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Climate predictions originate with ocean temperatures and how they affect precipitation across the United States. "In southern Arizona we are strongly affected by patterns like the El Niño Southern Oscillation, which leads to wetter winters," Jacobs says. "That might affect the way you manage your reservoir." El Niño is a disruption of the ocean-atmosphere system in the tropical Pacific having important consequences for weather and climate around the globe.

While the research team knew key areas they were going to focus on, they included water users in framing the study. "We presented stakeholders with what we were trying to do and then asked them what their questions and concerns were." Some of the questions could be answered right away, while the study is expected to answer others. Some of the questions were out of the scope of this particular study, but the researchers will use that information to guide future research efforts.

"Everyone is focused on the Colorado River right now," she says. "We decided that we would interview municipal entities first because they're the ones that are most concerned over the long term about the security of water supplies from the CAP." Key participants include the UA Water Sustainability Program, City of Phoenix Water Department, City of Tucson Water Department, the Arizona Municipal Water User's Association, the Salt River Project, the CAP, and the Southern Arizona Water User's Association. A quarterly e-mail newsletter helps answer many of the questions these stakeholders have.

Bonnie Colby, an agriculture and resource economics professor, is evaluating the economic implications of alternative management options for agriculture. Multiple approaches, such as dry-year options and land fallowing are being analyzed.

Graduate students from varied disciplines including geography, agriculture and resource economics, hydrology and water resources, and the tree-ring laboratory are working on this project. They meet on a regular basis to discuss the relationships between their findings.

"I think any time you have an interdisciplinary project, it's very difficult to get all of the project members to be speaking the same language and to understand how they can benefit from the integration," Jacobs says. "People are raised or trained to be disciplinary and to put on blinders and focus on their own arena, and we're deliberately trying to tear down those boundaries between disciplines."

Jacobs looks forward to continually bridging the gap between scientific research and its usefulness to local communities. "You can pretty much name your arena and there will be a gap of some width between what scientists know and what people are actually putting on the ground," she says. "There are exceptions, but they're rare."

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Technology and Research Initiative Funds (TRIF), and UA Water Sustainability Program are funding the project.