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Water availability and use in the Colorado River basin Over the past century, consumptive water uses in the basin increased steadily, to the point that annual consumption exceeded total river flows in 75% of years from 2000–2015. This over consumption has dried the river at its delta in Mexico and progressively depleted major storage reservoirs in the basin, including Lake Mead, posing severe risk of water shortage. All variables are portrayed as three-year running averages. Data source: US Bureau of Reclamation.
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Human consumption of freshwater is now approaching or surpassing the rate at which water sources are being naturally replenished in many regions, creating water shortage risks for people and ecosystems. Here we assess the impact of human water uses and their connection to water scarcity and ecological damage across the United States, identify prima...
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Citations
... Water scarcity and fish imperilment driven by beef production [48] 66 ...
... Moreover, the animal feed supply chain is characterized by food wastage, thus creating resource inefficiencies and adding to environmental degradation [47]. The literature shows that irrigating cattle feed crops often results in water wastage, which presents a substantial concern for sustainable water management [48]. Besides irrigation, dairy food production approaches require optimization [34]. ...
... One key solution is adopting a market-driven transition to more sustainable feed production and management approaches that realign feed production and usage with shifting dietary preferences and SDGs [46]. Concurrently, systematic interventions, such as resource optimization and efficiency, should be implemented in each stage [48]. Secondly, optimizing feed production, embracing sustainable alternatives (green water irrigation), and developing new innovations in water management approaches and irrigation techniques can enhance resource efficiency, address water wastage, and reduce the environmental footprint of feed production [48]. ...
Archeological evidence shows that dairy farming dates to the early Neolithic era in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. Over time, it has evolved from domestication to intensive dairy farms with large, high-tech processing units. Dairy farming has contributed to economic growth, food production, employment, and processing industries. Nonetheless, it has been identified as a major contributor to climate change. This study explores the literature on dairy farming and sustainable development goals (SDGs) to identify current scholarly developments since the formulation and adoption of the SDGs in 2015 and themes for future research. This paper argues that sustainability shortfalls in dairy farming are primarily driven by human processes associated with commercialization and industrialization rather than the animals themselves, although biological emissions remain an inherent factor. Data were analyzed using R package, Excel, NVIVO, and VoS Viewer. A review of the literature showed that dairy farming and its contribution to sustainability has gained more scientific interest since 2015. Moreover, livestock management, feed production and management, stakeholder management, logistics and supply chain management, and waste management are the sources of environmental adversities associated with dairy farming. Notably, these are human processes developed from the commercialization of dairy farming and involve multiple stakeholders across the supply chain. While solutions are embedded within these processes, innovation emerges as a key driver of sustainability and a source of opportunities to strengthen sustainability in the dairy farming sector and achieve SDGs. Sustainability strategies, such as sustainable intensification, multifunctional agriculture, and agro-ecology should be implemented to improve sustainability in the dairy sector.
... In some cases, like the U.S., the grazing phase of production is often considered a conservation compatible land use that helps avoid conversion and fragmentation of land from crops or urban development (Cameron et al., 2014). However, there are concerns over food-feed competition and livestock can cause other local environmental harms from manure management challenges, use of large amounts of water, and production of significant nutrient pollution, particularly when there is reliance on feed (Richter et al., 2020). In contrast, in places where deforestation has occurred, or there is a threat of deforestation, habitat and biodiversity loss and GHG emissions are of particular concern. ...
Ruminant livestock production is arguably the most varied, complex, impactful, and controversial land use sector of our global food system today. Despite calls for improved sustainability across the sector, progress has been limited. To advance effective solutions, there is a need to understand livestock systems and outcomes at regional scales, grounded enough in local conditions to be relevant, yet broad enough to be generalizable for policy or funding interventions. Using a comparative qualitative analysis of ten expert-led case studies from diverse ag-roecological regions and production systems around the world, we offer an updated approach to categorizing livestock systems, discuss relevant outcomes, and offer insight into the key contextual factors that influence current systems and potential for change. We find that in addition to livestock production system classes, economic (local, regional, and global economics and markets), environmental (biome suitability for ruminant grazing, land condition, precipitation), and social and cultural factors (land tenure, cultural embeddedness of livestock) are important to consider. Our case study analysis also shows that livestock management is typically motivated by at least five outcomes, with priority outcomes shifting from region to region, highlighting that livestock plays different roles, with different implications, in different places. We conclude that use of a context-based lens considering multiple outcomes and perspectives will likely improve the pace of progress toward environmental and social sustainability of livestock production.
