It is important that water resources are effectively governed, and that people know how these resources are governed, how they can become better informed, and where they should take any concerns regarding water resource governance. To assess this, UMCES conducted a Survey of Rio Grande Basin residents, asking participants how strongly they agreed or disagreed with various statements. Statements used to assess Water Resource Governance were: 1) I have avenues to report water related concerns/problems/issues in my region of the Rio Grande Basin. 2) I can easily exercise my legal rights regarding water resources in my region of the Rio Grande Basin (e.g. right to clean water, domestic water access). 3) There are ways for me to participate in managing and/or conserving my region of the Rio Grande Basin. 4) Local people have capacity to manage and govern the water resources within their region of the Rio Grande Basin. 5) Water resources are being managed effectively by government bodies in the Rio Grande from its headwaters in Colorado to El Paso that includes coordination between the states.
How is it scored?
Survey responses were scored based on how much responders agreed with each statement, so that "Strongly agree" responses scored 100%, "Agree" 75%, "Neutral" 50%, "Disagree" 25%, and "Strongly disagree" 0%.