Journal of Contemporary Water Research & Education

Issue No. 142 August 2009 Geography: A Vibrant Agenda for the Next 20 Years of Water Resources Research

Contents

Water Promises: Much Ado about Nothing - As Proftless as Water in a Sieve? Graham A. Tobin...... 1

Articles

Future Hydroclimatology and the Research Challenges of a Post-Stationary World Katherine K. Hirschboeck...... 4 Integrating Water-Quality into a Water Resources Research Agenda L. Allan James...... 10 Integrated Ecohydrologic Research and Hydro-Informatics D. Scott Mackay and Lawrence E. Band...... 16 Applying Geographic Information Techniques to Study Water Resources for the Next 20 Years Luoheng Han...... 25 Integration of Water Data for Decision-Making and Research R. Rajagopal...... 28 Water for Agriculture: Global Change and Geographic Perspectives on Research Challenges for the Future John Harrington, Jr...... 36 Emerging Issues and Challenges: Natural Hazards Burrell Montz...... 42 Integrated Policy and Planning for Water and Energy Young-Doo Wang...... 46 Ecological Economics and Water Resources Geography Christopher Lant ...... 52 The Political Economy and Political Ecology of the Hydro-Social Cycle Erik Swyngedouw...... 56 Comparative International Water Research James L. Wescoat, Jr...... 61 A Long Term View of Water and International Security Aaron T. Wolf...... 67 Problem-Centered vs. Discipline-Centered Research for the Exploration of Sustainability William James Smith, Jr...... 76 Geographic Research in Water Resources: A Vibrant Research Agenda for the Next 20 Years William James Smith, Jr...... 83 Contents - Continued

UCOWR Board of Directors...... 89 UCOWR Member Institutions...... 90 Benefts of UCOWR Membership...... 91 Friends of UCOWR and Warren A. Hall Medal Honorees...... 92 Past Issues of JCWRE/Water Resources Update...... 93

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UNIVERSITIES COUNCIL ON WATER RESOURCES JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION ISSUE 142, PAGES 1-3, AUGUST 2009 Water Promises: Much Ado about Nothing - As Proftless as Water in a Sieve?1

Graham A. Tobin

Professor, Department of Geography, University of South Florida, Tampa

oday there is much ado about water – as “water wars” elicits 585,000 hits on Google and there always has been and always will be. 3,400 on Google Scholar. On Amazon.com there THowever, until we actually fnd ways to are over 850 book citations to “water wars.” Clearly, apply scientifcally-based, truly interdisciplinary there is no shortage of scientists and academics scholarship that embraces sound community dedicating serious study to water conficts. Other engagement, crucial knowledge about our most terms reveal similar levels of Google hits: water valuable resource may continue to be “lost” or crisis (973,000), water solutions (736,000), water at least ignored, much as water trickles through a sustainability (73,300), water quantity (477,000) sieve. We need a comprehensive, inclusive approach and water quality (15.4 million). A similar search to solve the challenges of the water environment. on Google Scholar reveals thousands of titles, Of course this is not a new argument. Thousands articles and reports outlining the problems facing of books, articles, papers and technical reports societies around the world. have been written describing water problems Most of this research aims to improve our from around the world, outlining fundamental understanding of the water ecosystem; when causes, and calling for changes in the way we viewed from a resource perspective, this is of approach problem solving. Yet still we encounter course very much a geographic issue, one that severe crises – shortages of water for drinking, presents both spatial and temporal challenges to agriculture and industry, catastrophic foods, society. The water resource manager must ensure contamination and pollution of water sources, and that the right amount of water, of a suitable quality, outbreaks of water-related health issues such as reaches the desired place at the appropriate time. cholera, schistosomiasis, and typhoid. The sieve So the manager’s challenge is to balance supply that has made such endeavors proftless, it seems, and demand in an ever-changing natural and social is a human one, a lack of will and commitment on environment, with a constantly-moving target. many different levels. For all intents and purposes, In this respect, the expertise of hydrologists, we understand many of the issues involved; we fuvial geomorphologists and geo-hydrologists, have “merely” failed to implement appropriate is fundamental to any scientifc modeling of the solutions. water world. At the same time, though, we must Even a cursory look at the literature on water recognize the overwhelming signifcance of the reveals a vast scholarship originating from diverse human environment and the powerful social, disciplines and applying multiple methodologies. economic, and political forces that create and The term “water wars” is used ubiquitously to ultimately determine the directions of the water describe the challenges facing many societies crisis. Obviously this is no easy task. We need around the globe, from the corporate moves scientifcally-based studies of both the natural and towards water privatization and the recent climate social environments to appreciate the complexity change issues in Bolivia, to the dam and reservoir of water problems and develop predictive and systems in India, to the controls over water supply explanatory models. Perhaps more importantly, encountered in the Middle East and China. Indeed, this must involve interdisciplinary initiatives

JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION UCOWR 2 Tobin that cross traditional academic boundaries to inevitably, an event exceeds the design standards provide innovative solutions. Social scientists are of the project. The 2005 destruction of so many an essential part of this. In sum, good science is buildings along the shoreline of the Gulf Coast required in its broadest sense combining traditional of the United States, from Hurricane Katrina, natural sciences with qualitative and ethnographic attests to this effect. Once again, in New Orleans assessments of processes that facilitate or hinder it was those most vulnerable members of society, water understanding. especially the poor, who suffered the greatest. The While acknowledging the many global water technological fx of mitigation projects, therefore, problems, however, we should not dwell only on can bring mixed blessings, and many scientists have doom and gloom. There have been and continue to called for a comprehensive planning approach, be many innovative ideas and practical initiatives which includes both structural and non-structural that have essentially “solved” certain water measures for all water projects, to overcome some problems and enhanced the human experience. of these diffculties. Since humans frst began cultivation, water has Thus “water wars” often stem from such projects been harnessed to make life possible; the irrigation with their subsequent environmental or societal projects of Mesopotamia, the grand aqueducts of problems. These “solutions” may intensify unrest ancient Rome, and the modern protective dykes and bring high costs to many individuals while of The Netherlands immediately come to mind. In benefting just a few. One consideration, therefore, fact, engineering structures such as dams to ensure is how to engender a more positive and inclusive water supply and levees to control fooding, water response to water challenges that is fair and just. As treatment plants and sewage control systems, noted, we have a considerable academic knowledge agricultural irrigation systems and more, have base; it is appropriate implementation and follow- all brought prosperity to people across time and through that is often missing. space. Perhaps the real question, then, is how to harness We also know that some projects have not only the political will to undertake action, exacerbated problems. The High Aswan Dam in but also the will of the people to get involved. Egypt, the Three Gorges dam in China, and the The cyber-technology discussed by Smith in the dams of India, for example, have raised all sorts concluding chapter, may hold one key. Traditional of questions about environmental degradation and media sources, such as newspapers and television, social inequalities. Many scholars have justifably through which many once obtained their views of argued that these constitute major environmental the world, have now been joined and challenged catastrophes and have aggravated societal by the “participatory media.” Blogs, “citizen inequalities. Privatization of water supplies, a journalism,” social networking sites, and the more recent global trend, has also led to social, capacity to transmit video and information almost economic, and political pressures that inevitably instantaneously over the Internet, have transformed fall heavily on the most vulnerable. It is worth the global information environment. One need noting that, while many nations claim the rights to only think of the vital role of digital technology the water within their domains, few include access in mobilizing the recent political protests in Iran. to clean, potable water among the basic rights Indeed, this new media environment has facilitated of citizens or have such access written into their activism world-wide, focused around fair trade, constitutions. climate change, and any number of both right- and Furthermore, completed water projects may left-wing political movements. This technology generate a false sense of security, creating the could also bring attention to local and global water perception that the drought, food, or other water issues, leading to mobilization and the invigoration crisis has been “solved.” The outcome may be of participatory citizenship. Citizen movements unwise behavior, such as increased development that insist on change go well beyond the academy in hazardous areas. In the case of fooding, levees – but it is the duty of academics to make their may lead to construction on the foodplain, extensive knowledge known, and therefore useful. which results in catastrophic losses when, almost In conclusion, there is indeed much ado about

UCOWR JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION Water Promises: Much Ado about Nothing - As Proftless as Water in a Sieve? 3 water, as there should be. And much is known Author Bio and Contact Information about all the critical issues around this vital resource. The challenge is to connect knowledge Graham A. Tobin Ph.D., University of Strathclyde, with action – action that is socially just, is a Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of South Florida specializing in natural environmentally sustainable, and yet cost-effective. hazards and water resources. He also serves as Associate Thus, I argue that water issues must be addressed Vice President for Academic Affairs in the Offce of comprehensively through sound interdisciplinary the Provost with responsibility for Strategic Planning, studies, while the key to effective application may Compact Planning, and Integrated Interdisciplinary be action-based research promoted through grass- Initiatives. He can be contacted at: Graham A. Tobin, roots involvement. We need, then, to generate Offce of the Provost, 4202 East Fowler Ave (ADM a genuine political will, as well as citizens’ 226), Tampa FL. 33620 or [email protected]. (http:// commitments to implement policies that support www.acad.usf.edu/Offce/Strategic-Planning/). healthy, sustainable communities – otherwise, the vast array of scientifc studies may just seep though the sieve of political wrangling. This volume addresses some of these issues, exploring how geographically-based water research will evolve over the next 20 years. It is not a defnitive text by any means, but the authors apply diverse theoretical and methodological approaches to a range of water concerns. Issues associated with the natural environment, specifcally hydro- climatology, are examined by Hirschboek; Mackay and Band look at eco-hydrological research, while James advocates for an integrated approach to water quality. Problems of water in agriculture are examined by Harrington, energy by Wang and natural hazards by Montz. Lant takes an ecological economic approach to water resources and Swyngedouw looks at the political economy. Decision-making and disciplinary issues are the focus of work by Rajagopal and Smith respectively, while Wescoat and Wolf both take international perspectives. Han provides an overview through technology, stressing the signifcance of geo- graphical information systems. Overall, this is an eclectic collection of papers on water by experts in their respective felds. As with all such exercises in prognosticating, it will be interesting to see how these forecasts turn out. End Note 1. With apologies to William Shakespeare: The full quote comes from Much Ado About Nothing, Act Five, Scene 1 with Leonato explaining to Antonio, “I pray thee cease thy counsel, which falls into mine ears as proftless as water in a sieve.”

JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION UCOWR 4

UNIVERSITIES COUNCIL ON WATER RESOURCES JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION ISSUE 142, PAGES 4-9, AUGUST 2009 Future Hydroclimatology and the Research Challenges of a Post-Stationary World

Katherine K. Hirschboeck

Associate Professor of Climatology, University of Arizona, Tucson

Stationarity is dead (Milly et al. 2008). this record – either in the past or in years to come. his provocative statement issued recently Those who study hydroclimatic processes as they in Science directly challenges the basic vary over long time periods are quick to point out Tassumption underlying the way surface that in the physical world, the means and variances water resources in much of the developed world of hydroclimatic variables do indeed change over have been managed for decades. Milly et al. time due to climate variability, geomorphic change, (2008) claim that anthropogenically-induced land use alterations, and a variety of other factors. climate change is the reason that stationarity has Hence for such researchers “stationarity has died and “cannot be revived.” Although they always been dead.” Yet the stationarity assumption acknowledge that the validity of the assumption has prevailed in water resources research, practical has been questioned regularly in the past, Milly applications, and engineering design because of et al. highlight a pressing need to address this its operational utility and the lack of alternative issue due to a convergence of observations and methods to address the mathematical complexity research fndings that demonstrates the urgency of modeling nonstationary processes. If, as Milly of the infuence of climate change and variability et al. propose, we have come to the end of an era of on surface water processes. Specifcally, they note natural hydroclimatic change and variability that that projected changes in future runoff “are large is “suffciently small to allow stationarity-based enough to push hydroclimate beyond the range of design,” a critical research need in upcoming historical behaviors” (p 573). With this imperative decades will be to fnd innovative ways to grapple in mind, in this essay, after frst addressing the call with analyzing, managing, and adapting to the to move beyond the stationarity assumption, I water resources of a post-stationary world. present a series of questions and suggestions on how hydroclimatic research might be integrated into a Post-Stationary Hydroclimatology future water resources agenda for geographers that and Geographic Research addresses a “post-stationary” world, especially The subfeld of hydroclimatology has long with respect to hydrologic extremes. been an active area of research for water resource Beyond Stationarity geographers (see Mather 1991, Shelton 2009). Studies of surface water processes from a climatic, When a hydroclimatic time series is said to be geomorphic, biogeographic, and cryosphere-based stationary, its statistical properties (e.g., mean, approach have engaged physical geographers for variance, skewness, etc.) are all assumed to be decades, as have studies of water resources from the constant over time. In practice this means that the perspective of policy, risk, and culture. A perusal probabilities derived from, say, a time series of of recent professional meeting presentations and annual stream fows or instantaneous food peaks published work by geographers reveals ongoing from a gauged record will be reliable estimators efforts that cover a wide array of hydroclimatic of the variability of those processes outside of and water-related research topics including:

UCOWR JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION Future Hydroclimatology and the Research Challenges of a Post-Stationary World 5 local and global water balance components; Hydroclimatic Change soil moisture variations; streamfow variability; • Which geographic regions are most snowpack and snow cover extent; changes in vulnerable to changes in the extent and timing of spring snowmelt; synoptic circulation timing of seasonal hydroclimatic events patterns for moisture delivery; land-atmosphere (extreme summer heat, winter snowfall, feedbacks; paleoclimatology and paleohydrology; spring snowmelt, etc.) and what impacts causes and variability of extreme precipitation; will such changes have on local and foods, droughts and other water-related hazards; regional water issues? water policy issues; and the impact of water supply • How can modeled projections of future variations on past and present societies. Unifying precipitation and other changing moisture- many of these efforts is the emerging issue of water- related components of the global energy related vulnerability and adaptation to a changing balance (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate climate that links the biogeophysical and social Change 2007) be applied effectively to science traditions within water resource geography regional and watershed-scale areas in new and profound ways. to address biogeophysical and socio- How might these avenues of current hydro- economic water issues of the future? climatic research be re-envisioned to meet the complex needs of a “post-stationary” world? • What are the most effective communication Following are three of the most critical areas mechanisms and scales for translating in need of fresh insights and expertise from the science about hydroclimatic change hydroclimatologists as we face a future when into formats that will foster effective hydrologic processes are expected to extend well adaptive management to expected changes beyond the range of historical behaviors: via stakeholder interactions, policies, decision-making, and action across diverse 1. Hydroclimatic change, including rising societal settings, cultures, and geographic temperatures and shifts in the seasonal regions? timing of snowmelt as they affect local and regional water balances and water Hydrologic Extremes supplies; • How will the projected “intensifed” 2. Hydrologic extremes, including droughts global hydrologic cycle (Trenberth et al. and foods, which have been projected to 2003) manifest itself regionally, and how increase in magnitude and/or frequency will we know that observed hydroclimatic in response to an intensifcation of the extremes in specifc geographic areas have hydrologic cycle under global climate been affected, if and when they are? change; and • Will the droughts and foods of the future 3. Cross-disciplinary and integrated assess- be distinctly different in magnitude and ments of how hydroclimatic changes frequency from those of the present (or have – and will – affect relationships past) under this intensifed regime? between geophysical, socio-economic and • If projected hydroclimatic intensifcation ecological systems across multiple spatial changes the nature of extremes in given and temporal scales. regions, how can probability estimates A list of key questions for advancing a vibrant of extreme events be developed when hydroclimatology research agenda in each of these assumptions of stationarity or linearity three areas follows. A unifying theme emerges may no longer apply? from the perspective of the essential geographic • In what ways can extended paleo-records themes of region and scale, and how sensitivity to of reconstructed droughts, foods, and them is essential to meet the research challenges of stream fow be used to provide evidence a post-stationary world. of extremes that have occurred prior to the gauged record in specifc watersheds,

JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION UCOWR 6 Hirschboeck

thereby offering an expanded range of • At the watershed scale, how can new, possible scenarios for future projections? bi-directional, translational science How can the issue of nonstationarity be approaches be used to move hydroclimatic addressed when paleo-data are appended research “from the laboratory into the feld” to gauged data to produce long time-series? to address stakeholder and watershed- How can extreme-value statistics derived based needs, concomitant with moving the from these long time-series be augmented feld experience of water managers “from with climate information and used in the watershed to the laboratory.” innovative ways to reduce uncertainties in • At the regional scale, what methods, data the future? sets, and cross-disciplinary approaches will • Which global geographic regions are most effectively communicate complex currently most vulnerable to foods and climate-sensitive issues of concern to water droughts and will this vulnerability resource decision-makers, emergency increase or decrease as climate changes? managers, and policy planners (e.g., Which additional regions might begin to Jacobs et al. 2005)? What will comprise experience extreme events more often in functional data sets in various global response to latitudinally shifting extra- scenarios, and how can they be shared? tropical or tropical storm tracks? Which • How can an integrated geographic regions are most at risk or least resilient understanding of the biogeophysical and to fooding and inundation from rising socio-economic attributes of watersheds sea level, including small islands where and larger areas be applied toward the local changes may be harbingers of building of multiple scenarios for assessing more widespread, global impacts? Will the impacts of future climate and adapting local communities need to rezone their to it? foodplains to become more resilient to • Across all scales, what are the complex an uncertain hydroclimate and, if so, what and interacting water-related mechanisms might the foodplain maps of the future and processes that result in the emergence, look like? sustainability, or collapse of socio- Integrated Assessments ecological systems (Costanza et al. 2007)? How can this be integrated into our • Milly et al. note that “In a nonstationary models, while recalling that culture itself world, continuity of observation is has always been dynamic and implicitly critical” (p 574). How will lengthy and nonstationary? continuous observing networks be maintained, especially when resources to Research Needs for the Future do so are limited in many of the world’s most climatically sensitive regions? To address these questions, realigned priorities, As advances in remote sensing allow new approaches, and improved tools and data sets increasingly sophisticated observations will become increasingly important (e.g., Gupta over broad areas of the globe at multiple 2000, Logan and Helsabeck 2009) and innovative scales (National Research Council 2008), statistical techniques for modeling nonstationary how can persons and networks on the behaviors in hydroclimatic processes will be ground be integrated into data collection required (Griffs and Stedinger 2007, Milly et to address validation? In particular, al. 2008). Downscaling methods will need to how might the engagement of “citizen be advanced and the limitations, accuracy, and scientists” aid in observing and monitoring precision of their results clearly communicated, the effects of hydroclimate change? (See, especially at the watershed scale (Pulwarty 2003). for example the USA National Phenology “Scaling up” from local data and the identifcation Network http://www.usanpn.org/). of process-based linkages between local stream fow

UCOWR JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION Future Hydroclimatology and the Research Challenges of a Post-Stationary World 7 and regional and global circulation, will become as and demand, dynamic human geographic data important as scaling down “from globally forced and scenario-driven atmospheric circulations of regional models” (Pulwarty 2003, Hirschboeck changing climate will provide another important 2003). Innovations will be needed in the quest avenue of research. to defne teleconnections and linkages between Effective cross-disciplinary communication regional variations in stream fow, snow pack, or about water issues that can capture all of the drought and indices of large-scale atmospheric contingencies described above will require a and oceanic circulation patterns (see McCabe and new generation of visualizations for integrated Dettinger 2002, McCabe et al. 2004, Kingston et assessments, planning, adaptation, and creative al. 2006, Redmond and Koch 1991). This latter outreach across diverse societies and cultures. effort is critical for addressing nonstationarity by New maps and other visualizations that can handle obtaining a better understanding of low-frequency multiple dimensions of complexity – including variations in hydroclimatic time series. Another nonstationarity and nonlinearity – will also be more elusive goal, and one of great importance, needed to generate and articulate theories about the is that of reliable long-term climate forecasts. interacting water-related mechanisms and processes These would be issued for use in water resource that result in the emergence, sustainability, or management by a future National Climate Service collapse of geophysical, ecological, and socio- (see Miles et al. 2006). For any of the approaches economic systems, both regionally and globally. noted above, developing problem-specifc and Water resources geography’s traditional regionally tailored atmospheric circulation indices strengths in hydroclimatology and surface water may prove especially useful. processes at the watershed and regional scale have A new awareness among water managers about already laid an excellent foundation for a vibrant the impact of climatic change on water supplies research agenda for the next 20 years, but the post- has highlighted a need for expanded data sets stationary future of hydroclimatology will require that capture a much wider range of hydroclimatic real innovation in research approaches. It will be and streamfow variability – and their driving especially important for geographers to continue to mechanisms – than is available in systematically carve out unique niches and areas of expertise within gauged records. Such long-period records will be the vast climate-change research arena. Climate- essential for demand-side analyses, as well as for based initiatives that address water resources in the future scenario modeling. Researchers are already context of meteorological and climatic hazards and active in developing these data sets for use in water human-environment interactions such as Weather management operations and decision-making via and Society – Integrated Studies (WAS*IS), http:// stochastic model runs, compilation of historical www.sip.ucar.edu/wasis/, and the National Oceanic meteorological and climatic records (e.g., Mock and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) 2003), reconstructing long records of precipitation, Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessment drought and stream fow using tree rings (e.g., program (RISA), http://www.climate.noaa.gov/ MacDonald 2007, Woodhouse and Lukas 2006, cpo_pa/risa/, are excellent forums in which to Woodhouse et al. 2006), and defning paleo-stage foster stakeholder interactions and opportunities indicators of past extreme foods (see House et for translational science (e.g., Bales et al. 2004). al. 2002). Paleo-data studies can also address the At the same time, there are many “basic science” role of extreme events in shaping past human- and theoretical research questions in need of environmental interactions (e.g., Magilligan and fresh and creative re-thinking, ranging from how Goldstein 2001, Therrell et al. 2004). to assign probabilities to a nonstationary stream As more managers recognize the need for a fow time series, to how to model nonlinearities systematic integration of long-term data into their in hydroclimatic processes, to how to accomplish water management operations for informing water long-range water resource planning when faced allocation, the next 20 years should be a fruitful with the specter of abrupt hydroclimatic change feld for both modelers and paleo-researchers. In – or even “climate surprises” (Overpeck 1996). addition, models that integrate surface hydrology It is particularly important to note that the

JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION UCOWR 8 Hirschboeck assumption of future nonstationarity precludes Author Bio and Contact Information an expectation that a single research approach or solution to changing conditions will be all Katherine K. Hirschboeck is an Associate Professor that is required. Effective management of water of Climatology at the University of Arizona in resources in a post-stationary world must be able to the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research. She also constantly adapt and adjust. Enhanced monitoring chairs the University of Arizona’s Global Change of hydroclimatic changes will need to be paired Graduate Interdisciplinary Program. Her research and with iterative interactions with stakeholders as teaching address climatology, dendroclimatology, old analogs fail and new surprises emerge. This hydroclimatology, and the climatology of extreme will require a research agenda that has the ability events in the past and present – especially the analysis of to be timely, fexible, and nimble enough to food-producing atmospheric processes and tree-growth respond quickly to continually evolving and newly responses to anomalous atmospheric circulation patterns. emerging needs. Dr. Hirschboeck also holds joint faculty appointments in the departments of Hydrology & Water Resources, Closing Remarks Geography & Regional Development, and Atmospheric Sciences. She can be reached at: The Laboratory of In a changing world that is expected to face Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona, Tucson AZ a range of future hydroclimatic processes for 85721, email: [email protected]. which our current approaches are ill-equipped, we need to take advantage of all types and manner References of hydroclimatic data, invent novel and creative ways to analyze it, and develop powerful and Bales, R. C., D. M. Liverman and B. J. Morehouse. practical ways of communicating and visualizing 2004. Integrated assessment as a step toward reducing the results. For this, temporal depth is the climate vulnerability in the Southwestern United necessary companion to spatial detail in any States. Bulletin of the American Meteorological geographic analysis. Integrated assessments that Society, 85: 1727-1734. link geophysical, biological, and social sciences Costanza, R., L. Graumlich, W. Steffen, C. Crumley, J. across multiple temporal and spatial scales Dearing, K. Hibbard, R. Leemans, C. Redman, and are a necessity for navigating the increasingly D. Schimel. 2007. Sustainability or collapse: What complex and interrelated local, regional, and can we learn from integrating the history of humans global environments of a post-stationary world. and the rest of nature? Ambio 36:522-527. As suggested by Costanza et al. (2007, p 526), Griffs, V. W. and J. R. Stedinger. 2007. Incorporating “The insight, data and models generated from the climate change and variability into Bulletin 17B close collaboration of environmental historians, LP3 Model. ASCE Conference Proceedings of archeologists, ecologists, modelers and many others the World Environmental and Water Resources [i.e., geographers] will allow the construction and Congress 2007: Restoring Our Natural Habitat, testing of new ideas about humans’ relationship May 15-19, 2007, Tampa, Florida, USA, pp. 1-8, with the rest of nature.” (doi 10.1061/40927(243)69). Acknowledgments Gupta, V. K. 2000. WEB Report: A Framework for Reassessment of Basic Research and Educational Inspiration and support for this essay was Priorities in Hydrologic Sciences. Report of a provided by the Climate Assessment for the Hydrology Workshop, Albuquerque, New Mexico, Southwest (CLIMAS) (NOAA Cooperative Jan. 31- Feb.1, 1999, to the NSF-GEO Directorate. http://cires.colorado.edu/science/groups/gupta/ Agreement no. NA07OAR4310382). Special projects/web/report/index.html. thanks go to Dr. Mike Crimmins of the University of Arizona who provided valuable insights about Hirschboeck, K. K. 2003. Respecting the drainage adaptive management needs. divide: A perspective on hydrological change and scale. Journal of Contemporary Water Research and Education, formerly Water Resources Update 126:54-59.

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House, P. K., R. H. Webb, V. R. Baker and D. Levish Hirsch, Z. W. Kundzewicz, D. P. Lettenmaier and R. (eds.). 2002. Ancient Floods, Modern Hazards: J.Stouffer. 2008. Stationarity is dead: Whither water Principles and Applications of Paleofood Hydrology. management? Science 319:573-574. American Geophysical Union Water Science and Application 5. 385 pp. Mock, C. 2003. Tropical Cyclone Reconstructions from Documentary Records: Examples for South Carolina, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) United States. Pages 121-148 in R.J. Murnane and Fourth Assessment Report (AR4). 2007. Climate Kam-biu Liu (eds.) Hurricanes and Typhoons Past, Change 2007: The Physical Basis. http://ipcc-wg1. Present, and Future. Columbia University Press: ucar.edu/wg1/wg1-report.html. New York. Jacobs, K. L., G. M. Garfn and B. J. Morehouse. National Research Council. 2008. Integrating Multiscale 2005. Climate Science and Drought Planning: The Observations of U.S. Waters. National Academies Arizona Experience, Journal of the American Water Press: Washington D.C. Resources Association 41: 437-445. Overpeck, J. T. 1996. Warm Climate Surprises. Science Kingston, D. G., D. M. Lawler and G. R. McGregor. 271: 1820-1821. 2006. Linkages between atmospheric circulation, climate and streamfow in the northern North Pulwarty, R. S., Jr. 2003. Climate and water in the west: Atlantic: research prospects. Progress in Physical science information and decision-making. Journal Geography 30: 143-174. of Contemporary Water Research and Education, formerly Water Resources Update 124: 4-12. Logan, W. S. and L. J. Helsabeck. 2009. Research and Applications Needs in Flood Hydrology Science, Redmond, K. T. and R. W. Koch. 1991. Surface climate National Academies Press: Washington D.C. and streamfow variability in the western United States and their relationship to large-scale circulation MacDonald, G. M. 2007. Severe and sustained drought in indices. Water Resources Research 27: 2381-2399. southern California and the West: Present conditions and insights from the past on causes and impacts. Shelton, M. I. 2009. Hydroclimatology, Perspectives Quaternary International 173-174: 87-100. and Applications. Cambridge University Press: New York. Magilligan, F. J. and P. S. Goldstein. 2001. El Niño foods and culture change: A late Holocene food history for Therrell, M. D., D. W. Stahle, R. Acuna Soto. 2004. the Rio Moquegua, southern Peru. Geology 29: 431- Aztec drought and the curse of One Rabbit. Bulletin 434. of the American Meteorological Society 85: 1263- 1272. Mather, J. R. 1991. A history of hydroclimatology. Physical Geography 12: 260-273. Trenberth, K. E., A. Dai, R. M. Rasmussen, and D. B. Parsons. 2003. The changing character of precipitation. McCabe G. J., M. D. Dettinger. 2002. Primary modes and Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 84: predictability of year-to-year snowpack variations in 1205-1217. the western United States from teleconnections with Pacifc Ocean climate. Journal of Hydrometeorology Woodhouse, C. A. and J. J. Lukas. 2006. Multi-century 3:13–25. tree-ring reconstructions of Colorado streamfow for water resource planning. Climatic Change 78: 293- McCabe G. J., M. A. Palecki, J. L. Betancourt. 2004. 315. Pacifc and Atlantic Ocean infuences on multidecadal drought frequency in the United States. Proceedings Woodhouse, C. A., S. T. Gray, and D. M. Meko. 2006. of the National Academy of Sciences 101: 4136– Updated streamfow reconstructions for the Upper 4141. Colorado River basin. Water Resources Research 42, W05415. doi:10.1029/2005WR004455. Miles, E. L., A. K. Snover, L. C. Whitely Binder, E. S. Sarachik, P. W. Mote, and N. Mantua. 2006. An approach to designing a national climate service. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 103: 19616-19623. Milly, P. C. D. and J. Betancourt, M. Falkenmark, R. M.

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UNIVERSITIES COUNCIL ON WATER RESOURCES JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION ISSUE 142, PAGES 10-15, AUGUST 2009 Integrating Water-Quality into a Water Resources Research Agenda

L. Allan James

Professor, Department of Geography, University of South Carolina, Columbia

20-year agenda for water resources research water resources research focused too narrowly will need to dedicate substantial attention to on water quantity, took a short-term view, failed Awater quality and assimilate water quality to afford adequate consideration of water quality, into traditional concerns about water availability and tended to treat water quality in isolation. The and allocation. Water quality is inseparably study called for a holistic view of water resources linked to the utility of available water and to the research with more consideration of environmental viability of social and environmental systems. contaminants and their effects on water quality. Unfortunately, water quality has received relatively They recommended a broader framework for water little consideration in water resources research resources research that incorporates water quality relative to water quantity and has been treated in data acquisition, recognizes legacy pollution, and isolation of other aspects of water resources. At acknowledges the vulnerability and resilience the global scale, a water resources research agenda of environmental systems to non-point source should address the threats that poor water quality pollution loadings. makes to global water resources and ecological …the legacy of pollution that has already occurred sustainability and, conversely, the adverse effects must be addressed, in addition to the new sources that poor environmental management can have on of pollution that are currently going unabated. water quality. At the local scale, water resources In particular, greater research is required on research should adopt methods of integrated nonpoint source pollution, which accounts for watershed management to ensure that water nearly three quarters of the contaminant loading quality is included in management and planning. to surface water and groundwater in the United States… More knowledge is needed about the At all scales, water resources research must be susceptibility and resilience of terrestrial and cognizant of the threat that poor water quality aquatic environments to contaminant loadings, imposes on human health and the quality of life. as the long-term impacts of contaminant Fundamental changes have taken place in resource accumulation may eventually undermine overall and environmental management with regards to ecological function. The successful management global environmental change and sustainability, of water quality in the twenty-frst century will integration of systems and management activities require a more comprehensive understanding of at the small watershed scale, and the potential for the ways in which the environment processes ecological damage and threats to public health contaminants, how those processes vary, and from modern and legacy sources of contamination. their robustness as contaminant loads grow… (National Research Council 2001:14-15). These changes require that water quality be a central concern incorporated and fully integrated into a vibrant 20-year water resources research The Context of Global Environmental agenda. Change and Sustainability A recent study of water resources research needed in the U.S. for the coming century (National A 20-year vibrant agenda for water resources Research Council 2001), concluded that 20th century research should be compatible with rapidly evolving

UCOWR JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION Integrating Water-Quality into a Water Resources Research Agenda 11 needs to address global environmental change. be essential to and should adopt a long-term, Long-range water quality planning should refect sustainable vision of resources management. global change initiatives owing to the close ties between water quality and environmental quality The Context of Integrated Watershed and ecosystem viability. Rapid population growth Management for Local Water Quality and the need to increase irrigation to produce Management ample food to support this growth, will drive the need to protect water quality. Projections of global The old adage “think globally but act locally” agricultural impacts estimate that ~109 hectares of applies to water resources research. At the local natural ecosystems will be converted to agriculture scale, water quality is controlled by watershed by 2050 more than doubling eutrophication conditions, so watershed management can be the of terrestrial, freshwater, and coastal marine frst line of defense. A water resources research ecosystems by nitrogen and phosphorus and similar agenda for the next 20 years should encourage increases in pesticide use (Tilman et al. 2001). integrated watershed perspectives that consider Water quality can threaten water supplies systems as integrated and highly inter-dependent and vice versa. Serious water quality disasters (National Research Council 1999b, U.S. resulting from poor water management include Environmental Protection Agency 1993, 1996). the shrinking of the Aral Sea (Micklin 1988), and Similarly, integrated approaches to water resources mingling of sewage with water supplies beneath management that promote consideration of water Mexico City (Cisneros-Iturbe and Domínguez- systems as highly inter-related are recommended Mora 2005, Edmunds et al. 2002, Gonzalez-Moran (United Nations 1992: Section 18.36). No et al. 1999). The water resources research agenda consensus exists about precise defnitions of should recognize the dangers to water availability integrated watershed management or integrated imposed by poor water quality and the importance water resources management, but certain goals of water quantity management to water quality. are implied including interagency coordination, Sustainability is an essential goal for viable public involvement, consideration of interactions long-term water-resources planning in general between physical, biological, and social systems, and is specifcally applicable to developing a and spatially distributed methods of characterizing water quality management agenda for the next 20 these processes. Watershed management does not years. Sustainability refers to rates and methods necessarily require a centralized watershed program of resource use that can be maintained for long emphasizing science, planning, a formal public periods without substantial depletion or damage participatory process, and detailed management to resources or social and environmental systems. plans. It has been argued that all watersheds are Sustainable development concepts began to be managed to some degree by a range of governmental applied globally early in the 1980s as a means and non-governmental agents and that watershed of protecting life-support systems of the Earth management programs should seek to coordinate while ensuring human needs (National Research these efforts; that is, watershed management can be Council 1999a). They were initiated from a social seen as a form of intergovernmental management and political perspective, gained scientifc and (Imperial and Hennessey 2000). Watershed technological backing as sustainability science management approaches are essential to water (Clark and Dickson 2003, Kates et al. 2001), quality management because watershed processes and have now achieved widespread acceptance. – including human and biological interactions Sustainable development was formally recognized – are translated to the quality of water passing as a guiding principle for international policy through the watershed by surface and subsurface formulation at the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit pathways. The success of watershed approaches, Conference in 1992. The Rio Declaration includes however, should not be measured solely by overall 27 principles in support of global sustainability environmental outcomes owing to other factors principles (Quarrie 1995). Water-quality elements controlling environmental change (Born and of the water resources research agenda will Genskow 2000).

JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION UCOWR 12 James

Linkages between watershed management 1993). The Safe Drinking Water Act established and water quality underlie the rationale for much maximum contaminant loads and other standards for spatially distributed water quality modeling that drinking water supplies, and the 1986 amendments simulates pollution-reduction, crop management, (PL 99-339) added three ground water protection or ecological enhancement to reduce damages programs. As pressure mounts on ground water associated with sedimentation and contaminant supplies, the 20-year water resources research releases (Zhang et al. 2009). Moreover, watershed- agenda should include vigilant maintenance of the based management has been institutionalized by U. S. viability and enforceability of such laws and support regulatory procedures. The U. S. Environmental the introduction of additional legislation to keep Protection Agency (EPA) spent approximately apace of new pollutants and pollutant pathways. $204 million in fscal year 2006 alone on Section Ground water protections plans should be an 319, Clean Water Act, grants to reduce nonpoint- essential element of watershed management. source pollution, and much of this effort focused on watershed-based plans (Hardy and Koontz 2008). Contaminants in Sediments, Soils, An example of watershed management aimed and Aquifers primarily at domestic water quality protection is provided by the Croton watershed, which serves Water quality is driven by exchanges between water supplies for New York City (National water and its surrounding media. Thus, more needs Research Council 2000). to be known about the potential toxicity of biologic Legal justifcations for incorporating water and geologic materials in the beds and banks of quality protection in a U.S. agenda arise from lakes and rivers and in ground water aquifers. Vast federal legislation. Water quality is directly linked repositories of legacy sediment contain high levels to congressional acts such as the Clean Water Act of hazardous or toxic materials that may be subject and Safe Drinking Water Act as well as to broader to remobilization. In the U.S., contamination from environmental legislation such as the National legacy materials is an important concern; the Environmental Policy Act and Endangered Species need to remediate hazardous waste sites led to the Act. The Clean Water Act requires protection of creation of EPA Superfund program (Daley and the chemical, physical, and biological integrity Layton 2004). Unfortunately, the geochemistry of the nation’s waters by the EPA. Among other of sediment varies greatly at the local scale with provisions, the Clean Water Act requires states geology, biology, climate, topography, land-use to identify problem watersheds and to estimate history, and point-source discharges, so extensive the maximum sum of point and nonpoint-source sampling, laboratory analyses, and data cataloguing loadings that these sites can assimilate as total are needed to locate and characterize areas of maximum daily loads (TMDLs). Technical manuals concern. The EPA established Sediment Quality to assist with TMDL procedures for nutrients, Guidelines to measure the extent of contamination sediment, and pathogens review monitoring and and to limit additional contamination (McCauley et assessment procedures (USEPA 1999a, 1999b, al. 2000). The Guidelines provide a comprehensive 2001). The TMDL program has greatly encouraged catalogue and analysis of sediment geochemistry watershed planning for protecting water quality in and related biological data in the U.S. (EPA 1998 the U.S. a, b, c). They describe where contaminants reach Management of ground water quality in the U.S. potentially harmful levels in river, lake, ocean, and differs from surface water because planning units estuary sediments and the potential for adverse are not defned by watersheds. Sources of ground effects on human and aquatic life. Volume 1 (EPA water pollution include landflls, buried tanks, salt 1998a) describes the likelihood of adverse effects water intrusion, and pesticide applications. In of contaminated sediment on human or ecological addition to dissolved solids and pathogens, dense systems, Volume 2 (EPA 1998b) provides maps and light non-aqueous phase liquids (DNAPLs of sampling stations and chemical and biological and LNAPLs) and pharmaceuticals have been of data summaries for watersheds containing Areas growing concern to ground water quality (Fetter of Probable Concern, and Volume 3 (EPA 1998c)

UCOWR JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION Integrating Water-Quality into a Water Resources Research Agenda 13 identifes likely point-source sediment pollutant consideration of water quality over broad scales of contributions. The agenda should advocate the time and space and the interactions with ground maintenance and extension of this database and its water aquifers, legacy river and lake sediment, and integration with policy. biologic systems. The water quality aspects of the At all scales, a standardized assessment and agenda must be sustainable and should include synthesis of sediment quality data is needed to consideration of maintaining and developing a identify problem areas and allow study of process viable legal system of regulations and incentive linkages such as aquatic responses and resilience. programs. This assessment should employ standardized methods to provide comparable data between Author Bio and Contact Information studies. It should also include methods that will L. Allan James, professor of Geography, joined the refect the reactivity of substances in sediment University of South Carolina Geography Department in with water and aquatic biota. Total digest methods 1988. He earned a Ph.D. in Geography and Geology can be useful to water quality studies, but future (held jointly, 1988), and masters degrees in Geography research on contaminant uptake will need to shift (1983) and Water-Resources Management (1981) from emphasis from total elemental concentrations the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a BA in to the solubility and bioavailability of toxic Geography at U.C. Berkeley (1978). His research focuses substances. The bulk composition of sediments, on fuvial geomorphology, historical sedimentation, soils, and aquifer materials is usually dominated by food hydrology, and water resources management. He elements locked up inside mineral grains and not has published more than 30 refereed journals articles readily available for uptake. From a water quality and three books and serves on editorial boards of Geomorphology, the Southeastern Geographer, and perspective, the toxicity of thin outer coatings on Royale Geographic Society, Advancing Geography mineral grains that are actively exchanged with and Geographical Learning book series. He can be surrounding fuids and micro-organisms may have contacted at Geography Department, USC, Columbia, greater relevance than total sediment chemistry. SC 29208; E-mail: [email protected]; Web: http://people. Concentrations in coatings can be measured by cas.sc.edu/ajames/. weak acid extractions (Loring and Rantala 1992). The position of sediment also plays an important References role in the transfer of contaminants to water Born, S. M. and K. D. Genskow. 2000. The watershed supplies and aquatic organisms. For instance, approach: An empirical assessment of innovation toxicity in the hyporheic zone of rivers and lakes in environmental management. Research Paper and near well-heads of domestic water supplies is No. 7. Nat. Academy Public Admin., Wash., D.C. of greater concern than in sediments at a greater Available at: http://www.napawash.org/pc_economy_ distance from ecologic activity or points of water environment/epafle0701.pdf. extraction. The agenda should seek and adopt Cisneros-Iturbe, H. L. and R. Domínguez-Mora. 2005. standardized sediment-sampling protocols that Strategy to allow the inspection of the deep drainage consider these methods and site locations. system of Mexico City. In, pp. 212-220, Savic, D.A., J.C. Bertoni, M.A. MariZo, and H.H.G. Savenije Conclusion (Eds.), Sustainable Water Management Solutions for Large Cities. IAHS Pub. 293; 301 pp. Water quality is inextricably tied to the viability of water resources availability and resilience. Clark, W. C. and N. M. Dickson. 2003. Sustainability Incorporating water quality into a holistic science: The emerging research program. Proc. management scheme is essential for sustainable National Academy of Sciences 100(14): 8059-8061. water resources management, so a vibrant water Daley, D. M. and D. F. Layton. 2004. Policy resources research agenda must account for implementation and the Environmental Protection interdependencies between the quality and quantity Agency: What factors infuence remediation at of water. This greatly increases the complexity Superfund Sites? The Policy Studies Journal 32(3): of water-resources planning because it requires 375-392.

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Edmunds, W. M., J. J. Carrillo-Rivera, and A. Cardona. Management for Potable Water Supply: Assessing 2002. Geochemical evolution of groundwater beneath the New York City Strategy. National Academy Press: Mexico City. Journal of Hydrology 258: 1-24. Washington, DC. Fetter, C. W. 1993. Contaminant Hydrogeology. National Research Council. 2001. Envisioning the Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River, NJ; 458 pp. Agenda for Water Resources Research in the Twenty- First Century. National Academy Press: Washington, González-Morán, T., R. Rodríguez, and S. A. Cortes. DC. 66 pp. 1999. The Basin of Mexico and its metropolitan area: Water abstraction and related environmental Quarrie J. (ed.). 1995. United Nations Conference on problems. Journal of South American Earth Sciences Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro Earth 12: 607-613. Summit 92. Regency Press: London. 240 pp. Hardy, S. and T. Koontz. 2008. Reducing nonpoint Tilman, D., J. Fargione, B. Wolff, C. D’Antonio, A. source pollution through collaboration: Policies and Dobson, R. Howarth, D. Schindler, W. H. Schlesinger, programs across the U. S. states. Environmental D. Simberloff, D. Swackhamer. 2001. Forecasting Management 41(3): 301-310. DOI 10.1007/s00267- agriculturally driven global environmental change. 007-9038-6. Science 292: 281-284. Imperial, M. T. and T. Hennessey. 2000. Environmental United Nations. 1992. Protection of the Quality and governance in watersheds: The importance of Supply of Freshwater Resources: Application collaboration to institutional performance. Nat. of Integrated Approaches to the Development, Academy of Public Admin., Research Paper No. 8. Management and Use of Water Resources. Chapter Wash., D.C. http://www.napawash.org/pc_economy_ 18. Section 2: Conservation and Management of environment/epafle08.pdf. Resources for Development. The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development. Agenda 21, Kates, R. W., W. C. Clark, R. Corell, J. M. Hall, C. C. U. N. Programme of Action. Rio de Janeiro Earth Jaeger, I. Lowe, J. J. McCarthy, H. J. Schellnhuber, Summit. Pub. E.93.I.11. B. Bolin, N. M. Dickson, S. Faucheux, G. C. Gallopin, A. Grübler, B. Huntley, J. Jäger, N. S. U. S. Environmental Protection Agency. 1993. The Jodha, R. E. Kasperson, A. Mabogunje, P. Matson, Watershed Protection Approach. Annual Report, H. Mooney, B. Moore III, T. O’Riordan, U. Svedin. 1992. Offce of Water. EPA 840-S-93-001. Wash., 2001. Environment and development: Sustainability D.C.: U.S. Govt. Printing Offce. 64 pp. science. Science 292: 641-642. U. S. Environmental Protection Agency. 1996. Watershed Loring, D. H., Rantala, R. T. T. 1992. Manual for approach framework. EPA 840-S-96-001. geochemical analyses of marine sediments and suspended particulate matter. Earth-Science Reviews U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 1998a. National 32: 235–283. sediment quality survey (EPA 823-R-97-006); V.1, Wash., D.C.: U.S. EPA. McCauley, D. J., G. M. DeGraeve, and T. K. Linton, 2000. Sediment quality guidelines and assessment: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 1998b. Data Overview and research needs. Environmental summaries for watersheds containing areas of Science and Policy 3: S133-S144. probable concern (APCs) (EPA 823- R-97-007); V.2. Wash., D.C.: U.S. EPA. Micklin, P. P. 1988. Dessication of the Aral Sea: A water management disaster in the Soviet Union. Science U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 1998c. National 241: 1170-76. Sediment Contaminant Point Source Inventory (EPA 823-R-97-008); V.3. Wash., D.C.: U.S. EPA, 1998. National Research Council. 1999a. Our Common Journey: A Transition Toward Sustainability. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 1999a. Protocol National Academy Press: Washington, DC; 363 pp. for Developing Sediment TMDLs; Wash., D.C.: U.S. EPA 841-B-99-004. National Research Council. 1999b. New Strategies for America’s Watersheds. National Academy Press: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 1999b. Protocol Washington, DC. 311 pp. for Developing Nutrient TMDLs; Wash., D.C.: U.S. EPA 841-B-99-007. National Research Council. 2000. Watershed

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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 2001. Protocol for Developing Pathogen TMDLs; Wash., D.C.: U.S. EPA 841-R-00-002. Zhang, Q. F., Xu, Z. F., Shen, Z. H., Li, S. Y., and Wang, S. S. 2009. The Han River watershed management initiative for the South-to-North Water Transfer project (Middle Route) of China. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 148(1-4): 369-377.

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UNIVERSITIES COUNCIL ON WATER RESOURCES JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION ISSUE 142, PAGES 16-24, AUGUST 2009 Integrated Ecohydrologic Research and Hydro-Informatics

D. Scott Mackay1 and Lawrence E. Band2

1State University of New York at Buffalo; 2University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill

he purpose of this paper is to offer our view models to deal with such spatial dynamics, of where ecohydrologic research will be acquiring and managing the data needed to support Tgoing in the next 20 years and suggest how these models, improving geo-visualization of enabling technologies from hydro-informatics will spatial predictions and errors, and quantifying support this research. Two decades ago Klemeš uncertainty associated with model structure and (1986) suggested that the hydrologist’s “efforts parameterization. Another interdisciplinary sub- expended on the ftting of food and drought feld of hydrology, hydroinformatics, emphasizes frequency curves would be better spent in acquiring the development of information technology to help deeper knowledge of climatology, meteorology, meet these challenges. geology, and ecology.” Klemeš was of course Newman et al. (2006) identifed a number of calling for interdisciplinary hydrology. Recently, a research challenges for ecohydrologic research in number of community reports have proposed a more semi-arid regions, including dealing with spatial interdisciplinary approach to hydrology, including and temporal heterogeneity, scaling up to regional the development of community infrastructure and global extent, improving understanding of such as large scale hydrologic observatories with subsurface processes, and addressing long-term integrated, multi-scale monitoring and advanced processes. They argue for a greater emphasis on informatics tools to enable this research (Band et place-based research where long-term data sets al. 2002, Gupta et al. 1999, Hornberger et al. 2000, are being compiled. Efforts aimed at addressing Maidment 2008). Specifc calls were included these problems are underway, albeit with a to integrate the more physically or statistically focus on vegetation in semi-arid environments, oriented approaches in hydrology with ecosystem equilibrium models with stochastic inputs, and sciences including biogeochemical cycling and knowledge obtained in traditional plots or stands. population ecology. We suggest that for ecohydrologic research to The emergence of ecohydrologic research is one be globally relevant it must embrace the full example of how hydrologic science has begun to spectrum of environments, including non-water move in this direction. Ecohydrologic research limited regions and wetland-rich regions. Over seeks to understand how hydrological processes the next two decades, ecohydrologic research will affect biological communities, and in turn how such explore more deeply the nature of transient system communities affect water cycling (Newman et al. evolution and elucidate characteristic timescales 2006, Rodriguez-Iturbe 2000). With this marriage of processes, such as those associated with of ecology and hydrology new avenues of research ecosystem aggradation and degradation. It will are opening up, and with these come new scientifc move toward developing predictive capability that and technical challenges. Some of the scientifc builds from an understanding of processes along challenges relate to the long-term memory in spatial gradients, including adaptations of nutrient biological and geomorphic systems, complex cycling and plant hydraulics at wetland-upland feedbacks on water cycling, and the continuum of transitions. Moreover, as cyber-infrastructure such interactions across space. Technical challenges improves these activities will transcend individual include building more sophisticated simulation study sites by utilizing combinations of data sets

UCOWR JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION Integrated Ecohydrologic Research and Hydro-Informatics 17 not traditionally included in hydrologic analysis, including networks of fux towers, component High ground-based measurements, multiple process models, phenology networks, and remotely sensed information. We elaborate on these ideas below and offer suggestions for how advances in hydro- informatics will help sustain these activities over the next 20 years. To help focus the discussion we use a running example, canopy transpiration, Photosynthesis which is a process that straddles the ecological and Canopy Transpiration or Transpiration Canopy hydrological divide. Low Scarce Excessive Challenge: Ecohydrology Beyond Available Soil Water Water Scarce Environments The emergence of ecohydrologic research Figure 1. Conceptual response of vegetation processes to available soil water. Both water scarcity and excess is for hydrology the recognition that biological water represent limiting conditions for plants. The processes play a large role in the cycling of water solid line represents equilibrium responses based on (Eagleson 1982, 2002, Newman et al. 2006). short-term processes, while the gray zone represents a The soil-vegetation-atmosphere continuum in range of responses refecting long-term transients and turn is an important component in climate. By memory. tapping into sub-surface water sources, plant drainage systems provide dramatically altered roots help to maintain a fow of water from the ecohydrologic gradients in limiting resources, soil to the atmosphere well after surface soil tending to alleviate water limitations in drier moisture levels have drained or dried to the point climates and potentially introduce water limitations that they are too low to sustain evaporation. The in more humid environments. global relevance of such processes is clear. In Vegetative responses to available soil water humid regions, evapotranspiration (E ) typically T are conceptualized in Figure 1. Plants adapt to consumes half the annual precipitation; this conditions of water scarcity by growing deeper proportion is much higher in semi-arid regions. roots (e.g., Jackson et al. 1996), supporting lower Plant canopy transpiration (E ) amounts to about C leaf areas (e.g., Grier and Running 1977), and half of annual E , but generally represents a much T reducing the vulnerability of their water conducting higher proportion during periods when plants are xylem to damage caused by air entry (e.g., Sperry most active, during dry inter-storm periods, or in et al. 1998). While these patterns are more easily water-scarce environments. Thus, future research observed under water stressed conditions, the on land surface water-energy interactions and mechanisms responsible for these adaptations give hydroclimatic research will continue to depend on plants competitive advantages in all environments. insights into vegetative responses to environmental For instance, excessive soil water requires that drivers. However, such insights will not come plants adapt shallow and sometimes above ground from a focus on just water scarce environments, roots for aeration, and nitrogen fxation for obtaining since plants are adapted to and exert infuence on suffcient nitrogen in anaerobic environments. The environments across a full spectrum of available implication for obligate wetland species of a drop soil water. For instance, feedbacks between in the water table is a reduced ability to acquire ecosystem and hydrological processes in wetland- suffcient water to maintain E (Ewers et al. 2007). rich environments are poorly represented in current C Stomatal closure, in particular, occurs at mid-day climate models, which lack specifc mechanisms for even in high levels of soil water because of limits ground water dynamics and anaerobic processes. in hydraulic transport from roots to leaves (Sperry In urban and other human managed ecosystems, et al. 1998, Tyree and Sperry 1989). Moreover, signifcant subsidy of water and nutrients, and built evidence of coordination between photosynthetic

JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION UCOWR 18 Mackay and Band activity and hydraulic conductance (Brodribb and Research Challenge: Modeling Field 2000, Brodribb et al. 2002) provides a clear Transience link between plant hydraulics and carbon uptake, which ultimately feeds into vegetation growth and The characteristic timescales of ecosystem long-term memory effects of biological processes processes are affected by ground water dynamics, on water cycling. Feedbacks between these ecosystem aggradation and degradation, soil biological responses to environmental drivers and development, and climatic cycles. Short-term water cycling across the full spectrum of available processes include the diurnal adjustments of soil water has so far received little attention, but an stomatal conductance discussed above, daily or understanding of such processes will provide a vital longer-term adjustments to available soil water, contribution to the problem of making hydrologic seasonal adjustments in plant growth, inter-annual predictions in ungaged basins (Sivapalan et al. plant responses to disturbance and competition for 2003). available resources, decadal adjustments to soil Much uncertainty remains in the parameter- carbon and nitrogen, and much longer-term changes ization of stomatal conductance even in place-based in soil or landform development. Characteristic research (Mackay et al. 2003, Samanta et al. 2007), time responses for different processes need to be and it currently cannot be conveniently estimated understood if we are to make better predictions of as a spatial variable in large-scale models. Indeed, global climate change effects on water resources. in regional to global scale models it is accessed To address this problem Eagleson (1982, 2002) from lookup tables keyed to remotely sensed hypothesized short-term canopy density adjust- vegetation types (e.g., Dickenson et al. 1998, ments to minimize soil water stress, medium-term Loveland and Belward 1997, Running et al. 1995, preference for species that minimize consumption Sellers et al. 1996). Recent studies have shown of scarce soil water, and long-term adjustments in that stomatal closure is proportional to the rate of soil properties that maximize the optimal canopy water loss for a wide variety of species (Addington density. In this view, plants were seen to optimize et al. 2004, Ewers et al. 2001, Ewers et al. 2005, their environment. Such an optimization view Ewers et al. 2007, Oren et al. 1999, Wullschleger lends itself to equilibrium modeling of which there et al. 2002). We believe such insights will lead to are many examples (e.g., Arris and Eagleson 1994, dynamic modeling of stomatal function at relevant Collins and Bras 2007, Eagleson 1982, Kergoat scales by linking the physiological understanding 1998, Nemani and Running 1989, Rodriguez- with dynamic parameterization from satellites. Iturbe et al. 1999, van Wijk and Bouten 2001, Theoretical work towards this includes linking the Zea-Cabrera et al. 2006). Optimization models complementary relationship between potential or are appealing because they generally require only actual evapotranspiration and stomatal conductance a small amount of data, can be developed with (e.g., Pettijohn and Salvucci 2006). Technical mathematical elegance, and can often generate advances with thermal remote sensing are now patterns that ft an intuitive understanding of exploiting the large-scale equilibrium between ecohydrologic systems. However, they generally the lower atmospheric moisture content and lack feedbacks between water, carbon, and nutrient evaporation rate (e.g., Hashimoto et al. 2008), and cycles such that, for instance, root growth is multi-temporal remote sensing to take advantage enabled to sustain EC without concomitant carbon of soil thermal properties (e.g., Anderson et al. and nutrients “costs” to the plant. One promising 2007). Furthermore, hyperspectral data from development in the equilibrium approach is that sensors such as Hyperion have shown potential for of D’Odorico et al. (2003) who incorporated quantifying photosynthetic activity (Grace et al. below ground nutrient responses to soil water. 2007). These advances in technology coupled with However, their approach still did not couple below the predictive power of physiology-based models and above ground processes, which would tend to will become common elements of watershed impart memory effects of the soil biogeochemistry hydrology, hydroclimatology, and water resource on the vegetation while at same time adjusting over sustainability research. the long-term to the development of vegetation

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(Mackay 2001). ecosystems is based on disturbance regime, and Global climate change dictates that an the transient recovery from disturbances of varying understanding of coupled hydrologic and ecological magnitudes. The effect of fre, harvest and numerous processes requires long-term memory effects other disturbance sources on watershed hydrology involving transient system evolution in a broad are not adequately handled by ecohydrologic range of climates and biomes. Ecohydrologic analysis and models based on equilibrium research on this front has been slower to develop, concepts. Direct coupling of disturbance regimes primarily because of a lack of data. A few models into ecohydrologic analysis is critical. that feature long-term memory with plant- hydrology feedbacks (e.g., Running and Gower Research Challenge: Spatial 1991) have been incorporated into global (e.g., Heterogeneity Foley et al. 1996, Running and Hunt 1993) and watershed models (e.g., Band and Tague 2004, Hydrological models incorporate parameterized Mackay and Band 1997, Vertessy et al. 1996) to vegetation (e.g., Entekhabi and Eagleson 1989, understand biogeographic responses of vegetation Wood et al. 1992), assume potential vegetation to climatic and topographic controls (Kim and (e.g., Dickinson 1984, Foley 1996, Pielke and Eltahir 2004) and to deal with vegetation succession Avissar 1990, Sellers 1986), or model vegetation (Bond-Lamberty et al. 2005). A fundamental dynamics (e.g., Foley et al. 2000, Mackay and problem with simulating transience is the paucity Band 1997, Vertessy et al. 1996). However, these of observational records that are suffciently long models rely on measurements made in stands. to show, for example, inter-annual anomalies. Indeed, the traditional stand/gap approach to both Some long-term data sets do exist, such as the measuring and modeling fuxes in vegetative Long-Term Ecological Research Station network, communities has been to identify centers of fux tower networks, remote sensing records, and relatively homogeneous ecosystem types, make phenology networks. However, with the exception fux measurements, and then apply mechanisms of remote sensing, most long-term observations learned in these plots to whole landscapes or larger are limited in terms of spatial extent, such as single scales (e.g., Mackay et al. 2002). This unnecessary stands (Dunn et al. 2007), and so their relevance to simplifcation ignores changes in vegetation regional or global scale is uncertain. Over the next function along gradients, promotes classifcation 20 years, with suffcient funding, some of the short- of vegetation in terms of potential vegetation, and term data sets may become multi-decadal, which ignores important feedbacks between the terrestrial should help. However, multi-site data will need biosphere and climate, and between adjacent to be assimilated in future ecohydrologic studies vegetation patches connected along hydrologic at regional and larger scales, and this is going to fow paths. Given present-day and future climate require greater reliance on cyber-infrastructure and land use changes, it is conceptually appealing to more seamlessly integrate diverse data sets. to think of all terrestrial ecosystems as transitional While “eco-hydro-informatics” is not necessarily in space. There is also a growing recognition that unique in its need for improved data and model spatial variation of water storage and fuxes (e.g., infrastructure, it does span types of data not Grayson et al. 1997, 2002, Seyfried and Wilcox typically employed in hydrologic research, such as 1995, Tromp-van Meerveld and McDonnell below ground carbon and nutrient accounting. As 2006) is critical to understanding hydrologic such, new enabling technologies are needed that path ways. Future ecohydrologic research must build in the intelligence to deal with “knowledge” embrace spatial variability and move beyond the that extends beyond the traditional sphere of use of unrealistic vegetative boundaries. Recently, hydrology. Moreover, maximum benefts will be Adelman et al. (2008) for a lodgepole pine-covered gained from this knowledge only once we are able slope in southern Wyoming, and Loranty et al. to explicitly deal with spatial continua of biological (2008) for an aspen-wetland gradient in northern and hydrological interactions. Wisconsin, have shown that spatial variability of Finally, much of the structure and function of tree transpiration changes with environmental

JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION UCOWR 20 Mackay and Band

approach needs to be employed in a variety of ecosystems, and over longer time periods than are possible with single projects. While such efforts are laborious, new developments in automated sensor networks using wireless technology should make spatially explicit ecohydrologic measurements feasible. Moreover, a true move to a mechanistic understanding of ecohydrologic processes will in the next few years embrace spatially explicit genetics. With the sequencing of genetic code for tree species (e.g., populous) and identifcation of genes specifcally responsible for controlling plant water use (e.g., Cao et al. 2007) the next 20 years of ecohydrologic research will defnitely be Figure 2. Relativized variograms of tree transpiration dominated by molecular biological research and from among 120 trees in an aspen-wetland transition. Based on a fgure in Loranty et al. (2008). will almost certainly require a genetic component. drivers. Figure 2 illustrates the increase in spatial Author Bios and Contact Information heterogeneity as transpiration increases, a response D. Scott Mackay is an Associate Professor of Geography attributable to spatial variability in biological at the State University of New York at Buffalo responses. Such feedbacks between plants and ([email protected] or 716-645-0477). He received water fux rates suggest non-linearities that are lost his Ph.D. in 1997 from the University of Toronto. His in the homogenization that occurs with traditional research concerns ecohydrological processes involving center-of-stand methodology. water, energy, carbon, sediment, and nutrient fuxes in The patch-based approaches to ecohydrologic forests, agricultural watersheds, and semi-arid shrub systems. Funding for his work has been from NSF, systems also do not allow the investigation of NASA, EPA, and DOE, and other sources. spatial dependency in the form of soil-vegetation catenae along hydrologic fow paths. In more Lawrence E. Band is the Voit Gilmore Distinguished humid environments, where lateral redistribution of Professor of Geography and the Director of the Institute soil and ground water are signifcant, the behavior for the Environment at the University of North Carolina, of hill slope and catchment ecosystems may not Chapel Hill ([email protected]). He received his be generalized as the sum of discrete ecosystem Ph.D. in 1983 from UCLA and has published more than patch behavior because one-dimensional mass 100 papers in the areas of hydrology, geomorphology, balance approaches cannot capture emergent urban and forest ecosystems. His work is currently patterns in ecosystem form and function, or in centered in the Baltimore and Coweeta Long Term Ecological Research sites, and has been supported by runoff production. Lateral redistribution of soil NSF, EPA, NOAA, USDA-Forest Service and other water creates heterogeneity in biogeochemical agencies. and soil water effects on canopy physiology, and generally tends to dampen temporal variability References of ecohydrologic fux while maintaining spatial variability (e.g., Band et al. 1993). Future work Addington, R. N., R. J. Mitchell, R. Oren, and L. A. will incorporate and develop methods of estimating Donovan. 2004. Stomatal sensitivity to vapor pressure the effects of heterogeneity through spatially defcit and its relationship to hydraulic conductance explicit simulation, as has already been done, in Pinus palustris. Tree Physiology 24: 561-569. and by developing statistical-dynamic methods Adelman, J. D., B. E. Ewers, and D. S. Mackay. 2008. for estimating growth and decay of hydrologic Using temporal patterns in vapor pressure defcit heterogeneity (e.g., Albertson and Montaldo to explain spatial autocorrelation dynamics in tree 2003). transpiration. Tree Physiology 28: 647-658. This spatially explicit measurement and modeling

UCOWR JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION Integrated Ecohydrologic Research and Hydro-Informatics 21

Albertson, J. D. and N. Montaldo. 2003. Temporal strategies in water-limited ecosystems. Water Dynamics of Soil Moisture Variability: 1. Theoretical Resources Research 43: W06407, doi:10.1029/ Basis, Water Resources Research 39 (10): 1274, 2006WR005541. doi:10.1029/2002WR001616. Dickinson, Robert E. 1984. Modeling evapotranspiration Anderson, M. C., W. P. Kustas, and J. M. Norman. 2007. for three-dimensional climate models. Pages 58- Upscaling fux observations from local to continental 72 in J.E. Hanson and T. Takahashi (eds.) Climate scales using thermal remote sensing. Agronomy Processes and Climate Sensitivity. Geophysical Journal 99: 240-254. Monographs Series 29, American Geophysical Union: Washington D.C. Arris, L. L. and P. S. Eagleson. 1994. A water use model for locating the boreal/deciduous forest ecotone in Dickinson, R. E., M. Shaikh, R. Bryant, and L. eastern North America. Water Resources Research Graumlich. 1998. Interactive canopies in a climate 30(1): 1-9. model. Journal of Climate 11: 2823-2836. Band, L.E., P. Patterson, R.R. Nemani and S.W. Running, D’Odorico, P., F. Laio, A. Porporato, and I. Rodriguez- 1993. Forest ecosystem processes at the watershed Iturbe. 2003. Hydrologic controls on soil carbon and scale: 2. Adding hillslope hydrology. Agricultural nitrogen cycles. II. A case study. Advances in Water and Forest Meteorology 63: 93-126. Resources 26: 59-70. Band, Lawrence E. and C. Tague. 2004. Feedbacks Dunn, A. L., C. C. Barford, S. C. Wofsy, M. L. Goulden, and coupling between water, carbon and nutrient B. C. Daube. 2007. A long-term record of carbon cycling at the hillslope scale. Pages 269-279 in Axel exchange in a boreal black spruce forest: means, Bronstert, J. Carrera, P. Kabat, and S. Lütkemeier responses to interannual variability, and decadal (eds.) Coupled Models for the Hydrological Cycle - trends. Global Change Biology 13(3): 577–590, Integrating Atmosphere, Biosphere, and Pedosphere. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2486.2006.01221.x. Springer-Verlag, 2004. Eagleson, P. S. 1982. Ecological optimality in water- Band, L. E., F. Ogden, J. Butler, D. Goodrich, R. Hooper, limited natural soil-vegetation systems. 1. Theory D. Kane, D. McKnight, N. Miller, M. Williams, K. and hypothesis. Water Resources Research 18: 325- Potter, B. Scanlon, R. Pielke, and K. Reckhow. 2002. 340. Hydrologic Observatories, CUAHSI Technical Report Number 4, August 2002, Washington D.C. Eagleson, P. S. 2002. Ecohydrology: Darwinian Expression of Vegetation Form and Function. Bond-Lamberty, B., S. T. Gower, D. E. Ahl, and P. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK. Thornton. 2005. Reimplementation of the Biome- BGC model to simulate successional change. Tree Ehtekhabi, D. and P. Eagleson. 1989. Landsurface Physiology 25(4): 413-424. hydrology parameterization for atmospheric circulation models including subgrid variability. Brodribb T. J. and T. S. Field. 2000. Stem hydraulic Journal of Climate 2: 579-589. supply is linked to leaf photosynthetic capacity: Evidence from new caledonian and tasmanian Ewers, B. E., S. T. Gower, B. Bond-Lamberty, and C. rainforests. Plant Cell & Environment 23: 1381- Wang. 2005. Effects of stand age and tree species 1388. composition on transpiration and canopy conductance of boreal forest stands. Plant Cell & Environment 28: Brodribb T. J., N. M. Holbrook, and M. V. Gutierrez. 660-678. 2002. Hydraulic and photosynthetic co-ordination in seasonally dry tropical forest trees. Plant Cell & Ewers, B. E., D. S. Mackay, and S. Samanta. 2007. Environment 25: 1435-1444. Interannual consistency in canopy stomatal conductance control of leaf water potential across Cao, H.-X., Z.-B. Zhang, P. Xu, L.-Y. Chu, H.-B. Shao, seven tree species. Tree Physiology 27: 11-24. Z.-H. Lu, and J.-H. Liu. 2007. Mutual physiological genetic mechanism of plant high water use effciency Ewers, B. E., R. Oren, N. Phillips, M. Stromgren, and and nutrition use effciency. Colloids and Surfaces S. Linder. 2001. Mean canopy stomatal conductance B: Biointerfaces 57: 1-7. responses to water and nutrient availabilities in Picea abies and Pinus taeda. Tree Physiology 21: Collins, D. B. G. and R. L. Bras. 2007. Plant rooting 841-850.

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Foley, J. A., S. Levis, M. H. Costa, W. Cramer, and D. Hydrology 212/213: 268-286. Pollard. 2000. Incorporating dynamic vegetation cover within global climate models. Ecological Kim, Y. and E. A. B. Eltahir. 2004. Role of topography Applications 10(6): 1620-1632. in facilitating coexistence of trees and grasses within savannas. Water Resources Research 40: W07505, Foley, J. A., I. C. Prentice, N. Ramankutty, S. Levis, doi:10.1029/2003WR002578. D. Pollard, S. Sitch, and A. Haxeltine. 1996. An integrated biosphere model of land surface processes, Klemeš, V. 1986. Dilettantism in hydrology: Transition terrestrial carbon balance, and vegetation dynamics. or destiny? Water Resources Research 22(9S): 177S- Global Biogeochemical Cycles 10(4): 603-628. 188S. Grace, J., C. Nichol, M. Disney, P. Lewis, T. Quaife, Loranty, M. M., D. S. Mackay, B. E. Ewers, J. D. and P. Bowyer. 2007. Can we measure terrestrial Adelman, and E. L. Kruger. 2008. Environmental photosynthesis from space directly, using spectral drivers of spatial variation in whole-tree canopy refectance and fuorescence? Global Change Biology transpiration and canopy average stomatal 13(7): 1484-1497. conductance in an aspen-to-wetland forest gradient. Water Resources Research 44: W02441, doi:10.1029/ Grayson, R. B., G. Bloschl, A. W. Western, and T. A. 2007WR006272. McMahon. 2002. Advances in the use of observed spatial patterns of catchment hydrological response. Loveland, T. R. and A. S. Belward. 1997. The IGBP- Advances in Water Resources 25(8-12): 1313-1334. DIS global 1-km land cover data set, DISCover: First results. International Journal of Remote Sensing 18: Grayson, R. B., A.W. Western, and F. H. S. Chiew. 1997. 3289-3295. Preferred states in spatial soil moisture patterns: Local and nonlocal controls. Water Resources Research Mackay, D. S. 2001. Evaluation of hydrological 33(12): 2897-2908. equilibrium in a mountainous watershed: incorporating forest canopy spatial adjustment to Grier, C. C. and S. W. Running. 1977. Leaf area of soil biogeochemical processes. Advances in Water mature northwestern coniferous forests: Relation to Resources 24: 1211-1227. site water balance. Ecology 58: 893-899. Mackay, D. S., D. E. Ahl, B. E. Ewers, S. T. Gower, Gupta, H. V., S. Sorooshian, and P. O. Yapo. 1999. Status S. N. Burrows, S. Samanta, and K. J. Davis. 2002. of automated calibration for hydrologic models: Effects of aggregated classifcations of forest Comparison with multilevel expert calibration. ASCE composition of estimates of evapotranspiration in a Journal of Hydrologic Engineering 4(2): 135-143. northern Wisconsin forest. Global Change Biology 8(12): 1253-1265. Hashimoto, H., J. L. Dungan, M. A. White, F. Yang, A. B. Michaelis, S. W. Running, and R. R. Nemani. 2008. Mackay D. S., D. E. Ahl, B. E. Ewers, S. Samanta, S. Satellite-based estimation of surface vapor pressure T. Gower, and S. N. Burrows. 2003. Physiological defcits using MODIS land surface temperature data. tradeoffs in the parameterization of a model of Remote Sensing of Environment 112(1): 142-155. canopy transpiration. Advances in Water Resources 26: 179-194. Hornberger, G. M., J. D. Aber, J. Bahr, R. C. Bales, K. Beven, E. Foufoula-Georgiou, G. Katul, J. L. Kinter Mackay, D. S. and L. E. Band. 1997. Forest ecosystem III, R. D. Koster, D. P. Lettenmaier, D. McKnight, K. processes at the watershed scale: Dynamic coupling Miller, K. Mitchell, J.O. Roads, B.R. Scanlon, and of distributed hydrology and canopy growth. E. Smith. 2001. A Plan for a New Science Initiative Hydrological Processes 11: 1197-1217. on the Global Water Cycle, U.S. Global Change Research Program, Washington, D.C. 118 pages. Maidment, D. R. 2008. Bringing water data together. Journal of Water Resources Planning and Jackson, R. B., J. Canadell, E. R. Ehleringer, H. A. Management 134(2): 95-96. Mooney, O. E. Sala, and E. D. Schulze. 1996. A global analysis of root distributions for terrestrial Nemani, R. R. and S.W. Running. 1989. Estimation biomes. Oecologia 108: 398-411. of regional surface resistance to evapotranspiration from NDVI and thermal-IR AVHRR data. Journal of Kergoat, L. 1998. A model for hydrological equilibrium Applied Meteorology 28(4): 276-284. of leaf area index on a global scale, Journal of Newman, B. D., B. P. Wilcox, S. R. Archer, D. D.