... Across the United States, cities with high SCD values are less likely to experience food shocks of increasing intensity than those with low SCD values (supplementary figure 2). While the exposure of cities' food supply chains to water stress does not vary considerably between food sectors, a clear spatial pattern emerges, with cities in the west being more exposed to water stress than those in the east through food flows [33,34] (supplementary figure 3). On average, across food sectors, the SCE of western cities is 0.50 versus 0.19 in eastern cities (p < 0.001). ...
Global warming exacerbates agricultural production losses from extreme climate events with cascading impacts along supply chains that affect cities. However, little is known about cities’ vulnerability to climate-related food supply shocks. Using data-driven and network-based approaches, we determine the vulnerability of cities in the United States to domestic drought-related food shocks. Our vulnerability framework integrates key traits of a social-ecological system’s response to hazards: resilience, exposure, and sensitivity to disruption. We find that vulnerability varies considerably across cities, with western cities showing higher vulnerability than eastern cities (56% versus 47%; p < 0.001). It tends to be high in western cities because of high supply chain exposure to water stress and high urban food insecurity. Moreover, we find that southern cities show higher vulnerability than their northern counterparts, primarily due to disparities in food insecurity. Using the unprecedented 2012 U.S. drought as a case study, we show that high-vulnerability cities are associated with a higher risk of simultaneous food shocks and greater food supply losses than low-vulnerability cities. Our vulnerability framework can help inform climate adaptation interventions for food system security in urban-rural interactions.
... The rapid growth in regional populations and economic development has significantly increased water demand, exacerbating water resource scarcity in many parts of the world [1,2]. In response, large-scale infrastructure projects such as hydropower plants and inter-basin water transfer systems have been implemented globally to mitigate water shortages and address the impacts of climate change on water resources, particularly in developing countries like China [3]. ...
Understanding the potential impact of the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) on regional extreme precipitation and its mechanisms is critical for the safe operation of the reservoir and the efficient management of regional water resources. This study uses the regional climate model RegCM4 to conduct a double-nested simulation experiment (50 km to 10 km) from 1989 to 2012, evaluated against the CN5.1 observation dataset. Sensitivity experiments with three different lake area ratios (0%, 20% and 100%) were performed using the sub-grid partitioning method in the Community Land Model Version 4.5 to analyze the spatiotemporal distribution, intensity, and frequency of precipitation under varying TGR water areas. The results show that with a 20% lake area ratio, precipitation slightly decreases, but the impact on extreme precipitation indices is not statistically significant. However, with a 100% lake area ratio, significant decreases in both total and extreme precipitation indices occur. The reduction is primarily driven by the formation of anomalous mountain-valley circulation between the TGR and surrounding mountains, which leads to atmospheric subsidence and reduced convective activity. These findings indicate that while the TGR has a negligible impact on extreme precipitation under its current configuration, the exaggerated sensitivity experiments reveal potential mechanisms and localized effects. This research enhances the understanding of the TGR’s influence on regional extreme precipitation and provides valuable insights for water resource management and reservoir operation.
... Although our study does not provide a quantification of these benefitsdue to the need for additional data and methodologiesthey could still offset the economic losses observed and may even transform them into net gains for the basin's total surplus. Indeed, Garrick et al. (2017) examined the economic trade-offs in water policy, and Richter et al. (2020) underscored the importance of balancing environmental and economic water uses, highlighting the need to consider both costs and benefits. In future research, it's crucial to address these challenges by incorporating these broader impacts. ...
Water availability has been declining in recent years due to climate change. These decreases, in conjunction with rising temperatures and environmental changes, affect the behavior of various stakeholders, increasing the competition among water-consuming sectors to obtain this limited resource. In this study, we perform a hydro-economic model to analyze how the agricultural and residential sectors adapt to diverse climatic, social and regulation changes, using the Biobío basin in southern Chile as the case study. The model quantifies their economic welfare derived from using water as an input for their cropping activities and direct consumption, respectively, while maintaining environmental flows, rural drinking water, and supporting tourism activities. Furthermore, we assess the economic effects of increasing water security for the environment and tourism sectors. Results show that climate change and water security policies will have heterogeneous effects on water-consuming agents across different basin levels— higher-, medium-, and lower-basin levels— with the greatest effects being addressed by the higher-level basin. This heterogeneity is observed not only within the basin levels but also across economic sectors, being the agricultural sector significantly more affected by these policies than the residential sector. We conclude our analysis by suggesting that policymakers should tailor compensation measures to the most affected communities.
