No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
Look at the past, vision for the future with the groundwater sustainability approach in desert regions
Abstract
Ancient civilizations long practiced sustainable and integrated water resource management. To implement groundwater sustainability policies and strategies, this study introduces ecological wisdom as a transdisciplinary integrated approach. The present study aims to present strategies for the development and evolution of ecological wisdom governing Qanat hydraulic structure (QHS) with the groundwater sustainability approach in an Iranian desert region. Thus, the constraints of the development and evolution of ecological wisdom governing QHS were extracted using the structural-interpretive model, and the strategies for their development and evolution were presented with an operational-prescriptive approach. The results indicate that 14 variables can be identified as strategic constraints for the development and evolution of QHS. Also, based on eleven extracted scenarios with strong consistency, only two highly adaptable scenarios would design strategies for developing and evolving ecological wisdom governing QHS. Therefore, Rethinking the ancient heritage and developing ecological wisdom which governs it not only manifests the ecological considerations and cultural-social values of local communities but also considers a comprehensive and transdisciplinary approach to addressing materialism and reductionism challenges as well as providing a pattern for making visible the invisible treasure and groundwater sustainability in dry regions
High levels of nitrate (NO3-) pollution in groundwater can cause potential health problems. In this study, a novel concept for groundwater treatment was designed and implemented for: i) the biological treatment of real nitrate-contaminated groundwater and ii) the use of treated groundwater to enhance plant growth. Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR; Bacillus subtilis ) were used to investigate the effect of nitrate on bacterial growth in nitrate-contaminated groundwater. No significant effect of cations on bacterial growth was observed, whereas the presence of nitrate in the growth medium significantly increased the growth rate after 40 h-incubation. The OD600 value of high concentrations of nitrate (100 mg/L) was almost 1.4-fold smaller than that of low concentrations of nitrate (i.e., 10 mg/L) owing to its toxic effects at high concentrations. Plant growth experiments showed that the dried biomass weight of kidney beans watered with B. subtilis -treated groundwater was almost 1.7- to 2.0-fold higher than that of other treated samples, whereas germination failure was observed when plants were directly watered with nitrate-contaminated groundwater. The novel findings of this study highlight the application of B. subtilis for the aerobic denitrification of nitrate-contaminated groundwater and its potential for use in treating nitrate-contaminated groundwater for enhanced plant growth.
This paper is a synthesis of the 2022 250-page United Nations Report on groundwater (https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000380721), which accounts for 99% of liquid fresh water on Earth and is the source of one-quarter of all the water used by humans. Many of the world’s largest cities, and numerous smaller cities and towns, rely on groundwater. The report presents an overview of the regional presence and use of, and demand for, groundwater. It relies on a synthesis of 700 bibliographic references. Very useful figures are gathered on water resources and uses. The report barely touches on the role of geology, and hydrogeological expertise in preparing the report would have been helpful. More explanations of various hydrogeological aspects would have been useful, such as underground 20 watersheds and basins, runoff, flow rates, the water cycle (large and small), vertical water exchanges, and groundwater flow inertia which helps populations to adapt to annual and seasonal fluctuations. The variability in atmospheric components (e.g. meteorological variability) is more often dominated by the climate change question. This intellectual approach puts groundwater under the influence of atmospheric effects, which leads to an alarmist discussion of multiple aspects: abnormal water table drawdown or increase, exposure to surficial pollutions, and many negative aspects of saltwater intrusion in coastal aquifers. the bibliographical references in the report can be found following the page numbers of the document, cited in parentheses here. The very numerous bibliographical sources are responsible for some contradictions or errors. Some economic elements are almost ignored, such as bottled water and thermalism in 35 relation with groundwater, and North–South cooperation pre-1990, although many positive results related to this period are depicted, which have greatly helped to improve methodologies.
To increase the resilience of regional water supply systems in South Africa in the face of anticipated climatic changes and a constant increase in water demand, water supply sources require diversification. Many water‐stressed metropolitan regions in South Africa depend largely on surface water to cover their water demand. While climatic and river discharge data is widely available in these regions, information on groundwater resources – which could support supply source diversification – is scarce. Groundwater recharge is a key parameter that is used to estimate groundwater amounts that can be sustainably exploited at a sub‐watershed level. Therefore, the objective of this study was to develop a reliable hydrological modelling routine that enables the assessment of regional spatio‐temporal variations of groundwater recharge to discern the most promising areas for groundwater development. Accordingly, we present a semi‐distributed hydrological modelling approach that incorporates water balance routines coupled with baseflow modelling techniques to yield spatio‐temporal variations of groundwater recharge on a regional level. The approach is demonstrated for the actively managed catchment areas of the Amathole Water Supply System situated in a semi‐arid part of the Eastern Cape of South Africa. In the investigated study area, annual groundwater recharge exhibits a high spatio‐temporal heterogeneity and is estimated to vary between ~0.5% and 8% of annual rainfall. Despite some uncertainties induced by limited data availability, calibration and validation of the model were found to be satisfactory and yielded model results similar to (point) data of annual groundwater recharge reported in earlier studies. Our approach is therefore found to derive crucial information for efficiently targeting more detailed groundwater exploration studies and could work as a blueprint for orientating groundwater potential exploration in similar environments.
Since prehistoric times, water conflicts have occurred as a result of a wide range of tensions and/or violence, which have rarely taken the form of traditional warfare waged over water resources alone. Instead, water has historically been a (re)source of tension and a factor in conflicts that start for other reasons. In some cases, water was used directly as a weapon through its ability to cause damage through deprivation or erosion or water resources of enemy populations and their armies. However, water conflicts, both past and present, arise for several reasons; including territorial disputes, fight for resources, and strategic advantage. The main reasons of water conflicts are usually delimitation of boundaries, waterlogging (e.g., dams and lakes), diversion of rivers flow, running water, food, and political distresses. In recent decades, the number of human casualties caused by water conflicts is more than that of natural disasters, indicating the importance of emerging trends on water wars in the world. This paper presents arguments, fights, discourses, and conflicts around water from ancient times to the present. This diachronic survey attempts to provide water governance alternatives for the current and future.
