Water conservation and hydrological transitions in cities in the <scp>U</scp>nited <scp>S</scp>tates

Hornberger, George M.; Hess, David J.; Gilligan, Jonathan M.

doi:10.1002/2015wr016943

Cited by 54 publications

(58 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…These findings are also consistent with the analysis by Hornberger et al . [] who found higher AWE conservation scores aligned with low electricity use, high gross state product (i.e., rich states), and high surface water use per capita tend to have the higher AWE scores.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Synthesis of public water supply use in the United States: Spatio‐temporal patterns and socio‐economic controls

et al. 2017

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Recent U.S. Geological Survey water-use report suggests that increasing water-use efficiency could mitigate the supply-and-demand imbalance arising from changing climate and growing population. However, this rich data have neither analyzed to understand the underlying patterns, nor have been investigated to identify the factors contributing to this increased efficiency. A national-scale synthesis of public supply withdrawals ("withdrawals") reveals a strong North-south gradient in public supply water use with the increasing population in the South contributing to increased withdrawal. Contrastingly, a reverse South-north gradient exists in per capita withdrawals ("efficiency"), with northern states consistently improving the efficiency, while the southern states' efficiency declined. Our analyses of spatial patterns of per capita withdrawals further demonstrate that urban counties exhibit improved efficiency over rural counties. Improved efficiency is also demonstrated over high-income and well-educated counties. Given the potential implications of the findings in developing long-term water conservation measures (i.e., increasing block rates), we argue the need for frequent updates, perhaps monthly to annual, of water-use data for identifying effective strategies that control the water-use efficiency in various geographic settings under a changing climate.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Synthesis of public water supply use in the United States: Spatio‐temporal patterns and socio‐economic controls

et al. 2017

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“…Hornberger et al . () analyzed self‐reported conservation in the 2010 AWWA survey and showed that cities tend to be conservation adopters if they have a high median household income, a high system development charge, and a high fee for residential customers who use over 3,000 cubic feet of water per month.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Measuring Urban Water Conservation Policies: Toward a Comprehensive Index

Hess

Wold

Worland

et al. 2017

J American Water Resour Assoc

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This article (1) discusses existing efforts to measure water conservation policies (WCPs) in the United States (U.S.); (2) suggests general methodological guidelines for creating robust water conservation indices (WCIs); (3) presents a comprehensive template for coding WCPs; (4) introduces a summary index, the Vanderbilt Water Conservation Index (VWCI), which is derived from 79 WCP observations for 197 cities for the year 2015; and (5) compares the VWCI to WCP data extracted from the 2010 American Water Works Association (AWWA) Water and Wastewater Rates survey. Existing approaches to measuring urban WCPs in U.S. cities are limited because they consider only a portion of WCPs or they are restricted geographically. The VWCI consists of a more comprehensive set of 79 observations classified as residential, commercial/industrial, billing structure, drought plan, or general. Our comparison of the VWCI and AWWA survey responses indicate reasonable agreement (ρ = 0.76) between the two WCIs for 98 cities where the data overlap. The correlation suggests the AWWA survey responses can provide fairly robust longitudinal WCP information, but we argue the measurement of WCPs is still in its infancy, and our approach suggests strategies for improving existing methods.

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“…Other options include large-N statistical studies (e.g. Hornberger et al, 2015), which seem very promising for comparative socio-hydrology, and survey research, for instance on how farmers actually react to hydrological change (Sanderson and Curtis, 2016) or on what actually determines environmental concern: personal characteristics or local environmental problems (Hannibal et al, 2016). The reason why this article focused on qualitative case study research and coupled modelling is that coupled modelling is the most popular approach in socio-hydrology and qualitative case study research is a contrasting approach with many potential benefits.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An alternative approach for socio-hydrology: case study research

Mostert

2018

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. Currently the most popular approach in socio hydrology is to develop coupled human-water models. This article proposes an alternative approach, qualitative case study research, involving a systematic review of (1) the human activities affecting the hydrology in the case, (2) the main human actors, and (3) the main factors influencing the actors and their activities. Moreover, this article presents a case study of the Dommel Basin in Belgium and the Netherlands, and compares this with a coupled model of the Kissimmee Basin in Florida. In both basins a "pendulum swing" from water resources development and control to protection and restoration can be observed. The Dommel case study moreover points to the importance of institutional and financial arrangements, community values, and broader social, economic, and technical developments. These factors are missing from the Kissimmee model. Generally, case studies can result in a more complete understanding of individual cases than coupled models, and if the cases are selected carefully and compared with previous studies, it is possible to generalize on the basis of them. Case studies also offer more levers for management and facilitate interdisciplinary cooperation. Coupled models, on the other hand, can be used to generate possible explanations of past developments and quantitative scenarios for future developments. The article concludes that, given the limited attention they currently get and their potential benefits, case studies deserve more attention in sociohydrology.

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Water conservation and hydrological transitions in cities in the United States

Cited by 54 publications

References 30 publications

Synthesis of public water supply use in the United States: Spatio‐temporal patterns and socio‐economic controls

Synthesis of public water supply use in the United States: Spatio‐temporal patterns and socio‐economic controls

Measuring Urban Water Conservation Policies: Toward a Comprehensive Index

An alternative approach for socio-hydrology: case study research

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