... These strategies include employing market-based water rights schemes 34 , transfers from water-abundant to water-scarce regions (e.g., ref. 35), switching to alternative water supplies (e.g., stormwater, treated wastewater), installing low-flow appliances, implementing water use restrictions, offering incentives for reduced water use, and promoting educational programs 33 . For crop production specifically, solutions include pairing improved irrigation efficiencies and reduced conveyance losses 36 with water consumption caps 37 , expanding irrigation exclusively in water-abundant areas 10 , targeted fallowing 28,38 , and planting of less water-intensive and higher yielding crops 30 imports from water-abundant regions 30 , reducing food waste 42 , shifting diets 43 , and promoting circularities 44can also lead to changes to less water-intensive crop production patterns and choices. While many of these solutions have been attempted by a variety of context-specific intervention programs within our study countries, these solutions are typically implemented in isolation (e.g., within a single sub-basin or river reach by an individual agency) and often do not account for the hydrologic interconnectivity of interventions and their potentially cascading influences on other parts of a river basin. ...
... Original gridded (0.5°resolution) data for monthly total water runoff (units: kg*m −2 /s) were converted to monthly availability estimates (i.e., runoff depth) (units: mm/month) and then were spatially averaged to the sub-basin scale -with 1211 sub-basins in China, 349 in India, and 883 in the US. The choice of sub-basins as the unifying geographic unit of analysis in our study (for both water availability and water demand) was motivated by their hydrological coherence and their common use in multiple previous national and global assessments of water demand and water scarcity 8,28,38,49 . Following Brauman et al. 8 , for reasons of data reliability, sub-basins smaller than 1000 km 2 were not considered in the analysis, thereby excluding small coastal watersheds as well as unconnected mountain/interbasin watersheds. ...
... Monthly county-level crop blue water demand (CWD) volumes were then calculated for each crop as the product of the spatially averaged county-level blue CWRs and the county-level irrigated areas (IA). Following Richter et al. 38 , county-level CWDs were then allocated proportionally to sub-basins based on spatial overlap, ...
Water is crucial for meeting sustainability targets, but its unsustainable use threatens human wellbeing and the environment. Past assessments of water scarcity (i.e., water demand in exceedance of availability) have often been spatially coarse and temporally limited, reducing their utility for targeting interventions. Here we perform a detailed monthly sub-basin assessment of the evolution of blue (i.e., surface and ground) water scarcity (years 1980-2015) for the world’s three most populous countries – China, India, and the USA. Disaggregating by specific crops and sectors, we find that blue water demand rose by 60% (China), 71% (India), and 27% (USA), dominated by irrigation for a few key crops (alfalfa, maize, rice, wheat). We also find that unsustainable demand during peak months of use has increased by 101% (China), 82% (India), and 49% (USA) and that 32% (China), 61% (India), and 27% (US) of sub-basins experience at least 4 months of scarcity. These findings demonstrate that rising water demands are disproportionately being met by water resources in already stressed regions and provide a basis for targeting potential solutions that better balance the water needs of humanity and nature.
... Whereas active storage has increased in African and Central Asian drylands, it has decreased in the Southwestern United States, South America, the Middle East, northeastern China and Australia (Fig. 1c). For example, the Colorado River Basin in the United States has suffered from a megadrought (active storage trend of −0.75 km 3 yr −1 , p < 0.05), which started in 2000 and was caused by both climatic factors and human water management 26,27 . Similarly, Australia, especially the Murray-Darling River Basin, and the Middle East region have also shown decreasing active storage that has affected local agriculture and human water needs 28,29 . ...
The availability of surface water in global drylands is essential for both human society and ecosystems. However, the long-term drivers of change in surface water storage, particularly those related to anthropogenic activities, remain unclear. Here we use multi-mission remote sensing data to construct monthly time series of water storage changes from 1985 to 2020 for 105,400 lakes and reservoirs in global drylands. An increase of 2.20 km ³ per year in surface water storage is found primarily due to the construction of new reservoirs. For lakes and old reservoirs (constructed before 1983), conversely, the trend in storage is minor when aggregated globally, but they dominate surface water storage trends in 91% of individual global dryland basins. Further analysis reveals that long-term storage changes in these water bodies are primarily linked to anthropogenic factors—including human-induced warming and water-management practices—rather than to precipitation changes, as previously thought. These findings reveal a decoupling of surface water storage from precipitation in global drylands, raising concerns about societal and ecosystem sustainability.