Thirty-eight aquifer units are shared between Malawi and its neighbouring countries. It is essential to prioritize those transboundary aquifers that require immediate attention. A methodology of identifying hotspots in the transboundary aquifers of Malawi that may be at risk of depletion or contamination has been developed. There are 11 local-scale and three national-scale hotspots of transboundary concern in Malawi. Fiscal and planning measures can now be taken to assess these areas in more detail, fostering transboundary cooperation between stakeholders at both local and national scales.
Improper exploitation of water resources has caused a water crisis and a challenge for water resource management around the world, especially in desert cities with vulnerable landscapes. Ecological wisdom is evident in the ancient desert cities of Iran, based on Qanat Hydraulic Structures (QHS). For long, QHS has been the main water transmission system from long-distance resources to cities in hot-arid regions. This study aimed to explore the ecological wisdom of ancient QHS and to empower it with the current social values, which may be applied as a rational normative approach to create balance between the landscape ecological integrity and development processes. We first investigated scientific databases to extract the principles of ecological wisdom and the theoretical framework. In the next stage, we conducted field studies to extract the social and ecological principles and rules, governing the workable pattern of structure and function of QHS in the desert city of Yazd, Iran, as a case study. Next, the comparative–deductive method was used for comparing the principles of ecological wisdom with the rules governing the corridor networks of QHS. Finally, we compared the compatibility of ecological wisdom principles governing QHS with the criteria and sub-criteria of landscape sustainability in Yazd. The results revealed that ecological wisdom can provide a framework to integrate the traditional knowledge of QHS in scientific ecological knowledge and social system of cities toward sustainable water resource planning and sustainable landscaping.
The socio-hydrology community has been very successful in promoting the need for taking the human factor into account in the mainstream hydrology literature since 2012. However, the interest in studying and modeling human-water systems is not new and pre-existed the post-2012 socio-hydrology. So, it is critical to ask what socio-hydrology has been able to offer that would have been unachievable using the existing methods, tools, and analysis frameworks. Thus far, the socio-hydrology studies show a strong overlap with what has already been in the literature, especially in the water resources systems and coupled human and natural systems (CHANS) areas. Nevertheless, the work in these areas has been generally dismissed by the socio-hydrology literature. This paper overviews some of the general concerns about originality, practicality, and contributions of socio-hydrology. It is argued that while in theory, a common sense about the need for considering humans as an integral component of water resources systems models can strengthen our coupled human-water systems research, the current approaches and trends in socio-hydrology can make this interest area less inclusive and interdisciplinary.
: This review evaluates Minoan and Indus Valley hydro-technologies in southeastern Greece and Indus Valley Pakistan, respectively. The Minoan civilization first inhabited Crete and several Aegean islands shortly after the Late Neolithic times and flourished during the Bronze Age (ca 3200–1100 BC). At that time, the Minoan civilization developed fundamental technologies and reached its pinnacle as the first and most important European culture. Concurrently, the Indus Valley civilization populated the eastern bank of the Indus River, its tributaries in Pakistan, and the Ganges plains in India and Nadia (Bangladesh), spreading over an area of about one million km2. Its total population was unknown; however, an estimated 43,000 people resided at Harappa. The urban hydro-technologies, characteristics of a civilization can be determined by two specific aspects, the natural and the social environment. These two aspects cover a variety of factors, such as climate and social conditions, type of terrain, water supply, agriculture, water logging, sanitation and sewerage, hygienic conditions of communities, and racial features of the population. Therefore, these factors were used to understand the water resources management practices in early civilizations (e.g., Minoan and Indus Valley) and similarities, despite the large geographic distance between places of origin. Also discussed are the basic principles and characteristics of water management sustainability in both civilizations and a comparison of basic water supply and sanitation practices through the long history of the two civilizations. Finally, sustainability issues and lessons learned are considered.
Concerns over groundwater depletion and ecosystem degradation have led to the incorporation of the concept of groundwater sustainability as a groundwater policy instrument in several water codes and management directives worldwide. Because sustainable groundwater management is embedded within integrated, co-evolving hydrological, ecological, and socioeconomic systems, implementing such policies remains a challenge for water managers and the scientific community. The problem is further exacerbated when participatory processes are lacking, resulting in a communication gap among water authorities, scientists, and the broader community. This paper provides a systematic review of the concept of groundwater sustainability, and situates this concept within the calls from the hydrologic literature for more participatory and integrated approaches to water security. We discuss the definition of groundwater sustainability from both a policy and scientific perspective, tracing the evolution of this concept from safe yield, to sustainable groundwater management. We focus on the diversity of societal values related to groundwater sustainability, and the typology of the aquifer performance and governance factors. In addition, we systematically review the main components of an effective scientific evaluation of groundwater sustainability policy, which are multi-process modeling, uncertainty analysis, and participation. We conclude that effective groundwater sustainability policy implementation requires an iterative scientific evaluation that (i) engages stakeholders in a participatory process through collaborative modeling and social learning; (ii) provides improved understanding of the coevolving scenarios between surface water-groundwater systems, ecosystems, and human activities; and (iii) acknowledges and addresses uncertainty in our scientific knowledge and the diversity of societal preferences using multi-model uncertainty analysis and adaptive management. Although the development of such a transdisciplinary research approach, which connects policy, science, and practice for groundwater sustainability evaluation, is still in its infancy worldwide, we find that research towards groundwater sustainability is growing at a much faster rate than groundwater research as a whole.
According to 1804 French Civil Code, groundwater is considered as a private property. However, after this resource started to be intensively exploited by industries in the 1850’s, the State increasingly regulated its use. In 1935, a system of individual access and withdrawal rights, managed by the State, was established to protect deep confined aquifers which were showing signs of overexploitation. This system of use right was later on extended to unconfined shallow aquifers with the 1992 water law, mainly to protect the environment. A new management approach, based on individual volumetric entitlements, was then developed and tested in several French groundwater basins, subsequently obtaining a legal basis in the early 2000’s. The 2006 water law constitutes a clear break in French water policy. The system of individual volumetric entitlements managed by the State was cancelled and users asked to form Water Users’ Associations at the catchment level. Associations became the recipients of pooled water use entitlements, which they must share among their members using rules agreed collectively. Although this reform only applies to the agricultural sector, its represents a clear shift from a private to a common property regime.
