument, we decided to build the grey water facility and also continue to use some of the water from the river. Pretty much everyone got what they needed, except the developers.

I really enjoyed the discussion; it was definitely frustrating, but I think that was part of the point.