... River systems have long been the most preferred sources for human water needs (Sharma 2017;Hanasaki et al. 2018;Richter et al. 2020). However, in an era of climate change and increasing population growth, global water resources are being threatened, which in turn poses a threat to human societies (Sivakumar 2011;Giupponi and Gain 2017). ...
Ungauged river basins are among the most threatened water resources in this era of climate change and increasing population growth due to a lack of infrastructure for data collection and analysis for better management decisions. This paper explores the use of drainage morphometry and the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) of the Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) to decipher the basin morphology and flood susceptibility of the ungauged Kakum River basin using remote sensing data. Fifteen (15) morphometric parameters were assessed for the linear, areal, and relief characteristics of the basin, while ten (10) factors were considered to identify and map the flood susceptibility of the basin spatially. The morphometric analysis indicates that the Kakum River basin is elongated with a flat terrain and characterized by reduced peak flows (Rb = 1.26; Rr = 0.025; Rc = 0.215). A flood susceptibility map generated by assigning relative importance to elevation (0.28), slope (0.19), drainage density (0.12), and distance to rivers (0.12), shows five classes of flood potential ranging from very low (0.063%), low (23.69%), moderate (56.85%), high (19.33%) to very high (0.059%). The results from this study demonstrate the effectiveness of remote sensing data in understanding the morphology and assessing the flood risk in data-scarce regions like Ghana, thereby providing valuable insights for flood management.
... Central to these challenges lies the difficulty in establishing appropriate water prices-especially in agriculture, where traditional low prices have failed to reflect water's true scarcity and value, given its essential role in human health and well-being [9,10]. Addressing these challenges requires incentive-driven policies to reduce demand and encourage conservation, making sustainable water management a priority in agriculture [11]. ...
... Our findings align with recent studies indicating that irrigation for cattle-feed crops is the largest consumer of river water in the western U.S., and that shifts to less water-intensive crops or adoption of rainwater harvesting techniques could help alleviate regional water scarcity [11,24,43]. Additionally, these studies emphasize that financial incentives for voluntary, temporary, and rotational fallowing of irrigated feed crops can substantially mitigate water shortage risks. ...
Conserving agricultural water resources is crucial for sustainable development, yet, developing effective policies is challenging due to limited site-specific information. We present a framework combining economic models and remote-sensing data to spatially explicitly assess willingness-to-accept payments to irrigators and unit water-saving costs. Applied to three major tributary watersheds of the Great Salt Lake, this framework identifies areas with the highest conservation potential and cost-effectiveness. We find that an annual water conservation goal of 581 million m³, necessary to restore the lake within 30 years, can be met by fallowing irrigated alfalfa fields. With 95% certainty, this goal would be fully achieved with annual payments of US376 million under county-level payments, or at least 84% achieved with US$341 million under watershed-level payments. This framework can be applied to explore policy priorities and the economic viability of land-based natural resource protection, informing funding decisions and achieving conservation goals in various contexts.
... Because irrigated agriculture accounts for approximately 75% of direct, diversionary water use in the Colorado River Basin (US Bureau of Reclamation 2011, 2022b, Richter et al 2020, it will be extremely difficult to find substantial conservation opportunities without considering changes in agricultural use. To inform conservation actions equitably, however, decisionmakers and stakeholders will require consistent, replicable, and efficient methods to document how current agricultural water use is distributed, to identify areas for conservation, and to quantify conserved consumptive use when conservation strategies are implemented. ...
Colorado River agricultural producers are facing the prospect of substantial water use reductions over the coming years in the face of overuse, drought, and the impacts of climate change. To inform management decisions and to ensure that water can be allocated efficiently and equitably, decisionmakers and stakeholders will require new methods of agricultural water use accounting (WUA) that are consistent, transparent, and fast. Here we provide estimates of agricultural water use across the entire Colorado River Basin using publicly available data from OpenET, and we demonstrate strong agreement with available WUA from the US Bureau of Reclamation. Crucially, the methods employed here allow basin-wide agricultural water accounting to be completed in a matter of hours—a process that currently takes months or even years. We demonstrate how these same data can also be used to inform water conservation strategies at the field scale, thereby synchronizing basin-scale water accounting with project-scale conservation planning. We discuss key sources of uncertainty inherent in the methodology, along with strategies for managing those uncertainties to improve agricultural water conservation planning.