Groundwater specialists strive to make groundwater issues visible. They face a dual challenge: first to develop knowledge on groundwater and secondly to share this knowledge with other stakeholders who should be included in knowledge development, groundwater management and protection policy. Questioning communication is all the more interesting as groundwater is a quasi-invisible resource. How groundwater and issues can be made more visible? In the field of sociology, with a pragmatist stance, our chapter questions how instruments frame interactions and represent groundwater. Indeed, the groundwater is made visible by tables, indicators, maps, photographs, videos, games, stories in newspaper and spokespersons such as hydrogeologists. Within a project funded by AFB (French Agency for Biodiversity), we reported on a number of communication approaches and activities implemented in 11 case studies in France. The inventory is based on web mining, grey literature review and interviews. The chapter develops a transversal analysis of the use of the instruments, and identifies assets and limits across the cases according to the following categories: public targeted; content, issues brought to the fore and normative stance adopted; type/format. Finally, concrete recommendations are made.
Sustainable development of the natural resources that support our current standards of living is arguably one the biggest challenges of the Anthropocene. Institutions and policies alone however cannot guarantee that the right decisions are made. In this chapter, we argue that sound decisions must overcome the ethical dilemmas that experts face when encapsulating hypotheses of the real-world into numerical models. Using groundwater as an example, we show how the so-called complicity ethic may unfold during the process of designing management and policy interventions, and subsequently recommend eight guiding principles (a charter) that can be followed to reduce the likelihood that this complicity ethic takes place. We then introduce The Collaborative Pathway—a mediated modelling activity that synergistically blends the eight guiding principles of our ethics charter into a practical decision-making process. This approach is designed to foster community engagement, to improve the way sectoral risks and trade-offs are evaluated, and to help stakeholders understand what might drive a particular sector towards best- and worst-case outcomes. If done right and with the right tools and strategies, The Collaborative Pathway can become a useful framework to encode ethics, resilience, and sustainability in our decisions relating to the development and protection of any common-pool resource that maintains our humanity.
Faced with severe groundwater depletion, many governments have opted to increase the power of the state. Despite calls for more inclusive governance and a role for groundwater users, modes of governance have tended to continue to rely on a diversity of policy tools and state‐run strategies in the attempt to control groundwater (over)abstraction. Yet, around the world, the performance of state‐centered governance has remained dismal. Beyond common difficulties in terms of data and financial or human resources, this article analyzes in greater depth the limited effectiveness of state groundwater policies that has been observed, emphasizing its political ramifications. The various aspects of weak monitoring and enforcement, as well as of the infamous “lack of political will,” are considered from the perspective of the political economy of groundwater economies. Cases of relative success are then used to identify favorable drivers and contexts for effective state‐centered groundwater governance.
This article is categorized under: Human Water > Water Governance
Engineering Water > Planning Water
With decreasing aquifer levels, increasing groundwater pollution, inequitable access, and generally poor management outcomes, better groundwater governance has been put forward as a recipe to address these challenges worldwide. Existing recommendations focus on improved legal frameworks, monitoring and control of access and abstraction through permits or formal rights. In addition, decentralized water management, enforcement of regulations, and supply‐side technological solutions are seen as cornerstone components of good groundwater governance systems. However, until now, these approaches have generally failed to reconcile the fundamental dynamics and properties of groundwater as a natural resource and of governance as a social and political phenomenon. This has caused a disregard for local to planetary boundaries, power dynamics, and intra‐ and intergenerational inequalities in access to benefits from groundwater. As the current general notion of good groundwater governance is limited, solutions put forward are also partial and do not encompass the wider challenges affecting groundwater governance, in effect replacing sustainable management goals and policy for governance as a process. This paper takes a particular look at the Middle East and North Africa and agricultural groundwater use for irrigation to constructively redefine groundwater governance and fully address the multilayered and multifaceted core challenges of groundwater governance. Equally, the paper puts forward a new conceptual thinking that will help support the effective development of governance‐based solutions to achieve sustainable, socially acceptable, resilient and equitable resource use.
This article is categorized under: Engineering Water > Planning Water
Human Water > Water Governance
California water law has traditionally treated groundwater and surface water as separate resources. The 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) broke with this tradition by requiring groundwater managers to avoid significant and unreasonable adverse impacts to beneficial uses of surface water. This paper considers the trajectory of this partial integration of science, law, and resource management policy. Drawing on legal analysis and participatory workshops with subject area experts, we describe the challenges of reconciling the separate legal systems that grew out of an artificial legal distinction between different aspects of the same resource. Our analysis offers two main contributions. First, it demonstrates that laws that subdivide an interconnected resource can have legacy effects that linger long after lawmakers begin dismantling the artificial divides. Using SGMA as a case study, the article illustrates the complexities of reconciling law with science, showing that reconciliation is a process that does not end with updating statutes, or with any other single intervention. Second, we introduce a framework for evaluating the elements of an effort to reconcile law with scientific understanding, whether that reform effort involves groundwater or some other resource. Applying that framework helps reveal where lingering legacy effects still need to be addressed. More generally, it reveals the need for literature addressing science-policy interactions to devote more attention to the multifaceted nature of law and policy reform. Much of that literature describes policy-making in broad and undifferentiated terms, often referring simply to ‘the science-policy interface.’ But as the SGMA case study illustrates, the complex and multi-layered nature of policy-making means that a successful reform effort may need to address many science-policy interfaces.
