Joseph Kaspryzk and Edith Zagona of the Center for Advanced Decision Support for Water and Environmental Systems (CADSWES), pose in front of their research. Photo credit: Matthew Staver for The Washington Post
Edith Zagona and Joseph Kasprzyk were interviewed by the Washington Post for a new article, discussing how, in an era of climate change, officials are working to ensure that the Colorado River can continue to serve as a lifeline for the 40 million people who depend on it.
The article, titled "Inside the race to grasp the fate of the Colorado River," explores how the federal government is utilizing innovative, web-based tools developed by academics at CU Boulder to forecast the river’s future flows. This cutting-edge approach will aid negotiators in shaping the next significant agreement to allocate the diminishing river's resources for decades to come.
Zagona, a research professor in CU Boulder's Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering (CEAE) and the director of the Center for Advanced Decision Support for Water and Environmental Systems (CADSWES), is the principal investigator and principal inventor of RiverWare®, a river, reservoir and hydropower management software licensed by CU Office of Technology Transfer and used by hundreds of water managers, agencies, utilities, researchers and consultants for managing river systems in the US and globally.
Kasprzyk, an associate professor in the department, is an expert in water resources planning and management, and led the research in Decision Making Under Deep Uncertainty that is the basis of the innovative App for collaborative decision making for the Colorado River Basin.
The CADSWES is a research center in the CEAE department. Established in 1986, its mission is to research and develop decision support systems utilized by government agencies and others to improve the management of finite natural resources, particularly water. Research projects are typically funded by federal agencies such as the Bureau of Reclamation and the Department of Energy.