Sustainable Water Management in the Southwestern United States: Reality or Rhetoric?

Marshall, Robert M.; Robles, Marcos D.; Majka, Daniel R.; Haney, J. Christopher

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0011687

Cited by 35 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Although sections of the Santa Cruz River have always been intermittent, historically there were perennial reaches where groundwater always met the surface [57]. The current drought, while not uncommon historically, has exacerbated water supplies [58] and growth in the urban areas has contributed to the risk of scarcity [59].…”

Section: Case Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Public Participation in Water Planning in the Ebro River Basin (Spain) and Tucson Basin (U.S., Arizona): Impact on Water Policy and Adaptive Capacity Building

Ballester

Lacroix

2016

Water

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Abstract:The benefits of public participation in water management are recognized by governments, scholars, and stakeholders. These benefits, however, do not result from all engagement endeavors. This leads to the question: What are the determinants for effective public participation? Given a list of criteria for achieving the transformational capacity of participation, we analyze the benefits (including the influence on public policies) gained through public participation and the determinant factors for obtaining these benefits in the Ebro River Basin in Spain and in the Tucson Basin in Arizona (U.S.). Furthermore, and considering that droughts and floods are major water management challenges in both case studies, we focus on the potential of participation to build adaptive capacity. Our analysis of these case studies concludes that influence on public policies is determined more by the context of the participatory process, i.e., legal framework, political leadership, and social awareness, whereas influence on adaptive capacity building depends more on the characteristics of the participatory process, particularly the existence of active on-site consultation and deliberation.

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Section: Case Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Public Participation in Water Planning in the Ebro River Basin (Spain) and Tucson Basin (U.S., Arizona): Impact on Water Policy and Adaptive Capacity Building

Ballester

Lacroix

2016

Water

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“…Given the natural or desired streamflow regime, the impact of population growth and development can be modeled and used to inform water management practices [111]. When applied over multiple watersheds, results can identify locations where water and growth management strategies are most needed, and where they will provide the greatest benefit.…”

Section: Environmental Protectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainable Water Management in Urban, Agricultural, and Natural Systems

Russo

Alfredo

Fisher

2014

Water

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Sustainable water management (SWM) requires allocating between competing water sector demands, and balancing the financial and social resources required to support necessary water systems. The objective of this review is to assess SWM in three sectors: urban, agricultural, and natural systems. This review explores the following questions: (1) How is SWM defined and evaluated? (2) What are the challenges associated with sustainable development in each sector? (3) What are the areas of greatest potential improvement in urban and agricultural water management systems? And (4) What role does country development status have in SWM practices? The methods for evaluating water management practices range from relatively simple indicator methods to integration of multiple models, depending on the complexity of the problem and resources of the investigators. The two key findings and recommendations for meeting SWM objectives are:(1) all forms of water must be considered usable, and reusable, water resources; and (2) increasing agricultural crop water production represents the largest opportunity for reducing total water consumption, and will be required to meet global food security needs. The level of regional development should not dictate sustainability objectives, however local OPEN ACCESSWater 2014, 6 3935 infrastructure conditions and financial capabilities should inform the details of water system design and evaluation.

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“…Population growth in the American Southwest has been staggering, rising (Barnett et al 2008). The combination of these changes with a changing climate will tax the already stressed ecosystems across the Southwest (Serrat-Capdevila et al 2007, Marshall et al 2010, Powell 2010.…”

Section: The Challenge Posed By Climate Changementioning

confidence: 99%

Integrating Collaboration, Adaptive Management, and Scenario-Planning: Experiences at Las Cienegas National Conservation Area

Caves¹,

Bodner²,

Simms³

et al. 2013

E&S

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ABSTRACT. There is growing recognition that public lands cannot be managed as islands; rather, land management must address the ecological, social, and temporal complexity that often spans jurisdictions and traditional planning horizons. Collaborative decision making and adaptive management (CAM) have been promoted as methods to reconcile competing societal demands and respond to complex ecosystem dynamics. We detail the experiences of land managers and stakeholders in using CAM at Las Cienegas National Conservation Area (LCNCA), a highly valued site under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The CAM process at Las Cienegas is marked by strong stakeholder engagement, with four core elements: (1) shared watershed goals with measurable resource objectives; (2) relevant and reliable scientific information; (3) mechanisms to incorporate new information into decision making; and (4) shared learning to improve both the process and management actions. The combination of stakeholder engagement and adaptive management has led to agreement on contentious issues, more innovative solutions, and more effective land management. However, the region is now experiencing rapid changes outside managers' control, including climate change, human population growth, and reduced federal budgets, with large but unpredictable impacts on natural resources. Although the CAM experience provides a strong foundation for making the difficult and contentious management decisions that such changes are likely to require, neither collaboration nor adaptive management provides a sufficient structure for addressing the externalities that drive uncontrollable and unpredictable change. As a result, LCNCA is exploring two specific modifications to CAM that may better address emerging challenges, including: (1) creating nested resource objectives to distinguish between those objectives that may be crucial to maintaining ecological resilience from those that may hinder a flexible response to climate change, and (2) incorporating scenario planning into CAM to explore how climate change may interact with other drivers and alter options for the future, to identify robust management actions, and to prioritize ecological monitoring efforts. The experiences at LCNCA demonstrate how collaboration and adaptive management can be used to improve social and environmental outcomes and, with modifications, may help address the full range of complexity and change that threatens to overwhelm even the best efforts to sustain public lands.

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Sustainable Water Management in the Southwestern United States: Reality or Rhetoric?

Cited by 35 publications

References 23 publications

Public Participation in Water Planning in the Ebro River Basin (Spain) and Tucson Basin (U.S., Arizona): Impact on Water Policy and Adaptive Capacity Building

Public Participation in Water Planning in the Ebro River Basin (Spain) and Tucson Basin (U.S., Arizona): Impact on Water Policy and Adaptive Capacity Building

Sustainable Water Management in Urban, Agricultural, and Natural Systems

Integrating Collaboration, Adaptive Management, and Scenario-Planning: Experiences at Las Cienegas National Conservation Area

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