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Breshears, C. N. Dahm, C. J. Duffy, N. G. McDowell, A. Dazlich, G. J. Collatz, and D. A. Randall. 1996. F. M. Phillips, B. R. Scanlon, and E. R. Vivoni. A revised land surface parameterization (SiB2) for 2006. Ecohydrology of water-limited environments: atmospheric GCMs. Part II: The generation of global A scientifc vision. Water Resources Research 42, felds of terrestrial biophysical parameters from W06302, doi:10.1029/2005WR004141. satellite data. Journal of Climate 9: 676-705. Oren, R., J. S. Sperry, G. G. Katul, D. E. Pataki, B. E. Sellers, P. J., Y. Mintz, Y. C. Sud, and A. Dalcher. 1986. Ewers, N. Phillips, and K.V. R. Schäfer. 1999. Survey A simple biosphere model (SiB) for use within and synthesis of intra- and interspecifc variation in general circulation models. Journal of Atmospheric stomatal sensitivity to vapour pressure defcit. Plant, Science 43: 505-531. Cell and Environment 22: 1515-1526. Seyfried, M. S. and B. P. Wilcox. 1995. Scale and Pettijohn, J. C. and G. D. Salvucci. 2006. Impact of the nature of spatial variability: Field examples an unstressed canopy conductance on the Bouchet- having implications for hydrologic modeling. Water Morton complementary relationship. Water Resources Research 31(1): 173-184. Resources Research 42: W09418, doi:10.1029/ 2005WR004385. Sivapalan, M., K. Takeuchi, S. W. Franks, V. K. Gupta, H. Karambiri, V. Lakshmi, X. Liang, J. J. McDonnell, Pielke, R. A. and R. Avissar. 1990. Infuence of landscape E. M. Mendiondo, P. E. O’Connell, T. Oki, J. W. structure on local and regional climate. Landscape Pomeroy, D. Schertzer, S. Uhlenbrook, and E. Zehe. Ecology 4(2/3): 133-155. 2003. IAHS decade on prediction in ungauged basins (PUB), 2003-2012: Shaping an exciting future for Rodriguez-Itube, I. 2000. Ecohydrology: A hydrologic the hydrological sciences. Hydrological Sciences perspective of climate-soil-vegetation dynamics. Journal 48(6): 857-880. Water Resources Research 36: 3-9. Sperry, J. S., F. R. Adler, G. S. Campbell, and J. P. Rodríguez-Iturbe, I., P. D’Odorico, A. Porporato, and Comstock. 1998. Limitation of plant water use by L. Ridolf. 1999. Tree-grass coexistence in savannas: rhizosphere and xylem conductance: Results from a The role of spatial dynamics and climate fuctuations model. Plant Cell & Environment 21: 347-359. Geophysical Research Letters 26(2): 247-250. Tromp-van Meerveld, H. J. and J. J. McDonnell. 2006. Running, S. W. and S. T. Gower. 1991. FOREST-BGC, On the interrelations between topography, soil a general model of forest ecosystem processes for depth, soil moisture, transpiration rates and species regional applications II. Dynamic carbon allocation distribution at the hill slope scale. Advances in Water and nitrogen budgets. Tree Physiology 9: 147-160. Resources 29(2): 293-310. Running, Steven. W. and E. R. Hunt, Jr. 1993. Tyree, M. T. and J. S. Sperry. 1989. Vulnerability of Generalization of a forest ecosystem process xylem cavitation and embolism. Annual Reviews of model for other biomes, BIOME-BGC, and an Plant Physiology and Plant Molecular Biology 40: application for global scale models. Pages 141-158 19-38. in James R. Ehleringer and C.B. Field (eds.) Scaling Physiological Processes: Leaf to Globe, Academic van Wijk, M. T. and W. Bouten. 2001. Towards Press: San Diego, CA. understanding tree root profles: Simulating hydrologically optimal strategies for root distribution. Running, S. W., T. R. Loveland, L. L. Pierce, R. R. Hydrology and Earth Systems Sciences 5(4): 629-644. Nemani, and E. R. Hunt, Jr. 1995. A remote sensing based vegetation classifcation for global land cover Vertessy, R. A., T. J. Hatton, R. G. Behyon, and W. analysis. Remote Sensing of Environment, 51: 39- R. Dawes. 1996. Long-term growth and water 48. balance predictions for a mountain ash (Eucalyptus regnans) for catchments subject to clear-felling and Samanta, S., D. S. Mackay, M. Clayton, E. L. Kruger, regeneration. Tree Physiology 16: 221-232. and B. E. Ewers. 2007. Bayesian analysis for uncertainty estimation of a canopy transpiration Wood, E. F., D. P. Lettenmaier, and V. Zartarian. 1992. model. Water Resources Research 43: W04424, A land surface hydrology parameterization with doi:10.1029/2006WR005028. sub-grid variability for general circulation models. Journal of Geophysical Research 97(D3): 2717- Sellers P. J., S. O. Los, C. J. Tucker, C. O. Justice, D. 2728.

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Wullschleger, S. D., C. A. Gunderson, P. J. Hanson, K. B. Wilson, and R. J. Norby. 2002. Sensitivity of

stomatal and canopy conductance to elevated CO2 concentration – interacting variables and perspectives of scale. New Phytologist 153: 485-496. Zea-Cabrera, E., Y. Iwasa, S. Levin, and I. Rodriguez- Iturbe. 2006. Tragedy of the commons in plant water use. Water Resources Research 42: W06D02, doi:10.1029/2005WR004514.

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UNIVERSITIES COUNCIL ON WATER RESOURCES JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION ISSUE 142, PAGES 25-27, AUGUST 2009 Applying Geographic Information Techniques to Study Water Resources for the Next 20 Years

Luoheng Han

Department of Geography, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa

or the next twenty years, water availability, will be the prime test constraint. Inorganic water quality, and, thus, water conservation suspended sediment concentration is another water Fare arguably among the primary challenges quality indicator where remote sensing technology that every country in the world will face. can be applied. Monitoring water quality and identifying the Several satellite sensing systems were specifcally location and magnitude of existing and potential designed for monitoring water quality chlorophyll pollution sources and impacts will continue to a in ocean water, such as Coastal Zone Color be the important activities to ensure an adequate Scanner (1978-1986) and the Sea-viewing Wide supply of earth’s most precious natural resource. Field of View Sensor (SeaWiFS). They are mostly Geographic information techniques, such as remote useful for Case I waters (deep ocean). Although sensing and Geographic Information Systems the spectral resolution is not ideal, Landsat TM/ (GIS), will continue to be some of the effective ETM+ data have proven to be adequately useful tools for collecting and analyzing the data for water for assessing estuarine systems because they are quality and quantity. economical, routinely available, and archived. For Documented water-related attributes that can example, chlorophyll a concentration, an indicator be remotely measured include surface area, water of the abundance of algae in water was mapped quality, bathymetry, surface temperature, snow and over Pensacola Bay, Florida using Landsat 7 ETM+ ice mapping, snow and ice to water calculation, imagery (Figure 1). cloud cover, precipitation and water vapor (Jensen In 2005 NASA was instructed to acquire a single 2007). In measuring these parameters, remote Landsat data continuity mission in the form of a sensing will continue to be one of most appealing free-fyer spacecraft to insure that Landsat TM/ felds of study and instrumentation to resource ETM+ data will be the available for the near future. managers because it provides the simultaneous Currently, NASA’s Earth Observing System (EOS) overview for a large region, which is unmatched program is in operation, which consists of a series by in situ measurement. The spatial component is of satellites that observe our planet earth. always inherent in remote sensing processes. In While multispectral sensing systems may still be addition, the pace and ease of data collection through available over the next twenty years, hyperspectral remote sensing has become nearly a prerequisite sensors will become more and more important to compiling the multitemporal datasets required sources for remote sensing data. With more than for multi-scale and multidimensional biophysical one hundred spectral bands, it is expected that change detection. hyperspectral sensors will establish some sort of Remote sensing will continue to be useful in “spectral fngerprint” for certain types of organic monitoring water quality. While the optically and inorganic substances in the water. Therefore, active water constituents are measurable with detecting fne physical and biochemical changes remote sensing, other water parameters may still be in water quality may become formulaic. Another indirectly detected. Chlorophyll a, due to its unique trend in remote sensing technology development absorption characteristics in the visible spectrum, may be worth noting. Bathymetric information

JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION UCOWR 26 Han

• Drought assessment; • Flood assessment; • Ground and surface water potential zoning; • Ground water pollution potential; • Ground water resource exploration and management and rooftop; • Identifcation and management of drinking water potentials; • Modeling nutrients and sediment loadings (TMDL assessment); • Network analysis of surface water; • Non-point source assessment and prediction; Kilometers • Watershed management and irrigation 0.93 - 3.36 3.37 - 5.90 network planning. 5.91 - 8.99 In particular, GIS will continue to show its 9.00 - 12.83 12.84 - 17.99 usefulness and effectiveness in storing, managing, 18.00 - 24.92 and analyzing water resource data. GIS can be used to delineate, illustrate, and analyze hydrologic Figure 1. Chlorophyll a concentration map of Pensa- systems, and researchers will be able to evaluate cola Bay, FL (May 2002) (after Han and Jordan 2005) spatial and temporal responses of hydrologic systems to natural and anthropogenic impacts will be accurately derived using LIDAR (Light using GIS. GIS will become the platform for many Detection and Ranging), a remote sensor that more hydrological models including analytical sends a laser beam out and measures the time and hydrologic models, process-based spatial analysis intensity of the returned laser light (Jenson 2007). models, and others. Most of the water quality models Finally, inland water and sea surface temperatures will be the ones that integrate remote sensing and may mostly come from thermal remote sensing GIS. The current nonpoint-source water quality techniques. models (e.g., AGNPS and SWAT) have already In the next twenty years, remote sensing data, utilized the land use and land cover information such as satellite imagery, will become more that is derived from the latest remote sensing data. accessible to the public through such venues as The complete and seamless integration of real- wireless internet for hand-helds, Personal Digital time georeferenced sensors and earth-observation Assistants (PDAs), and laptops. Eventually, the technology will become available via Wi-Fi and real-time water quality information for a given internet technologies. Virtual 3-D and 4-D water location may be available, and such changes should quality information systems, a special type of GIS, spur diverse research opportunities, especially in may be available for citizens, giving more minds modeling global environmental change. the opportunities to contemplate more creative As a spatial analysis tool, GIS has been research veins and applications.As water resource successfully applied in almost all areas where will arguably be one of the deciding factors for the spatial information has been collected (Longley world’s economy, monitoring and managing water at al. 2005). Water availability, water quality, and will be a major task for resource researchers and water conservation have been studied and managed managers. It is imperative to use the available with GIS over the past two decades and will be geographic information techniques including more focused during the next twenty years. GIS remote sensing and GIS as they are advancing at will be widely applied for: an unprecedented pace with regard to functionality • Catchment collection for rainwater harvesting; and interoperability.

UCOWR JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION Applying Geographic Information Techniques to Study Water Resources 27

Author Bio and Contact Information

Luoheng Han is professor of geography and associate dean for the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Alabama. He received his Ph.D. in geography from The University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1994. He was named a College of Arts and Sciences Leadership Board Faculty Fellow (2004-2007) in 2004. His research interest is remote sensing of the quality of coastal and inland waters. His research has been published in International Journal of Remote Sensing, Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing, Remote Sensing of Environment, and others. He can be contacted at [email protected]. References

Han, L. and K. Jordan. 2005. Measuring algal chlorophyll concentration in Pensacola Bay, Florida using Landsat ETM+ data. International Journal of Remote Sensing 26(23): 5245-5254. Jensen, J. R. 2007. Remote Sensing of the Environment, An Earth Resource Perspective, 2nd. Edition, (Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Longley, P. A., M. F. Goodchild, D. J. Maguire, and D. W. Rhind. 2005. Geographic Information Systems and Science, 2nd. Edition, Chichester, West Sussex, Endgland: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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UNIVERSITIES COUNCIL ON WATER RESOURCES JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION ISSUE 142, PAGES 28-35, AUGUST 2009 Integration of Water Data for Decision-Making and Research

R. Rajagopal

Professor, Department of Geography, The University of Iowa

..... A society that has great skills in fact-gathering To understand such questions of diversity in may possess only a weak ability to make sense attributes and uncertainty of measurements, global, of the larger patterns of meanings where parts ft federal, state and local governments have invested into wholes. Description, anecdotal knowledge, billions of dollars for the collection, storage, and batteries of statistics are no substitute for and maintenance of water quantity and quality, synthesis (Goulet 1991). exposure, toxicity, and public perception data on s consumers, citizens, and professionals, an on-going basis. Information derived from such we are constantly faced with questions data infuences regulatory and policy decisions that Asuch as: How much water is available cost taxpayers further tens of billions of dollars in different parts of the country under shifting annually for water-related decisions (Carlin et demographic and land use conditions? What al. 1992, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency pollutants are found in the nation’s waters? Where 2009, U.S. Geological Survey 2009). Despite in the nation are these different pollutants found, these enormous investments, the integrated use and at what concentrations? How many people are of data in research and the policy-making process exposed to these pollutants? What are the costs has been limited. Recognizing the importance of and benefts of different control technologies and this subject, the United Nations Statistics Division corrective actions? How should one incorporate (Vardon and Martinez 2009) hosted a session on such factors in the process of resource allocation? “Data Integration and Dissemination: From Data to What do the experts say? What are some of the Information” at the recent 5th World Water Forum, social and political ramifcations of deferring or held in March 2009, in Istanbul, Turkey. not deferring to expert judgments on these issues A comprehensive review of water resources in a democratic society? These are perennial literature, laws, budgets, and analyses of selected questions and will no doubt play an important role data sets reveal the central role played by the twin in anyone’s list of water resource decision-making factors of diversity of attributes and uncertainty and research priorities over the next two decades. in measurements in our understanding of many Attributes of water such as rainfall, runoff, storage water issues (Brands and Rajagopal 2008 a, b, levels, contaminants, health effects, voting records, c, Rajagopal et al. 1992b). The key fndings of funding levels, and public outrage are diverse many recent water resources research analyses in the context of physical, chemical biological, can be summed up as managing diversity in a economic, perceptual, and other characteristics world of uncertainty. Enabling our institutions to and are measured in different units at various develop a research infrastructure to manage water scales. Such measurements of diverse attributes laws, science, and technology so as to effectively also vary over space and time. The instruments that utilize and combine the diversity of attributes and are used to measure such attributes are also subject uncertainty in their measurements at different to variation and uncertainty. So, the process of scales for the protection and management of water integration and synthesis of diverse water-related resources will be a major challenge in the next two attributes and their uncertain measurements to decades (Colaceci et al. 2008, Kumar and Singh meet end-objectives is quite complicated. 2005, Loucks et al. 2006, Rejman 2007, Vardon

UCOWR JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION Integration of Water Data for Decision-Making and Research 29 and Martinez 2009). of measurements, and the quality and locational A set of observations and recommendations specifcity of those measurements. Since the highlighting priorities in water decision-making objectives of individual monitoring programs and research for the next two decades are offered have varied considerably, they can all beneft by under the sections of scientifc innovations and considering a set of fundamental questions in their institutional reforms. Although these sections and design process: Why monitor? What to monitor? subsections within them are organized sequentially, Where to monitor? How to monitor? and when and their contents overlap and therefore should be read how often to monitor? The quality of the design and comprehended as a whole. is often refected by our ability to provide precise answers or estimates for these types of questions. Scientifc Innovations It is in this context that the integration of existing Quantity: In the study of water budgets, nature data bases can play a major role by providing (especially extreme storm events) contributes to initial estimates for design specifcations. signifcant variability in rainfall, evaporation, Numerous authors have argued that water surface runoff, and other related attributes. data in many large data sets are biased, have Additional uncertainties are introduced by limited space-time representation, and are not measurement technologies and sampling designs well documented. These data sets therefore have (Bradley et al. 2002, Wallis et al. 1991). Further, limited utility in problem settings other than the the variability in water demand due to changing one for which they were collected. There is an land use, irrigation withdrawals, and reservoir urgent need to catalog various methods useful in operations also cause uncertainty in estimates. the analysis of found, archived, or encountered Therefore, studies that integrate such varying data for the purposes of estimation and drawing attributes of water, land use, land cover change, and inferences. This feld is very much like forensic human-engineered structures and their attendant science - it is too late to redesign someone else’s processes at various spatial (global, regional, and data collection program. What is needed is a set of local) and temporal (yearly, monthly, daily, hourly, methods to salvage insights from existing data sets, and at seconds) scales would be of much value however biased, imprecise, or unstructured they (National Research Council 2005, Rajagopal et may be. A promising area for further research is to al. 1992b, Rejman 2007, Yatheendradas 2008). explore questions related to the making of unbiased In particular, the development of methods for the inferences from the use of biased data sets. prediction of extreme events, at the temporal scale Several other data quality-related issues must of one day to a few months should be promoted. be considered in design. These issues include the Research on uncertainty related to foods and treatment of outliers in aggregation and estimation, droughts at microscales of space and time for uncertainty and error propagation in estimation, vulnerable zones should receive high priority. optimization of monitoring decisions, the role of classifcation schemes and ecoregions in survey Monitoring: Many state, national, and international design and reporting systems, error propagation in organizations routinely collect water data for use map overlays, and the robustness of extrapolations in management, planning, research, and regulatory in 3D visualization in spatial analysis and decisions (Portney 1988, Rajagopal 1987, U.S. characterization. An extensive body of literature Environmental Protection Agency 1988, 2008, exists that covers the above and other design issues U.S. Geological Survey 2009, Vardon and in quality of measurements such as: precision, Martinez 2009). For a number of valid reasons, bias, and accuracy; statistical control of quality; the scope and content of data collected under calibration of instruments and methods; role and different programs have varied signifcantly. In use of reference materials; traceability of results; particular, they differ in terms of the objectives feld and laboratory screening; and feld sampling of enabling legislation (compliance, ambient, of physical, chemical, biological, and resource enforcement, etc.), the number and diversity of measurements (Center for Sustainable Watersheds parameters measured, the frequency and timing 2008, National Water Quality Monitoring

JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION UCOWR 30 Rajagopal

Council 2009, Northeast Midwest Institute 2008, on the ground. Statistics Canada 2008, Texas State Soil and Water Science for Policy: Water quantity and quality Conservation Board 2009, U.S. Department of problems, and the public’s perception of water-borne Agriculture 2009). All the organizations cited risk, are complex and interwoven. The presence of above are involved in one form or another in some contaminants in water may be immediately developing appropriate methods and procedures evident, while others, being tasteless, odorless, to deal with data quality and related issues. In and colorless, may be consumed for years before particular, research to develop a variety of user- detection. In addition to this problem of detection, friendly indices based on the combination of water our ability to study and understand the health monitoring data with those from other realms effects of contaminants is further complicated such as socio-economics, health, and demography by the presence of varying concentrations and should receive high priority. combinations of contaminants in the water, and the Quality and Complexity: Water quality problems multiple pathways of food, water, and air by which are complex because a multitude of factors (natural they enter our bodies. In this regard, toxicological and anthropogenic – objective and subjective) and epidemiological methods, to some extent, help affect them and it is extremely diffcult to identify determine safe or acceptable levels of chemicals in and isolate a set of cause-effect relationships food, water, and air. linking particular factors to specifc indicators of A major step in dealing with complex water water quality. The sources of water contamination resources problems is to understand the processes are numerous. Due to the synergistic nature governing variability through the diverse attributes of the water environment and the enormity of of many disciplines. Many promising examples information content, it is almost impossible to study linking the quality and quantity of water in ambient, simultaneously the several processes affecting water drinking water, landfll, and waste sites to food quality at any instant. Therefore, water quality and the environment can be found in Brands and issues of regional and national scales do not easily Rajagopal 2008 a, b, c, Kumar and Sing 2005, and lend themselves for effective analysis through the Sophocleous 2004. Such an understanding will hydrodynamic methods of fate and transport based enable the reduction of uncertainty that in turn will on 10 meter to 1000 meter spatial and 1 hour to 1 provide insights for cost-effective management month temporal resolutions. Because of enormous and policy actions for the protection of fresh water spatial and temporal variability and extensive data resources. It is well known that that the variability requirements, we can only afford such models in occurrence of contaminants in ground water can for feld and farm level applications within a be explained by factors such as regions, sampling growing season or remediation activities at a single type, chlorination practice, and aquifer sources. hazardous waste site. On the other hand, methods Knowledge of regional variations in pesticide based on feld evidence (empirical data) from application, and the effects of factors such as regional and national networks at coarser spatial and pesticide properties, hydrogeology and weather temporal scales provide promising potentials for patterns have been shown to be of much help in use in the study of regional and national problems focusing on areas where contamination is likely to (Rajagopal 1987, U.S. Environmental Protection occur. Prior research (Brands and Rajagopal 2008 Agency 1988, Vardon and Martinez 2009). The a, b, c) has shown that only a few contaminants are topics of signifcant research import are the quality of concern at most places, and the occurrence of of questions that we pose, the ability to integrate those can be explained in the context of the locale diverse water-related data bases so as to provide (geographical intelligence). Further research to answers to such questions, and the relationship of translate such insights and knowledge based on such questions and answers to societal decisions. geographical, hydrogeological, and chemical The research agenda over the next two decades observations in the development of cost-effective should be driven by the development of a variety of monitoring strategies and regulatory programs templates linking data to information to practical for the protection of fresh water resources of the questions faced by water resource decision makers United States should be of high priority over the

UCOWR JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION Integration of Water Data for Decision-Making and Research 31 next two decades. toward understanding problems in multiple Several innovative screening methods and contexts, diagnostic tools such as sequential analysis and 2. Institutional barriers, restrictive disciplinary compositing for the determination of the extent and legal views, and technical incompatibilities to which each sample should be analyzed have have made the interpretation, integration, been developed (Emerson and Rajagopal 2003, and synthesis of such data extremely diffcult Kuchibhatla and Rajagopal 1995, Natarajan and (Patel and Sethi 2007, Rajagopal et al. 1992a, Rajagopal 1994, Rajagopal and Williams 1989, Zimmerman 2007). Rajagopal 1990, Rajagopal and Li 1991). They will contribute considerably to the reduction of Institutional Reforms uncertainty and error in identifying contamination Environmental problems are well known for problems, and in reducing monitoring costs by their intractability, and problems of fresh water are several hundred million dollars. At the same time no exception. Full understanding of the hydrologic these diagnostic tools will provide more protection cycle, level and movement of contaminants per monitoring dollar. Such savings could be in water and their potential health effects may redirected toward the much needed problems of take many decades. Yet, citizens need to know corrective actions. In conclusion, the science of today the safety of a particular water supply and monitoring should not blindly recommend the policy-makers need to know the availability and removal of contaminants from Safe Drinking the quality of the water now, what can be expected Water Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery in the future, and what can be done. At present, Act, or Comprehensive Environmental Response, our institutions do not effectively synthesize Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) the information contained in numerous existing regulations to reduce cost, nor should it recommend data bases and do not provide such syntheses to the addition of hundreds of contaminants to the citizens, elected offcials, and experts in a timely list under the guise of protecting public health. and useful manner. What is needed is a mechanism Scientifc efforts should help develop a monitoring for managing and synthesizing diverse data within strategy based on knowledge about the locales a context of uncertainty for fresh water protection (geographic intelligence). It should help with policies. For example, citizens and elected offcials the process of organizing and using information are not expecting precise answers to all water- intelligently, asking good questions in the right related questions, but answers similar to insurance order, and developing thinking skills (intelligence rate tables based on age, gender, and behavior; revolution). or impending weather impacts (thunderstorm, Within the present institutional and legal milieu, tornado, and hurricane warnings) and advice based the agencies and the public are not positioned to fully on date, time, and location of impending extreme beneft from the vast resources that are invested in events and possible specifc courses of action. collecting water and other environmental data due to two primary reasons: Institutional Change 1. Almost all such data are the result of a progression of legislative mandates or agency To address many planning, public health, policy missions, each focused on a single issue or a and regulatory questions related to the freshwater set of compounds. For example, data gathered environment of the United States, it is essential by thousands of U.S. water supplies under that a National Commission on Fresh Water be the Safe Drinking Water Act are checked for organized and set in motion as soon as possible. compliance at individual locales and specifc The Commission will provide the much needed times but never mapped and correlated with institutional capability for synthesizing a multitude other measurements at regional and national of data sources to provide timely information scales over a longer time horizon. Such and analysis for decision-making, management, approaches meet the immediate compliance planning, enforcement, policy, and regulation needs of an agency with little orientation dealing with fresh water protection issues. It was

JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION UCOWR 32 Rajagopal clearly demonstrated that under the present system private organizations. Such reports should of governance with many independent federal and be based on all the data relevant to the topic state agencies and a myriad of laws, such a capability of concern, available to the Commission. doesn’t exist. The proposed Commission will not It should provide analyses of spatial and spring into existence by itself. Over the next two temporal patterns, statistical tabulations, decades, the Commission must be consciously interpretations, potential population expo- designed, developed, nurtured, evaluated, and sures, plausible hypotheses, and a section modifed – with the full participation of state and describing the limitations based on the federal elected representatives, agency offcials, quality of available data. Almost every major academics, non‑proft organizations, public offce of the federal and state government citizens, and private sector participants. can beneft by seeking custom-made briefng The Commission should have the following reports on a topic of their current concern. responsibilities: In short, this service can be viewed as the 1. Actively promote the development of provision of fresh water intelligence based on institutional capabilities. In particular, the synthetic processing and interpretation of it should enable regulatory, research, existing data. management, and academic communities to 5. Acquire data on water from a variety of rapidly access, process, analyze, and use data public and private sources and maintain a from multiple sources for the study, analysis, data library. It should be able to prepare and protection of fresh water. customized data-products (extractions from 2. Produce a biannual report describing the the available library) for a variety of users. quality of fresh water in the U.S. with specifc Many researchers of government and action plans for protecting and enhancing state-sponsored projects, contractors, public the quality of fresh water resources. The interest organizations, and foundations Commission should not duplicate similar can beneft immensely from this activity. reports on the nation’s water quantity and Such a service will lead to enormous dollar selected water quality parameters that are savings by utilizing existing data, avoiding routinely produced by the U. S. Geological the collection of data that already exist, and Survey, and the U. S. Environmental providing user-friendly integration services Protection Agency. Such reports will serve to water professionals. This service alone a useful role by keeping the nation’s citizens would be of enormous value to the nation. and elected offcials informed about the status Based on available data sets and inquiries of water quality conditions in their districts, for custom-made tapes and briefng reports, regions, states, and the nation. the Commission will be able to identify gaps in existing data gathering efforts of 3. Develop and disseminate a variety of templates agencies. It will be able to identify areas of and case studies (recipes) of carefully potential linkages for the combined use of planned, quality assured, and integrated data water quality and quantity, socioeconomic, from diverse sources for use in managerial, land-use, population, public health, and planning, regulatory, and administrative perception data. reforms. Templates that already exist for regional and national assessments, forecasting, 6. The Commission should promote the site planning, impact assessments, resource development of management information allocation and research designs should be processing and synthesizing capability at adapted, developed, and disseminated within the state level through regularly organized the water resources community. workshops describing the capabilities and services available at the Commission. 4. Prepare custom-made briefng reports on a variety of topics of current concern to the 7. The Commission should have a funding public, elected offcials, interest groups, and of about $ 20 million per year with a staff

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of about 100 professionals drawn from Acknowledgments various existing agencies such as the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, U. S. The content of this paper is the result of research Geological Survey, National Oceanic and and cooperative grant activities sponsored by many Atmospheric Administration, U. S. Army government, private, and university entities over Corps of Engineers, and Agency for Toxic the last 25 years to the author and his colleagues Substances and Registry. and students at the University of Iowa. The fndings and recommendations offered here are the authors’ Limitations of the Commission own and do not necessarily refect the views of the sponsoring/supporting organizations; therefore no The Commission should not: offcial endorsement should be inferred on their 1. Directly participate in the collection of any part. We sincerely appreciate several valuable new data; comments provided by the anonymous reviewers 2. Directly participate in the conduct of any to the journal. basic environmental research; or 3. Be directly involved in the development Author Bio and Contact Information of any new data bases, new software, or R. Rajagopal is a professor in geography at the new analytical methods, except for the University of Iowa. His teaching/research interests are development of minor integrative tools in water quality monitoring and public policy. He has necessary for implementing the proposed supervised to completion the theses/dissertations of over missions. 60 master’s and Ph.D. students. He has organized over 100 workshops/seminars on environmental science, Proposals similar to the above Commission for technology, and policy; ground water protection; a National Center for Environmental Information information systems; and innovation to over 3,000 people and/or a National Bureau of Environmental in academe, government, non-profts and industry. He Statistics were made by me and a few others is the founding editor of the journal “Environmental over the last two decades. Such proposals have Practice” (formerly “The Environmental Professional”) languished in Congress and the Administration published by the Oxford University Press. He received a and have not been implemented due to so-called Ph.D. in Environmental Management Systems from the political gridlock. Again, my observations echo University of Michigan in 1974. He can be contacted at [email protected]. the sentiment that “War is too important to be left to the generals and government too vital to References be left to politicians” (Goulet 1991). In a similar vein, I conclude that fresh water protection is too Bradley, A., C. Peters-Lidard, B. R. Nelson, J. A. Smith, important to be left to politicians or a specialized and C. B. Young. 2002. Raingage Network Design but highly fragmented bureaucracy. If a National Using NEXRAD Precipitation Estimates. J of AWRA Commission on Fresh Water with the above stated 38(5): 1393–1407. goals cannot be initiated within a period of next 3-5 Brands, E. and R. Rajagopal. 2008a. Economics of place- years with government sponsorship, I recommend based monitoring under the safe drinking water act, that concerned citizens and professionals take part I: spatial and temporal patterns of contaminants, the trouble to get better informed and organize and design of screening strategies. Environ Monit such a Commission with the support of private Assess 143:75–89. foundations and non-proft organizations. It is extremely important to get such a Commission Brands, E. and R. Rajagopal. 2008b. Economics of place-based monitoring under the safe drinking organized so that many of the previously stated water act, part II: Design and development of place- research agenda on water for the next 20 years can based monitoring strategies. Environ Monit Assess materialize. 143:91–102. Brands, E. and R. Rajagopal. 2008c. Economics of place-based monitoring under the safe drinking

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water act, part III: performance evaluation of place- Northeast Midwest Institute. 2008. http://www.nemw.org/ based monitoring strategies. Environ Monit Assess water.htm. 143:103–120. Patel, N. and I. Sethi. 2007. Multimedia data Mining: Carlin, A., Scodari, P. F. and D. H. Garner. 1992. An Overview. Chapter 2. In: Petrushin, Valery A.; Environmental Investments: The Cost of Cleaning Up. Khan, Latifur (Eds.). Multimedia Data Mining and Environment 34(2): 12-44. Knowledge Discovery. Springer. Center for Sustainable Watersheds. 2008. http://www. Portney, P. R. 1988. A Bureau of Environmental Statistics. waterconnect.ca/view_resource.php?id=79 Resources 90 (Winter): 12-15. Colaceci, F., C. Lombardo, R. Minciardi, and R. Sacile. Rajagopal, R. 1987. Integrated and Multiple Use of 2008. Filling the Information Gap Between Water Environmental Data. (Unpublished, Internal Report). Systems and Decision Makers in the Sustainable Environmental Monitoring Systems Laboratory. US Development of a Territory. In; P. Meire et al. EPA, Las Vegas, NV. (eds.), Integrated Water Management: Practical Experiences and Case Studies 11-21. Springer Rajagopal, R. and L. R. Williams. 1989. Economics Netherlands. of Sample Compositing as a Screening Tool in Ground-Water Quality Monitoring. Ground Water Emerson, C. and R. Rajagopal. 2003. Measuring Monitoring Review 9(1): 186-192. Toxic Emissions from Landflls Using Sequential Screening, Computers, Environment, and Urban Rajagopal, R. 1990. Economics of screening in the Systems 28(2004): 265-284. detection of organics in ground water. Chemometrics and Intelligent Laboratory Systems 9: 261-272. Goulet, D. 1991. Interdisciplinary Knowledge and the Quest for Wisdom. Research and Exploration 7(2): Rajagopal R. and P. C. Li. 1991. Comparison of Two 131-132. Screening Methods for the Detection of VOCs in Ground Water. Journal of Chemometrics 5(3): 321- Kuchibhatla, R. and R. Rajagopal. 1995. A Comparative 331. Analysis of Water Quality Sampling Decisions in Aquifers. The Environmental Professional. 17(4): Rajagopal, R., U. Natarajan, and J. Wacker. 1992a. 316-330. Information Integration for Environmental Monitoring and Assessment: An Annotated Bibliography. The Kumar, D. and O. P. Singh. 2005. Virtual Water in Global Environmental Professional 14(2): 151-177. Food and Water Policy Making: Is There a Need for Rethinking? Water Resources Management. 19: Rajagopal, R., D. Osterberg, F. L. Ogden, U. Natarajan, 759–789. C. Emerson, and W. Krajewski. 1992b. Water Resources of the United States: Problems, Risk Loucks, O., H. Stone, and B. Kahn. 2006. Scaling Perceptions, and Priorities. A Report Submitted to and Uncertainty in Region-wide Water Quality the National Geographic Society. 254 pp. Decision-Making. Chapter 17, In: Wu et al. Scaling and Uncertainty Analysis in Ecology. Springer Rejman, W. 2007. EU Water Framework Directive Netherlands. Natarajan, U. and R. Rajagopal. 1994. versus Real Needs of Groundwater Management. Economics of Screening for Pesticides in Ground Water Resour Manage 21: 1363–1372. Water. Water Resources Bulletin. 30(4):579-588. Sophocleous, M. 2004. Global and Regional Water National Research Council (U. S.). 2005. Flash food Availability and Demand: Prospects for the Future. forecasting over complex terrain: with an assessment Natural Resources Research 13 (2): 61-74. of the Sulphur Mountain NEXRAD in Southern Statistics Canada. 2008. http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/11- California. Committee to Assess NEXRAD Flash 526-x/2007001/5100137-eng.htm. Flood Forecasting Capabilities at Sulphur Mountain, California. Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board. 2009. Climate. Published by National Academies Press, http://www.tsswcb.state.tx.us/en/quality. 191 pages. USDA. 2009. http://www.usawaterquality.org/themes/ National Water Quality Monitoring Council. 2009. http:// watershed/research/monitoring.html. acwi.gov/monitoring/. US Environmental Protection Agency. 1988. (Principal

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Author, R. Rajagopal, Visiting Scientist). Proposal to Create the Offce of Environmental Statistics and Assessment. Unpublished (Internal Report). Environmental Monitoring Systems Laboratory. Offce of Research and Development, U.S. EPA, Las Vegas. NV. US Environmental Protection Agency 2009. http://www. epa.gov/storet/. US Geological Survey 2009. http://water.usgs.gov/ Vardon, M. and R. Martinez (Conveners). 2009. Data Integration and Dissemination: From Data to Information. A Session at the 5th World Water Forum. (3/20/2009). United Nations Statistics Division. Available at: http://portal.worldwaterforum5.org/ wwf5/en-us/Lists/Session%20summary%20templat e/DispForm_NewVersion.aspx?List=8ae82443%2D b064%2D4e33%2D88b5%2Da5629d611ab5&ID=2 4. Wallis, J. R., D. P. Lettenmaier, and E. F. Wood. 1991. A Daily Hydroclimatalogical Dataset for the Continental United States, Water Resources Research 27(7): 1657-1664. Yatheendradas, S., T. Wagener, H. Gupta, C. L. Unkrich, D. C.Goodrich, M. Schaffner, A. Stewart. 2008. Understanding uncertainty in distributed fash food forecasting for semiarid regions. Water Resources Research 44, W05S19, doi:10.1029/ 2007WR005940. Zimmerman, A. 2007. Not by metadata alone: the use of diverse forms of knowledge to locate data for reuse. Int J Digit Libr 7:5-16.

