(2) Transparency

Long-term planning and operational decision-making are guided by the Colorado River Simulation System (CRSS), a river system model that requires explicit and transparent assumptions regarding water availability, water deliveries and allocation rules [108,109]. The 2010–2012 Colorado River Basin Study used CRSS to engage stakeholders and establish a common language to navigate trade-offs associated with intensifying scarcity and shortage risks.

The reliance on CRSS for stakeholder engagemen<sup>t</sup> and water planning involves both strengths and weaknesses. On the one hand, the federal agency managing the reservoirs in the basin note that, as a result of the modeling system, 'transparency facilitated stakeholders being on relatively equal ground, rather than [certain parties] having an advantage' [108]. At the same time, the barriers to entry are substantial, which involves a steep learning curve that has required the capacity for building for historically marginalized groups, including environmental and indigenous stakeholders.
