Theorizing the "Social" in Socio-Hydrology: Incorporating Ethnographic Methods to Characterize Coupled Human-Water Systems in Rural Colombia

Abstract

The burgeoning field of socio-hydrology aims to understand the dynamics of coupled human-water systems in order to inform sustainable water management. However, socio-hydrological methods have traditionally relied on the quantification of qualitative social data, which runs into significant epistemological challenges between the positivist paradigm of hydrology and the interpretivist paradigm of much of social science. This article builds on recent literature that advocates for a pluralistic approach, retaining the methodological and epistemological differences inherent to social sciences and hydrology, and thereby revealing a more complete understanding of situated human-water relationships. In this vein, we propose rapid ethnography as a tool to complement hydrological modeling. We demonstrate the utility of this technique with a case study on hydrological entanglements of rural livelihoods in Andes, Antioquia, Colombia-a region dominated by agriculture, but with the presence of artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM). Our ethnographic study builds on previous hydrological models and quantitative social studies of the region by exploring a myriad of local risk perceptions of hydrological systems, in particular, 1) climate change, 2) water contamination, and 3) hydrological erosion and landslides. We explore how these risk perceptions informed livelihood decisions that paradoxically threatened the very hydrological resources that the livelihoods depended on; yet, this cycle was difficult to interrupt given prevailing economic and political constraints. Ultimately, we seek to advocate for pluralistic approaches in socio-hydrology to help understand complex human-water relationships and ultimately identify critical points of intervention for sustainable water resource management, model-based or otherwise.