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UNIVERSITIES COUNCIL ON WATER RESOURCES JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION ISSUE 142, PAGES 36-41, AUGUST 2009 Water for Agriculture: Global Change and Geographic Perspectives on Research Challenges for the Future

John Harrington, Jr.

Department of Geography, Kansas State University, Manhattan

n writing about the future of humanity on that research designs “should explicitly refect the Earth, E. O. Wilson (2002) used the metaphor four themes of interdisciplinarity, broad systems Iof a “bottleneck” to characterize the current context, uncertainty, and adaptation” (Vaux, Jr. et and forthcoming period of tremendous human al. 2004: 6). demand on planetary resources. The combination Recognizing that humans are greatly modifying of continuing growth in global population, the the global water system the Global Environmental associated demand for food and fber, and a Change Programmes established an international relatively fxed water resource base results in a effort that 1) informs policy but is driven by number of grand challenges that will be part of science, 2) is global in scope, 3) is interdisciplinary the hydro-social research landscape for the next and integrative, and 4) addresses multiple time 20 years (Graedel et al. 2001, Myers et al. 2007, scales (Vörösmarty et al. 2004). The three framing Robertson and Swinton 2005). Complexity of these questions regarding the global water system coupled human-environment problems (Liu et al. address the relative size of both anthropogenic and 2007) and uncertainty in human understanding and environmental changes, linkages and feedbacks responses to our transition into and through the that materialize due to changes in the global bottleneck provide many opportunities for scholars water system, and resilience and adaptability of to contribute relevant information on our adapting management strategies. An ecosystem services journey toward planetary sustainability (Frieman approach to address fresh water resource issues et al. 1999). provided a perspective for suggesting twelve Research questions from earth system science, priorities for updating water policies for the 21st human-environment, and spatial perspectives Century (Postel 2005). In addition, Wilbanks and that address uncertainties regarding future water Kates (1998) have indicated that investigation of availability, water quality, and how we will make the local expressions of global change is a key use of water resources, are needed to help the world contribution that geographers can make. This community fnd a way to support our growing paper provides an articulation of research priorities planetary population. In the 2001 Envisioning that address water and agriculture for the next two report, the Water Science and Technology Board decades, based primarily on a perspective that of the National Academies of Sciences identifed is informed by aspects of human dimensions of 43 research issues (Table 1) among the three broad global change and geographic thought. categories of water availability, water use, and water institutions, with some issues specifc to Water for Agriculture on a Changing the agricultural enterprise (Vaux, Jr. et al. 2001). Planet A subsequent National Academies of Sciences Agriculture is by far the largest category of human assessment, discussing the role of research in use of available water resources. The 3,500 cubic addressing national water problems, indicated kilometers of fresh water fows used by agriculture

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Table 1. Research issues identifed in the 2001 ‘Envisioning’ report from the US National Academies of Science (Vaux, Jr. et al. 2001). Water Availability • Develop new and innovative supply-enhancing technologies • Improve existing supply-enhancing technologies such as wastewater treatment, desalting, and groundwater banking • Increase safety of wastewater treated for reuse as drinking water • Develop innovative techniques for preventing pollution • Understand physical, chemical, and microbial contaminant fate and transport • Control nonpoint source pollution • Understand impact of land-use changes and best management practices on pollutant loading to waters • Understand impact of contaminants on ecosystem services, biotic indices, and higher organisms • Understand assimilation capacity of the environment and time course of recovery following contamination • Improve integrity of drinking water distribution systems • Improve scientifc bases for risk assessment and risk management with regard to water quality • Understand national hydrologic measurement needs and develop a program that will provide these measurements • Develop new techniques for measuring water fows and water quality, including remote sensing and in situ techniques • Develop data collection and distribution in near real time for improved forecasting and water resources operations • Improve forecasting the hydrologic cycle over a range of time scales and on a regional basis • Understand and predict the frequency and cause of severe weather (foods and droughts) • Understand recent increases in damage from foods and droughts • Understand global change and its hydrologic impacts Water Use • Understand determinants of water use in the agricultural, domestic, commercial, public, and industrial sectors • Understand relationship of agricultural water use to climate, crop type, and water application rates • Develop improved crops for more effcient water use and optimize the economic return for the water used • Develop improved crop varieties for use in dryland agriculture • Understand water-related aspects of the sustainability of irrigated agriculture • Understand behavior of aquatic ecosystems in a broad, systematic context, including their water requirements • Enhance and restore species diversity in aquatic ecosystems • Improve manipulation of water-quality parameters to maintain and enhance aquatic habitats • Understand interrelationship between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems to support watershed management. Water Institutions • Develop legal regimes that promote ground water management and conjunctive use of surface and ground water • Understand issues related to the governance of water where it has common pool and public good attributes • Understand uncertainties attending to Native American water rights and other federal reserved rights • Improve equity in existing water management laws • Conduct comparative studies of water laws and institutions • Develop adaptive management • Develop new methods for estimating the value of non-marketed attributes of water resources • Understand use of economic institutions to protect common pool and pure public good values related to water resources • Develop effcient markets and market-like arrangements for water • Understand role of prices, pricing structures, and the price elasticity of water demand • Understand role of the private sector in achieving effcient provision of water and waste water services • Understand key factors that affect water-related risk communication and decision processes • Understand user-organized institutions for water distribution, such as cooperatives, special districts, and mutual companies • Develop different processes for obtaining stakeholder input in forming water policies and plans • Understand cultural and ethical factors associated with water use • Conduct ex post research to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of past water policies and projects

JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION UCOWR 38 Harrington represent 70 percent of global water withdrawals for there are likely to be eight billion human residents human use each year (Holdren 2008). According sometime in the third decade of this century. This to Postel and Vickers (2004), withdrawals of fresh increase in global population is forecast to occur water fows for agriculture can reach 90 percent mostly in the less-wealthy countries with fewer in many developing countries. Agriculture is by fnancial and/or natural resources. It has been far the largest consumer of available fresh water; suggested that we have “progressed” into a no it is estimated that water consumed in agricultural analog world (Mily et al. 2008); a world that has activities exceeds 90 percent globally (Food and never experienced the types, rates, magnitudes, Agricultural Organization 2002). Unfortunately, and scales of environmental change that the planet temporal and spatial variations in the climatically- is currently experiencing. driven delivery of water and the current status of There is considerable concern about water the human response to these characteristics of the scarcity and water and food security issues. hydrologic cycle have 2.4 billion people living in Rosegrant et al. (2003) identify a formidable “highly water-stressed areas” (Oki and Kanae 2006: challenge in meeting the demand for the world’s 1069). According to Jury and Vaux, Jr. (2005: increasingly scarce water supply and suggest that 15715), agricultural water use is not sustainable rainfed agriculture is key to meeting future needs in many areas, “production may soon be limited for sustainable development of water and food. by water availability,” and market forces will Postel (2000) noted that we are entering an era of likely result in a reallocation of water away from water scarcity and proposed an effort to double agricultural uses. productivity from water resources and reserve water Humans now dominate Earth system functioning for ecosystems; she suggested that accomplishing and global change. We have entered a new geologic these goals will be “one of the most diffcult and epoch, the Anthropocene (Crutzen and Stoermer important challenges of the 21st century” (Postel 2000, Zalasiewicz et al. 2008). And Steffan et 2000: 946). According to Tilman et al. (2001: al. (2004) suggest that we have domesticated the 284), “If global population stabilizes at 8.5 to 10 planet. Human domination of Earth ecosystems billion people, the next 50 years may be the fnal (Vitousek et al. 1997) is driven by the need for episode of rapid global agricultural expansion.” land to produce the food and fber consumed by By extending the linear trends from the second half 6.7 billion inhabitants. “Together, cropland and of the 20th Century, these authors noted that global pastures have become one of the largest terrestrial irrigated area, an indicator of agricultural water biomes on the planet, rivaling forest cover in extent demand, is forecast to be 1.3 times the current and occupying ~ 40% of the land surface” (Foley irrigated area in 2020, and 1.9 times as extensive et al. 2005). Human population grew rapidly in 2050 (Tilman et al. 2001). Although there are during the 2nd half of the 20th Century and a Green methods to increase water use effciency, such as Revolution in food provision, which resulted from drip irrigation, crop breeding, and improving soil agricultural intensifcation, meant that the volume structure with manure additions, applications of of food available was able to keep pace with such approaches vary. Tilman et al. (2002) noted growing human demand. Increased production per that investment in technologies to improve water hectare was a result of a mix of activities, including use effciencies “is best facilitated when water is new crop varieties, irrigation, synthetic fertilizer, valued and price appropriately” (p. 674). herbicides and pesticides, increased mechanization, and new and better use of information. Accumulating Wealth and Changing As our global population and food demand Diets – both total and, potentially, per capita – continue to grow during the next two decades, there will be Social drivers of change in food demand from a signifcant need for additional food provision. agriculture include not only the number of humans That need for more calories and protein will (future population growth) but also changes in require both more water and improved effciency diet. Recent trends in protein sources for rapidly in agricultural water use. While forecasts vary, developing economies suggest that as humans

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Table 2. Research questions in water for agriculture for the next twenty years. 1. As we enter ‘the bottleneck’ with more people and fxed resources, how will we manage water to meet the global demand for food and fber? 2. Will there be an expansion of rain-fed cropland? 3. Can we expand agriculture activities without loss of habitats, ecosystem services, and biodiversity? 4. Is the nature of local agriculture intensifcation a result of expanded irrigation and/or increased effciency? 5. Are engineered systems changing from leaky to looped? 6. Are there impacts on the local hydrologic cycle? 7. Are local diets changing and, if so, what is the impact on water use effciency? 8. Are inequities in local water availability resulting in fewer calories per person, less meat consumption, etc.? 9. Will global cooperation be able to provide a second “Green Revolution” and avoid major famine? 10. How are the changes in agricultural water use impacting water quality? 11. Has a sustainable pathway been found or is the local resource base being degraded? 12. Is soil quality being maintained or improved? 13. Are fnite (fossil) ground water reserves being depleted? 14. How well are soft-path approaches to water resource management working? 15. Are local actions sustainable and do they assist with a global solution? 16. What pathway to change are we on? And, is that pathway adaptable? accumulate fnancial resources, they tend to change agriculture and water that are forecast for the next their diets to include sources of protein that require two decades (Table 2) inspires a number of research more water to produce (Myers and Kent 2003). questions that address the multiple and complex Meat-based diets require much larger volumes factors that comprise the human dimensions of of water per available calorie. Given limits on global change. Land change science concerns available cropland, agricultural yield growth is a suggest the importance of topics related to changes very important need if we are to meet food and in the location and amount of land allocated for fber demands without major investments in new specifc uses and how changing social drivers agricultural lands. While an increase of 14 percent will impact local decisions regarding land used in global cropland is forecast by 2050 (Balmford for agricultural production. Another factor will et al. 2005), concerns exist regarding both where be whether or not ideas from industrial ecology these new lands will be found and the loss of prime will help us with improving water use effciency, agricultural land around rapidly expanding urban especially in regards to irrigated agriculture. Ideas areas. It will be important to monitor and quantify from the ongoing dialog in sustainability science these changes at varying spatial scales during the and ecosystem services can inform questions that next two decades. Agricultural intensifcation, address how our demand for water will impact whether through increasing the number of crops the resource base, the character of local solutions, grown per year (double or triple cropping) or how cultures identify with and address the need to through increased Green Revolution technology, move toward protein sources that require less water will be very important in efforts to avoid famine (or to reduce protein intake from what currently (Turner II and Ali 1996). In western Kansas, appears to be desired levels), and whether or not the use of increasingly more effcient irrigation sustainable and adaptable pathways are being technology exemplifed the Green Revolution followed. Contemporary dialogs that include and has delayed the transition toward a return to local food networks, organic agriculture, political an economy based on grazing large herbivores ecology, and social inequity provide alternative (or the so-called “Buffalo Commons” (Popper lenses with which to view the ongoing changes and Popper 1987)), but there are local issues with in water and agriculture that will occur during irrigation return fows and declines in water quality the next twenty years. A spatial perspective will (Harrington and Harrington 2005). allow researchers to address how all of these issues Research Questions arrange themselves in a complex confguration of places, cultures, and resource availability. Thinking about the challenges and changes for This essay has attempted to bring together much

JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION UCOWR 40 Harrington of what has been written about the subject of water Foley, J. A., R. DeFries, G. P. Asner, C. Barford, G. and agriculture futures and issues for the coming Bonan, S. R. Carpenter, F. S. Chapin, M. T. Coe, G. decades. Water availability for agriculture presents C. Daily, H. K. Gibbs, J. H. Helkowski, T. Holloway, considerable challenges and provides numerous E. A. Howard, C. J. Kucharik, C. Monfreda, J.A. areas for questioning that can be addressed by Patz, I. C. Prentice, N. Ramankutty, and P. K. Snyder. 2005. Global Consequences of Land Use. Science scholars from many different perspectives. Given 309: 570-574. the complexities of our coupled human-environment system and the uncertainties in how humans and Food and Agricultural Organization. 2002. Crops and their institutions will react to the concerns that have Drops: Making the best use of water for agriculture. been identifed, Table 2 identifes a sample of the Food and Agricultural Organization, Rome, 23 pp. types of questions about water and agriculture that Frieman, E. A., R.W. Kates, L. Arizpe, J. Bongaarts, can be addressed as our global community passes R. J. Cicerone, W. C. Clark, R. A. Frosch, M. into the bottleneck. Gillis, R. R. Harwood, P. J. Landrigan, K. N. Lee, J. D. Mahlman, R. J. Mahoney, P. A. Matson, W. Acknowledgements J. Merrell, G.W. Miller, M. G. Morgan, P. Raskin, J. B. Robinson, V. W. Ruttan, T. C. Schelling, M. Interested and concerned students in my H. Wake, W. Washington, and M. G. Wolman. Human Dimensions of Global Change classes at 1999. Our Common Journey. Board on Sustainable Kansas State helped provided inspiration for me Development, National Research Council, National to stay informed on this subject. I also appreciate Academy Press, Washington, D.C. 363 pp. the intellectual stimulation and challenges from colleagues on the HERO and Ecological Graedel, T. E., A. Alldredge, E. Barron, M. Davis, C. Field, B. Fischhoff, R. Frosch, S. Gorelick, E. A. Forecasting research projects that were funded by Holland, D. Krewski, R.J. Naiman, E. Ostrom, the National Science Foundation. M. Rosenzweig, V.W. Ruttan, E. K. Silbergeld, E. Author Bio and Contact Information Stolper, and B. L. Turner II. 2001. Grand Challenges in Environmental Sciences. Committee on Grand John Harrington, Jr. is Professor of Geography at Challenges in Environmental Sciences, National Kansas State University and Coordinator of the Kansas Research Council, National Academy Press, Geographic Alliance. His current research and teaching Washington, D.C. 96 pp. interests involve global change, human dimensions of Harrington, L. M. B. and J. Harrington, Jr. 2005. When environmental change, climatic variability and change, Winning is Losing: Arkansas River interstate water and GIScience applications. Recent collaborative multi- management issues. Papers of Applied Geography university research activities include Global Change in Conferences 28: 46-51. Local Places (GCLP), the Human Environment Regional Observatory (HERO) effort, and Ecological Forecasting. Holdren, J. P. 2008. Science and Technology for Since 2005, Harrington has served as leader of human Sustainable Well-Being. Science 319: 424-434. dimensions research effort for the Konza Long-Term Ecological Research program. Dr. Harrington may Jury, W. A. and H. Vaux, Jr. 2005. The role of science be contacted at Department of Geography, 118 Seaton in solving the world’s emerging water problems. Hall, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506; Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 785 532-3405; [email protected]. 102(44): 15715-15720. References Liu, J., T. Dietz, S.R. Carpenter, M. Alberti, C. Folke, E. Moran, A. N. Pell, P. Deadman, T. Kratz, J. Lubchenco, E. Ostrom, Z. Ouyang, W. Provencher, Balmford, A., R. E. Green, and J. P. W. Scharlemann. C. L. Redman, S. H. Schneider, and W. W. Taylor. 2005. Sparing land for nature: exploring the potential 2007. Complexity of Coupled Human and Natural impact of changes in agricultural yield on the area Systems. Science 317: 1513-1516. needed for crop production. Global Change Biology 11:1594-1605. Mily, P. C. D. J. Betancourt, M. Falkenmark, R. M. Hirsch, Z. W. Kundzewicz, D. P. Lettenmaier, and R. Crutzen, P. J. and E. F. Stoermer. 2000. The J. Stouffer. 2008. Stationarity is Dead: Wither Water ‘Anthropocene’. Global Change Newsletter 41:17-18. Management. Science 319: 573-574.

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Myers, M. D. M. A. Ayers, J. S. Baron, P. R. Beauchemin, Turner II, B. L. and A. M. S. Ali. 1996. Induced K. T. Gallagher, M. B. Goldhaber, D. R. Hutchinson, intensifcation: Agricultural change in Bangladesh J. W. LaBaugh, R. G. Sayre, S. E. Schwarzbach, E. with implications for Malthus and Boserup. S. Schweig, J. Thormodsgard, C. van Riper III, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences W. Wilde. 2007. Sustainability: USGS Goals for the 93: 14984-14991. Coming Decade. Science 318: 200-201. Vaux, Jr., H. J., R. G. Luthy, C. A. Johnston, R. M. Myers, N. and J. Kent. 2003. New Consumers: Allen-King, G. B. Baecher, J. S. Boyer, J. Briscoe, The infuence of affuence on the environment. D. D. Fort, E. Foufoula-Georgiou, S. P. Gloss, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences W. A. Jury, G. S. Logsdon, D. M. Mcknight, J. W. 100(8): 4963-4968. Morris, P. A. Palmer, R. T. Parkin, R. H. Platt, J. B. Rose, J. L. Schnoor, R. R. Trussell, and E. F. Wood. Oki, T. and S. Kanae. 2006. Global Hydrological Cycles 2001. Envisioning the Agenda for Water Resources and World Water Resources. Science 313: 1068- Research in the Twenty-First Century. Water Science 1072. and Technology Board, National Research Council, Popper, D. E. and F. J. Popper. 1987. The Great Plains: National Academy Press, Washington, D.C. 70 pp. From Dust to Dust. Planning 53(6): 12-18. Vaux, Jr., H. J., J. D. Allan, J. Crook, J. G. Ehrenfeld, K. Postel, S. L. 2000. Entering an Era of Water Scarcity: P. Georgakakos, D. S. Knopman, G. R. Hallberg, L. The Challenges Ahead. Ecological Applications J. MacDonnell, T. K. MacVicar, R. T. Parkin, R. K. 10(4): 941-948. Patterson, F. W. Schwartz, and A. K. Zander. 2004. Confronting the Nation’s Water Problems: The Role Postel, S. L. 2005. Liquid Assets: The Critical Need to of Research. Committee on Assessment of Water Safeguard Freshwater Resources. Worldwatch Paper Resources, National Research Council, National 170, Worldwatch Institute, Washington, D.C., 78 pp. Academy Press, Washington, D.C. 324 pp. Postel, S. and A. Vickers. 2004. Bosting Water Vitousek, P. M., H. A. Mooney, J. Lubchenco, and J. Productivity. Pages 46-65 in L. Starke (ed.) State of M. Melillo. 1997. Human domination of earth’s the World 2004. Worldwatch Institute, Washington, ecosystems. Science 277: 494-499. D.C. Vörösmarty, C. J., P. Green, J. Salisbury, and R. Robertson, G. P. and S. M. Swinton. 2005. Reconciling B. Lammers. 2004. Global Water Resources: agricultural productivity and environmental integrity: Vulnerability from Climate Change and Population A grand challenge for agriculture. Frontiers in Growth. Science 289: 284-288. Ecology and the Environment 3(1): 38 – 46. Wilbanks, T. J. and R. W. Kates. 1998. Global Change Rosegrant, M.W., X. Cai, and S.A. Cline. 2003. Will in Local Places. Climatic Change 43(3): 601-628. the world run dry? Global water and food security. Environment 45(7): 24-36. Wilson, E. O. 2002. The Bottleneck. Scientifc American 286(2): 82-91. Steffan, W., A. Sanderson, J. Jäger, P.D. Tyson, B. Moore III, P.A. Matson, K. Richardson, F. Oldfeld, Zalasiewicz, J., M. Williams, A. Smith, T. L. Barry, A. H.-J. Schellnhuber, B.L. Turner II, and R.J. Wasson. L. Coe, P. R. Bown, P. Brenchley, D. Cantrill, A. 2004. Global Change and the Earth System: A Planet Gale, P. Gibbard, F. J. Gregory, M. W. Hounslow, A. Under Pressure. Springer-Verlag, New York, NY, C. Kerr, P. Pearson, R. Knox, J. Powell, C. Waters, J. 336 pp. Marshall, M. Oates, P. Rawson, and P. Stone. 2008. Are we now living in the Anthropocene? GSA Today Tilman, D., J. Fargione, B. Wolff, C. D’Antonio, A. 18(2): 4-7. Dobson, R. Howarth, D. Schindler, W.H. Schlesinger, D. Simberloff, and D. Swackhamer. 2001. Forecasting agriculturally driven global environmental change. Science 292: 281-284. Tilman, D., K.G. Cassman, P.A. Matson, R. Naylor and S. Polasky. 2002. Agricultural sustainability and intensive production practices. Nature 418: 671- 677.

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UNIVERSITIES COUNCIL ON WATER RESOURCES JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION ISSUE 142, PAGES 42-45, AUGUST 2009 Emerging Issues and Challenges: Natural Hazards

Burrell Montz

Professor and Chair of Geography, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC

loods and droughts present signifcant over the medium to longer terms. In the face of challenges to societies throughout the world. climate change, we need additional information, FWe grapple with ways to manage the events refned models, and improved dissemination of and our use of the land that is affected by both the knowledge. events and the management methods. Even as we We require data collection and analysis by have gained more knowledge, losses continue to physical scientists addressing such issues as hydro- escalate (Weichselgartner and Obersteiner 2002, climatology and impacts of intensifed events on White et al. 2001). Indeed the impacts of disasters physical systems. Such analyses will enhance continue to increase worldwide, with more people detection of trends at various spatial scales and affected by foods and droughts than any other development of relevant databases to foster category of natural hazard events (International monitoring, understanding, and communication. Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies This research is critical to social scientists and 2007). With a global annual average of 162 foods policy makers who need information on where and 32 droughts between 2000 and 2005, more changes and their related impacts are likely to than 100 million people worldwide were affected be felt and how much change can be anticipated. by these events, with droughts having a wider Indeed, one of the diffculties in fostering policy reach with respect to numbers whose lives were and behavioral changes to address climate change adversely impacted (Center for Research on the is communicating the nature and magnitude of Epidemiology of Disasters 2006). If we are going its potential impacts at a location while at the to reduce losses, the future research agenda of water same time acknowledging inherent uncertainties resources geographers must address the issues that (Moser and Dilling 2007). Even if we can refne will infuence both the occurrence of and response models of climate change to provide more to such events. These are discussed below. reliable predictions both spatially and temporally, mitigation, adaptation, or other changes do not Climate Change necessarily follow unless the political will exists The most important concern is global climate to do something. Having information does not change. There is little doubt among most scientists necessarily lead to policy decisions or behavior that climate change is real and that it will infuence changes. Thus, an area ripe for interdisciplinary the characteristics of weather-related events research is development of a framework in which (Hoppe and Pielke 2006), including their location, those who make decisions can use the information frequency, duration, and intensity. Despite this provided by the scientifc community. convergence of agreement, it remains diffcult to Vulnerability attribute changes in events, however measured, to climate change, which, in turn, complicates It has been well recognized that losses to foods prediction, warning, and preparedness. We know and droughts, as well as other natural hazards, where foods and droughts occur now, even if we cannot be attributed solely or even principally to have diffculty predicting exact timing and intensity the geo-physical events themselves. People live at

UCOWR JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION Emerging Issues and Challenges: Natural Hazards 43 risk, many because they have little or no choice at large, with an eye to infuencing policy. While (Wisner et al. 2004). Indeed, in many places, those research has shown rather clearly why people live with the fewest resources are relegated to the most at risk, the complexities and scope of food and hazardous areas – the foodplains, low-lying areas, drought management, which refect the complexities and marginal agricultural lands. As a result, any and scope of water resources management, have large geo-physical event is going to affect them made addressing the issue from a societal, rather signifcantly, and they are usually least able to than a hydrologic, perspective very diffcult. Yet, recover from a disaster. With increasing population, we need to get better at addressing both. particularly in less developed regions, the demand These complexities are confounded further by for land is also increasing, thus exacerbating the climate change. As climate changes, so will risk hazardous situation for those who are already zones – placing some people perhaps at less risk, but marginalized in a society. Further, the socio- many will be at greater risk. Signifcant attention economic and racial and ethnic characteristics of is required to address these issues. The literature people can lead to a situation of marginalization, is ripe with works pointing out the differential whether they live in a less developed or more effects of disasters, which have been important developed place. No matter what the location, to fostering greater understanding of these inter- marginalization exacerbates vulnerability. Many related concerns. Now is the time to turn our of these vulnerability issues have been examined focus to developing mechanisms that address the (Cutter et al. 2003, Downing and Bakker 2000, systemic processes that generate such conditions. Montz and Tobin 2003, Wisner et al. 2004), but Of course, we need to continue to examine who there has been a distinct failure to incorporate is vulnerable and to what, but we must also move fndings into mitigation practices. This is neither ahead and devote more resources to developing easily nor readily accomplished because it requires comprehensive strategies for mitigating hazard working with practitioners to develop approaches problems in the social, economic and political that can translate the needs found through research contexts in which they occur; one size does not ft all. into practices that can be implemented at the local or regional level. However, non-governmental Technology as Friend and Foe organizations and others have worked on such As our understanding of hazardousness approaches, and analyses of their success and and vulnerability has emerged, so too have failures may well provide a foundation upon which technologies such as remote sensing and progress can be made (see Jackson 1997 and Twigg geographical information systems (GIS) that allow 2004 for examples). us to understand better the interaction between At the same time, in other places, some people attributes of the physical environment and those of choose to live in hazardous areas because of the human environment (Tobin and Montz 2004). the amenities they offer. Indeed, water-based It is through the use of such technologies that the locations, whether riverine, creekside, or coastal, tracking of physical systems that generate extreme are frequently popular choices. Many times, events has improved, and predictions and warnings the residents have the resources to cope with a have become more accurate. Improvements in these disastrous event, but that is not universal. While technologies have facilitated more sophisticated they may have fnancial resources, other aspects of analyses at fner resolutions and precipitated more their situations, including their age, their mobility, complex modeling of large, dynamic systems, and, and their social networks, can contribute in major at the same time, have fostered communication of ways to their vulnerability (see Montz and Tobin this information to those who need it in a timely 2005 for an example). manner (Ryan 2003, Mileti and Peek 2002). In Addressing the factors that either force or addition, some improvements have been aimed allow people to put themselves at risk is critical at fostering greater access to both the technology to any research agenda on water-based hazards. and the data, thus leading to more widespread use This includes an analysis of the benefts and costs (Changnon 2004). We can expect that technologies (monetary and otherwise) to individuals and society and their applications will continue to advance on

JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION UCOWR 44 Montz all fronts. Particularly promising are applications situation presents a precarious situation, but also of geo-visualization techniques and the related offers an opportunity to rethink our approach to food ability to use scenarios as a means of modeling management, providing three options: (i) replacing anticipated outcomes under different conditions or repairing structures in kind; (ii) building them of uncertainty. It is incumbent upon geographers better than ever by raising design standards; or (iii) to be at the forefront of the development and implementing a comprehensive approach to food application of these technologies by testing management that takes a watershed scale vision to different approaches and drawing on what has been mitigation (Montz and Tobin 2008). The short and learned in other felds such as communications and long term impacts, both direct and indirect, of each computer modeling. of these options require careful analysis so we do Even while technology is helping us to not repeat problems of the past. Our past responses understand and respond to natural events, it also to drought merit the same consideration. continues to provide a false sense of security (Tobin 1995). In the United States and elsewhere, Summary there is a long history of relying on engineering Natural hazards research is steeped in uncertainty, solutions to mitigate disasters. Certainly for foods, with respect to both the physical and human dams, levees, foodwalls, and other structures have environments. Whether addressing too much or been remarkably successful in protecting food too little water, we are challenged with developing prone areas from food waters, up to their design politically palatable means of encouraging standards. We also have numerous examples comprehensive management strategies that of technological advances overcoming water incorporate the benefts of available technologies shortages. In both cases, however, the technology with practices and policies that address the risk may be effective in addressing the immediate that remains due to the design characteristics of the problem under current conditions, but conditions technology and because of uncertainties regarding will change over time. Further, with foods, when changing climatic and watershed conditions. As the the design level of the structure is surpassed or temporal and spatial variability of global climate when the integrity of the structure is compromised, change plays out, we need to direct available disastrous foods can and do occur. The Mississippi and emerging technologies to developing a more River foods in 1993 and 2008 and the experiences complete understanding of the physical processes in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and human conditions involved and to address are good examples. Yet, even after these events, those physical and socio-political factors that lead reliance on structures continues. In part this may to increased vulnerability. be due to the fact that technology helps us to avoid behavioral approaches, which are generally more Author Bio and Contact Information diffcult to employ. Nevertheless, accumulating evidence, since the work of White (1945) has clearly Burrell Montz is Professor and Chair of Geography at East Carolina University. She received her Ph.D. demonstrated the necessity of comprehensive from the University of Colorado in Boulder. Dr. Montz planning that incorporates both structural and non- has more than 25 years of experience with research structural adjustments if mitigation strategies are to in natural hazards. Her interests center on the social be fully successful. Future research, then, should science aspects of response and policy development. She center on post-audits of events to determine the has evaluated the effects and effectiveness of various underlying causes and direct and indirect impacts mitigation measures for fooding, including foodplain of losses, on the impacts of mitigation measures on designation, and more recently has focused on warning land use and disaster losses, and on success stories, systems and the fow and use of information by various as well as failures, that can foster understanding of levels of users. She can be contacted at montzb@ecu. the interactions at play. edu. An additional issue is that many food control structures built in the U.S. are reaching the end of their economic and/or engineering lives. Such a

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References Geografcky Casopis (Geographical Journal) of the Slovak Academy of Sciences 60 (1): 3-14. Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters. Moser, S. and L. Dilling (eds). 2007. Creating a Climate 2006. 2006 Disasters in Numbers. http://www.unisdr. for Change: Communicating Climate Change and org/eng/media-room/press-release/2007/2006- Facilitating Social Change. New York, Cambridge Disaster-in-number-CRED-ISDR.pdf . Last accessed University Press. 12 July 2007. Ryan, R. T. 2003. Digital Forecasts: Communication, Chagnon, D. 2004. Improving Outreach in Atmospheric Public Understanding, and Decision Making. Sciences: Assessment of Users of Climate Products. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 84(8): 1001-1003. 85(4): 601-606. Tobin, G. A. 1995. The Levee Love Affair: A Stormy Cutter, S., B. J. Boruff, and W. Shirley. 2003. Social Relationship. Water Resources Bulletin 31(3): 359- Vulnerability to Environmental Hazards. Social 367. Sciences Quarterly 84: 242-261. Tobin, G. A. and B. E. Montz. 2004. Natural Hazards Downing, T. E. and K. Bakker. 2000. Drought Discourse and Technology: Vulnerability, Risk and Community and Vulnerability, in D.A. Wilhite (ed), Drought: A Response in Hazardous Environments, in Brunn, Global Assessment, Oxford, UK, Routledge. S.D., S.L. Cutter, and J.W. Harrington, Jr., (eds.), Hoppe, P. and R. Pielke, R., Jr. (eds.). 2006. Workshop on Technoearth: Geography and Technology. Dordrecht, Climate Change and Disaster Losses: Understanding Netherlands, Kluwer Academic Publishers. and Attributing Trends and Projections. http:// Twigg, J. 2004. Disaster Risk Reduction: Mitigation sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/sparc/research/projects/ and Preparedness in Development and Emergency extreme_events/munich_workshop/. Programming. London, Humanitarian Practice International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Network. Societies. 2007. World Disaster Report 2007: Weichselgartner, J. and M. Obersteiner. 2002. Knowing Focus on Discrimination. Geneva, Switzerland, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Suffcient and Applying More: Challenges in Hazards Crescent Societies. Management. Environmental Hazards 4(2/3): 73-77. Jackson, B. 1997. Designing Projects and Project White, G. F. 1945. Human Adjustment to Floods: A Evaluations using the Logical Framework Approach. Geographical Approach to the Flood Problem in http://www.infra.kth.se/courses/1H1146/Files/ the United States. Research Paper No. 29. Chicago, logicalframeworkapproach.pdf. University of Chicago Press. Mileti, D. and L. Peek. 2002. Understanding Individual White, G. F., R. W. Kates, and I. Burton. 2001. Knowing and Social Characteristics in the Promotion of Better and Losing Even More: The Use of Knowledge Household Disaster Preparedness. In New Tools for in Hazard Management. Environmental Hazards Environmental Protection: Education, Information, 3(3/4): 81-92. and Voluntary Measures. Washington, D.C., National Academy of Sciences. Wisner, B., P. Blaikie, T. Cannon, and I. Davis. 2004. Montz, B. E. and G. A. Tobin. 2003. Hazardousness of At Risk: Natural Hazards, People’s Vulnerability and the Tampa Region: Evaluating Physical Risk and Disasters. New York, Routledge. Socio-economic Vulnerability. Papers of the Applied Geography Conferences 31: 380-388. Montz, B. E. and G. A. Tobin. 2005. Snowbirds and Senior Living Developments: An Analysis of Vulnerability Associated with Hurricane Charley. Quick Response Research Report 177. Boulder, CO, Natural Hazards Research and Applications Information Center. Montz, B. E. and G. A. Tobin. 2008. From False Sense of Security to Residual Risk: Communicating the Need for New Floodplain Development Models.

