Thank you for participating in this study conducted by researchers and extension specialists working across California, New Mexico, and Utah. We aim to understand how you manage your water resources and to provide potential support for management under drought. This survey is the first step of a multi-year project titled Secure Water Future (SWF) and funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
We aim to develop an interactive web-based tool to help your region manage water resources. This survey will cover questions related to web-based tools, water trading, and water use in your region. We estimate that this survey should take no more than 20 minutes to complete, and the information you provide will help us produce an as useful tool as possible. As compensation, anyone who receives this survey and provides their contact information below will be entered into a raffle with a chance to win (1 out of 20) $50 gift cards usable at Cabela’s. You do not need to answer the survey to participate in the raffle.
Participation in this study is completely voluntary. You may refuse to participate in this study as well as change your mind and withdraw your participation at any point after the study has started. There are no specific risks or direct personal benefits attached to your participation in this study, nor are there any direct costs to you beyond the time and effort required to take part. All information we collect will be kept strictly confidential and no information that could be used to identify you will be handled by anyone outside of our research team. We cannot guarantee absolute confidentiality, as research documents are not protected from subpoenas and all research carries some risk that confidentiality could be compromised. However, we will take all necessary and prudent precautions to ensure the confidentiality of your data. Once all personal identifiers have been removed from the data, your data could be used in other research studies and shared with other researchers without additional informed consent from you or your legally authorized representative.
By clicking the arrow button below, you indicate that you have decided to volunteer as a research subject and that you have read and understood the information provided above.
For questions about your rights while participating in this study, call the Office of Research at (209) 228-4613 or write to the Office of Research, UC Merced, 5200 North Lake Road, Merced, CA 95343. The Office of Research will inform the Institutional Review Board, which is a group of people who review the research to protect your rights. If you have any complaints or concerns about this study, you may address them to Ramesh Balasubramaniam, Chair of the IRB at (209) 228-2314, irbchair@ucmerced.edu.