Sustainability Outlook Indicator Descriptions and Methodology

The Sustainability Outlook describes how, through the lens of four societal values — public health and safety, healthy economy, ecosystem vitality, and opportunities for enriching experiences — it will help identify desired water management outcomes and indicators. Those outcomes and indicators can be used to gauge the status of, and progress toward, sustainability. Because sustainability is not something achieved once and forever, the Sustainability Outlook and the representative indicators are intended to be adaptive and help water resource managers address changing circumstances and incorporate lessons learned. 

This document details the process to date for developing the sustainability indicators and includes descriptions of the initial indicators. Indicators are presented according to societal value, corresponding intended outcome, and classification (“Basic” with potential statewide application or “Watershed” level application, “Advanced” for future development, or “Archived” with no additional development identified at this time). Each intended outcome has several indicators, and in some cases, indicators may apply to multiple outcomes. 

This version of the document (December 2018) is being released concurrently with the public review draft of Update 2018. It is considered an in-progress review draft because indicator assessments are ongoing, and the contents are subject to change as indicators are more fully developed, combined, or otherwise modified. As part of Update 2018, future versions of this paper will reflect the status of indicator development and stakeholder input.