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UNIVERSITIES COUNCIL ON WATER RESOURCES JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION ISSUE 142, PAGES 46-51, AUGUST 2009 Integrated Policy and Planning for Water and Energy

Young-Doo Wang

Associate Director, Center for Energy and Environmental Policy; Professor, School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy, University of Delaware

e are faced with chronic water and to be an integrated one that exploits the synergies energy vulnerabilities. Some argue between the energy and water sectors. Synergic Wthat we will face two crises in the 21st benefts derived from water and energy integration century: a water crisis and an energy crisis (Brown are especially signifcant during droughts, which 1998, 2003, Flavin 1999, Feffer 2008). Water will are expected to intensify from global warming, become increasingly scarce as water tables drop which is, in turn, primarily the result of fossil fuel due to over-consumption and water quality will consumption. continue to deteriorate as a result of excessive The main challenge that these integrated policies contamination. Further, the present energy regime’s will have to address is to provide suffcient clean dependence on non-renewable sources has added fresh water while maintaining adequate energy considerable stress to the environment, including supplies to sustain healthy and secure societies the prospect of climate change (Intergovernmental and ecosystems. Following the U.S. Energy Panel on Climate Change 2007). We are amidst Policy Act of 2005, the Department of Energy’s a situation where we could be easily blamed for national laboratories and the Electric Power compromising the ability of future generations to Research Institute initiated a multi-year water- meet their needs. energy program, expected to cost $30 million This paper frst briefy describes a need for annually until 20091, encompassing research and understanding the integrated considerations of development and outreach. water and energy in resource planning, especially Although the inter-and intra-sectoral interaction during droughts. After introducing a conceptual between water and energy is much more framework of the water-energy integration, this complicated, Figure 1 presents the linkages in paper reviews the results of a national survey of a simplifed version. It is shown that water use energy and water departments to see how these affects primarily the generation and consumptive synergic benefts are explored at the state level. aspects of the energy sector, whereas, energy Lessons learned from our case studies serve as utilization impacts all aspects of the water useful guidelines for state water-energy planning sector. In California, around 19 percent of all and program development. Finally, as an example energy consumed is attributable to the collection, case of the water-energy nexus, the concept of extraction, conveyance, distribution, use, and desalination is introduced with its implication on treatment of water (House 2007). The production energy demand. of energy from fossil fuels and nuclear power is

4 inextricably linked to the availability of adequate Energy-Water Nexus: An E Framework and sustainable supplies of water for cooling. In Given the present context, there is a need for the U.S., thermoelectric power generation is one a greater understanding of energy-water linkages of the biggest users of water, accounting for 39 in order to develop more effective policies to percent (135 billion gallons per day) of total water address their mutual vulnerabilities. I envision withdrawals in 2001 (U.S. Department of Energy 2 that the approach to resolving the issue will have 2006). As a result of these linkages there is the potential for benefts to be accrued if an integrated

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Figure 1. A water-energy integrated framework. approach is implemented in the management of gains, especially during drought periods. both sectors. The effcient use of water and energy can result The integration of water and energy sector in lower utility bills for customers and bring other planning and management can have positive long term societal benefts as it can reduce or even impacts on the economy, environment, energy, eliminate the need for costly supply-side facilities and equity (E4). Water and energy conservation or waste water and sewage facilities (Featherstone improves the E4 balance, enhancing sustainability, 1996, U.S. EPA 1998, Wang et al. 2005), together particularly during drought events in urban areas with lowering the cost of management of droughts (Smith and Wang 2007, Wang et al. 2006). Many (Economy). The effcient use and reduced wastage of these benefts are interlinked and depend on of water will lower the amount of energy needed to the extent of the implementation of effciency supply water, in addition to a concurrent reduction improvements that are possible through integration. in pollution emissions from power plants (Wang et The framework in Figure 2 conceptualizes the al. 2006). benefts of integration from the perspective of E4 Conservation measures, as well as the effcient

Equity Energy/ Water

Economy Environment

Figure 2. Increased water-energy integration benefts during drought periods.

JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION UCOWR 48 Wang use of water will also beneft the environment as they not have any integrated energy-water programs, will reduce the need for withdrawal from surface and the remaining states did not respond, but a and ground water supplies, thereby increasing the rigorous search of the literature and state websites availability of surface and ground water supplies suggested that there were no integrated energy- for ecological functions and restricting salt water water programs in those states. Here resides a intrusion into coastal areas (Center for Energy and fertile place for future academic exploration. Environmental Policy 2001, U.S. Environmental Integration of water and energy is demonstrated Protection Agency 1999) (Environment). In the to enhance E4 aspects, but synergic benefts of the U.S., approximately 4 percent of all electricity integration are not fully explored at the state level consumed is used to deliver water and treat waste even with federal initiation. An important question water (House 2007). In California, water-related would be why they are not fully explored and energy use, including water pumping for irrigation, implemented. The three cases of California, New consumes 19 percent of the state’s electricity, 30 York, and Wisconsin provide some answers to the percent of its natural gas, and 88 billion gallons question in the three areas of information, planning of diesel fuel annually (House 2007). When and institutional coordination, and funding. users adopt water-effcient appliances, energy Impacts of effciency improvements and consumption is reduced in two ways: directly, by alternative technological developments in both the appliances themselves and indirectly as water water and energy production on the synergic utilities use less energy for surface and ground benefts need to be fully understood, especially in water withdrawal and waste water treatment and regards to drought events. This becomes all the discharge (Cohen et al. 2004, U.S. Environmental more important considering that the six hottest Protection Agency 1998). years on record have occurred in the last ten Conservation at the tailpipe end stage eliminates years (Goddard Institute for Space Studies 2007), all of the “upstream” energy required to bring the thus making us more prone to a vicious cycle of water to the point of end use, as well as all of the droughts or other natural calamities. The federal “downstream” energy that would otherwise be water-energy initiation needs to be tailored to meet spent to treat and dispose of this water (Cohen et the specifc needs of state. al. 2004) (Energy). Conserving water and energy Coordination within the state includes increases their availability, which makes it easier engagement between energy utilities and to optimize their allocation between competing water providers directed by the public service users (Wang et al. 2006), especially during commission, statewide public-private partnerships, droughts. Successful conservation efforts will and the combining of water and energy audits. reduce conficts over in-stream fow rights and Water-energy integrated programs can be funded competing uses of water, including down stream by public beneft charges. These are ancillary charges power generation sectors that are occurring with levied by an energy or water utility on its customers. increasing frequency (Vickers 2000) (Equity). Further examples of program specifcs include: National Survey and Lessons Learned 1. Information dissemination is a key tool for initiating integrated water-energy planning. A survey conducted by the Center for Energy By sponsoring workshops, undertaking and Environmental Policy (2007) across all the research, and developing websites, the state U.S. states’ energy and water departments found could begin the process of building public that only three states (California, New York, and interest in water-energy conservation. Wisconsin) had some kind of integrated water- Education of K-12 and college students energy programs (Wang et al. 2007). Nine states about integrated conservation of energy and had limited programs or were part of a regional water opportunities could be specifcally initiative focusing on the issue of water and energy developed. interactions (Alaska, Connecticut, Hawaii, Idaho, 2. A pilot program in California has been used Maine, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas and to evaluate the energy impacts of water Virginia). Eleven states responded that they did resources. It also analyzed water-energy

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savings in the commercial, institutional, and energy nexus is the desalination of brackish and industrial sectors, and evaluated the impact seawater sources. Desalination efforts are fueled of a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) on by growing concerns over increasingly expensive, water resources. States could also undertake unavailable, or controversial traditional sources research to evaluate the impact on water of water supply. The high cost, environmental resources in achieving their mandatory RPS impacts, and energy requirements of desalination target. are main concerns. The cost issue is no longer the 3. Water-energy conservation partnerships primary barrier because of signifcant technological have been formed in the case study states advancement and reductions in production costs to address water and energy issues. The (National Research Council 2008), but the energy partnerships offer services to a range of requirement is still a major issue. Even though sectors including agriculture, commercial, effciency improvements in membrane technologies industrial, schools, and local government. reduce the energy needed to desalinate water, Members of the partnerships include it is essential to look for energy-effcient ways private and public energy and water utilities to produce desalted water (Darwish et al. 2009). (including wastewater utilities), customer- Thermally driven desalting systems from fuel-fred based organizations, environmental groups, boilers are the most ineffcient practice in terms of consultants, universities and various state environment, energy, and economic perspectives. agencies. Desalination offers a great potential to the people 4. Technical and fnancial incentives, tax living in coastal areas, serving around 7 percent incentives, rebates, and system benefts of the world’s coastal population. This energy- charges have been used in the case study intensive technology mostly mushrooms, especially states to support integrated water-energy in the water-poor but energy-rich nations of the planning. These and other fnancial Persian Gulf. The technology is now taking off mechanisms could be used to promote and in the European Union including Spain (Meerganz attain benefts associated with integrated von Medeazza et al. 2007). If fossil fuel prices water-energy conservation. increase as predicted by pessimistic scenarios and the carbon tax is enforced, the cost advantage for 5. In the case study states, no legislation has nuclear desalination will be pronounced (Methnani been enacted to promote water-energy 2007). integration except for regulations on The favorable economics of nuclear desalination thermal discharges of water by power may not be suffcient enough to overcome plants. However, green building standards, technological risks and the socio-political which generally focus on measures to resistance against nuclear power and disposal reduce energy use, can also address water of its wastes. The desalination of seawater using use, including water conservation. renewable energies is an alternative option, but 6. Combining energy and water audits for the conversion of renewable energies requires large customers, including industrial high investment cost and the technology is not process units, has proven effective in the yet mature enough to accommodate large-scale case study states. Metrics for quantifying applications (Mathioulakis et al. 2007). In recent energy savings from water conservation years, technological innovation in solar energy and effciency in water utility supply and and a concurrent improvement in solar economics conveyance, treatment, distribution, end offer promise in the feld of desalination by use, and waste water treatment have been renewable energies, especially with solar energy carefully defned in California, Wisconsin applications. and New York. A fundamental shift either in energy prices or Desalination in membrane technology could bring costs down substantially. Development of membranes that One area which clearly reveals the water- operate effectively at lower pressures could lead

JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION UCOWR 50 Wang to 5 to 10 percent of process cost reductions due to fossil fuel, and renewable energies can be used a 15 percent decrease in energy demand (National as input fuels in the process of desalination, but Research Council 2008). If either happened to each energy source has its own issues in terms the extent that the marginal cost allowed for of E4 perspectives. Nuclear faces socio-political agricultural irrigation with sea water (around resistance, fossil fuels emit air pollutants, and US$.08/m3 on average), some portion of the world’s renewables are constrained by the high initial water supplies would shift from rivers and shallow cost. aquifers to the sea. Besides the fundamental The perception that desalination could meet economic changes which would result, geopolitical ever-growing fresh water demands should be thinking about water systems would also need to shifted. Efforts to conserve water, use water more shift. Many which are currently dependent on effciently and recycle waste water are all the more upstream neighbors for their water supply, would, important, and the extent of desalination should be by virtue of their coastlines, suddenly fnd these restricted to the many semi-arid and arid coastal roles reversed. regions in the world suffering from structural water shortages. These and other issues related to Conclusion water-energy integration will be one of the vibrant Water and energy resources are essential research agendas for the next couple of decades. to human survival. A general conclusion of End Notes the analysis of the energy-water conservation programs examined in this paper is that a wide 1. For instance, Sandia National Laboratory leads range of knowledge, receptivity, and applications the National Energy-Water Roadmap Program. of practices and programs can alleviate stresses on Regional workshops have been held to identify both the water and energy sectors. Additionally, specifc regional issues and needs associated with the energy and water nexus. the assessment of these programs reveals that integrating energy and water planning has the 2. It is important to note that although water potential to save money, reduce waste, protect the withdrawal for thermoelectric generation is very high, it consumes only about 3.3 percent environment, improve equity, and strengthen the of the water, the remaining being returned to the economy. source albeit with environmental impacts as a States could utilize elements of programs and result of changes to the water temperature. This planning approaches similar to those discussed does become critical in areas where the aquatic in the case study states and use such approaches environment is highly sensitive to temperature as models to assist in the construction of new changes especially during dry hot weather. frameworks for the integration of water and energy conservation. The need for this integration seems Author Bio and Contact Information all the more important in light of the recent droughts, Young-Doo Wang, Ph.D., is Associate Director of the the potential for more extreme weather due to Center for Energy and Environmental Policy at the climate change, and the demonstrated economic, University of Delaware. He is Professor and Director environmental, equity, and energy benefts of such of the Energy and Environmental Policy Graduate an integration. Program, and Professor in the School of Urban Affairs Intense desalination activity has been witnessed and Public Policy. Dr. Wang is also Co-executive in the coastal areas of the world, including the Director of the Joint Institute for a Sustainable Energy and Environmental Future, an innovative institution Arabian Gulf, the Mediterranean Sea, the Red promoting peaceful and sustainable energy policy Sea, or the coastal waters of California, China, options in Northeast Asia. He has published over and Australia. Despite the many benefts the 120 articles in the areas of energy, environment, and technology could offer, concerns have arisen over sustainable development policy. His recent books the substantial energy demanded by the desalination include Energy Revolution: Toward an Energy‑Effcient process, along with potential negative impacts on Future for South Korea (with John Byrne et al.) and the environment from returning the concentrated Water Conservation-Oriented Rates: Strategies to brine back to sea (Lattemann et al. 2008). Nuclear, Extend Supply, Promote Equity, and Meet Minimum

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Flow Levels (with William Smith et al.). He can be National Research Council. 2008. Desalination: A contacted at [email protected]. National Perspective. Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press. References Smith, W. and Y-D, Wang. 2007. Conservation rates: Brown, L. 1998. “The Future of Growth.” State of the the best ‘new’ source of urban water during drought. World 1998. World Watch Institute. Pp. 3-20. Water and Environment Journal 22 (2): 100-116. Brown, L. 2003. “The Eco-economic Revolution: U.S. DOE/EIA. 2006. Energy Demands on Getting the Market in Sync with Nature. Annual Water Resources: Report to Congress on the Editions: Environment 2003/04. Pp. 55-63. Interdependency of Energy and Water. Available at: http://www.netl.doe.gov/technologies/coalpower/ Center for Energy and Environmental Policy. 2001. ewr/pubs/DOE%20energy-water%20nexus%20Rep Securing Delaware’s Future Through Sustainable ort%20to%20Congress%201206.pdf. Water Resources Management. University of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 1998. How to Delaware. Conserve Water and Use it Effectively. Available at: Cohen, R., B. Nelson, and G. Wolff. 2004. Energy http://www.epa.gov/ow/you/chap3.html. Down The Drain: The Hidden Costs of California’s U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 1999. Water Supply. Natural Resources Defense Council, Guidelines for Water Conservation Plans. Available New York, USA. at: http://www.epa.gov/ow/ webguid.html. Darwish, M. A., N. M. Al-Najem, and N. Lior. 2009. Vickers, A. 2000. Demand Management and Water Towards sustainable seawater desalting in the Gulf Effciency. Journal of the American Water Works area. Desalination 235 (2009) 58-87. Association 92(1): 68-69. Featherstone, J. 1996. Conservation in the Delaware Wang, Y-D., G. Alleng, J. Byrne, H. Conte, J. Karki, S. River basin. Journal of the American Water Works Rao, S. Jose, J. deMooy, A. Belden, A. Sood, and P. Association 88(1): 42-51. Cole. 2007. Synergic Benefts of Integrated Water and Feffer, J. 2008. “We All North Koreans Now?” Energy Planning. Presented to the 103rd Association TomDispatch.com. Pp. 1-14. of American Geographers Annual Meeting. San Flavin, Christopher. 1999. Energy for the 21st Century. Francisco, CA. April 17-21. World Bank Energy Week. Pp. 1-12. Wang, Y. D., W. Smith, J. Byrne, M. Scozzafava, Goddard Institute for Space Studies. 2007. Global and J. Song. 2006. Freshwater Management in Temperature Anomalies. Available at: http://data. Industrialised Urban Areas: The Role of Water giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/tabledata/GLB.Ts.Txt. Conservation. In Velma Grover (ed.). Water: Global Common and Global Problems. Plymouth, NJ: House, W. L. 2007. Will Water Cause The Next Science Publishers. Pp. 459-491. Electricity Crisis? Water Resources Impact 9 (1), January 2007. Wang, Y. D., W. J. Smith Jr., and J. Byrne, J. 2005. Water Conservation-Oriented Rates: Strategies to Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 2007. Expand Supply, Promote Equity and Meet Minimum Climate change 2007: The physical basis, summary Flow Levels. American Water Works Association. for policymakers. Geneva: Intergovernmental Panel Denver, CO, USA. on Climate Change. Lattemann, S. and Hopner T. 2008. Environmental impact and impact assessment of seawater desalination. Desalination 220: 1-15. Mathioulakis, E., V. Belessiotis, and E. Delyannis. 2007. Desalination by using alternative energy: Review and state-of-the-art. Desalination 203: 346-365. Meerganz von Medeazza, G. and V. Moreau. 2007. Modeling of water-energy systems: The case of desalination. Energy 32: 1024-1031. Methnani, M. 2007. Infuence of fuel costs on seawater desalination options. Desalination 205: 332-339.

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UNIVERSITIES COUNCIL ON WATER RESOURCES JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION ISSUE 142, PAGES 52-55, AUGUST 2009 Ecological Economics and Water Resources Geography

Christopher Lant

Professor of Geography and Environmental Resources, Southern Illinois Universuity Carbondale

The legal status of ecosystem services is that they of Ecological Economics 2007) lends evidence have none (Ruhl et al. 2007: 85). that scholars from other corners of academe also recognize the importance of the ecological- he multifaceted, applied nature of economic perspective. This begs the question: does water resources makes it a classic an ecological economic approach provide a vibrant Tinterdisciplinary feld of research. Civil research agenda for water resources geography in engineering and hydrology were long the leaders the coming decades? among water-related disciplines, while water law Neoclassical economics views the environment and neoclassical economics focused on decision- as a subset of the economy; natural resources making rules for water resources development such as water are an input to production and ‘the and allocation. In fact, cost-beneft analysis was environment’ adsorbs its waste (Daly and Farley invented by American economists as a means to 2004). Ecological economics, in contrast, views evaluate public investment options in the mid-20th the human economy as a growing subset of the century era of rapid water resources development biosphere. The enormously valuable and versatile (Tietenberg 2003). When dealing with water asset of natural capital consists of both the stock of resources, one bridge from geography has landed raw materials and energy sources available to the in natural resource and environmental economics, economy and the fund of ecosystems tied to named but the traffc crossing that bridge has never been places that provide essential services to society. very brisk. Ecosystem services, a fexible and powerful concept defned by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Economic Approaches to Water (2003) as the benefts that people derive directly Resources: Ecological vs. Neoclassical and indirectly from ecosystems, is where water resources geography and ecological economics Since the 1980s, a new school of economic fnd fertile common ground. thought – ecological economics – has emerged Economists, of course, have a predeliction for that promises to greatly increase this traffc fow placing dollar values on things and ecosystem and therefore require a broader and renewed services is no exception. Costanza’s et al. (1997) bridge. From the point of view of many seminal paper valued ecosystem services at $33 neoclassical economists, ecological economics is trillion per year (about $5,000 per capita) compared a renegade; Daly and Farley’s (2004) intriguing to a global economic product at the time of $25 textbook Ecological Economics: Principles and trillion, bringing to bear the notion that humans Applications reads as an argument with many depend for their survival and quality of life equally of the foundations of neoclassical economics. as much on a second, non-market, geographically For geographers, though, ecological economic variable and specifc, ecosystem services economy arguments seem not just sound, but obvious and, as on the goods and services of the market economy. perhaps, represent economics fnally starting to get For example, we could describe agricultural and it right. The exponential growth of papers published fshing economies at the periphery of the global in Ecological Economics (International Society capitalist system as ecosystem service-intensive,

UCOWR JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION Ecological Economics and Water Resources Geography 53 just as we could describe automobile manufacturing that accompanies ownership, cannot gain revenue as capital-intensive. Ecosystems at the interface of from benefciaries by providing ecosystem services land and water – wetlands, foodplains, rivers and because they are non-excludable (once provided lake margins as well as estuaries, seagrass beds, they accrue to the entire geographic area affected) coral reefs, mangroves, and tidal marshes along the thereby inducing free ridership (Randall 1983). To coasts – are the multipurpose ecosystem service those who have private rights in land and water, factories of the planet providing over half of global ecosystem services are positive externalities and service values from less than three percent of the are often provided only incidentally – carbon is Earth surface (Table 1). Water is, therefore, the not deliberately sequestered, wetlands are not most critical component of this second economy. deliberately restored. Ecosystem services are, But how does the quantity of water, the quality of therefore, under-provided relative to their value water, the location of water, and the timing of these, to society. Secondly, no one has a legal right to provide ecosystem services? What ecosystem ecosystem services provided on neighboring or services does it provide and for whom? These upstream land; if other townships build levees and are questions with lengthy but important answers drain the wetlands landward of them, unprotected that geographers would do well to pursue – even areas elsewhere on the same foodplain lose the without asking the economist’s question of how food control and other services those wetlands many dollars they are worth. had provided (Ruhl et al. 2007). Yet they have no The provision and allocation of ecosystem recourse because they never had any legal rights services is central to ecological economics in those services in the frst place (Bromley 1991, (Daily 1997). Most geographers are familiar Tarlock 2000). In fact common law in the U.S. with Hardin’s (1968) “tragedy of the commons” has built a wall, preventing owners of land and thesis that describes one form of market failure water from having to consider the consequences that occurs when the benefts of using an open on ecosystem services of their land and water use access resource, such as ground water in the decisions. “The legal status of ecosystem services Ogallala, cod in the North Atlantic, the capacity is that they have none” (Ruhl et al. 2007: 85). of the atmosphere to process carbon emissions, or Most essentially, ecosystem services are a the capacity of watersheds to process nitrogen in geographic phenomenon, though the geographic fertilizer runoff, accrue privately to the user while analysis of ecosystem service fows from natural the consequent reductions in resource availability capital sources to human benefciaries is in its infancy or ecosystem services are suffered broadly as (see Eade et al. 1996, Guo et al 2001, Konarska negative externalities. The “tragedy of ecosystem et al. 2002, Sutton and Costanza 2002, Troy and services” (Lant et al. 2008), however, occurs Wilson 2006). Empirical ecological economic because, frst, those who control land and water, studies, to the extent that they incorporate space usually by possessing the limited bundle of rights at all, often utilize a beneft transfer approach that

Table 1. Ecosystem types ranked by the annual value of services provided per hectare. (Source: Costanza et al. 1997). Ecosystem Total Global Cumulative Global Cumulative services Flow Value % of total Rank Ecosystem Type Area (million % of total (1994 $US (millions $US global ecosystem hectares) global area per hectare) per year) service value 1 Estuaries 22,832 180 4,110 0.35 12.35 2 Swamps/foodplains 19,580 165 3,231 0.67 21.76 3 Seagrass/algae beds 19,004 200 3,801 0.86 33.49 4 Wetlands 14,785 330 4,879 1.69 48.16 5 Tidal marsh/mangroves 9,990 165 1,648 2.21 53.11 6 Lakes/rivers 8,498 200 1,700 2.59 58.22 7 Coral reefs 6,075 82 375 2.75 59.35

JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION UCOWR 54 Lant

(1) fnds the ecosystem service value per hectare of value of specifc properties. But each residence various land use or ecological categories from pre- also receives a unique constellation of ecosystem existing literature (often from Table 2 published in services and natural hazards that is constantly Costanza et al. (1997)), (2) employ remote sensing changing due to the interaction between natural to measure the area of these land uses or ecological fuctuations and human activities. types, (3) multiply the former by the later, and (4) At larger spatial scales, regions partly control add them up. The limitations of this approach their ecosystem service packages through the raise a number of interesting questions that form economic activities that build their niche in the a research agenda for geographers. How do the global economy. By importing energy, food, and scale and spatial confguration of ecosystem types other raw materials from other regions, some core affect the ecosystem services they provide? In economic regions (e.g., New England, Japan) are particular, high-value ecosystems such as wetlands, able to preserve local natural capital funds such rivers, seagrass beds and so forth are often, in as wetlands and forests and thereby maintain landscape ecology terms, patches and corridors relatively bountiful ecosystem service fows. Other rather than the landscape matrix. But are there natural resource-exporting regions (e.g. Indonesia, also diminishing marginal ecological economic the Persian Gulf) depreciate their natural capital returns? For example, are wetlands more valuable funds, thus suffering diminishment in ecosystem on the margin when they cover fve percent of a service provision to their populations (Dauvergne watershed than ffty percent? 1997). This ecologically unequal exchange Even more essential from a human geographic (Hornberg 1998) is of great interest in water perspective is the spatial relationship between resource geography – witness the nearly universal ecosystems, as the natural capital funds that opposition to projects that export water, even from provide services, and human settlement patterns the most water-abundant regions and nations (Quinn and the service benefciaries they contain. Carbon 2007). Yet, through the “virtual water” required to sequestration may be the only ecosystem service produce crops and the livestock that eat them, vast for which location is not critical. Flood control quantities of water are traded internationally. The benefts, in contrast, accrue to specifc benefciaries U.S. for example is the world’s greatest virtual downstream along the foodplain or in coastal water exporter at 131 billion gallons per day – areas prone to hurricane-induced storm surges roughly the fow of the Ohio River (Chapagain and (e.g., Hurricane Katrina in 2005) or tsunamis Hoeskstra 2004). Valuable geographic research (e.g. the December 26, 2004 disaster in the Indian lies in documenting and quantifying not only the Ocean). Water purifcation benefts may follow fow of natural capital in the form of resource similar geographical patterns, but crop pollination products among regions, but the less obvious by bees more likely accrues from bee habitats changes these fows cause for ecosystem service to neighboring orchards following an unknown provision, especially in exporting regions that can distance decay function. Here we see a research suffer from problems of both water quality and agenda in determining the geographic relationships water supply. To what extend does this mean that between spatial confgurations of ecosystems as the favorable ecosystem service packages of Japan, suppliers of services and the locations where the New England, and some other affuent regions are potential benefciaries of these services live and indirect imports from the regions that provide their work. food, energy and industrial raw materials? Ecosystem services can also be analyzed from The geographic analysis of ecosystem services the point of view of specifc geographical locations, thus constitutes a vibrant research agenda for such as a residence or a region. The meaning behind water resources geography for the next 20 years, the real estate mantra ‘location, location, location’ one that will enrich both geography and ecological has long implied that accessibility to social services economics by making more specifc and tangible, and amenities, and the impact of social risks such and therefore more applicable with a stronger legal as crime, varies tremendously from point to point, standing, our growing understanding of ecosystem especially within cities, and is capitalized into the services’ essential role in human well-being.

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Author Bio and Contact Informatiom wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/503305/ description#description. Christopher Lant is Executive Director of the Konarska, K. M., P. C. Sutton, and M. Castellon. 2002. Universities Council on Water Resources and editor Evaluating scale dependence of ecosystem service on the Journal of Contemporary Water Research and valuation: A comparison of NOAA-AVHRR and Education. This essay, however, was written under his Landsat TM datasets. Ecological Economics 41 (3): other hat as Professor of Geography and Environmental 491-507. Resources at Southern Illinois University Carbondale where his research interests are in watershed Lant, C. L., J. B. Ruhl, and S. E. Kraft. 2008. Forum: management, water resources policy, and, of course, The tragedy of ecosystem services. Bioscience ecological economics and water resources sustainability. 58(10): 969-974. He can be contacted at [email protected]. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. 2003. Ecosystems and human well-being: A framework for assessment. References Washington, DC: Island Press. Quinn, F. 2007. Canada’s freshwater in a continental Bromley, D. W. 1991. Environment and Economy; perspective. Journal of Contemporary Water Property Rights and Public Policy. Oxford: Basil Research and Education. 137. Blackwell. Randall, A. 1983. The problem of market failure. Chapagain, A. K. and A. Y. Hoekstra. 2004. Water Natural Resources Journal 23(1): 133-148. Footprints of Nations, Volume 1: Main Report. Value of Water Research Series No. 16, UNESCO-IHP. Ruhl, J. B., S. E. Kraft, and C. L. Lant. 2007. The Law and Policy of Ecosystem Services. Island Press, Costanza, R., R. d’Arge, R. deGroot, S. Farber, M. Covelo, CA. Grasso, B. Hannon, K. Limburg, S. Naeem, R. V. O’Neill, J. Paruelo, R. G. Raskin, P. Sutton, and Sutton, P. C. and R. Costanza. 2002. Global estimates of M. van den Belt. 1997. The value of the world’s market and non-market values derived from nighttime ecosystem services and natural capital. Nature satellite imagery, land cover, and ecosystem service 387(6630): 253-60. valuation. Ecological Economics 41: 509-527. Daily, G. C. (ed.). 1997. Nature’s services: societal Tarlock, A. D. 2000. Reconnecting property rights to dependence on natural ecosystems. Washington, watersheds. William and Mary Environmental Law DC: Island Press. & Policy Review 25(1): 69-112. Daly, H. E. and J. Farley. 2004. Ecological Economics: Tietenberg, T. 2003. Environmental and Natural Principles and Applications. Island Press: Resource Economics, 6th Ed. Addison Wesley. Washington, DC. Troy, A. and M. A. Wilson. 2006. Mapping ecosystem Dauvergne, P. 1997. Shadows in the Forest: Japan and services: Practical challenges and opportunities in the Politics of Timber in Southeast Asia. MIT Press: linking GIS and value transfer. Ecological Economics Cambridge, MA. 60 (2): 435-449. Eade, J. D. O. and D. Moran. 1996. Spatial economic valuation: Benefts transfer using GIS. Journal of Environmental Management 48: 97-110. Guo, Z., X. Xiao, Y. Gan, and Y. Zhang. 2001. Ecosystem functions, services, and their values – a case study in Xingshan County of China. Ecological Economics 28: 141-154. Hardin, G. 1968. The tragedy of the commons. Science 162 (3859): 1243-48. Hornberg, A. 1998. Towards an ecological theory of unequal exchange: Articulating world systems theory and ecological economics. Ecological Economics 25: 127-136. International Society of Ecological Economics 2007. Available at: http://www.elsevier.com/

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UNIVERSITIES COUNCIL ON WATER RESOURCES JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION ISSUE 142, PAGES 56-60, AUGUST 2009 The Political Economy and Political Ecology of the Hydro-Social Cycle

Erik Swyngedouw

Professor of Geography, School of Environment and Development, Manchester University, UK

We are witnessing something unprecedented: transformation in the way in which water policies Water no longer fows downhill. It fows towards are thought about, formulated, and implemented. money (Robert F. Kennedy Jr.). In what follows, an outline is provided of some of eographers have been engaged in research the vital issues and socio-natural properties of the into access to safe drinking water for years. hydro-social cycle and charts the terrain for future GIn fact, Abel Wolman helped chlorinate research. the world’s water. Over the past few years and in Metabolizing the Global/Local the wake of the resurgence of the environmental question on the political agenda, a growing body Hydro-Social Cycle: The Connection of work has emerged on the political-economy and to Struggles for Power political-ecology of water and water circulation Changes in the use, management, and socio- (Gandy 1997, Loftus 2005, Kaika 2005, Castro political organization of the water cycle and 2006). This is re-defning the contours of water social changes co-determine each other (Norgaard resources research and opening up an exciting and 1994). Combined with the transformation of vitally important research agenda for the years to water’s terrestrial and atmospheric circulation, come. they produce distinct forms of hydro-social Political-ecological perspectives on water circulation and new relationships between local suggest a close correlation between the transfor- water circulations to global hydrological circuits. mations of, and in, the hydrological cycle at In other words, hydraulic environments are local, regional and global levels on the one hand socio-physical constructions that are actively and relations of social, political, economic, and and historically produced, both in terms of social cultural power on the other (Swyngedouw 2004). content and physical-environmental qualities. In a sustained attempt to transcend the modernist There is, therefore, nothing apriori unnatural about nature – society binaries, hydro-social research constructed environments such as dams, irrigation envisions the circulation of water as a combined systems, hydraulic infrastructures, and so forth physical and social process, as a hybridized socio- (Harvey 1996). natural fow that fuses together nature and society Produced environments are specifc historical in inseparable manners (Swyngedouw 2006a). results of socio-biophysical processes. Most social It calls for revisiting traditional fragmented and processes and socio-ecological conditions (cities, interdisciplinary approaches to the study of water agricultural or industrial production systems and by insisting on the inseparability of the social and the like) are invariably sustained by and organized the physical in the production of particular hydro- through a combination of social processes on the social confgurations (Bakker 2003, Heynen et al. one hand (such as capital/labor relations and forms 2005). of organization of labor) and metabolic-ecological Such a perspective opens all manner of new processes (that is the biological, chemical or and key research issues and urges considering a physical transformation of ‘natural’ resources,

