Author(s)

ROBERT L. MAHLER

Abstract

Long-term surveys have been conducted in Idaho since 1988 to determine public priorities for water use and the perceived sustainability of water resources within the state. Idahoans consider water to be the most important natural resource in the state. Idaho’s arid climate often limits the availability of water use in parts of this state. Agriculture is Idaho’s largest water user as there are more than 1,700,000 ha of irrigated farmland. Mountain snowpack is the most important source of water needed for agricultural, industrial, urban and recreational needs within the state. Idaho’s population has more than doubled to 2,000,000 people since the mid-1980s. This rapid population growth and climate change that may adversely impact the quantity of water stored as snowpack may negatively impact the water availability in Idaho in the near future. The purpose of this paper is to determine public perceived sustainability issues of water resources in Idaho and to determine the sustainability of water-related issues using a sustainability index. The scientific and social survey data collected over the last 35 years has allowed researchers to project water needs and water priorities in Idaho for the next 20 years. The largest known factors to address sustainability include: (1) long term trends in annual mountain snowpack; (2) population increase over the next 20 years; (3) trends and technologies used in irrigated agriculture; and (4) yard water use in the growing urban landscapes. Consequently, this paper focuses on these four issues and their relationship to water sustainability. On a scale of 0 to 100 Idahoans provided sustainability index values of 64, 58, 47 and 30 for irrigated agriculture, population growth, yard watering and mountain snowpack, respectively. When provided the same sustainability scale, professionals in Idaho provided index values of 66, 53, 40 and 26 for population growth, irrigated agriculture, mountain snowpack and yard watering, respectively. Idaho residents who had lived in Idaho their entire life were more likely to give mountain snowpack and irrigated agriculture higher sustainable index numbers. Conversely, Idaho newcomers were more likely to give higher sustainability index numbers for population growth and yard water use than long-time residents.

Keywords

sustainability indices, sustainable water systems, population growth, irrigated agriculture, mountain snowpack, yard water use