Aflaj in Oman are sustainable ancient techniques of irrigation based on open channels draining water from wadis, springs or aquifers to communities of users. Omani authorities reported the existence of 4112 aflaj of which 3017 are live systems; about 1000 have underground qanats (dawoodi aflaj). Agriculture in Oman relays mainly on irrigation by means of aflaj. They currently provide 680 million cubic meters yearly and irrigate around 26,500 ha of farmlands. Their water is being managed by an administration headed by a wakil. Falaj Al-Khatmeen is a dawoodi falaj among the five Omani aflaj inscribed in the World Heritage List since July 2006. It irrigates the lands of Birkat Al-Mouz in Wilayat Nizwa. This paper provides an overview about aflaj in Oman and, through the case study of falaj Al-Khatmeen, highlights the main concepts of this traditional knowledge and water management system besides the rights and equity in access to water for stakeholders. Water is shared by athar (30 min) according to a very precise irrigation scheduling and rotation (dawaran) that can be updated depending on seasons and changes in falaj ownership and water flow. The survival of falaj Al-Khatmeen relays mainly on the efficiency of its management.
The aim of this paper is to investigate the notion of collapse of agricultural groundwater economies using the adaptive-cycle analytical framework. This Framework was applied to four case studies in southern Europe and North Africa to question and discuss the dynamics of agricultural groundwater economies. In two case studies (Saiss in Morocco and Clain basin in France), the imminent physical or socio-economic collapse was a major concern for stakeholders and the early signs of collapse led to re-organization of the groundwater economy. In the other two cases (Biskra in Algeria and Almeria in Spain), collapse was either not yet a concern or had been temporarily resolved through increased efficiency and access to additional water resources. This comparative analysis shows the importance of taking the early signs of collapse into account. These signs can be either related to resource depletion or to environmental and socio-economic impacts. Beyond these four case studies, the large number of groundwater economies under threat in (semi-)arid areas should present a warning regarding their possible collapse. Collapse can have severe and irreversible consequences insome cases, but it can also mean new opportunities and changes.
Considering the unstable condition of water resources in Iran and many other countries in arid and semi-arid regions, groundwater studies are very important. Therefore, the aim of this study is to model groundwater potential by qanat locations as indicators and ten advanced and soft computing models applied to the Beheshtabad Watershed, Iran. Qanat is a man-made underground construction which gathers groundwater from higher altitudes and transmits it to low land areas where it can be used for different purposes. For this purpose, at first, the location of the qanats was detected using extensive field surveys. These qanats were classified into two datasets including training (70%) and validation (30%). Then, 14 influence factors depicting the region’s physical, morphological, lithological, and hydrological features were identified to model groundwater potential. Linear discriminant analysis (LDA), quadratic discriminant analysis (QDA), flexible discriminant analysis (FDA), penalized discriminant analysis (PDA), boosted regression tree (BRT), random forest (RF), artificial neural network (ANN), K-nearest neighbor (KNN), multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS), and support vector machine (SVM) models were applied in R scripts to produce groundwater potential maps. For evaluation of the performance accuracies of the developed models, ROC curve and kappa index were implemented. According to the results, RF had the best performance, followed by SVM and BRT models. Our results showed that qanat locations could be used as a good indicator for groundwater potential. Furthermore, altitude, slope, plan curvature, and profile curvature were found to be the most important influence factors. On the other hand, lithology, land use, and slope aspect were the least significant factors. The methodology in the current study could be used by land use and terrestrial planners and water resource managers to reduce the costs of groundwater resource discovery.
A groundwater resources assessment has been carried out for the Lake Nyasa Basin east Africa, with reference to sub catchments further to the whole basin wise analysis, including quantification of potential yields from the aquifers. Numerical groundwater models, MODFLOW-SURFACT coupled with Visual MODFLOW, were used to assess sub-basin groundwater sustainability (Via “Zone Budget” software package). The model has been calibrated to observed hydraulic head and processed baseflow estimate. It is concluded that the aquifer system is sustained by episodic recharge and the long-term gaining storage which represents the maximum extractable volume. Future predictions of groundwater usage indicate that by 2035 the percentage of annual safe yield extracted will increase to between 11.3 and 103%. Model result suggests that there is a need to revise the current estimate of sustainable yield based on future climate change conditions and projected population growth, which would decrease spring flows substantially and decrease hydraulic head basin-wide. It also suggests that by 2035 some sub catchments will be nearly at or exceeding the annual safe yield leaving no room for socio-economic development, or the need to reduce existing socio-economic demands to meet domestic demands. Besides to improving the natural replenishment capacity through artificial recharge technique, the other option is to increase the percentage of total recharge allocated to the annual safe yield from 10% of the total annual recharge to 20% in these catchments. This provides a basis for management of individual groundwater scheme in sustaining livelihood activities or implications of policies and to develop a plan for potential groundwater extraction scenarios pertaining to water use and allocation.
URL:
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40703-016-0037-4
Despite the widespread implementation of flood control infrastructure, modern cities around the world remain vulnerable to flood hazards. Although flood management has in general placed less emphasis on structural measures, urban flood hazard mitigation continues to fixate on the flood control paradigm, the ideology that flooding must be prevented in the first place, as flooding is assumed to be disastrous. To promote urban flood resilience, this paper argues for the alternative flood adaptation paradigm, which concerns preventing damage when flooding occurs and allows flooding to enter the city. The argument is grounded on our fieldworks on the ecological wisdom of living with floods in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta in two hamlets, Vinh An and Ha Bao, where flooding is mostly harmless and brings benefits. To turn this ecological wisdom of the rural hamlets into practical knowledge, we extract lessons for modern cities: Modern cities need ecological knowledge to nurture ecological wisdom; and need to become agile by developing localized flood-response capacity, striving for timely systemwide adjustment, and turning amphibious. To make these lessons of the ecological wisdom actionable, we translate them into three urban design principles: Urban design should (1) anticipate and accommodate flooding, (2) incorporate the ecological process of flooding, and (3) reveal the flood dynamics to the public.
This paper proposes that “myths” and myth-making can provide a framework for not only capturing ecological wisdom within its specialist domains, but also transmitting it as actionable knowledge beyond the boundaries of those domains. It argues that understanding the relationship between myth and “wisdoms” can lead to a powerful process for thinking about ecological futures, which may be realized through a strategic process such as scenario-planning.
A highly uncertain future due to changes in climate, technology and socio-economics has led to the realisation that identification of “best-guess” future conditions might no longer be appropriate. Instead, multiple plausible futures need to be considered, which requires (i) uncertainties to be described with the aid of scenarios that represent coherent future pathways based on different sets of assumptions, (ii) system performance to be represented by metrics that measure insensitivity (i.e. robustness) to changes in future conditions, and (iii) adaptive strategies to be considered alongside their more commonly used static counterparts. However, while these factors have been considered in isolation previously, there has been a lack of discussion of the way they are connected. In order to address this shortcoming, this paper presents a multidisciplinary perspective on how the above factors fit together to facilitate the development of strategies that are best suited to dealing with a deeply uncertain future.
This paper presents a review on the integration of hydrological, ecological and hydrogeological processes into Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) practice. These processes, for example, interact and take part in the process of creation of groundwater-related wetlands, which are an important part of the Earth's biodiversity. Tools for integrating water and ecosystems are presented, with emphasis on the hydrogeological aspects as often they are poorly considered. Recent pioneering projects (IGCP-604, UNESCO-IHP, GENESIS, and Groundwater Governance) developed models for the future integration of ecosystem health with groundwater exploitation. An IWRM approach where groundwater-related wetlands and the groundwater systems upon which they depend are included in conjunctive water management decisions can be an accepted and workable paradigm that will benefit present and future generations. © 2016 European Regional Centre for Ecohydrology of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
Irrigated agriculture is placing increasing pressure on finite freshwater resources, especially in developing countries, where water extraction is often unregulated, un-priced and even subsidized. To shift agriculture to a more sustainable use of water without harming the food security and livelihoods of hundreds of millions of smallholders, substantial improvements of water use efficiency will be required. Here, we use detailed hydroclimatic and agricultural data to estimate the potential for the widespread adoption of efficient irrigation technologies to halt the depletion of India's groundwater resources. Even though we find substantial technical potential for reversing water table declines, we show that the impacts are highly sensitive to assumptions about farmers' water use decisions. For example, we find that widespread adoption of proven technologies that include drip and sprinkler irrigation has the potential to reduce the amount of excessive extraction of groundwater by two thirds. However, under more realistic assumptions about farmers' irrigation choices, half of these reductions are lost due to the expansion of irrigated area. Our results suggest that without the introduction of incentives for conservation, much of the potential impact of technology adoption on aquifers may be lost. The analysis provides quantitative input to the debate of incentive versus technology based water policies.
The water-energy nexus field is experiencing growing attention to assessing the impacts of energy generation on water resources. Numerous studies in recent years have used a range of metrics and methods for measuring and quantifying the water impacts of energy. This article argues that the field is suffering from a lack of consistency in the interpretation and application of different evaluation metrics due to competition for the development of the 'correct' evaluation method. The uncertainties caused by inconsistent analysis methods, assumptions , scales and boundaries make the available information confusing and hamper our abilities to understand comprehensively and judge properly. The article highlights some of the major caveats that need to be considered in using the results of the previous studies and applying the existing met-rics for evaluating the impacts of energy production on water resources.
Water is essential for life. Specifically in the oases of inland arid basins, water is a critically limited resource, essential for the development of the socio-economy and the sustainability of eco-environmental systems. Due to the unique hydrological regime present in arid oases, a moder-ate groundwater table is the goal of sustainable water man-agement. A shallow water table induces serious secondary salinization and collapse of agriculture, while a deep wa-ter table causes deterioration of natural vegetation. From the hydrological perspective, the exchange flux between the un-saturated vadose zone and groundwater reservoir is a crit-ical link to understanding regional water table dynamics. This flux is substantially influenced by anthropogenic ac-tivities. In the Tarim River basin of western China, where agriculture consumes over 90 % of available water resources, the exchange flux between the unsaturated vadose zone and groundwater reservoir is influenced strongly by irrigation. Recently, mulched drip irrigation, a sophisticated water-saving irrigation method, was widely applied in the Tarim River basin, which greatly impacted the exchange flux and thus the regional groundwater dynamics. Capitalizing on re-cent progress in evaporation measurement techniques, we can now close the water balance and directly quantify the exchange flux at the field scale, thus gaining a better un-derstanding of regional groundwater dynamics. In this study, comprehensive observations of water balance components in an irrigated cropland were implemented in 2012 and 2013 in a typical oasis within the Tarim River basin. The water balance analysis showed that the exchange flux and ground-water dynamics were significantly altered by the application of water-saving irrigation. The exchange flux at the ground-water table is mostly downward (310.5 mm year −1), espe-cially during drip irrigation period and spring flush period, while the upward flux is trivial (16.1 mm year −1) due to the moderate groundwater table depth (annual average depth 2.9 m). Traditional secondary salinization caused by intense phreatic evaporation (fed by upward exchange flux) is allevi-ated. However, a new form of secondary salinization may be introduced unwittingly if there is lack of water for periodic flushing, especially when brackish water is used in the irri-gation. Furthermore, the water saved via drip irrigation has been used in further growth of irrigated lands instead of sup-porting the ecological system. This could lead to an increased risk of eco-environmental degradation and calls for improved governance schemes. The insights gained from this study can be potentially applied to other arid inland areas (e.g., central Asia) which face similar water shortages and human devel-opment problems. Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union. 3952 Z. Zhang et al.: Water-saving irrigation and implications for sustainable water management
Groundwater is generally stored in pore spaces and fractures within rocks and the proportion of void space is known as the porosity. The rate of groundwater flow is governed by the permeability of the rocks: a measure of how connected the void spaces are. Evaluation of contemporary aquifer recharge rates is fundamental to considering the sustainability of groundwater resource development. A catchment-scale vision of managing groundwater systems includes the requirements for acceptable river baseflow and adequate aquifer levels to sustain Groundwater-Dependent Ecosystems. The complexity of groundwater management increases as more linkages are considered, and a pragmatic decision taken on which are most relevant to maintain a reasonable balance between the costs and benefits of management interventions. Groundwater management must deal with balancing the exploitation of a complex resource with the increasing demands of water and land users, who can pose a threat to resource availability and quality, and the aquatic environment.
Highlights:
• Groundwater data stewardship is a cross-cutting challenge.
• Capacity development responses require case-dependent tailoring of learning formats.
• An overview of field-proven ground-water capacity development modules is provided.
• Lack of sound success verification limits upscaling and weakens long-term impacts.
• Success verification should cover output, outcome and target level of
interventions.
The use of groundwater is increasing worldwide, particularly in
agriculture. This leads to pumping races (from which the poorest
farmers are often excluded), environmental disasters and the
degradation of groundwater quality. Based on discussions 25
between scientists and operational experts in two workshops
held in 2018 and 2020, this paper, after taking stock of the
dynamics and motivations of groundwater use in agriculture,
reviews the solutions most commonly proposed, in particular by
public authorities, to regulate the access to and use of this 30
resource and to limit its over-exploitation. These (often optimistic)
solutions generally combine regulatory or economic instruments,
or indirect measures linking water to other issues, and
mechanisms based on the participation of all users. However,
they rarely question the intensive agricultural systems driving 35
groundwater demand and fail to recognize the multifunctional
nature of groundwater. To overcome these hurdles, we draw up
possible ways forward for policymakers and resource users to
develop negotiated solutions.
Large deep confined aquifer systems play a crucial role for water and food security and the economic development of rural areas. However, there are few cases, worldwide, of integrated management and governance of such groundwater resources. This report first investigates factors that hamper stakeholders' involvement in groundwater management, in particular deep confined aquifer systems that extend over a large regional area. It then shows how participatory scenario analysis can be used to trigger collective action by regional actors. The report relies on the case study of a large confined aquifer in South West France impacted by multiple pressures from the drinking water, energy, agriculture, and health sectors. It is shown how participatory scenario analysis contributed to building a shared understanding of the resource amongst regional actors and generated a collective view of the main groundwater management challenges. Results also suggest that engaging stakeholders in futures thinking at the beginning of the participatory process is a powerful approach to generating a commitment for collective action on groundwater.
Groundwater exists in underground aquifers and is largely hidden and intangible to water users. As such, groundwater models are one of the main vehicles through which groundwater is made legible. They are critical for water supply planning purposes. However, models are imperfect representations of limited data and contain much uncertainty, posing challenges for the water supply planning process. In this paper, we draw on a case from the Greater Chicago area to examine efforts by the authors and the Illinois State Water Survey to engage with local water managers to develop future water supply scenarios. Much of this area has been dependent upon the Cambrian-Ordovician Aquifer System for over 150 years. Over this period, water levels have declined by over 300 m and aquifers are expected to be unviable by 2030. Here we advance the growing field of participatory groundwater modelling (PGM) to identify forms of uncertainty and their influence on understandings of water supply and risk perceptions of depletion. Conceptually, we draw on the idea of models as world builders, where uncertainties are elucidated through knowledge production in the act of model building, while model development is simultaneously influenced by expectations, beliefs, and ambiguity surrounding those using the models. Through planning meetings and focus group discussions between groundwater modelers and water supply stakeholders, we identify four forms of interconnected uncertainty that hinder planning efforts: 1) hydrogeologic uncertainty, 2) modelling uncertainty; 3) water demand uncertainty; and 4) urban planning uncertainty. We describe our PGM efforts to reduce uncertainty and find stakeholder perceptions are as important as model uncertainties in water management decisions. Participatory modelling is effective in reducing and clarifying these four forms of uncertainty, particularly applied to short-term management decisions in a rapidly changing system. We conclude that future participatory modelling efforts need to focus on reducing communication barriers between scientists and local users.
This book focuses on ecological wisdom inspired restoration engineering through theories, hypotheses, policies, practical understanding, and case studies. Understanding nature’s processes is a prerequisite for the healthy and sustainable functioning of a habitable Earth. As such, the book provides a guide for readers seeking to understand and build sustainable, urban socio-ecological systems using restoration technologies based on wisdom. Motivated by recent rapid advances in restoration engineering, such as the role of green building materials in urban infrastructures, and developing sustainable landscapes to benefit the environment, economy and communities, it is an essential reference on the most promising innovative technologies. It discusses engineering methods and practices in the restoration of soil, water, heritage sites, and other ecosystems, as well as the development and applications of green building materials. It presents a holistic and systematic approach that utilizes natural resources and the concept of ecological wisdom to reap sustainable environmental, economic and social benefits to fulfill the concept of living in harmony with nature. This book is a valuable resource for civil- and environmental engineering researchers as well as organizations engaged in eco-restoration practices.
Groundwater management plans are an important tool for preventing and addressing degradation and depletion of the resource. Through plans, water users and regulators set forth goals and identify strategies to address the needs of multiple resource users while considering physical constraints of the groundwater resource. This research examines the status of groundwater management plans in the United States, identifying in which states groundwater management plans are produced and the circumstances that lead to the inclusion of quantifiable goals in those plans. Findings indicate that legal and regulatory requirements for quantifiable goals can lead to the development of more comprehensive groundwater management plans, and, that such goals can be set even when uncertainties exist.
The first Water Integrity Forum in Delft, the Netherlands (June 2013) defined the core of water integrity as ‘the integrity of people and institutions governing water resources, decision making that is fair and inclusive, honest and transparent, accountable and free of corruption’. . Historic hydraulic structures are man-made water ancestral systems that helped for sedentism and the emergence of cities where the resource is rare or partly available. The scope of the study is to present seven examples of historic hydraulic structures from different geographic contexts, as diverse as South America, Europe, the Middle East and the Far East, as paradigms of indigenous knowledge in water governance. They are traditional gravity-flow water supplying systems whose functioning is based on eco-friendly and sustainable techniques such as the exploitation of surface and runoff water with insuring minimal water losses, community based management by already set rules upon common agreements, the preservation of ecological landscapes and the practice of traditional agriculture. This paper highlights those systems and connects their specifications to economic, social, political and environmental dimensions for good water governance and to water integrity key principles, Transparency, Accountability, Participation and Anti-corruption, in a way to explore their potential to do so.