UCOWR JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION The Political Economy and Political Ecology of the Hydro-Social Cycle 57 usually organized through a series of interlinked social transformations are imbedded in and infused technologies) on the other (Heynen et al. 2005). by class, gender, ethnic or other power struggles. These metabolisms (for example, the production These struggles will undoubtedly intensify in the of potable water, agricultural products or computer near future as environmental change accelerates chips) produce a series of both enabling and and this requires urgent scholarly attention. disabling social and environmental conditions. While environmental (both social and physical) Water Scarcities or Water Surpluses? qualities may be enhanced in some places and for One of the pivotal terrains of environmental some people, this often leads to a deterioration social struggle unfolds over access to, control of social and physical conditions elsewhere (Peet over, and distribution of parts of the hydro-social and Watts 1996, Keil 2000). Processes of socio- cycle. Powerful arguments have been mobilized in environmental change are, therefore, never socially recent years that frame water as a fundamentally or ecologically neutral. This results in conditions scarce resource in some places on the one hand, under which particular trajectories of socio- and as posing immanent or real dangers due environmental change undermine the stability or to overabundance in areas prone to fooding, coherence of some social groups or environments, hurricanes, and the like on the other (Bakker while the sustainability of others elsewhere might 2000, Kaika 2003). This area requires immediate be enhanced. Consider, for example, how the and urgent attention, especially given impacts provision of water to large cities often implies of climate change. Forms of relative scarcity in carrying water over long distances from other relation to existing socio-physical conditions can places or regions. The mobilization of water for be observed in particular historical-geographical different uses in different places is a confict- contexts. And, water power can wreck considerable ridden process and each techno-social system for socio-climatologic havoc (e.g., in New Orleans in organizing the fow and transformation of water 2005 or in the UK in 2007). Just as importantly, (through dams, canals, pipes, and the like) shows the positive and negative socio-environmental how social power is distributed in a given society consequences of such conditions are socially highly (Swyngedouw 1999). For example, access to unevenly distributed, and are generated through the potable water in the megacities of the Global South particular political and institutional organization of is precarious for a large number of people despite the hydro-social cycle. While hegemonic neoliberal the fact that the rich and powerful generally have arguments claim that the market offers the optimal more than enough water available for necessary mechanism for the allocation of presumably and luxury use. In sum, the political-ecological scarce water resources, and the literature on water- examination of the hydro-social process reveals related hazards charts the uneven distribution the inherently confict-ridden nature of the process of the social effects engendered by such water of socio-environmental change and teases out the crises, a political-ecological perspective insists inevitable conficts (or the displacements thereof) on, and traces, the fundamentally socially that infuse socio-environmental change. Particular produced character of such inequitable hydro- attention, therefore, needs to be paid to social social confgurations (Swyngedouw 2006b, 2007). power relations (whether material, economic, There is an urgent need, therefore, to theorize and political, or cultural) through which hydro-social empirically substantiate the processes through transformations take place. This would also include which particular socio-hydrological confgurations the analysis of the discourses and arguments that become produced that generate inequitable socio- are mobilized to defend or legitimate particular hydrological conditions. Put simply, interventions strategies. It is these power geometries and the in the organization of the hydrological cycle are social actors carrying them that ultimately decide always political in character and therefore contested who will have access to or control over, and who and contestable. This intrinsically social character will be excluded from access to or control over, of water resources management and organization resources or other components of the environment. needs to be teased out and clarifed. In sum, it will be vital to examine how hydro-

JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION UCOWR 58 Swyngedouw

Whose Waters? economically transformed into exclusive property rights whose access is choreographed though The above implies the need to address the market mechanisms. There is signifcant urban- question of who is entitled to what quality, kind rural tension in this scenario, evident in cities and what volumes of water and who should control, such as Las Vegas (for more see the article by manage and/or decide how the hydro-social cycle Smith, Jr. in this same volume). Accumulation by will be organized. While social movements often dispossession and the systematic inclusion of parts invoke principles of universal water rights on of the hydro-social cycle in accumulation tactics of the basis of the biological necessity of access to private actors is rapidly reshaping the mechanisms minimum volumes of suffcient quality of water and procedures that regulate and organize access in order to sustain bodily metabolisms and social to, and exclusion from access, to water, and is, reproduction, such calls for universal water rights consequently, altering the social mechanisms that are systematically undermined by equally powerful shape water entitlements and water rights (Harvey calls related to property rights and the exclusive 2003). Increasingly, access to water is understood usage associated with them. In fact, uneven access and seen as organized through market mechanisms to or control over water is invariably the outcome and the power of money, irrespective of social, of combined geographical conditions, technical human or ecological need. choices and politico-legal arrangements and water An understanding of the above is vital in light of inequalities have to be understood increasingly as the failure of the international community to move the outcome of the mutually constituted interplay decisively towards fulflling the “Millennium between these three factors. Water research has for Goal” of halving the number of people worldwide too long concentrated on either the physical side that have inadequate access to water and sanitation or the managerial side of the water problematic, by 2015. It can now be confdently predicted that often tiptoeing around the vexed question of these objectives will not be met, largely because of how political economic power relations fuse the the hegemony of the neo-liberal model that makes physical and the managerial together in particular public subsidies unacceptable, while privatizing and invariably socially uneven ways. water delivery systems have systematically failed As Aristotle pointed out a long time ago, when to alleviate signifcantly the water crisis in the two equal rights meet, power decides. Indeed, Global South in places such as Manila, Jakarta, or under the current neo-liberal hegemony, water Lagos (see Swyngedouw 2009). Inadequate access rights are increasingly articulated via dynamics of to water services, particularly in the less-wealthy commodifcation of water, private appropriation world’s megacities, is the prime cause of premature of water resources, dispossession tactics, and the mortality and this human and environmental cost like (Bakker 2003). Consider, for example, how outweighs massively the predicted negative human in former socialist states or in China publicly consequences of global climate change. owned water facilities and infrastructure have been Of course, it is invariably the poor and transferred, often without much compensation, powerless that die of inadequate sanitation (Gleick to private actors and capital, or how fnancial 2004, Gleick and Cooley 2006). True scarcity investment funds (of the kind that produced, in does not reside in the physical absence of water in 2008, the greatest fnancial crisis in a century) most cases, but in the lack of monetary resources have been investing in water facilities as a and political and economic clout. Poverty and purely fnancial asset. Macquarie, the Australian governance that marginalizes makes people die investment fund, for example, bought Thames of thirst, not absence of water. It is these urban Water, London’s water supply system, in 2006. In political-ecological perspectives that bring out the other words, the hydro-social circulation process is economic and political power relations through increasingly articulated via the fnancial nexus (see which access to, control over, and distribution of Swyngedouw 2009). water is organized. While choices regarding what There is an urgent need to analyze how common technology is ‘appropriate,’ in terms of being or public water rights are socially, politically, and physically, culturally, and economically sustainable

UCOWR JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION The Political Economy and Political Ecology of the Hydro-Social Cycle 59 and equitable, also play a major role in determining Imagining Different Hydro-Social access to safe water in less-wealthy settings (Smith, Metabolisms Jr. 2008), the consideration and implementation of these choices is a decidedly political process and To summarize, there are intricate and should be analyzed as such. multidimensional relationships between the socio- technical organization of the hydro-social cycle, Governing Hydro-Social Confgurations the associated power geometries that choreograph Hydro-social confgurations, of course, generally access to and exclusion from water, as well as the refect hegemonic political, social, and cultural uneven political power relations that affect fows preferences. Ever since Karl Wittfogel’s seminal of water. There is an urgent need to explore the work on the relationship between autocratic power various ways in which social power in its different and hydrological systems, it has become clear economic, cultural, and political expressions that social power becomes articulated through fuse together with water management principles, socio-technical systems (Wittfogel 1957). This is choice of technological systems, and structures as true for the Three Gorges Dam in China as for of supply, delivery, and evacuation of water. To the management of the Upper and Lower Colorado the extent that there is indeed a close relationship River, or irrigation of vineyards in California. between hydro-social ordering and political- There is an urgent need, therefore, to explore the economic confgurations or, in other words, intricate relationship between political systems, between the “nature of society” and the “nature and the use, management, and distribution of of its water fows,” every hydro-social project water and organization of the hydro-social system. refects a particular type of socio-environmental In particular, questions arise as to the relationship organization. Imagining different, more inclusive, between democratic governance on the one hand sustainable and equitable forms of hydro-social and water management on the other. It is now organization implies imagining different and more commonly recognized that many large hydro- effective, assumingly democratic, forms of social social systems are associated with autocratic organization. This challenge is probably the most political and institutional organizations (Worster pressing one, and one that requires a sustained 1985, Swyngedouw 2006b). The present debate intellectual endeavor and the mobilization of over water resources often sacrifces democratic signifcant creative energies of all those who make governance on the altar of technological or water their terrain of scholarly work. economic effciency, while safeguarding existing Author Bio and Contact Information power relations. Exploring the relationship between democracy, water governance and social power is a Erik Swyngedouw is Professor of Geography at the vitally important research question. There are also School of Environment and Development of Manchester quality questions to be asked regarding the capacity University. He previously taught at Oxford University of democratic and other systems to deal with crises and was Fellow of St. Peter’s College. He is the author that can be associated with drought, foods, and of, among others, Social Power and the Urbanization disease. This is particularly acute as water-related of Water (Oxford University Press 2004) and co-editor of In the Nature of Cities (Routledge 2006). He has crises are bound to increase both in number and written extensively on the political ecology and the in scale. There is an urgent need, therefore, to political economy of water. He can be contacted at erik. consider democratic modes of water governance [email protected]. on a variety of interrelated geographical scales. This is particularly acute in regions with strongly References competing water demands (e.g., urban vs. rural demand regarding scarce water) on the one hand, Bakker, K. 2000. Privatizing Water: Producing or where signifcant socio-political tensions propel Scarcity: The Yorkshire Drought of 1995. Economic water to be used as a formidable geo-political Geography 76 (1): 4-27. weapon (e.g., in the recent threat by Israel to cut Bakker, K. 2003. An Uncooperative Commodity - off Gaza’s water supply). Privatizing Water in England and Wales. Oxford:

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Oxford University Press. Swyngedouw, E. 2004. Social Power and the Castro, E. 2006. Water, Power and Citizenship: Social Urbanisation of Water. Flows of Power. Oxford: Struggles in the Basin of Mexico. New York: Oxford University Press. Palgrave. Swyngedouw, E. 2006a. Circulations and Metabolisms: Gandy, M. 1997. The Making of a Regulatory Crisis: (Hybrid) Natures and (Cyborg) Cities. Science as Restructuring New York City’s Water Supply. Culture 15 (2):105-122. Transactions; Institute of British Geographers Swyngedouw, E. 2006b. TechnoNatural Revolutions – 22:338-358. The Scalar Politics of Franco’s Hydro-Social Dream Gleick, P. 2004. The World’s Water 2004-2005: The for Spain, 1939-1975. Transactions, Institute of biennial report on freshwater resources. Washington: British Geographers New Series 32 (1):9-28. Island Press. Swyngedouw, E. 2007. Dispossessing H2O: the Gleick, P. H., and H. Cooley. 2006. The World’s Water Contested Terrain of Water Privatization. In 2006-2007: The biennial report on freshwater Neoliberal Environments: False Promises and resources. Washington, D.C.: Island Press. Unnatural Consequences, eds. Heynen. N., McCarthy, J., Prudham, S. and Robbins, P., 51-62. Harvey, D. 1996. Justice, Nature and the Geography of New York: Routledge. Difference. Oxford: Blackwell. Swyngedouw, E. 2009. Troubled Waters: The Political Harvey, D. 2003. The New Imperialism. Oxford: Oxford Economy of Essential Public Services. In Water and University Press. Sanitation Services: Public Policy and Management, Heynen, N., M. Kaika, and E. Swyngedouw. 2005. eds. Castro J.E., Heller, L., 22-39. London: Zed Urban Political Ecology - Politicising the Production Books. of Urban Natures. In In the Nature of Cities - Wittfogel, K. 1957. Oriental Despotism: A Comparative Urban Political Ecology and The Politics of Urban Study of Total Power. New Haven: Yale University Metabolism, eds. N. Heynen, M. Kaika and E. Press. Swyngedouw. London: Routledge. Worster, D. 1985. Rivers of Empire. Water, Aridity, Kaika, M. 2003. Constructing Scarcity and and the Growth of the American West. New York: Sensationalising Water Politics: 170 Days that Shook Pantheon. Athens. Antipode. Kaika, M. 2005. City of Flows. London: Routledge. Keil, R. ( ed.). 2000. Political Ecology: Local and Global. London: Routledge. Loftus, A. 2005. The Metabolic Processes of Capital Accumulation in Durban’s Waterscape. In In the Nature of Cities: Urban Political Ecology and the Politics of Urban Metabolism, eds. N. Heynen, M. Kaïka and E. Swyngedouw. London: Routledge. Norgaard, R. 1994. Development Betrayed. London: Routledge. Peet, R., and M. Watts (eds.). 1996. Liberation Ecologies. London: Routledge. Smith Jr. 2008. The place of rural, remote and least wealthy small islands in international water development: The nexus of geography-technology- sustainability in Chuuk State, Federated States of Micronesia. The Geographical Journal 174 (3): 251-268. Swyngedouw, E. 1999. Modernity and Hibridity: Nature, Regeneracionismo, and the Production of the Spanish Waterscape, 1890-1930. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 89 (3): 443-65.

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UNIVERSITIES COUNCIL ON WATER RESOURCES JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION ISSUE 142, PAGES 61-66, AUGUST 2009 Comparative International Water Research

James L. Wescoat, Jr.

Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA

he early decades of the 21st century will Centre for Science and Environment on rainwater witness increased efforts to learn from water harvesting; and the International Rivers Network on Texperiences and experiments in distant basin development). Other sections of this journal places and times. Water problems in different issue include many examples of international regions are increasingly linked through processes research, so this section focuses on theoretical, of globalization that drive the international methodological, and organizational trends – and diffusion of water technologies, policies, and water vibrant research opportunities – for comparative use patterns, as well as global climate change that research. The frst section documents the implicit has regional manifestations and teleconnections use of comparison in contemporary water research. that cascade through regional hydrologic systems. The second section argues for a shift to explicit Information technologies and international comparative research on critical water problems. organizations will also facilitate comparative The third and fourth sections show how long- international water inquiry. But many areas, term historical research and analogical methods including wealthy countries such as the U.S., have contribute to that goal. The fnal section outlines been slow to draw upon international experience how future research along these lines can inform (Wescoat, Theobald, and Headington 2008). The water resource management adjustment, planning, U.S. National Research Council’s (2004) report and design. on Confronting the Nation’s Water Problems: The Role of Research did not document signifcant Implicit Comparisons in Water federal support of international water research Research over the past 25 years, although there have been a variety of U.S. Aid for International Development, Much water research is comparative insofar as it U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and U.S. cites previous research, involves multiple cases, and Army Corps of Engineers international research examines multiple methods or working hypotheses. programs. Close examination of these implicit comparisons A century earlier, U.S. water scientists traveled has relevance for more formal comparative around the world searching for ways to address research on distant places and different periods issues such as development of the Central Valley of time, which one observes in research on scale of California (Wescoat 2000). The problem is and scaling in hydrology and water management extensive – there are few comparisons of major (Wescoat 2003). Table 1 offers a typology of food hazards problems and programs underway on implicit and explicit comparisons observed in The mainland rivers such as the Ganges-Brahmaputra, Earth as Transformed by Human Action: Global Indus, Mekong, Huang Ho, and Yangtze, not to and Regional Changes in the Biosphere over the mention the unprecedented Bangladesh Flood Past 300 Years (Turner et al. 1990). Action Plan. Yet there is growing evidence of Global change research will continue to be a informal, non-governmental, and historical lines driving force for comparative international inquiry, of comparative research that offer promising though it will need to be increasingly critical of directions (e.g., Duryog Nivaram on hazards, the uneven, sometimes useless, international datasets

JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION UCOWR 62 Wescoat

Table 1. Outline of Comparative Approaches in Turner et al. (1990) (with selected chapter citation and notes) (Source: Wescoat 1994). 1 GLOBAL: GLOBAL • Compare Present Conditions with Baseline • Compare Natural and Anthropogenic Sources • Geographic Units-19 Components (Part II) • Time Scale-Eons to Centuries 2 COMPONENTS: COMPONENT • Scale Varies-19 Components (Part II) • Compare Magnitudes (Quantities, Deviations from Normals) • Compare Trajectories (Shape of Curves) • Compare Scale-Control-Response Relations (Chapter 9) 3 GLOBAL AVERAGE: REGIONAL VARIATIONS • Geographic Units – Continents; Countries; Physiographic and Ecological Regions; Localities • Compare Uses (e.g., Types of Water Use, Chapters 14 and 15) • Compare Magnitudes (e.g., Population data, Chapter 3) • Compare Regional Patterns (e.g., population, Chapter 2) • Comparison or Analogy? (Part: Whole) 4 GLOBAL COMPONENTS: REGIONAL CASES • Twelve Regions (Part III) • Regional Consequences of Global Climate Change (Chapter 34) • Global Consequences of Regional Land-Use Change (Chapter 30) • Integrate Global History and Regional Cases (Chapters 10 and 11) 5 REGION: REGION • Approach: “Varieties of Environmental Transformation” • General Issues: Defning the Region; Regional Change; Historical Geographic Framework • Research Design Issues: Case Study Protocol; Case Study Selection; Case Study Grouping • Two-Region Comparisons • Cross-Cutting Comparisons 6 REGION: ITSELF • Numerous (All Chapters, especially Chapter 42) • Historical Change (“One Region” Comparisons) • Subregion Comparisons 7 PERSPECTIVE: PERSPECTIVE • Varieties of Understanding: Meaning of Change; Explanation of Change (Parts I and IV) • Small Sample: Variables > Chapters • Comparison or Juxtaposition? 8 NORMATIVE COMPARISON • Retrospective: “What Ought to be the Human Use of the Earth?” • Limited Coverage (Editorial Introductions; Chapters 8, 40, and 41) • Potential Extensions of the Varieties of….” Genre

(e.g., national-scale access to safe water and proceed through a chain of water resources impacts sanitation data) (Gleick 2009, Satterthwaite 2003). using different models and data that propagate Global change research also employs scenario uncertainties to levels that, at present, offer a methods that begin with climate variability and powerful impression of potential impacts but only

UCOWR JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION Comparative International Water Research 63 a limited basis for rigorous comparison of water and water rights reform. Two opportunities for policy alternatives. future research include developing effective Thus, one opportunity for future research in communication among comparable yet different the next twenty years will be to demonstrate how research approaches, and developing credible reanalysis of previous research and data can, international peer review processes that draw upon and cannot, inform comparative water policy. A comparative international cases (e.g., as pursued second challenge will be to redesign data collection by the World Commission on Dams). strategies to enable meaningful comparisons Intergovernmental organizations such as the (e.g., of city-specifc provision of safe water and World Water Forum and World Water Council sanitation rather than aggregate national fgures). have become inter-annual venues for moving from A third opportunity lies in determining the daily struggles to international change, though combinations of rigorous comparative methods they often display the activists’ impatience with that best apply to different water problems. long-term research, which is understandable, but mistaken, for reasons indicated below. Comparing Critical Water Problems International Water Histories Future comparative research will emerge from concern about critical water problems; that As new water organizations make history, they is, pressing issues that may be aggravated under will also be well-advised to draw upon the rich body future conditions. Current examples include water of historical research on water problems. Historical confict worldwide, water scarcity, participatory research sheds light on how problems emerge watershed management, water poverty, ground across different geographic conditions and time water governance, water and gender-equity, water- scales. Archaeological research also sheds light on related hazards, dams and development, human the long-term sustainability of pre-modern water rights to water, water privatization and pricing, and experiments (e.g., irrigation, storage, and water so forth (Moench et al. 2001-3, Swyngedouw 2004, lifting systems). Comparative inquiry exploded in Thompson 2001, Wolf 2009, World Commission on the mid-20th century with Karl Wittfogel’s (1964) Dams www.dams.org, to offer a few examples). Oriental Despotism: A Comparative Study of Total International research organizations will play Terror (Figure 2), whose notoriety stimulated new roles in expanding the scope and application intense international irrigation research (Wescoat of international comparison. For example, the 2000). Notably absent are comparisons of colonial Pacifc Institute has published biennial reviews water regimes, post-colonial basin development, in The World’s Water and other reports on and internationally networked non-governmental critical international water issues (Gleick 2009, water movements. Establishment of the www.pacinst.org). The Institute for Social and International Water History Association (IWHA) Environmental Transition (http://www.i-s-e- promises to greatly expand research on long-term t.org) is a virtual research group that undertakes change in water systems (www.iwha.org). IWHA comparative ground water and water hazards has published A History of Water (Jakobsson research in the U.S., Nepal, India, and Pakistan. 2004) in three volumes that, along with work by At larger scales, international organizations from the American Society for Environmental History, the International Water Management Institute to the Institute for Environmental Historians, and the Self-Employed Women’s Association, both related agricultural, technological, archaeological, in South Asia, have developed around some of and public history organizations helps support and the critical water problems listed above. They disseminate historical research on international challenge bi-lateral and multi-lateral organizations water policy. such as U.S. Aid for International Development and Other organizations will shed light on long-term the World Bank that dominated the feld in the 20th change in water law and policy (e.g., the UNESCO century, in part by mobilizing critical international Centre for Water Law, Policy and Science at Dundee policy reviews of large dams, participatory Scotland (http://www.dundee.ac.uk/water/); and watershed management, sanitation programs, the UN FAO Legislative Branch (http://www.fao.

JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION UCOWR 64 Wescoat org/legal/, http://www.waterlawandstandards.org/ movements – whether for water pricing, expanded index.htm). Future research priorities include: 1) access for the poor, or water governance – involve analysis of time scales of water policy change, that long-term changes in the languages of water is, the conditions under which policies change on management (e.g., for applications of translation annual or decadal periods; 2) assessing the long- theory to long-term settlement of the Bengal delta, term performance of incremental versus major, for example, see Stewart (2003)). Future research and procedural versus substantive, policies; and 3) should strive to explain why international water determining the measures and necessary conditions policy precedents and innovations are adapted of long-term water policy effectiveness. by some countries at certain moments in their histories. Examples include U.S. citation of Roman International Water Analogies and and British common law on the state’s public trust Transplants for submerged lands in the late-19th century, recent citation of U.S. cases in ground breaking cases on Although historians rightly caution against the public trust in water and related land resources in extrapolations from historical events to future India, and South Africa’s impressive post-apartheid actions, change is the ultimate, if not immediate, survey of water laws and policies (Wescoat 2009). aim. The uses and abuses of history will thus be Future research should also strive to explain when addressed through increasingly sophisticated use and why international experience is eschewed, as of analogies, in which one consciously design in the current U.S. Supreme Court’s opposition to options that broaden the range of choice (Meyer drawing upon cases from other countries and the et al. 1998). These analogical methods have been consequences of weak international programs in employed in global climate change research, and U.S. water agencies (National Research Council they are now expanding the scope of water rights 2004). from human use to human rights and animal rights (Moench et al. 2001-03, Wescoat 1995). It remains International Adjustment, Planning, to be seen whether such analogies might extend to and Design plants, ecosystems, and water bodies in different parts of the world. Although analogies have Policy documents on human dimensions of sometimes lacked rigor, systematic methodologies global change focus on “adaptation” in different are available in legal systems (e.g., Roman, civil, regions and sectors. As in climate scenario impact common, international and Islamic legal traditions analysis, however, adaptation has more scientifc where analogical methods (qiyas) are sophisticated than practical importance, as adaptation can only (Hasan 1986)). be determined after events have proven actions In comparative law, the concept of “legal to be adaptive or maladaptive. Gilbert White transplants” seeks to explain the diffusion, recognized this limitation a half-century ago when imposition, and adaptation of water policies from he articulated the concept of human adjustment, one region to another. Originally developed which anticipates environmental change and to explain the diffusion of Roman law, it has changes as actions prove adaptive or otherwise. relevance for many uses of precedents in water White (1945, 1991) applied this concept across a law (Wescoat 2001, 2005). The U.S. Food and wide range of scales, regions, and problems. Agriculture Organization’s Legislative Branch Further extensions will encompass experiments has compiled and drafted water codes for decades in water resources planning and design. The while the Centre for Water Law, Policy and Science Harvard Water Program in the mid-20th century at Dundee Scotland is a hub for future international yielded the breakthrough Design of Water Resource water policy research and experimentation. Systems (Maass 1962), leading some to ask if it In coming decades, analogies and transplants should be revived (Reuss 2003). Societies are not will focus on issues of “translation,” – languages waiting for universities to answer this question as and cultural practices that strive to make sense of they generate myriad water-design innovations and advance water management practices. Reform from green roofs to bioswales, rain gardens, porous

UCOWR JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION Comparative International Water Research 65 paving, microirrigation, constructed wetlands and basin scales. Professor Wescoat publishes on the water- much more around the world. Rainwater harvesting conserving design of Indo-Islamic gardens and cities. and oral rehydration therapies travel from South He has conducted policy research in the Colorado, Indus, Asia to the U.S., while ecological stormwater Ganges, and Great Lakes basins. In 2003 he published management practices fow in the reverse direction Water for Life: Water Management and Environmental Policy with geographer Gilbert F. White; and in 2007 he (France 2002). Urban Long-Term Ecological co-edited Political Economies of Landscape Change: Research projects in Baltimore and Phoenix Places of Integrative Power. He can be contacted at subject these design innovations to monitoring and [email protected]. evaluation, which will ideally bring comparative water resource geography and design much closer References together in the decades ahead. France, R. 2002. Handbook of Water-Sensitive Planning Conclusion and Design. CRC, Boca Raton.

st Gleick, P. H. (ed.). 2009. The World’s Water 2008-2009. The 21 century will almost certainly be an era The Biennial Report on Freshwater Resources. of increased global circulation of water issues, Island Press, Washington. inquiry, expertise, and action. During the late 20th century, international water organizations Hasan, A. 1986. Analogical Reasoning in Islamic expanded in Europe, Scandinavia, and South Asia. Jurisprudence: A Study of the Juridical Principle of While they succeeded in creating new programs, Qiyas. Islamic Research Institute, Islamabad. the feld of comparative international research has Jakobsson, A. (ed.). 2004. A History of Water. 3 volumes. lagged behind these organizing and information I.B. Tauris & Co., London. dissemination efforts. Maass, A., M. M. Hufschmidt, R. Dorfman, and H. A. In light of the critical water problems faced in Thomas Jr. 1962. Design of Water Resource Systems: every region of the world, the next twenty years New Techniques for Relating Economic Objectives, will require a major shift from largely implicit Engineering Analysis, and Governmental Planning. comparisons to rigorous comparative analyses that Harvard University Press, Cambridge. analyze and expand the range of water management adjustments that are designed to address these Meyer, W. B., K. W. Butzer, T. E. Downing, B. L. problems in different regions of the world. These Turner II, G. W. Wenzel, and J. L. Wescoat. 1998. “Reasoning by analogy,” chapter 4 of Human Choice comparative analyses will need to draw upon rich and Climate Change: Tools for Policy Analysis. Ed. historical experience and geographical contexts S. Rayner and E. Malone. Battelle Press, Columbus, that require new combinations of quantitative 217-89 pp. analyses, qualitative case study, and creative analogy. Research approaches that developed Moench, M., Dixit, A., Caspari, E. 2001-3. Water, in limited interdisciplinary ways will need to be Human Rights and Governance. Special issue of dramatically adapted, in ways analogous to river Water Nepal. 409 pp. basin planning and water systems analysis in the National Research Council. 2004. Confronting the 20th century, but that address issues that those Nation’s Water Problems: The Role of Research. earlier approaches overlooked or aggravated. It National Research Council, Washington. is a research vision that will requires all of the Reuss, M. 2003. Is it time to resurrect the Harvard Water comparative international insight that can be Program? Journal of Water Resources Planning and attained. Management, 129 (5): 357-360. Author Bio and Contact Information Satterthwaite, D. 2003. The Millennium Development Goals and urban poverty reduction: great James L. Wescoat, Jr. is Aga Khan Professor of expectations and nonsense statistics. Environment Islamic Architecture at MIT and member of the City and Urbanization 15: 179-190. Design and Development and Environmental Planning and Policy groups. His research concentrates on water Stewart, T. K. 2003. In search of equivalence: conceiving systems in South Asia and the U.S. from the site to river the Hindu-Muslim encounter through translation

JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION UCOWR 66 Wescoat

theory. Pages 363-392 in R. M. Eaton (ed.) India’s Encyclopedia of Earth. Eds. Cutler J. Cleveland Islamic Traditions, 711-1750. Oxford University (Washington, D.C.: Environmental Information Press, New Delhi. Coalition, National Council for Science and the Environment). [First published in the Encyclopedia Swyngedouw, E. 2004 ‘Scaled geographies: nature, of Earth April 28, 2008; Last revised April 29, 2008; place, and the politics of scale.’ Pages 129-153 Retrieved December 29, 2008]. . Blackwell Publishers, Oxford. White, G. F. 1945. Human Adjustment to Floods. Thompson, J. 2001. Drawers of Water II. International University of Chicago Department of Geography Institute for Environment and Development, Research Papers, No. 29, Chicago. London. White, G. F. 1991. Greenhouse gases, Nile snails, and Turner, B. L. II, W. C. Clark, R. W. Kates, J. F. Richards, human choice. Pages 276-308 in R. Jessor, (ed.) J. T. Mathews, and W. B. Meyer (eds.) 1990. The Perspectives on Behavioral Science: The Colorado Earth as Transformed by Human Action: Global and Lectures. Westview Press, Boulder. Regional Changes in the Biosphere over the Past 300 Years. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Wittfogel, K. A. 1981 [1964]. Oriental Despotism: A Comparative Study of Total Power. Vintage, New York. Wescoat, J. L. Jr. 2009. Submerged landscapes: the public trust in urban environmental design, from Wolf, A. 2009. Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Chicago to Karachi and back again. Vermont Journal Database. Oregon State University, Corvallis. http:// of Environmental Law 10:1-41 (preprint). www.transboundarywaters.orst.edu/. Accessed on May 14, 2009. Wescoat, J. L. Jr. 2005. Water policy and cultural exchange: transferring lessons from around the world to the western United States,” Pages 1-24 in D. Kenney (ed.) Search for Sustainable Water Management: International Lessons for the American West and Beyond, ed. D. Kenney, Natural Resources Law Center. Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham. Wescoat, J. L. Jr. 2001. Water rights in South Asia and the United States: comparative perspectives, 1873- 1996. Pages 298-337 in J. Richards (ed.) Land, Property and the Environment. ICS, Oakland. Wescoat, J. L. Jr. 2000. Wittfogel east and west: changing perspectives on water development in South Asia and the US, 1670-2000. Pages 109-32 in A. B. Murphy and D. L. Johnson (eds.) Cultural Encounters with the Environment: Enduring and Evolving Geographic Themes. Lanham, MD, Rowman & Littlefeld. Wescoat, J. L. Jr. 1995 The `right of thirst’ for animals in Islamic water law: a comparative approach. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 13 (1995) 637-54. Wescoat, J. L. Jr. 1994. Varieties of geographic comparison in The Earth Transformed,” review forum in Annals of the Association of American Geographers 84 (4): 721-725. Wescoat, J. L., Jr., R. Theobald and L. Headington. 2008. Water and poverty in the United States. In:

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UNIVERSITIES COUNCIL ON WATER RESOURCES JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION ISSUE 142, PAGES 67-75, AUGUST 2009 A Long Term View of Water and International Security1

Aaron T. Wolf

Professor of Geography; Department of Geosciences, Oregon State University

ater management is, by defnition, involved. Add international boundaries, and the confict management. Postel (1999) chances decrease yet again. Wdescribes the roots of the problem: Surface and ground water that cross international Water, unlike other scarce, consumable resources, boundaries present increased challenges to regional is used to fuel all facets of society, from biologies stability because hydrologic needs can often be to economies to aesthetics and spiritual practice. overwhelmed by political considerations. While Moreover, it fuctuates wildly in space and time, its the potential for paralyzing disputes is especially management is usually fragmented, and it is often high in these basins, history shows that water can subject to vague, arcane, and/or contradictory legal catalyze dialogue and cooperation, even between principles. There is no such thing as managing water especially contentious riparians. There are 263 for a single purpose – all water management is rivers around the world that cross the boundaries multi-objective and based on navigating competing of two or more nations, and an untold number of interests. Within a nation, these interests include international ground water aquifers. The catchment domestic users, agriculturalists, hydropower areas that contribute to these rivers comprise generators, those seeking recreation, and approximately 47 percent of the land surface of the environmentalists – any two of which are regularly earth, include 40 percent of the world’s population, at odds – and the chances of fnding mutually and contribute almost 80 percent of fresh water acceptable solutions drop as more stakeholders are fow (Figure 1) (Wolf et al. 1999).

Figure 1: International river basins.

JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION UCOWR 68 Wolf

Sharing Troubled Waters River Commission survived two wars between India and Pakistan. And all ten of the countries that In order to rigorously examine the history share the banks of the Nile are currently involved of water conficts, researchers at Oregon State in negotiations over cooperative development of University undertook a three-year research project the basin. that attempted to compile a data set of every So if there is little violence between nations over reported water-related interaction between two their shared waters, what’s the problem? Is water or more nations, whether incidents of confict or actually a security concern at all? In those cases cooperation, over the past 50 years (Wolf et al. where water has caused or exacerbated tensions, 2003). The study documented more than 1,800 such it is worth understanding how it did so, in order to interactions that involved water as a scarce and/or determine both how complications arise, and how consumable resource or as a quantity to be managed they are eventually resolved. – i.e., where water was the driver of the events.2 The study reached a number of conclusions. The Anatomy of Confict First, despite the potential for dispute in The frst complicating factor leading to confict international basins, the record of cooperation is the length of time between when nations frst historically overwhelms that of acute confict over start to impinge on each others’ water planning and international water resources. During this time when agreements are fnally, arduously, reached. period, 157 treaties were negotiated and signed, as A general pattern has emerged for international opposed to only 37 acute disputes. In fact, the only basins over time. Countries that share access to a true “water war” between nations in the historical basin tend to frst implement water-development record occurred over 4,500 years ago, between projects unilaterally, on water within their territory, the city-states of Lagash and Umma in the Tigris- in order to avoid the political intricacies of jointly Euphrates basin (Wolf et al. 2003). managing the shared resource. At some point, one Second, despite the fery rhetoric of politicians, of the countries, generally the most powerful, often aimed at their own constituencies rather will implement a project that impacts at least one than at the enemy, most actions taken over water of its neighbors. This project can, in the absence are mild. Third, nations fnd many more issues on of relations or institutions conducive to confict which to cooperate with regard to water resources resolution, become a fashpoint, heightening than to fght over. Fourth, water acts as both an tensions and creating regional instability that irritant and as a unifer. As an irritant, water can require years or, more commonly, decades to make good relations bad and bad relations worse. resolve. Treaties over the Indus took ten years of But international waters can also unify basins negotiations, the Ganges thirty, and the Jordan where relatively strong institutions are in place. forty. The historical record shows that international In the meantime, water quality and quantity water disputes do get resolved, even among bitter degrades to the point that the health of dependent enemies, and even as conficts erupt over other populations and ecosystems are damaged or issues. Some of the most vociferous enemies destroyed. This problem gets worse as the dispute around the world have negotiated water agreements gains in intensity, as illustrated by the ecosystems or are in the process of doing so. The institutions of the lower Nile, the lower Jordan, and the they have created frequently prove to be resilient tributaries of the Aral Sea, all of which have fallen over time and during periods of otherwise strained casualty to overuse upriver and to the intractability relations. The Mekong Committee, for example, of international disputes. During these periods, has functioned since 1957, exchanging data threats and disputes rage across boundaries, like throughout the Vietnam War. Secret “picnic table” those between Indians and Pakistanis and between talks have been held between Israel and Jordan Americans and Canadians. since the unsuccessful Johnston negotiations of A perhaps even more important set of 1953-55, even though these neighbors were until disputes, however, takes place at the subnational only recently in a legal state of war. The Indus level. Irrigators, indigenous populations, and

UCOWR JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION A Long Term View of Water and International Security 69 environmentalists, for example, often see water found conclusions that were counter-intuitive. as tied to their very way of life, increasingly Arid climates harbored no more conficts than threatened by newer uses for cities and hydropower. humid climates, for instance, and international Numerous violent incidents have occurred at cooperation actually increased during droughts. the sub-national level, generally between tribes, In fact, when we ran the numbers, none of the water-use sectors, or states/provinces. In fact, “obvious” variables proved decisive: Democracies our recent research at Oregon State suggests that engaged in water confict as often as autocracies, as the level at which the dispute occurs descends rich countries as often poor countries, densely towards the locality, the likelihood and intensity of populated countries as often sparsely populated violence goes up (Giordano et al. 2002). The many ones, and large countries as often as small ones. examples of internal water conficts range from A more central variable, it turned out, was the interstate violence and death along the Cauvery strength of institutions for dealing with shared River in India, to California farmers blowing up a water resources. If naturally arid countries pipeline meant for Los Angeles, to clashes between tended to be more cooperative, it was due to the Chinese farmers and police in Shandong in 2000 in institutional strategies necessary for adapting to response to government plans to divert irrigation water-scarce environments. Once we began to water to cities and industries. focus on institutions – whether defned by formal As water quality degrades or quantity diminishes treaties, informal working groups, or generally over time, the effect on the stability of a region can warm relations – we began to get a clearer picture be unsettling. For example, for the thirty years of the settings most conducive to solving political that the Gaza Strip was under Israeli occupation, tensions over international waters, and those that water quality deteriorated steadily. Salt water are less favorable. intrusion degraded local wells, and water-related We found that the likelihood of confict increases diseases took a rising toll on the people living signifcantly whenever two factors come into play. there. In 1987, the Palestinian uprising known The frst is any large or rapid change that occurs as the Intifada broke out in the Gaza Strip, and either in the basin’s physical setting (typically the quickly spread throughout the West Bank. While it construction of a dam, river diversion, or irrigation would be simplistic to claim that water quality was scheme), or in its political setting (especially the a direct cause of the confict, it was undoubtedly an breakup of a nation that results in new international irritant exacerbating an already tenuous situation. rivers). The second factor is the inability of existing Two-thirds or more of the world’s water use institutions to absorb and effectively manage that is dedicated to agriculture, so when access to change. This is typically the case when there is irrigation water is threatened, one result can be neither any treaty spelling out each nation’s rights mass migrations of out-of-work, disgruntled men and responsibilities with regard to the shared from the countryside to the cities – invariably a river, nor any implicit agreements or cooperative recipe for political instability. In pioneering work, arrangements. Even the existence of technical Sandra Postel identifed those countries that rely working groups can provide some capability to heavily on irrigation and whose agricultural water manage contentious issues, as they have in the supplies are threatened either by a decline in quality Middle East. or quantity. The list includes many of the world’s The overarching lesson of our study is that current security concerns, including India, China, unilateral actions to construct a dam or river Pakistan, Iran, Uzbekistan, Bangladesh, Iraq, and diversion in the absence of a treaty or other Egypt. protective international mechanism is highly A common assumption holds that scarcity of a destabilizing to a region, often spurring decades critical resource drives people to confict. It feels of hostility before cooperation is pursued. In intuitive: The less there is of something, especially other words, the red fag for water-related tension something as important as water, the more dear it between countries is not water stress per se, but is held and the more likely people are to fght over rather the unilateral exercise of domination of an it. Once again, though, our study at Oregon State international river, usually by a regional power.

JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION UCOWR 70 Wolf

Why Might the Future Look Nothing political confict and cooperation (see www. Like the Past? transboundarywaters.orst.edu) goes back to 1948. In some ways, water management is very Some aspects of the future will probably look similar now as it was then (or, for that matter, as very similar to the present, especially the potential it was 5,000 years ago). But some fundamental for the global wealthy to be able to adapt to change, aspects are profoundly different. Institutions are while the poor will not. Consider for example, the getting better and more resilient, management and problem of fooding in the Netherlands versus in understanding are improving, and these issues Bangladesh. Both are low lying countries with are increasingly on the radar screen of global and little topography, and both are subject to the local decision-makers. But most importantly, the hazards of fooding potentially exacerbated by 21st century has access to new technology which rising sea levels. Multi-million dollar sea-walls are could not be dreamed of in 1948, and which adds built to protect the Netherlands, with the result that substantially to the ability both to negotiate and to food-related deaths and damage are negligible, manage transboundary waters more effectively: while every year thousands die amid wide-spread • Major advances are being made regularly devastation in Bangladesh. Similarly, few suffer in water technologies designed either to from the effects of water shortage in the more- increase supply – e.g., desalination, waste wealthy world, while 2.2 to 5 million people die water reclamation – or decrease demand – every year in the developing world from water- e.g., drip irrigation, plant genetics, low-fow related causes (Gleick 1996). While there are gains utilities. As a country’s economy grows, its to access to drinking water and sanitation, in the per capita water use initially grows as well, but less-wealthy world, people will continue to suffer eventually can drop in water stressed regions, and die at unprecedented rates, and ecosystem as has been the case in Israel and California; degradation will continue at alarming rates. Yet, the entire basis of the Oregon State study • Modular modeling systems such as STELLA, rests on the not unassailable assumption that we Waterware, and Riverware can now be used can tell something about the future by looking at for comprehensive modeling of hydrologic the past. It is worth stopping at this point, then, and and human systems. Because of their modular challenging the very foundation of that assumption: design, they can also act as a facilitation Why might the future look nothing at all like the tool by allowing managers/negotiators to past? What new approaches or technologies are cooperatively build the model, increasing the on the horizon to change or ameliorate the risk to joint knowledge base and communications. the basins we have identifed, or even to the whole Graphical User Interfaces allow for each approach to basins at risk? component to be brought together into an By defnition, a discussion of the future can not have intuitive, user-friendly setting; the same empirical backing as a historical study – the • Geographic Information Systems (GIS) allow data just are not there yet. Yet there are cutting edge several spatial data layers, encompassing developments and recent trends that, if one examined biophysical, socioeconomic and geopolitical them within the context of this study, might suggest parameters, to be viewed and analyzed some possible changes in store for transboundary graphically, while advances in remote sensing waters in the near future. What follows, then, are allow for fow data to be collected from several possibly fundamental changes in the way we ungauged basins, simultaneously reducing approach transboundary waters, and implications the options for holding data secret; and, for how the research agenda may both shape and be • Real time monitoring tools, such as radio- shaped by these developments. controlled gauging stations, add new options for real time management, and allocations New Technologies for Negotiation based on existing hydrologic settings rather and Management than fxed quantities. The Oregon State University data set of While new technologies and data cannot replace

UCOWR JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION A Long Term View of Water and International Security 71 the political good will necessary for creative is related in part to the rate of change within a solutions, nor are they widely available outside basin. It is also clear from most climate studies that the developed world, they can, if appropriately it is precisely the rate of change of the global and deployed, allow for more robust negotiations and regional hydrologic cycles that are most likely to greater fexibility in joint management. be exacerbated by global climate change (Michael Historically, data has been a tool incorporated in and Pandya 2009, Svendsen and Künkel 2009). power relations between riparians where, generally, While some areas will become wetter and some the relatively greater access to information by the drier, the variability of extreme events will likely regional hegemon has infuenced process; Egypt increase throughout much of the world. Since on the Nile, India on the Ganges, and Israel on the violence becomes likely when change exceeds the Jordan have all been cited as examples (Zeitoun rate of institutional capacity to absorb the change, and Mirumachi 2008). increased variability will put greater stress on the Today there are numerous signs of how specifc hydro-political system. For example, the entire technologies are subtly transforming confict water rights and distribution network of many parts resolution, negotiations, and decision dynamics in of the world rely on the natural storage of water water conficts. For example, software and visual resources in the snow packs of mountain ranges, displays facilitate the joint creation of models snow packs projected to decrease dramatically in of water resources by political and technical coming years in much of the world. With more water stakeholders (United States Army Corps of fowing earlier in the year, water allocations in the Engineers 2006). They also raise the real potential dry months will become increasingly threatened, for expanding options for political negotiators and at the same time as devastation during wet months decision makers. And as negotiation theory tells will increase, combining to put dangerous stresses us, the ability to expand options is often the key to on agriculture, industry, and generally on regional successful negotiations. natural and human resources (Dinar et al. 2009). Remote sensing technology, while not replacing Climate change is already front and center of the need for “ground truthing,” gives countries and the vibrant research agenda and its implications jurisdictions the ability to build a fairly accurate threaten to become overstated. In absolute terms, picture of water fow in other jurisdictions, the bulk of the water crisis falls to ancient causes regardless of the level of data sharing. This – population and poverty – yet the increase in technological capability is and will continue variability and uncertainty cannot be ignored. to transform the relationships and negotiations among jurisdictions. Trying to keep it all secret or Globalization: Private Capital, giving misleading data just won’t work like it used WTO, and Circumvented Ethics to; more people have more access to data. And all of this technology is disseminating, democratizing, Very little of the recent attention on globalization faster than anyone predicted. and the rise of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Virtually all of the world’s viable river basin has centered on water resources, but there is a organizations evolved, usually over a period of defnite water component to these processes. One several decades, in response to extreme hydrologic of the most profound is the shift of development events. The achievement of shared data and trusted funds from global and regional development banks technical expertise has been central to their success. such as the World Bank and the Asia Development The interplay between the political and technical Bank to private multinationals, such as Bechtel, in achieving this state is complicated. But river Vivendi and Ondeo (formerly Lyonnaise des Eaux) basin organization viability, often demanded by (see for example, Anderson and Snyder 1997, the populations served, has ultimately depended in Finger and Allouche 2002). Development banks great part on such trusted technical agents. have, over the years, been susceptible to public pressures and ethics and, as such, have developed Global Climate Change procedures for evaluating social and environmental impacts of projects, and incorporating them in It is clear that the likelihood of political tension

JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION UCOWR 72 Wolf decision making. On international waters, each stage at both the 2000 and 2003 World Water Forums development bank has guidelines that generally for an unresolved show-down against those who prohibit development unless all riparians agree to would defne water as a human or ecosystem right the project, which in and of itself has promoted (Gleick 2005). The debate looms large over the successful negotiations in the past. Current research future of water resources: if water is a commodity, on the viability of a potential canal between the Red and if the World Trade Organization rules disallow and Dead Seas, for example, required extensive obstacles to the trade of commodities, will nations negotiations that resulted in frst-ever political be forced to sell their water? While far-fetched recognition of Israel, Jordan, and Palestine as legal now (even as a California company is challenging riparians to the Jordan River (Fischhendler 2008). British Columbia over precisely such an issue under Private enterprises have no such restrictions, and North American Free Trade Agreement rules), the nations eager to develop controversial projects globalization debate between market forces and have been increasingly turning to private capital to social forces continue to play out in microcosm in circumvent public ethics. The most controversial the world of water resources. projects of the day – Turkey’s Greater Anatolia Project, India’s Narmada River project, and China’s The Geopolitics of Desalination Three Gorges Dam – are all proceeding through Twice in the last 50 years – during the 1960s the studied avoidance of development banks and nuclear energy fervor, and in the late 1980s, with their mores (Finger and Allouche 2002). “discoveries” in cold fusion – much of the world There is a more subtle effect of globalization, briefy thought it was on the verge of having access though, which has to do with the World Trade to close-to-free energy supplies. “Too cheap to Organization and its emphasis on privatization meter” was the phrase during the Atoms for Peace and full cost recovery of investments. Local and Conference. While neither the economics nor the national governments, which have traditionally technology fnally supported these claims, it is not implemented and subsidized water development far fetched to picture changes that could profoundly systems to keep water prices down, are under alter the economics of desalination. increasing pressure from the forces of globalization The marginal cost of desalinated water (between to develop these systems through private companies. US$0.55 and US$0.80/m3) makes it currently cost- These large multinational water companies in turn effective only in the developed world, where (1) manage for proft and, if they use development the water will be used for drinking water; (2) the capital, are pushed to recover the full cost of population to whom the water will be delivered their investment. This can translate not only into lives along a coast and at low elevations; and (3) immediate and substantial rises in the cost of there are no alternatives. The only places not so water, disproportionately affecting the poor, but restricted are where energy costs are especially also to greater eradication of local and indigenous low, notably the Arabian Peninsula. A fundamental management systems and cultures. If there is to shift either in energy prices or in membrane be water-related violence in the future, it is much technology could bring costs down substantially. more likely to be of the “water riots” variety If either happened to the extent that the marginal against a Bechtel development in Bolivia in 1999 cost allowed for agricultural irrigation with ocean than “water wars” across national boundaries. water (around US$.08/m3 on average), a large As World Trade Organization rules are elaborated proportion of the world’s water supplies would and negotiated, real questions remain as to how shift from rivers and shallow aquifers to the ocean much of this process will be required of nations (an unlikely, but plausible, scenario). And the price in the future, simply to retain membership in the of desalinization is dropping, dramatically. The organization. The “commodifcation” of water as bid prices for a project in Tampa Bay, Florida, are a result of these forces is a case in point. Over less than half of what were considered the lowest the last twenty years, global water policy meetings cubic meter prices for desalinated water less than have passed resolutions that, among other issues, 10 years ago. This change in price is important defned water as an “economic good,” setting the because the trend for desalinization, in many ways,

UCOWR JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION A Long Term View of Water and International Security 73 makes it look more competitive with other sources. major ways: (1) acquire, analyze, and coordinate And we should remember that most of the world’s the primary data necessary for good empirical population lives close to the coast. work; (2) identify indicators of future water Besides the fundamental economic changes that disputes and/or insecurity in regions most at risk; would result, geopolitical thinking about water and (3) train tomorrow’s water managers in an systems would also need to shift. Currently, there integrated fashion. is inherent political power in being an upstream The internet’s initial mandate is still one of the riparian, and thus controlling the headwaters. In best: to allow communication between researchers the scenario for cheap desalination, that spatial around the world to exchange information and position of power would shift from mountains to enhance collaboration. The surplus of primary the valleys and from the headwaters to the coast. data currently threatens an information overload Many nations, such as Israel, Egypt, and Iraq, in the developed world, while the most basic that currently dependent on upstream neighbors information is often lacking in the developing for their water supply would, by virtue of their world. Data availability not only allows for greater coastlines, suddenly fnd roles reversed – again, understanding of the physical world but, by adding unlikely, but plausible. information and knowledge from the social, economic, and political realms, indicators showing The Changing Sources of Water and regions at risk can be identifed. the Changing Nature of Confict Moreover, universities are best suited to train those who will resolve tomorrow’s water disputes, Both the worlds of water and of confict are and programs at, for example, UNESCO/IHE- undergoing slow but steady changes that may Delft, the University of Dundee, Linkopping obviate much of the thinking in this paper. University, Tufts University, and Oregon State As surface water supplies and easy-to-access University are allowing students to focus both ground water sources are increasingly exploited on confict transformation and in the science throughout the world, two major changes result: 1) and policy of water resources. UNESCO, the Quality is steadily becoming a more serious issue World Bank, and the Universities Partnership for to many than quantity; and 2) Water use is shifting Transboundary Waters have been developing and to less traditional sources (see, for example, Smith compiling curricula and skills-building manuals to and Wang 2007). Many of these sources – such help train the water champions of tomorrow. as deep fossil aquifers, waste water reclamation, In addition, much useful research needs to be and interbasin transfers – are not restricted by the done in areas such as the following: confnes of watershed boundaries, our fundamental 1. Studies of international water resource unit of analysis in this study. Moreover, agreements that analyze how agreements population and income-driven food demand will develop and what the internal and external grow exponentially in coming years, putting conditions are for their success; unprecedented pressures on water demand. 2. Studies of the actual operations of dispute Confict, too, is becoming less traditional, clauses and assisted negotiations under increasingly being driven by internal or local current water resources agreements and river pressures, or more subtle issues of poverty and basin organizations; stability. The combination of changes, in water resources and in confict, suggest that tomorrow’s 3. Studies of the reasons for past successes water disputes may look very different from and failures of international water resources today’s. dispute management; 4. Research that relates methods of managing Implications for Tomorrow’s Research conficts to the types of water resources decisions we are likely to take. For examples, Universities and research agencies can best how do regulatory versus planning versus contribute to alleviation of the water crisis in three free market versus assisted negotiation

JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION UCOWR 74 Wolf

approaches affect water resources decisions research community of the next 20 years. such as design, implementation, construction, operations, and maintenance? Who is End Notes involved at what levels in these decisions? 1. This paper draws from: “A Long Term View of How successful have we been in looking at Water and Security: International Waters, National the social utility functions of each? What does Issues, and Regional Tensions,” presented at each approach tell us about equity, effciency, a NATO Advanced Research Workshop on and fairness? How does each approach Transboundary Natural Resources Governance in generate options and trade-offs? Regions of Extreme Conditions, Ein Gedi, Israel, 19-21 November 2007. 5. Studies that integrate theories from a variety of disciplines, such as community building, 2. Excluded are events where water is incidental to a dispute, such as those concerning fshing international negotiations, alternative dispute rights, access to ports, transportation, or river resolution, and multiple objective planning in boundaries. Also excluded are events where water water resource management; is not the driver, such as those where water is a 6. Studies that examine the role of current tool, target, or victim of armed confict. Zeitoun international lender and donor institutions. and Mirumchi (2008) argue further that events are To what degree may they become more not either confictive or cooperative, but rather facilitators of agreement as opposed to usually have elements of both. evaluators and/or designers of solutions? In Acknowledgments what ways can those institutions that deal with water improve their behavior so as to I am tremendously grateful to Bill Smith, of the help prevent conficts? University of Nevada, Las Vegas, for initiating and 7. Research that discerns how our water fostering this collection, as I am to Chris Lant for resources experiences – namely, whether we bringing it all together. live in humid or arid areas – in turn affect Author Bio and Contact Information our perceptions, and how such perceptions, in turn, affect both our own policies and those Aaron T. Wolf is a professor of geography in the policies we may recommend for others; Department of Geosciences at Oregon State University. 8. Research to assess and describe where and His research and teaching focus is on the interaction how intra- and international-state water issues between water science and water policy, particularly as related to confict prevention and resolution. He could threaten political and social security; is co-author of Managing and Transforming Water 9. Examination of whether increased integration Conficts (Cambridge University Press 2009), Core of infrastructure between hostile neighbors and Periphery: A Comprehensive Approach to Middle increases or decreases likelihood of confict; Eastern Water (Oxford University Press 1997), and 10. Study of what is minimum data necessary for editor of Confict Prevention and Resolution in Water informed policy decisions; and, Systems (Elgar 2002). A trained mediator/facilitator, Wolf directs the Program in Water Confict Management 11. Studies of the impacts of globalization, and Transformation, through which he has offered privatization, and commodifcation of water workshops, facilitations, and mediation in basins resources. throughout the world (www.transboundarywaters.orst. The history of sharing waters is a rich one, edu). He can be contacted at [email protected]. flled with nuanced collaborations and practical edu. applications. Yet the resources are threatened by References dangers old – population and poverty chief among them – and new – climate change and commodi- Anderson, T. L. and Snyder, P. 1997. Water Markets: fcation, for example. Avoiding crises and violence Priming the Invisible Pump. Washington, DC: Cato in the future will require heroic effort and political Institute. will, and will rely heavily on the work of the vibrant Dinar, S., O. Odom, A. McNally, and B. Blankespoor. 2009. Climate Change and State Grievances: The

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Resiliency of International River Treaties to Increased Water Variability. Draft (Forthcoming). Finger, M. and J. Allouche. 2002. Water Privatisation: Trans-National Corporations and the Re-Regulation of the Water Industry. London and New York: Spon Press. Fischhendler, I. 2008. When Ambiguity in Treaty Design Becomes Destructive: A Study of Transboundary Water. Global Environmental Politics 8(1): 111-136. Giordano, M., M. Giordano, and A. Wolf. 2002. The geography of water confict and cooperation: Internal pressures and international manifestations. Geographical Journal 168 (4): 293-312. Gleick, P. 1996. Basic water requirements for human activities: Meeting basic needs. Water International 21(2): 83–92. Gleick, P. H. 2005. The World’s Water 2004–2005: The Biennial Report on Freshwater Resources. Washington, DC: Island Press. Michel, D. and A. Pandya (eds.). 2009. Troubled Waters: Climate Change, Hydropolitics, and Transboundary Resources. Washington DC, Stimson Center Press. Postel, S. 1999. Pillar of Sand: Can the Irrigation Miracle Last? New York: Norton. Smith Jr., W. J. and Y-D, Wang. 2007. Conservation rates: The best ‘new’ source of urban water during drought. Water & Environment Journal 22 (2): 100- 116. Svendsen, M. and N. Künkel. 2009. Water and Adaptation to Climate Change: Consequences for developing countries. Berlin: GTZ Press. United States Army Corps of Engineers. 2006. Shared Vision Planning. Institute for Water Resources. Alexandria, VA: IWR USACE. Wolf, A. T., J. A. Natharius, J. J. Danielson, B. S. Ward, and J. K. Pender. 1999. International river basins of the world. International Journal of Water Resource Development 15(4): 387-427. Wolf, A., S. Yoffe, and M. Giordano. 2003. International Waters: Identifying Basins at Risk. Water Policy 5(1): 31-62. Zeitoun, M. and N. Mirumachi. 2008. Transboundary water interaction I: Reconsidering confict and cooperation. International Environmental Agreements 8: 297-316.

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UNIVERSITIES COUNCIL ON WATER RESOURCES JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION ISSUE 142, PAGES 76-82, AUGUST 2009 Problem-Centered vs. Discipline-Centered Research for the Exploration of Sustainability

William James Smith, Jr.

Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental Studies, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

The western states are experiencing increasing Climate, Growth, Demand, water supply challenges, and the continuing drought makes these pressures more acute . . . Purveyors and Politics Chronic water shortages, explosive population The expansion of urban areas within semi-arid growth, over-allocated watersheds, environmental and arid locations in the Lower Colorado River needs and aging water facilities are combining to create the potential for crisis and confict over Basin has stressed local ecosystems and threatens water... Being proactive is the best approach adjoining, and even remote, ecosystems from which to prevent water conficts… Interior Secretary water may be transferred (Briggs and Cornelius Dirk Kempthorne (Bureau of Reclamation press 1998, Rowell et al. 2005). For example, in rural release 2006). Nevada, the Southern Nevada Water Authority he major human-environment issue in wishes to withdraw water from fragile ecosystems America’s arid and semi-arid Southwest that ranchers have traditionally used. This is in Tregion is urban growth. Arid region growth order to feed the growth in water demand in Las is a phenomena that extends beyond the U.S., but Vegas and surrounding areas. Deacon et al. (2007) the American case is interesting, in that it is an provide a sobering article on the past extinctions extreme scenario, and the politics regarding water of springs in Southern Nevada due to over- are notably multi-scale, multi-state, multi-agency, development. He also challenges the development and vitriolic in the region. In fact, Las Vegas is of rural water, primarily on the basis of impacts on the most rapidly growing metropolitan area in fragile desert ecosystems. Deacon is best known the nation, and the Lower Colorado River Basin for his ground-breaking work on the desert pup includes two other areas that are also in the top ten fsh, a highly endangered relic species of fsh living in terms of growth rate – the Phoenix, and the San in the top of aquifers in the region. Bernardino-Riverside areas. Furthermore, the U.S. The extreme climatic conditions of such desert Census Bureau projects that the states of Nevada cities provides remarkable challenges to planning and Arizona will lead the nation in terms of rates of for development and resource management that population growth between 2005 and 2010, while sustains people and ecological systems over California, with southern parts of the state receiving generations (i.e. sustainability). This region has Lower Colorado River Basin water, will lead the never been capable of supporting permanent high- U.S. in total population increase. “Drought” has density populations in the past, and only the birth been omnipresent in the hydropolitics of the region of specialized high-technology has the ability to in recent years, but when persons see boat slips shift this paradigm. In this region, like much of hanging in the air over where Lake Mead used the industrialized and wealthy world, the main to be, and the lake is below 50 percent capacity, water concerns focus on water quantity, especially the question now often raised by locals, scientists, during drought, whereas in less-wealthy parts of and reporters traveling internationally to cover the the world the focus is on quality (Smith Jr. 2009, issue is, “is this drought or climate change?” 2008a, 2008b, 2006).

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Notably, the top 21 U.S. cities with the highest that is created when millions of people rapidly move average July temperatures are in Nevada and to deserts without the local water supply normally Arizona. Moreover, current global climate model necessary to support them. I speculate based on simulations for the 21st century are unanimous in the play for water that the Southern Nevada Water projecting increased temperatures in the region in Authority is making on rural water supplies, that the coming decades, driving increased evaporation in such a case the economic imperative spells rates. The ensemble-mean projection of the models trouble for the politically and economically weak. also indicates stable to modestly decreasing The sociopolitical dimensions of this scenario beg precipitation rates (Dettinger 2005). These attention as much as do the strictly biophysical. increases in evaporation and potentially small The unusual, even odd, range of possibilities decreases in precipitation portend an ominous tilt being uploaded to the public sphere to bring in the rapidly-growing region’s hydrologic balance water to Southern Nevada underscores the bind toward drier conditions.1 This is compounded by that the region is in. More tame ideas to come an increasing awareness that the Lower Colorado to the forefront have included no placement of River Basin is over-allocated (Piechota et al. 2004). grass lawns when new homes are built, and heavy Nevertheless, preliminary research indicates that promotion of xeriscape principles (i.e. use of plants residential conservation of water is, at best, uneven with extremely low water demand). Due to Nevada in the basin and, in many cases, water rates are not receiving return fow credits, outdoor conservation even oriented toward conservation (i.e. inclining is inherently of greater importance than indoor blocks as in Figure 1). There is a traditional over- conservation, since water treated and returned to reliance on supply-side approaches indicative of the Colorado River results in credit. the national and international condition, and cross- The more radical supply-side approaches state, or basin-based, collection of demand-side suggested by the Southern Nevada Water Authority data and drought policy information is lacking. include drawing water from the Mississippi With such burgeoning development in arid River, desalinization of ocean water from either lands over the next decades, it will be of prime Mexico or California, and cloud seeding in an importance to investigate the impact that the already arid basin (already happening in Wyoming presence or dearth of conservation rates and in an attempt to gain Nevada credits for more technologies will have on meeting future water water). Such approaches are attractive because demand, regional capacity to cope with drought, they allow Southern Nevada to have limitless and to balance the needs of human and ecological development “cake” and eat it too. However, systems. All this will occur in the political milieu cloud seeding ignores the fact that that water was Water Rate Conceptual Model on its way to another ecosystem, and introduces yet even more uncertainty in an era of what is Inclining block rates already worrisome climate change. Water from the Mississippi, like that from the Pacifc Ocean, Pyramid rates would require navigation of a labyrinth of physical and legal barriers, and possibly introduce invasive Declining block rates Price species. And piping water from far away would require notable energy production which results in greenhouse gas production. There are also serious Uniform rates terrorism concerns with such great exposure. And, given the current economic downturn, gathering capital for fnancing such endeavors may be Free - no meter challenging. Furthermore, it seems unlikely that Quantity California would want to swap its Colorado River water rights for local desalinated water paid by Figure 1. Conceptual model of the major types of Nevada, and building facilities on the coast would water rates that encourage or discourage waste through market signals or the lack thereof. be a political nightmare (thus, the Mexico option).

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However, the main point here is that all these ideas all of this, as when millions of people move to an are intended to erase barriers to limitless growth in area that has 125° F temperatures for a signifcant the desert – as if any other possibility is sacrilege. time of the year, many of those persons are likely But as long as this remains a local government to have their air conditioning on 24 hours a day issue, all actors are likely to push for these types of for months. This is the antithesis of “designing “solutions” due to their vested interest in growth, with nature.” This kind of industrial-scale energy not sustainability per se. The public sometimes consumption is what brought us to the climate seems to think that the role of purveyors such as the change conundrum, and which is going to make Southern Nevada Water Authority is sustainability, future water demand more diffcult to meet! but the core objective is actually to get more water, Clearly, traditional approaches to water resources and seemingly, control enough of the public sphere analysis will not suffce in such a dynamic setting. to prevent backlash. Organizations such as this can From a researcher’s perspective, this should accrue so much clout, money, and leverage that they provide fascinating and socially and ecologically can actually seem like they are the government, and signifcant opportunities to investigate possible it is easy to assume a balanced agenda which may future scenarios in multidisciplinary teams. not exist. Moreover, it has not been shown that Figure 2 illustrates dynamic connections among non-monetary values and environmental justice for what might frst appear to be discrete systems rural communities could be integrated into market- (and disciplines) in the Lower Colorado River based systems. Basin at various temporal and spatial scales. The The conundrum of increasing demand and model foci represent real world elements of a development in an environment that is becoming complex, coupled and inadequately understood more arid, and the plight of rural citizens as they set of processes impacting the health of human attempt to maintain traditional access to water in and natural systems in a manner that can only be the face of urban physical demand and economic understood through an interdisciplinary approach. and political might is not specifc only to Nevada. Climate models that can be scaled to the size of the For example, it is well known that near Beijing, basin generally agree with each other for the next China farmers are struggling as the water table 20-30 years, which happens to match the temporal drops below their level of accessibility, and there span of this manuscript. Thus, I set the modeling is even speculation on the potential need to move time frame to examine scenarios up to 20 years the capital. It is also known that the South-North from now. Water Transfer Project is focusing on reversing the From left-to-right in Figure 2, there is an fow of water draining south to feed the demands expected link between climate and fow in the of the north. Lower Colorado River Basin and river fow is also a source of atmospheric moisture (its impact Feedback Loops and debatable). Flow impacts the amount of water Multidisciplinary Opportunities available for residential demand, and demand, of course, impacts the amount of fow at specifc Focusing again on the American Southwest, points in the system. Residential demand has the in such scenarios, the ability to make, revisit, additional impact of altering the fow available and abide by agreements, and to avoid conficts, for ecological systems and, if such policies as is strained by the highly dynamic nature of minimum fow standards or fows regulated by the populations, climate change, and the capacity of Endangered Species Act are in place, then eco- high technology to serve economic agendas. In logical systems, in turn, can impact the amount of such scenarios it is easy to see how voices for both water humans can draw from the physical system. rural, and especially, ecosystem water needs, are The water made available to both people and nature not often expressed in this fragile environment, has direct impacts for economic sustainability, despite, or to take a cynical perspective, because as many economic activities, such as the silicon of, burgeoning urban water demand.2 industry being wooed by Las Vegas, require water. Ironically, there is a sort of cyclical nature to Working down and back to the left in the fgure, it

UCOWR JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION Problem-Centered vs. Discipline-Centered Research 79

“NORMAL” NATURE/ ATMPR/CLM ECOL SYS FACTORS

ATMPR/CLM FLOW RESIDENTIAL ECON OPT (& CLM CHG) WATER ECON DEMAND SUSTBLTY

LAND USE URBAN LAND COVER GROWTH

Figure 2. Dynamic interplay of human and biophysical factors regarding water and climate change in the Lower Colorado River Basin and its subsystems. is true that limits to water availability can impact human systems to occur in the rapidly evolving growth potential (perhaps providing grounds for Lower Colorado River Basin over the next 20 massive cross-basin transfers of water) and, at years. In addition to the balance between these the same time, urban growth impacts demand. elements and the magnitude of their relationships Demographic change in the next 20 years, both in with one another, it is fertile ground to investigate terms of total numbers of people and composition the gestalt effect of these changes on the continued (elasticity of demand varies by income level and viability of regional development as a whole, and other factors), will in return, drive both residential the appropriate level and character of governance water demand and changes in land use and land from the local to federal scales. Many related cover. In addition, people move to, and build in, questions, such as how effective local regulation places in part due to their perceptions of climate can be when it seems everyone in places such as and resource availability. Those perceptions may Las Vegas has a vested interest in the continuation be plastic, but the extent to which people’s related of massive growth, go beyond water per se, but preferences and perceptions change over time in deserve intellectual treatment beyond the local extremely arid environments is poorly understood. public sphere which is highly biased. Nonetheless, climate regimes impact development. A concern is that vulnerability in the Conversely, alterations on the surface of the Lower aforementioned complex set of interacting Colorado River Basin that will occur with large human and natural systems will be enhanced by demographic shifts can be modeled using a GIS an imbalance caused by extreme development. and thus provide inputs to atmospheric models Imbalance, for example, can be framed in terms to examine potential impacts on local climate of growth, or as change in level of water use by a – bringing the reader back to the starting point in human or ecological system that leaves inadequate the fgure. water for the sustenance of the other system(s). Discovering ways to make the dynamic Or, an alternative perspective on vulnerability is relationship between these elements clear will that there are as of yet unknown “tipping points” advance characterization of the fows of dynamic for the elements in Figure 2, beyond which the and multidimensional changes in physical and system cannot supply water resources to people

JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION UCOWR 80 Smith and ecosystems without signifcant changes in harmony between the systems manifest in Figure behavior. 2, providing an opportunity for sustainability and avoidance of damaging feedbacks for humans Scenario Models to Evaluate and nature in extreme conditions for present and Sustainability future generations. And, in the process of pursuing such knowledge, it is important to inquire as to Behavior could be changed to an as-of-now how certain we can be of our fndings, and what untested degree during periods of extreme water information would decrease uncertainty and risk. scarcity through regional application of drought These aforementioned questions will require demand rates, though the question of what is integration of our knowledge across the disciplines drought, and what is climate change, matters, as – and require us to extend beyond our comfort it seems as if the impact of drought demand rates level for true collaboration and synthesis beyond is not infnite, given that water is essential and still the traditional water resources scope. relatively cheap. What would be worthwhile would be to project population growth, water demand, Promoting Problems and Teams and potential for implementation of drought Over Disciplines demand rates for the next 20 years under several plausible scenarios of climate, recharge, elasticity, Finally, this leads me to consider the role of growth, and allocations, and include to the degree geographers, as well as those in environmental feasible scenarios of conservation technology and studies, and others who claim that their strength is landscapes (e.g. xeriscaping, land retirement, turf in their multidisciplinary grounding, team approach removal). Then use the results of these analyses to and breadth of their skill-sets. The next 20 years in answer, better yet, visualize, perhaps geovisualize, arid lands such as the Lower Colorado River Basin questions that include the following: will provide an ample platform for them to prove 1. Under what conditions and when might their worth in this highly dynamic area requiring the system become incapable of delivering greater multidisciplinary treatment. adequate water? Advancing this argument further, if researchers are willing to concentrate on problem-centered 2. To what extent might growth impact water approaches to delineating and attacking research availability and sustainability through both questions and problems, rather than staying demand and climate change? within and defending encroachment on their 3. What role can water conservation-oriented disciplinary silos, then multidisciplinary teams rates, conservation landscaping and can be confgured to advance praxis in scenarios technology implementation play in buoying such as that detailed above. A problem-centered the systems through times of predicted approach is the best hope for allowing researchers greatest water scarcity…and what is the to be strong in their area, and to avoid ineffcient reasonable limit as to how far this might turf battles by allowing persons to focus on their stretch viability given that growth has no cap own specialty areas, while allowing the blend of in the U.S.? contributions to produce an effective gestalt-effect It is tradition that industrialized societies where there is shared intellectual ground. recognize maximization of capture and use (not University administration, however, must necessarily wise-use) of resources, and increase produce internal systems that reward this type of in scale of physical development on a landscape, “behavior,” and the resulting collaborative grant as indicators of progress (“conquering” nature). writing and publications that may fall out of the But is there a more healthy way to frame arid scope of traditional approaches. Systems that and semi-arid urban development in terms of the only reward single or frst author publishing in a aforementioned relationships? A reexamination of narrow scope of journals will retard advancement these relationships seems wise, and the purpose of the type of multidimensional research framed in of any such reexamination should be to seek Figure 2. In this case, advancements in knowledge

UCOWR JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION Problem-Centered vs. Discipline-Centered Research 81 will happen in a highly uneven manner between in the Western Pacifc Islands and the Philippines. He subareas, with signifcant data hoarding, and sub- can be contacted at [email protected]. boundaries between applications (i.e. studies of References recharge that do not connect to demand to evaluate overall water sustainability). The internal rules Briggs, M. K. and Cornelius, S. 1998. Opportunities for to the academic game must be set to allow the ecological improvement along the lower Colorado creative energies of researchers, and synergies River and delta. Wetlands 18 (4): 513-529. between them, to rise to meet the complexity of Deacon, J., A. E. Williams, C. Deacon Williams, J. E. the highly dynamic settings of places such as the Williams. 2007. Fueling Population Growth in Las Lower Colorado River Basin. In that sense, the Vegas: How Large-scale Groundwater Withdrawal barriers to advancing water resources through a Could Burn Regional Biodiversity. BioScience sustainability framework may be as much internal Magazine 57 (8): 688–698. as external – with mitigating internal challenges Dettinger, M. 2005. From climate-change spaghetti to forming multidisciplinary teams arguably being to climate-change distributions for 21st Century a prerequisite to a “vibrant research agenda” in California. San Francisco Estuary and Watershed places such as the Lower Colorado River Basin. Science 3 (1): 4. This seems to be especially true if researchers also endeavor for their pursuit of emerging research Piechota, T. C., Hidalgo, H., Timilsena, J., and G. agendas to make a positive impact on the ground, Tootle. 2004. Western U.S. drought: How bad is it? as well as in the literature. EOS Transactions 85 (32): 301-308. Rowell, K., Flessa, K. W. and Dettman, D. L. 2005. The End Notes importance of Colorado River fow to nursery habitats of the Gulf Corvina (Cynoscion othonopterus). 1. This is presently being monitored, modeled and Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences “stepped-down” to be run in hydrologic and other 62: 2874-2885. models by the team working on the 5-year NSF- funded project titled “Nevada Infrastructure Smith Jr., W. J. (Forthcoming) 2009. Improving access for Climate Change Science, Education, and to safe drinking water in rural, remote, and least- Outreach” – of which the author is the policy wealthy small islands: Non-traditional methods and outreach component lead). in Chuuk State, Federated States of Micronesia. International Journal of Environmental Technology 2. For models balancing human demand, supply, and Management. Accepted for publication in ecological demand, equity for low income volume 10. customers, revenue neutrality, and effciency during drought using demand-side methods, Smith Jr., W. J. 2008a. The place of rural, remote and please see Smith Jr. and Wang 2007, and for least wealthy small islands in international water step-by-step detail see Wang et al. 2005. development: The nexus of geography-technology- sustainability in Chuuk State, Federated States of Author Bio and Contact Information Micronesia. The Geographical Journal 174 (3): William J. Smith, Jr. focuses his research and teaching at 251-268. the nexus of technology-environment-society relations. Smith Jr., W. J. 2008b. Focus section on “Linkages He has an interdisciplinary background, with particular between water conservation and human rights” and expertise regarding management of watersheds and edited 2 sections in Manual on the Right to Water and “sustainability” praxis. His work incorporates a variety Sanitation. Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions, of modeling techniques, and investigation of underlying Right to Water Programme, American Association causes of changes in relations between humans and their for Advancement of Science – Science and Human environment utilizing political economy and political Rights Programme, Swiss Agency for Development ecology lenses. His other areas of interest include and Cooperation, United Nations Human Settlements linking biodiversity and cultural preservation, climate Programme (UN-HABITAT Water, Sanitation and change, conservation, environmental governance and Infrastructure Branch). http://www.cohre.org/store/ justice, neoliberalism, hazards, less-wealthy countries, attachments/RWP-Manual-water.pdf. and small islands. His applied international research is

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Smith Jr., W. J. and Wang, Y. D. 2007. Conservation rates: the best ‘new’ source of urban water during drought. Water & Environment Journal 22 (2): 100-116. Smith Jr., W. J. 2006. Refereed conference hosted by the Geological Society of America and 21 major governmental and research institutions that guide U.S. drought policy and science titled, Poster on Managing Drought and Water Scarcity in Vulnerable Environments: Creating a Roadmap for Change in the United States. Longmont, Colorado. Wang, Y. D., W .J. Smith Jr., and J. B. Byrne. 2005. Water Conservation-Oriented Rates: Strategies to Extend Supply, Promote Equity, & Meet Minimum Flow Levels. American Water Works Association. Denver, CO. (see AWWA Web site.)

