From thunderstorms to droughts, all those who live in the arid West experience the drama of a highly volatile climate. Scientists, public planners, and resource managers are also faced with the challenge of anticipating the consequences of this climatic variability on water resources, environmental quality, and economic development. That was one of several themes emerging from "Changing Water Regimes in Drylands," a multidisciplinary conference organized by the Desert Research Institute and sponsored by the Institute, the DRI Research Foundation, and the University of Nevada, Reno's Center for Environmental Sciences and Engineering. The conference, held at Lake Tahoe in mid-June, attracted approximately 60 scientists from the U.S. and several foreign countries.

The rapid growth of the West's population and development of the region?s scarce water resources were put into perspective in the keynote address by Charles F. Wilkinson, an environmental law scholar and prominent proponent of the "long view" of water resources management in the West. Wilkinson, Moses Lasky Professor of Law at the University of Colorado, Boulder, pointed out that the West has more than tripled its population since WWII, while relying on 19th century resource law and management institutions largely unprepared to cope with the present demands associated with complex economic development.

A three-day series of presentations and panel discussions reviewed the status of climate record and climate forecasting research, ground and surface water quality and quantity, and water and other resource management strategies. A copy of the conference abstracts can be obtained by calling Dr. Robert Wharton, DRI's vice president for research, at (702)673-7469, or by e-mail, wharton@dri.edu.