Ancient Chinese cities have implemented a number of outstanding projects in unique local landscapes that still currently remain in use, and some of these ideas are similar to recent modern projects. An example of successful ecological engineering is the Tuancheng drainage system in Beijing. The present study presents a technical analysis of this drainage system and describes a hydrological model for a one-time rainstorm event and one-year water balance using the Stella® platform. The results demonstrate that the drainage criteria were reasonable and that the implementation was exceptional. One of the excellent designs is the underground circular C-shaped drainage system in the terrace, where at each turning point, there is a pit to collect rainwater. In addition, the inverted paving of the trapezoidal brick on the surface and soil improvements largely contributed to the rapid infiltration of rainwater. During an intense rainstorm, the system effectively attenuated stormwater and increased the infiltration proportion. In 1965, with only 226 mm of rainfall, this system retained 27 mm more water in the soil. The Tuancheng drainage system is an excellent example combining drainage and storage, ground and underground, and gray and green infrastructure to create a hydrological landscape functionally equivalent to natural conditions. Exploring ancient wisdom and using the ideas of our ancestors could help us contribute to more effective and efficient strategies to address the issues of urban stormwater management.
The complex nature of ground water problems in South Asia, i.e., India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar, requires an in-depth analysis of the ground water regimes in different hydrogeological framework including ground water quality. Major ground water problems which require effective management include overexploitation, chemical contamination, seawater intrusion, and uneven distribution in time and space. Suitable policy framework for ground water utilization by individual countries and implementation of measures underlined in the policy need to be taken up.
Sustainable use of groundwater in the hydrothermal area of Viterbo (Central Italy) was analyzed. In this area, multi‐purposes utilization of groundwater coexists: several thermal springs and wells supply spas and public pools, cold and fresh water is used for irrigation and drinking‐water. Starting from theoretical concepts, a management plan has been developed to ensure groundwater sustainability in response to the increased demand of withdrawal from thermal wells, by integrating previous hydrogeological studies, new investigations and a new finite‐difference model. The most stringent constraints considered are: to maintain the quality of thermal and fresh waters, to limit the effects on the hydraulic equilibrium existing between overlapping aquifers, to ensure a significant flow to the natural thermal springs and the quality and flow rate of the spring used for drinking purposes. The practical approach included identification of the maximum pumping rate from the wells of the spas, analysis of the response time of the system under development and drafting of a safeguard and monitoring plan. The case examined takes into account the complexity of the task in defining practical measures for groundwater management on the basis of theoretical concepts of its sustainable use. A participative approach among the different water decision‐makers and adaptive management in the use of groundwater resources with different quality represent the key points to overcome conflicts between different users, with the awareness of the ineludible uncertainties of the hydrogeological model.
Highlights
•Meeting future demand for food must be achieved through a transition to sustainable food and agriculture.
•Improvements in water-use efficiency are key for water and food security and to achieve SDG6.
•Water managers and irrigation groups are concerned about efficiencies.
•Farmers are more motivated by agricultural productivity than water-use efficiency.
•Public policy covers objectives and measures for both efficiency and productivity.
•Case-specific blend of management, technological, economic and governance options must be considered.
This essay addresses three questions pertaining to the assertion that ecological wisdom connotes both Platonian sophia (theoretical wisdom) and Aristotelian phronesis (practical wisdom): What is Aristotelian phronesis in the context of ecological wisdom? Why should it be juxtaposed with sophia at the nexus of ecological wisdom? How relevant is it to the contemporary ecological practice (planning, design, construction, and management)? The essay posits the construct of ecophronesis (ecological phronesis) as the ecological practical wisdom that people acquire from and use for ecological practice; describes the relationship between ecophronesis and Naessian ecosophy (ecological theoretical wisdom); and explores the relevance of ecophronesis to ecological practice, and actionable science.
There are many outstanding constructions in ancient Chinese cities that are still in use in their unique local landscapes. An example of successful ecological engineering is the Tuancheng drainage system in Beijing. This paper presents a technical analysis of this drainage system and describes a hydrological model built in Stella® for a one-time rainstorm event and for annual water balance analyses. The results demonstrate how well the drainage criteria were chosen and prove that the implementation was exceptionally successful. An example of smart design solutions is the underground circular C-shaped drainage system in the terrace, where at each turning point, there is a pit to collect rainwater. In addition, the inverted paving by trapezoidal bricks and soil improvements contributed to the rapid infiltration of rainwater. During intense rainstorms, the system effectively attenuated stormwater and increased the infiltration rate. During drought conditions, such as in 1965, with only 226mm of rainfall, the system increased soil water retention by 27mm. The Tuancheng drainage system is an excellent example of an engineering solution managing drainage and storage, on- and underground, and using gray and green infrastructure to create a hydrological landscape functionally equivalent to natural conditions. Exploring ancient wisdom and using the ideas of our ancestors can help us to find more effective and efficient strategies to manage urban stormwater.
In an increasingly urbanizing world, mitigating the consequences of a concentrated humanity becomes all the more urgent. Urban planners and designers have developed criteria for site selection, have tempered the pace and moderated the type of development, and have guided the arrangement of human activities in order to improve the quality of human settlement. However, these efforts have not always proved adequate, and many similar urbanization problems have been persistently reoccurring. Why do the short term needs or desires of humans often trump the need for minimal ecological damage? We argue that a prevailing dualistic perspective of humans and environment as separate from each other leads to a lack of appreciation for environmental integrity. To address this problem, we turn to ecological wisdom, which calls for recognition of and respect for the complexity of the environment, for actionable solutions. In this paper, we define ecological wisdom as a means of knowing, understanding, and applying ecological information in order to guide urban planning and design professionals. Based on ecological wisdom, urban planners and designers combine willingness and ability to include knowledge from different fields – such as ecology, sociology, and economics – to engage stakeholders in setting long term, beneficial goals. To better achieve this, more scholarly research on the application of ecological wisdom in defining place appreciation is needed, thus averting urban problems by reminding people that the well-being of a place is reflected in the overall quality of life illuminated as human experience.
This conceptual paper has two goals. First it reviews aspects of sustainability and resilience and their relationship to management of coupled, interdependent urban and natural ecosystems where the natural ecosystem supplies goods and services to help maintain urban sustainability. Second, it explores whether urban ecosystems and natural ecosystems that help sustain the urban ecosystem can both be sustainable, and whether ecological wisdom could be an overarching tool guiding how these two systems are managed to maintain sustainability of both. In doing this, the concept of ecological wisdom is expanded from a philosophical context to a practical context applicable to 21st century ecosystem management. Using several cases of interrelationships between urban and natural ecosystems, ecological wisdom is conceptually shown to be a preferred management process. The cases also demonstrate that, regardless of management approaches to create sustainable functioning riverine ecosystems modified to supply clean water as goods and services to urban areas for urban sustainability; it is unlikely that these riverine ecosystems will ever be fully functional. As a comprehensive management approach, ecological wisdom conceptually may come closest to creating both sustainable urban ecosystems and sustainable functional riverine ecosystems.
Nitrate (NO3-) contamination of freshwater systems is a global concern. In alluvial floodplains, riparian areas have been proven to be efficient in nitrate removal. In this study, a large spatio-temporal dataset collected during one year at monthly time steps within a meander area of the Garonne floodplain (France) was analysed in order to improve the understanding of nitrate dynamic and denitrification process in floodplain areas. The results showed that groundwater NO3- concentrations (mean 50mg NO3- L-1) were primarily controlled by groundwater dilution with river water (explaining 54% of NO3- variance), but also by nitrate removal process identified as denitrification (explaining 14% of NO3- variance). Dilution was controlled by hydrological flow paths and residence time linked to river-aquifer exchanges and flood occurrence, while potential denitrification (DEA) was controlled by oxygen, high dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and organic matter content in the sediment (31% of DEA variance). DOC can originate both from the river input and the degradation of organic matter (OM) located in topsoil and sediments of the alluvial plain. In addition, river bank geomorphology appeared to be a key element explaining potential denitrification hot spot locations. Low bankfull height (LBH) areas corresponding to wetlands exhibited higher denitrification rates than high bankfull height (HBH) areas less often flooded. Hydrology determined the timing of denitrification hot moments occurring after flood events. These findings underline the importance of integrating dynamic water interactions between river and aquifer, geomorphology, and dual carbon source (river and sediment) when assessing nitrate dynamics and denitrification patterns in floodplain environments.
Metric benchmarking has been widely quoted as a powerful management tool. However, as useful as metric benchmarking can prove, its actual application may present several inconveniences. These include internal resistance to the project, difficulties in finding a suitable partner, finding an appropriate set of indicators, actual data management and results analysis. This paper will present general guidelines to carry out a metric benchmarking project within the water industry, as well as some tools that may be used to overcome some of these difficulties.
The freshwater environment is facing unprecedented global pressures. Unsustainable use of surface and groundwater is ubiquitous. Gross pollution is seen in developing economies, nutrient pollution is a global threat to aquatic ecosystems, and flood damage is increasing. Droughts have severe local consequences, but effects on food can be global. These current pressures are set in the context of rapid environmental change and socio-economic development, population growth, and weak and fragmented governance. We ask what should be the role of the water science community in addressing water security challenges. Deeper understanding of aquatic and terrestrial environments and their interactions with the climate system is needed, along with trans-disciplinary analysis of vulnerabilities to environmental and societal change. The human dimension must be fully integrated into water science research and viewed as an endogenous component of water system dynamics. Land and water management are inextricably linked, and thus more cross-sector coordination of research and policy is imperative. To solve real-world problems, the products of science must emerge from an iterative, collaborative, two-way exchange with management and policy communities. Science must produce knowledge that is deemed to be credible, legitimate, and salient by relevant stakeholders, and the social process of linking science to policy is thus vital to efforts to solve water problems. The paper shows how a large-scale catchment-based observatory can be used to practice trans-disciplinary science integration and address the Anthropocene's water problems.
Groundwater is a dynamic, finite, and vulnerable but resilient natural resource to be protected in an environmentally sustainable manner. Groundwater systems require a comprehensive understanding of climatology, geology, morphotectonics, hydrogeology, hydrogeochemistry, hydrodynamics, isotope hydrology, hydrogeomorhology, rock and soil hydrogeotechnics, and surface hydrology. Groundwater conceptual models (ground model, hydrogeological conceptual model, and numerical model)—from site investigations to regional watersheds and or global hydrological systems—based on earth systems make a major contribution to the sustainability and management of water resources. The thematic issue on “sustainability and water resources” includes a wide variety of unique contributions in environmental hydrogeology and water-related research and practice.
Groundwater is a critical component of the water supply for agriculture, urban areas, industry, and ecosystems, but managing it is a challenge because groundwater is difficult to map, quantify, and evaluate. Until recently, study and assessment of governance of this water resource has been largely neglected. A survey was developed to query state agency officials about the extent and scope of groundwater use, groundwater laws and regulations, and groundwater tools and strategies. Survey responses revealed key findings: states' legal frameworks for groundwater differ widely in recognizing the hydrologic connection between surface water and groundwater, the needs of groundwater-dependent ecosystems, and the protection of groundwater quality; states reported a range in capacity to enforce groundwater responsibilities; and states have also experienced substantial changes in groundwater governance in the past few decades. Overall, groundwater governance across the United States is fragmented. States nevertheless identified three common priorities for groundwater governance: water quality and contamination, conflicts between users, and declining groundwater levels. This survey represents an initial step in a broader, continuing effort to characterize groundwater governance practices in the United States.