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UNIVERSITIES COUNCIL ON WATER RESOURCES JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION ISSUE 142, PAGES 83-88, AUGUST 2009 Geographic Research in Water Resources: A Vibrant Research Agenda for the Next 20 Years William James Smith, Jr.

Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental Studies, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

he objective of this issue of The Journal Technology and Data of Contemporary Water Research and Education on a “Vibrant Research Agenda The close link between scientifc research and T technical invention appears to be a new factor in for the Next 20 Years for Water Resources the nineteenth century. According to Mumford, Research” has been to ask the contributing authors “the principal initiatives came, not from the to stretch their imaginations, eschew a mere inventor-engineer, but from the scientist who recitation of what they have done in their notable established the general law.” The scientist took careers, and instead deeply consider what may cognizance both of the new raw materials which make for a compelling future in water resources were available and of the new human needs which research. In bringing together these diverse and had to be met. Then he deliberately oriented his highly respected authors, each with a distinct set research toward a scientifc discovery that could of methods and theoretical orientation, this volume be applied technically. And he did this out of has spanned many subareas of investigation. The simple curiosity or because of defnite commercial gestalt effect of these relatively brief but insightful and industrial demands. Pasteur, for instance, was encouraged in his bacteriological research pieces should make this volume ideal for seminar by wine producers and silkworm growers. …In discussion. Finally, we hope that we have succeeded the twentieth century, this relationship between in our attempt to capitalize on the momentum scientifc research and technical invention resulted built over the past two Annual Meetings of the in the enslavement of science to technique. (Ellul Association of American Geographers, at which 1954). we have arranged four future-tense panels, and that When French thinker Jacques Ellul wrote in this work is a service to the academic community. 1954 about what he referred to as autonomous Although there is great diversity in the content technology, he critically evaluated the capacity offered by the contributors, at least seven major of technology to create the conditions for its own threads run through multiple authors. The areas that proliferation and dominance of both our scientifc the authors keyed-in on across their subdisciplines and non-scientifc lives (e.g. the clock). Even if are: 1) Technology, especially cyberinfrastructure; one were to not take the pointed perspective of 2) Data synthesis across disciplines; 3) The Ellul on such matters, undoubtedly, today science role or non-role of history in future analysis; 4) and technology are generally seen as mutually Vulnerability; 5) Regional analysis; 6) Mitigation, dependent on one another. and 7) Governance and environmental justice. Given this, it is not surprising that the authors in Below I expand on the omnipresent issues of this volume, ranging in subareas of interest from technology and data to synthesize some salient infomatics to history, share in common a call for points from this special volume, and make an greater technological connectivity, especially cyber attempt to chart a potentially fruitful course infrastructure. Hirschboeck’s work highlighted forward that expands on some of the author’s ideas that researchers need more and better ways to track regarding the need for regional research. change and tie together social and biophysical data

JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION UCOWR 84 Smith as we become more aware of dynamic coupling. It we need “boots on the ground” and partnerships seems nearly universal among the authors that the that are ongoing so that we can collect long-term translation of different types of data and information data and information and learn from each other as into forms that lend themselves to integration is a we make advances – not just short-term feld trips major challenge moving forward. to parachute in to collect data and take it away, or If we are to wrap our minds around what I would satellite images. Mackay and Band hope for global argue is an over-developed planet, socioeconomic coverage across biomes, but this is impractical and biophysical data must fnd a way to connect, without partnerships. Anything akin to the Long- moving past historical and disciplinary boundaries, Term Ecological Research projects in America is but without losing their “meat” in the translation. only possible if healthy partnerships with people Hirschboeck notes that the issue of vulnerability of all types across the globe are fostered. This and how to adapt to climate change may provide point brings me to Wolf’s work, noting that his momentum for this endeavor. Mackay and Band data show that water can often be more of a force point out that ecohydrologic research has also for collaboration than confict. For researchers to built-up momentum for synthesis of diverse data. play a role, however, they need to be able to fnd But then there is a need that several of our authors support – a mere few weeks of travel money is point out for the technological capacity to support hardly the institutional commitment necessary in complex modeling and geo-visualize outputs, and a globalizing world. This type of commitment is thus, hydroinfomatics focuses explicitly on the essential to social and biophysical scientists, but evolution of information technologies. does not always ft the defnition of cutting-edge Allan James notes that water data needs to be science. Researchers need funding institutions to integrated with global environmental change felds think outside of this box to free up creative energies of inquiry. He refers to the old adage of thinking for collaboration. globally but acting locally, especially by watershed, Another important (though untreated by our noting that it still represents an effective way contributors) factor in collecting global data forward when it comes to theoretical integration and information for synthesis through cyber- and on-the-ground improvements in water quality. infrastructure is technology transfer. If global Mackay and Band consider issues of scaling up climate change is the threat that our contributors and down data, and make the point that investment assume it to be, and if global environmental in cyber-infrastructure will move research beyond change data requires inputs from around the earth, case studies by integrating combinations of data sets. then the building of appropriate infrastructure has However, even a cursory overview of technologies to go far beyond academia to the different biomes they suggest, such as fux towers and phenology of the world. This again means partnering for networks, highlights the issue of cost. Thus, it capacity building technology transfer to least- occurs to me that the present focus of the National wealthy countries, including working with poor Science Foundation on cyber-infrastructure is in non-scientists (Smith, Jr. 2009, 2008a, b). It also line with what many of our authors believe is vital means spending resources on the aforementioned for moving the feld of water resources forward. social and biophysical data synthesis, but doing so What I believe complicates this movement across cultures and time. towards integrating global data sets is as follows. As As Rajagopal notes, rescuing old data, doing Wescoat points out, at least from a U.S. perspective, quality control on it, fnding ways to convert it so little comparative international work is done. This that the subareas of data “speak to each other,” and may be a result of what is valued in classrooms, or fnding ways to communicate data and information because this work is diffcult to fund, or because to positively infuence policy, is a major endeavor technology may push us down a narrower path; it is – never mind across cultures. Nevertheless, what diffcult to say. However, the point is that if we are could be more effcient than partnering for this to study global environmental change, with all due mission? However, this will be challenge, since respect to Luoheng Han and the other authors that many funding agencies reward only new data referred to the potential of remote sensing and GIS, being collected – so there must be clever ways

UCOWR JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION Geographic Research in Water Resources 85 around this barrier. In fact, several authors pointed the problem, it seems to me, is that there is just as out the value of paleo research, but in an era of vibrant a research agenda to be had pursuing the anthropogenically-fueled rapid planetary change, political ecology and political economy, as well would it not be madness to ignore decades or more as historical lines of inquiry that Swyngedouw, of data and general knowledge around the globe Wescoat and myself point to, but this research and also not establish on the ground networks of is simply different than what many institutions people – not just sensors? fund as neutral and primarily quantitative water resources research. If Lant was right to point out Research Funding that economists have a predilection for putting a This brings me to the point of discussing what price or value on everything, and if scientists focus research will be funded and which research will on quantifcation, then this highlights the potential not. Speaking only for myself, science can be for this important qualitative knowledge to keep a bit of a shell game. On one hand, science is slipping through most people’s grasps – and for often portrayed as a neutral knowledge seeking mistakes to keep on being repeated in areas such as endeavor – what are the properties of water, etc. water, sanitation, and appropriate technology. The On the other hand, when institutions such as the linkages to global and local environmental justice National Science Foundation shift major funding concerns are obvious. for upcoming research to felds such as climate Ethics and Science change, the momentum comes from the perception of a crisis facing society that researchers must step- If, having read this volume and the ubiquitous up to face – and of course, some will follow the references to climate change, pollutant loads, money as much as their sincere research needs, due coupled systems, alterations in land use and land to the various reward systems in different academic cover, etc., the reader did not comprehend the institutions. (All this is funded with public money vital importance in tracing and potentially having in the frst place.) When it is convenient, the an impact on the political, historic, cultural, and ethical card is played, when it seems prestigious to economic drivers of changes in the atmosphere, do so, science is above it all. For someone who is a surface and ground water, then I would be at a loss. newly minted Ph.D., and who must take the baton Political economic and technological drivers and to some extent over the next 20 years, this can be power relations are the root causes of the major maddening. Some of the most fruitful research issues we will struggle with for the next 20 years. will be that which is properly funded, but knowing In fact, many of those exciting research areas, like the priorities of major funding institutions is not climate change and predicting when people will be always straight-forward, and those missions change fooded off of their islands, are actually problems in subtle ways that can help along or kill proposals. for us and future generations, not neutral objects So, “action science,” and “translational science,” to be admired at a academic distance. To put it in etc. sound good on paper at certain periods, but medical terms, the earth has been made ill, and what matters is actually the panel of reviewer’s these water resources problems are symptoms of an comments and the assumptions they make. overall condition. Interdisciplinary collaboration Of course, in a perfect national funding world is the primary way forward through issues this one can make a cutting-edge contribution to science complex. and as a by-product, do the world some good while Again, the majority of our authors point to a need cranking out high profle refereed publications. For to synthesize data across the social and biophysical example, Wang, Harrington, Jr. and Montz all offer realms, and to build cyber-infrastructure and other content in this volume that can satisfy both needs in technologies to support this effort. That sounds interesting ways. And the frame that Christopher nice. But, if funding goes only into specialized Lant offers through ecological economics speaks pockets of research, then that reward system will to human needs through “nature’s services,” but drive much research that way for many years to also has the potential for the type of conventional come. If research is too narrow, distanced from scientifc rigor that gets good work funded. But real person’s problems, and infrastructure and

JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION UCOWR 86 Smith capacity building is limited to the home country of the funding agency, then we will rise to meet our collective global water “crisis” with a fragmented, inward looking, scientifcally valid and technologically impressive, but in terms of humanity, remarkably empty, research agenda. A possible way forward through this labyrinth of competing needs, skill-sets and agendas is actually something geographers should be quite good at, and people in environmental studies could also offer frames for as well. And, if researchers in the next 20 years are funded in a way that does more than pay lip service to the concept while Figure 1. Sakau ceremony in Pohnpe, Federated States keeping old research silo standards, it might just of Micronesia. be fruitful. regional knowledge across social and biophysical Regional Studies phenomena is essential. In thinking about regional studies it is good to As Wescoat inferred, a resurgence in learning go back to the author’s contributions. As the issues about regions, not just studying particular narrow that Harrington, Jr., James, and Montz point out, themes (e.g., arsenic in water) across the globe, such as population grown, urbanization, overuse could lead to deeper understanding of phenomena of fnite resources, and climate-based hazards, that occur in common space or are linked in ways grow in specter, researchers have at least two not normally understood through more narrow major needs. First, there is the aforementioned analysis. This is not a shot at specialized and collection and synthesis of social and biophysical narrow knowledge, as indeed this is necessary as data through what will to a great extent be global well. However, access to deep and medium to cyber-infratructure, supported by international long-term social and biophysical data sets based partnerships with both wealthy and least-wealthy on regions would allow collaboration to examine countries. This must occur in all biomes to assist in relationships in a holistic way. Take for example translating the data and information and refreshing shallow water fringing coral reefs in Pohnpei, it. This will also help the data and information to Federated States of Micronesia. Too much silt on be properly translated so as to talk to each other a reef reduces light and damages the structure, and have a gestalt effect. And, as Wescoat points which impacts the attending ecosystem and the out for areas like South Asia, and in my own capacity of the space to produce food, medicine, experience doing research in the Federated States and money from the sale of fsh, and so forth. of Micronesia, non-governmental organizations Knowledge of shallow water reefs is essential, one (NGOs) offer an alternative to working exclusively must have deep (arguably narrow) knowledge of with slow-moving, and as Ophuls and Boyan, the biology of reefs to understand how they work Jr. (Dryzek and Schlosberg 2004) point out, and what impacts them. Nevertheless, it may compromise-laden governments that “muddle be the distant linkages to the markets in Europe through.” There are also the issues of trying to that are driving persons to cut down the forests to partner with corrupt governments. So, supporting plant sakau (Figure 1), which causes erosion and civil society in such places may be both interesting may impact aquifers as well. Sakau also has deep and productive, and garner grassroots support. ceremonial meaning to local people as a drink, so it is grown and other vegetation is removed for New Media, Social Networking and that purpose as well. So to understand the reef Communication problem fully one must understand changes in land cover, trade linkages and local custom, especially One piece of this puzzle is the type of formal if mitigation is an objective. In this example, deep research partnerships we are normally familiar

UCOWR JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION Geographic Research in Water Resources 87 with, in combination with cyber-infrastructure be no substitute for thinking about linkages – this capacity building, which can be self-sustaining if is where the action will be. And, without a doubt, it also meets local priorities. But another exciting this will require those studying water resources to part of the puzzle might be exploring the potential connect with others outside of the water resources of social networking and new media. If deep social realm to maximize their impact. and biophysical data sets and information are what is needed from across the globe and by region, then Acknowledgements bringing in civil society and the layperson into the We wish to acknowledge with special thanks data collection process might be one way to be light the patience and effort of Chris Lant in bringing on one’s feet and increase the number of human and this volume together. Thanks also to the Water biophysical “sensors” around the globe. Imagine Resources Specialty Group for supporting the Twitter being used to send data, phones equipped panels that brought this special volume to fruition. with global positioning systems, webcam networks, On a personal note, I would like to acknowledge citizen scientists, especially NGOs getting modest my wife Sarah, and William James Smith, Sr., support to do what they want to do anyway, such William III, and our newborn baby James. No one as monitor the health of their reefs, all streaming in enjoys water more wholeheartedly than children. new data and information. This is not a replacement for all traditional ways of studying water, but it Author Bio and Contact Information could be that social networking may have matured William J. Smith, Jr. focuses his research and teaching at to the point in the next 20 years that the volume of the nexus of technology-environment-society relations. human and data networks could signifcantly add He has an interdisciplinary background, with particular to the data arsenal available to those interested in expertise regarding management of watersheds and water resources issues, especially as they pertain to “sustainability” praxis. His work incorporates a variety global environmental change. of modeling techniques, and investigation of underlying Second, there is a strong need to translate data causes of changes in relations between humans and their and information and communicate it well so as environment utilizing political economy and political to potentially impact the local and international ecology lenses. His other areas of interest include policies and individual choices that are driving the linking biodiversity and cultural preservation, climate change, conservation, environmental governance and problems on the research agenda in the frst place. justice, neoliberalism, hazards, less-wealthy countries, Linkages to behavior and governance must be and small islands. His applied international research is elucidated to move the research agenda forward – in the Western Pacifc Islands and the Philippines. He and this requires regional knowledge beyond water, can be contacted at [email protected]. such as knowing the local culture. Here there is so much to select from in terms of exciting research References questions related to ground and surface water, Dryzek, J. S. and D. Schlosberg. 2004. The American plants, infrastructure, consumption (demand-side), Political Economy II: The Non-Politics of Laissez economics synergies between types of resource Faire, In Debating the Earth: The Environmental uses, law, the right to water for different purposes, Politics Reader 2nd ed. W. P. Ophuls and A. S. Boyan appropriate technology, sociology, class, gender, Jr. pp. 191-206. cyber-infrastructure methodology, and so forth. When examined from this perspective, the options Ellul, Jacques. 1964. The Technological Society. New are so vast as to be almost overwhelming. York: Vintage Books. Smith, W. J. Jr. 2009. Improving access to safe drinking Conclusion water in rural, remote, and least-wealthy small islands: Data, information and technology are necessary Non-traditional methods in Chuuk State, Federated States of Micronesia. International Journal of for the study of water resources, and so they have Environmental Technology and Management 10 (2): been the focus of much of this discussion. However, 167-189. in considering paths forward in pursuing a vibrant future water resources research agenda there will Smith, W. J. Jr. 2008a. A Geographic Analysis of

JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION UCOWR 88 Smith

the Impact of Scale and Isolation on Coping with Hazards on Small Islands. Technology and Society, Journal of the IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology 27 (3): 39-47. Smith, W. J. Jr. 2008b. The place of rural, remote and least wealthy small islands in international water development: The nexus of geography-technology- sustainability in Chuuk State, Federated States of Micronesia.” The Geographical Journal 174 (3): 251-268.

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UCOWR BOARD OF DIRECTORS/COMMITTEE CHAIRS 2009-2012

PRESIDENT BOARD MEMBERS

MICHAEL BARBER JOSEPH J. DELFINO REAGAN M. WASKOM State of Washington Water Research Ctr. Dept of Environmental Engineering Colorado Water Institute Washington State University Sciences E102 Engineering PO Box 643002 A.P. Black Hall Box 116450 1033 Campus Delivery Pullman, WA 99164-3002 University of Florida Colorado State University (509) 335-5531; FAX: 335-1590 Gainesville, FL 32611-6450 Fort Collins CO 85023-1033 [email protected] (352) 392-9377; FAX (352)392-3076 (970) 491-6308; FAX: (970) 491-1636 [email protected] [email protected]

PRESIDENT-ELECT LYNETTE DE SILVA PAULA L. STURDEVANT REES Program in Water Confict Management & GARY WOODARD Mass WRRC, Blaisdell House Transformation SAHRA 310 Hicks Way Department of Geosciences Marshall Bldg. Room 549D University of Massachusetts Oregon State University 845 N. Park Avenue Amherst MA 01003 104 Wilkinson Hall University of Arizona (413) 545-5528; FAX: 545-2304 Corvallis, OR 97331-5506 Tucson AZ 85721 [email protected] (541) 737-7013; Fax: (541) 737-1200 (520) 626-5399; FAX: 626-4479 [email protected] [email protected]

PAST PRESIDENT BRIAN H. HURD JAY R. LUND Agricultural Economics and Agricultural Civil and Environmental Engineering Business One Shields Avenue New Mexico State University University of California, Davis MSC 3169, Box 30003 Davis, CA 95616, Las Cruces, NM 88003-8003 (530) 752-5671; FAX: 752-7872 (575) 646-2674; FAX: 646-3522 [email protected] [email protected]

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR MAC MCKEE Utah Water Research Laboratory YEARS OF BOARD SERVICE CHRISTOPHER L. LANT Utah State University UCOWR Headquarters/Geography 1600 Canyon Road, UMC 8200 JULY 2007 – JULY 2010 4543 Faner Hall – Mail Code 4526 Logan, Utah 84322-8200 MICHAEL BARBER Southern Illinois University (435) 797-3188; FAX: 797-3663 ARI MICHELSEN 1000 Faner Drive [email protected] REAGAN WASKOM Carbondale, Illinois 62901

(618) 453-6020 FAX: 453-2671 JULY 2008 – JULY 2011 [email protected] ARI MICHELSEN BRIAN HURD Texas AgriLife Research Center PAULA STURDEVANT REES Texas A&M University System GARY WOODARD COMMITTEE CHAIRS 1380 A&M Circle El Paso TX 79927 JULY 2009 – JULY 2012 AWARDS (915) 859-9111; FAX: 859-1078 JOE DELFINO JAY LUND [email protected] LYNETTE DE SILVA CONFERENCE PROGRAM MAC MCKEE MICHAEL BARBER MEMBERSHIP JOE DELFINO

JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION UCOWR 90

UCOWR MEMBER INSTITUTIONS

Arizona State U. U. of Arkansas Auburn U. U. Autónoma de Ciudad Juarez Bates College U. of California-Davis Binghampton U. U. of California-Riverside California State-Sacramento U. of Central Florida Central State U. U. of Cincinnati City U. of New York U. of Colorado Clemson U. U. of Delaware Colorado State U. U. of Florida Cornell U. U. of Georgia Desert Research Institute U. of Guam Drexel U. U. of Hawaii Duke U. U. of Idaho Georgia Institute of Tech. U. of Illinois Iowa State U. U. of Iowa Johns Hopkins U. U. of Maine Kansas State U. U. of Massachusetts Louisiana State U. U. of Michigan Louisiana Tech U. U. of Minnesota Massachusetts Inst.of Tech. U. of Missouri Michigan State U. U. of Montana Mississippi State U. U. of Nebraska Montana State U. U. of New Hampshire New Mexico State U. U. of New Orleans North Carolina State U. U. of New Mexico Ohio State U. U. of Oklahoma Oklahoma State U. U. of Puerto Rico Oregon State U. U. of Southern California Pennsylvania State U. U. of Tennessee Prairie View A&M U. U. of Texas-Austin Purdue U. U. of Texas-El Paso Rutgers U. U. of Texas-San Antonio South Dakota State U. U. of Virgin Islands Southern Illinois U. Carbondale U. of Washington State U. of NY-ESF U. of Wisconsin Syracuse U. Tennessee Tech. U. Texas A&M U. Texas Ag. Experiment Stn. Texas State U. Affliate Members Texas Tech. U. Tufts U. The Ivanhoe Foundation U.S. Military Academy Los Alamos National Laboratory Utah State U. National Water Quality Monitoring Council (USGS) Virginia Polytechnic Inst. Sandia National Laboratories Washington State U. University of Calgary, Canada Yale U. University of New England, Australia U. of Alaska U. of Arizona

UCOWR JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION 91

BENEFITS OF UCOWR MEMBERSHIP

The Universities Council on Water Resources (UCOWR) is an association of over 100 member universities, organizations, and individuals leading in education, research and public service in water resources. Beneftes from membership include:

Advocacy

UCOWR is dedicated to developing new science and preparing leaders and technologies for the use, management, and protection of water resources. UCOWR delegates are advocates for the incorporation of contemporary issues and methodologies in the classroom, research laboratories, and the feld. Evolving academic programs in water resources promoted by UCOWR are excellent curriclum models for other interdisciplinary programs.

Leadership

UCOWR’s offcers and member delegates represent the nation’s leading academic professionals dedicated to expanding the knowledge base and training water resources professionals. Each year, graduates of UCOWR member universities constitute the majority of new water resources professionals establishing careers. UCOWR encourages delegates to assume leadership roles withibn their institutions and supports this through electronic and personal networking services. In addition, the organizational structure of UCOWR provides opportunities for leadership development through participation in committees and on the Board of Directors.

Professional Growth

UCOWR is the only professional organization embracing the entire range of disciplines involved in water resources and serving serving academic institutions and their faculties. This diversity provides the holistic perspective necessary to solve today’s complex water problems and to train the nation’s future water resources leaders. UCOWR promotes the professional growth of member delegates in order to enhance their impact and effectiveness within the community of water resources professionals. The Journal of Contemporary Water Research & Education, a UCOWR publication, presents research to encourage dialog on contemporary water issues to a degree not afforded by other water-related journals. UCOWR’s annual conference provides a forum for exchanges of information in an atmosphere conducive to open discussion and network building among individuals and institutions. The achievements of outstanding water resource professionals are recognized through the UCOWR awards program, including the Warren A. Hall Medal, Ph.D. Dissertation Awards, and the Education and Public Service Award.

Other Benefts

Each university member institution receives • Hardcopy and electronic subscriptions to the Journal of Contemporary Water Research & Education • Reduced registration fees for staff and students at the annual conference • A voice in the governance of UCOWR (1 lead delegate and up to 7 additional voting delegates)

Affliate and Individual members enjoy • Hardcopy and electronic subscriptions to the Journal of Contemporary Water Research & Education • Reduced registration fees at the annual conference

4543 Faner Hall — Mail Code 4526, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, 1000 Faner Drive, Carbondale, Illinois 62901 Phone: (618) 536-7571, Fax: (618) 453-2671, E-mail: [email protected], www.ucowr.org

For membership forms, please visit our website www.ucowr.org.

JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION UCOWR 92

FRIENDS OF UCOWR

In appreciation of their vision and leadership in the advancement of Water Resources Research and Education, the following individuals have been named “Friends of UCOWR.”

1984 1987 1994 2003 Ernest F. Brater Wade H. Andrews Robert D. Varrin Lisa Bourget Norman H. Brooks John D. Hewlett Henry J. Vaux, Jr. C. Mark Dunning Ven Te Chow Gerard A. Rohlich Tamim Younos Nephi A. Christensen Dan M. Wells 1995 Robert E. Dils Jon F. Bartholic 2004 Warren A. Hall 1988 M. Wayne Hall Ari Michelsen John W. Harshbarger Merwin P. Dougal William L. Powers Margaret Skerly A.T. Ingersoll John C. Frey Walter V. Wendler John F. Kennedy Daniel J. Wiersma 1996 Carl E. Kindsvater L. Douglas James 2005 Emmett M. Laursen 1989 David H. Moreau Lynne Lewis Arno T. Lenz Daniel D. Evans Howard S. Peavy Ray K. Linsley 2006 Walter L. Moore 1990 1997 Mark Limbaugh Dean F. Peterson Henry P. Caulfeld Faye Anderson New Mexico Sol D. Resnick Maynard M. Hufschmidt Patrick L. Brezonik Water Resources Verne H. Scott Absalom W. Snell Theodore M. Schad Research Institute David K. Todd Yacov Y. Haimes Calvin C. Warnick 1991 2007 M. Gordon Wolman Eugene D. Eaton 1998 Paul Bourget William B. Lord Peter E. Black Gary S. Johnson 1985 Willliam R. Walker Helen M. Ingram Michael O’Neill Bernard B. Berger Gilbert F. White William Butcher 1992 1999 Ernest Engelbert J. Ernest Flack John S. Jackson 2008 David H. Howells Gerald E. Galloway, Jr. Kyle E. Schilling Penny Firth William Whipple John C. Guyon Robert C. Ward Don Rice Ernest T. Smerdon Alan Vaux 1986 Warren Viessman, Jr. 2000 Leonard Dworsky William H. Funk 2009 Peter Eagleson 1993 Gretchen Rupp Benjamin Ewing Marvin T. Bond 2001 M. J. Nehasil George Maxey Glenn E. Stout Charles W. Howe Ronald D. Lacewell George Smith Michele Zinn 2002 Duane D. Baumann WARREN A. HALL MEDAL HONOREES William Butcher - 1993 Miguel A. Marino - 2002 Warren “Bud” Viessman, Jr. - 1994 Charles W. “Chuck” Howe - 2003 Gilbert White - 1995 Robert A. Young - 2004 Richard S. Engelbrecht - 1996 Henry J. Vaux, Jr. - 2005 Yacov Y. Haimes - 1997 Robert C. Ward - 2006 Neil S. Grigg - 1998 Patrick L. Brezonik - 2007 William W-G. Yeh - 1999 Peter Rogers - 2008 Daniel Peter Loucks -2000 Gerald E. Galloway - 2009 Vernon L. Snoeyink - 2000

UCOWR JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION 93 Past Issues of the Journal of Contemporary Water Research and Education and Water Resources Update Issue 142, August 2009. A Vibrant Agenda for the Next 20 Years of Water Resources Research. William James Smith, Jr. and Graham A. Tobin. (Eds.) Issue 141, March 2009. Three Years after Katrina: Restoring and Protecting New Orleans and Coastal Louisiana. Gerald E. Galloway, University of Maryland. (Ed.) Issue 140, September 2008. Complexity and Uncertainty in Water Resources Management. John Tracy, University of Idaho. (Ed.) Issue 139, June 2008. A Creative Critique of U.S. Water Education. Charles “Chuck” Howe, University of Colorado-Boulder. (Ed.) Issue 138, April 2008. The Role of Science in Watershed Management. Burrell Montz, Binghamton University. (Ed.) Issue 137, September 2007. Increasing Freshwater Supplies. Karl Wood, Water Resources Research Institute, New Mexico State University. (Ed.) Issue 136, June 2007. Water and Watersheds. Penny Firth, National Science Foundation; Michelle Kelleher, National Science Foundation; Barbara Levinson, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (Eds.) Issue 135, December 2006. Integrated Water Resource Management: New Governance, Tools, and Challenges—Selected international Perspectives. Bruce Hooper, DHI Water and Environment. (Ed.) Issue 134, July 2006. River and Lake Restoration: Changing Landscapes. Lynne Y. Lewis, Bates College. (Ed.) Issue 133, May 2006. River Adjudications. Andrea Gerlak & John Thorson, Columbia University. (Eds.) Issue 132, December 2005. Desalination. Tamim Younos, Virginia Polytecnic Institute and State University. (Ed.) Issue 131, May 2005. Allocating Water: Economics and the Environment. Gary Johnson, University of Idaho; Sarah Bigger, Boise State University; Ari Michelsen, Texas A&M University. (Eds.) Issue 130, March 2005. National Flood Policy a Decade After the 1993 Mississippi Flood. Stuart A. Davis and Mark C. Dunning, Institute for Water Resources. (Eds.) Issue 129, October 2004. Water and Homeland Security. Regan Murray, USEPA. (Ed.) Issue 128, June 2004. Small Water Supply Systems. John Braden, University of Illinois. (Ed.) Issue 127, February 2004. Water Resources Sustainability. Ethan Timothy Smith, The Sustainable Water Resources Roundtable. (Ed.) Issue 126, November 2003. Geographic Perspectives on Water Resources. L. Allan James, University of South Carolina. (Ed.) Issue 125, June 2003. Trans-Boundary Water Issues. Kenneth Rubin, Pa Consultants. (Ed.)

For Journal Order Form or complete listing of past issues visit: www.ucowr.org.

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International Conference with the Environmental & Water Resources Institute Building on the success of its frst international conference in December of 2006, the Environmental & Water Resources Institute (EWRI) of the American Society of Civil Engineers continues to expand its reach with several upcoming events overseas. Already composed of a diverse and international membership, the Institute seeks to broaden its impact and truly become a global resource to those in the Environmental and Water Resources industry. Starting in early 2009, EWRI will host three conferences abroad, extending into 2010. The frst of these events, An International Perspective on Environmental & Water Resources, serve as a follow up to EWRI’s frst international conference in India of the same name. Held in January 5-7, 2009, this conference in Bangkok, Thailand featured a wide variety of topics largely focused on water resources and the environment in developing countries in Asia and Africa. Among those topics were the issues of Climate Change and Natural Hazards; Water Resources and Water Supply; and Environment, Ecology, and Waste Management. For more information on this event, visit the conference website at http://content.asce.org/conferences/thailand09/. The next of EWRI’s international conferences will be in co-sponsorship with the International Association of Hydraulic Engineering & Research (IAHR) on August 10-14, 2009. The 33rd IAHR Congress, titled Water Engineering for a Sustainable Environment, will be co-located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with the 2009 Canadian Society for Civil Engineering Canadian Hydrotechnical Conference & Symposium. The technical session topics chosen for the Congress will include: • Advances in the Fundamentals of Water Science and Engineering • Water Engineering in Support of Built Environments • Water Engineering for the Protection and Enhancement of Natural Watershed and Aquifer Environments • Water Engineering for Sustainable Coastal and Offshore Environments (Built and Natural) • Advances in Hydroinformatics for Integrated Watershed and Coast Management To learn more about the 33rd IAHR Congress, please visit http://www.iahr2009.org. The third of EWRI’s scheduled international conferences will revisit the country of the institute’s frst event abroad with the 3rd International Perspective on Current & Future State of Water Resources & the Environment in Chennai, India. Scheduled to take place January 4-6, 2010, this event will focus primarily on the global effect of regional issues and solutions. Just a few of the many proposed conference topics include Water Resources Planning and Management; Safety and Security of Water Resources Infrastructure; and Socioeconomic Issues in Water Resources Development. More information on this event can be found at http://content.asce.org/conferences/india2010/. EWRI conferences tend to provide a great level of discourse, interesting topics, and excellent networking opportunities. The Institute hopes that a great number of people will take advantage of the opportunity to participate in these international events. For more information on these, and other, upcoming EWRI conferences please visit http://content.ewrinstitute.org.

UCOWR JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATION