skip to main content


Title: Water Availability for Cannabis in Northern California: Intersections of Climate, Policy, and Public Discourse
Availability of water for irrigated crops is driven by climate and policy, as moderated by public priorities and opinions. We explore how climate and water policy interact to influence water availability for cannabis (Cannabis sativa), a newly regulated crop in California, as well as how public discourse frames these interactions. Grower access to surface water covaries with precipitation frequency and oscillates consistently in an energetic 11–17 year wet-dry cycle. Assessing contemporary cannabis water policies against historic streamflow data showed that legal surface water access was most reliable for cannabis growers with small water rights (<600 m3) and limited during relatively dry years. Climate variability either facilitates or limits water access in cycles of 10–15 years—rendering cultivators with larger water rights vulnerable to periods of drought. However, news media coverage excludes growers’ perspectives and rarely mentions climate and weather, while public debate over growers’ irrigation water use presumes illegal diversion. This complicates efforts to improve growers’ legal water access, which are further challenged by climate. To promote a socially, politically, and environmentally viable cannabis industry, water policy should better represent growers’ voices and explicitly address stakeholder controversies as it adapts to this new and legal agricultural water user.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1633756
NSF-PAR ID:
10288433
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ; ; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Water
Volume:
13
Issue:
1
ISSN:
2073-4441
Page Range / eLocation ID:
5
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. Abstract

    Applying models to developed agricultural regions remains a difficult problem because there are no existing modeling codes that represent both the complex physics of the hydrology and anthropogenic manipulations to water distribution and consumption. We apply an integrated groundwater – surface water and hydrologic river operations model to an irrigated river valley in northwestern Nevada/northern California, United States to evaluate the impacts of climate change on snow‐fed agricultural systems that use surface water and groundwater conjunctively. We explicitly represent individual surface water rights within the hydrologic model and allow the integrated code to change river diversions in response to earlier snowmelt runoff and water availability. Historically under‐used supplemental groundwater rights are dynamically activated within the model to offset diminished surface water deliveries. The model accounts for feedbacks between the natural hydrology and anthropogenic stresses, which is a first‐of‐its‐kind assessment of the impacts of climate change on individual water rights, and more broadly on river basin operations. Earlier snowmelt decreases annual surface water deliveries to all water rights, not just the junior water rights, owing to a lack of surface water storage in the upper river basin capable of capturing earlier runoff. Conversely, downstream irrigators with access to reservoir storage benefit from earlier runoff flowing past upstream points of diversion prior to the start of the irrigation season. Despite regional shifts toward greater reliance on groundwater for irrigation, crop consumption (a common surrogate for crop yield) decreases due to spatiotemporal changes in water supply that preferentially impact a subset of growers in the region.

     
    more » « less
  2. Abstract

    The interaction of climate change and increasing anthropogenic water withdrawals is anticipated to alter surface water availability and the transport of carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) in river networks. But how changes to river flow will alter the balance, or stoichiometry, of these fluxes is unknown. The Lower Flint River Basin (LFRB) is part of an interstate watershed relied upon by several million people for diverse ecosystem services, including seasonal crop irrigation, municipal drinking water access, and public recreation. Recently, increased water demand compounded with intensified droughts have caused historically perennial streams in the LFRB to cease flowing, increasing ecosystem vulnerability. Our objectives were to quantify how riverine dissolved C:N:P varies spatially and seasonally and determine how monthly stoichiometric fluxes varied with overall water availability in a major tributary of LFRB. We used a long‐term record (21–29 years) of solute water chemistry (dissolved organic carbon, nitrate/nitrite, ammonia, and soluble reactive phosphorus) paired with long‐term stream discharge data across six sites within a single LFRB watershed. We found spatial and seasonal differences in soluble nutrient concentrations and stoichiometry attributable to groundwater connections, the presence of a major floodplain wetland, and flow conditions. Further, we showed that water availability, as indicated by the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI), strongly predicted stoichiometry with generally lower C:N and C:P and higher N:P fluxes during periods of low water availability (PDSI < −4). These patterns suggest there may be long‐term and significant changes to stream ecosystem function as water availability is being dramatically altered by human demand with consequential impacts on solute transport, in‐stream processing, and stoichiometric ratios.

     
    more » « less
  3. After attending this presentation, attendees will gain knowledge in the strategy to achieve high-throughput and simultaneous analysis of cannabinoids and appreciate a validated LC-UV method for analysis of twelve cannabinoids in hemp oil. This presentation will first impact the forensic science community by introducing three fast LC separations of twelve cannabinoids that can be used with either UV or mass spectrometric (MS) detection. It will further impact the forensic science community by introducing a validated LC-UV method for high-throughput and simultaneous analysis of twelve cannabinoids in hemp oil, which can be routinely used by cannabis testing labs. In recent years, the use of products of Cannabis sativa L. for medicinal purposes has been in a rapid growth, although their preparation procedure has not been clearly standardized and their quality has not been well regulated. To analyze the therapeutic components, i.e. cannabinoids, in products of Cannabis sativa L., LC-UV has been frequently used, because LC-UV is commonly available and usually appropriate for routine analysis by the cannabis growers and commercial suppliers. In the literature, a few validated LC-UV methods have been described. However, so far, all validated LC-UV methods only focused in the quantification of eleven or less cannabinoids. Therefore, a method able to simultaneously analyze more cannabinoids in a shorter run time is still in high demand, because more and more cannabinoids have been isolated and many of them have shown medicinal properties. In this study, the LC separation of twelve cannabinoids, including cannabichromene (CBC), cannabidiolic acid (CBDA), cannabidiol (CBD), cannabidivarinic acid (CBDVA), cannabidivarin (CBDV), cannabigerolic acid (CBGA), cannabigerol (CBG), cannabinol (CBN), delta-8 tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ8-THC), delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinolic acid A (Δ9-THCA A), delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC), and tetrahydrocannabivarin (THCV), has been systematically optimized using a Phenomenex Luna Omega 3 µm Polar C18 150 mm × 4.6 mm column with regard to the effects of the type of organic solvent, i.e. methanol and acetonitrile, the content of the organic solvent, and the pH of the mobile phase. The optimization has resulted in three LC conditions at 1.0 mL/minute able to separate the twelve cannabinoids: 1) a mobile phase consisting of water and methanol, both containing 0.1% formic acid (pH 2.69), with a gradient elution at 75% methanol for the first 3 minutes and then linearly increase to 100% methanol at 12.5 minutes; 2) a mobile phase consisting of water and 90% (v/v) acetonitrile in water, both containing 0.1% formic acid and 20 mM ammonium formate (pH 3.69), with an isocratic elution at 75% acetonitrile for 14 minutes; and 3) a mobile phase consisting of water and 90% (v/v) acetonitrile in water, both containing 0.03% formic acid and 20 mM ammonium formate (pH 4.20), with an isocratic elution at 75% acetonitrile for 14 minutes. In order to demonstrate the effectiveness of the achieved LC separations, a LC-UV method is further validated for the high-throughput and simultaneous analysis of twelve cannabinoids. The method used the mobile phase at pH 3.69, which resulted in significant improvement in throughput compared to other validated LC-UV methods published so far. The method used flurbiprofen as the internal standard. The linear calibration range of all the cannabinoids were between 0.1 to 25 ppm with R2≥0.9993. The LOQ (S/N=10) of the cannabinoids was between 17.8 and 74.2 ppb. The validation used a hemp oil containing 3.2 wt% CBD and no other cannabinoids, which was reported by the vendor with a certificate of analysis, as the matrix to prepare control samples: the hemp oil was first extracted using liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) with methanol; cannabinoids were then spiked into the extract at both 0.5 ppm and 5 ppm level. Afterwards, the recovery, precision (%RSD) and accuracy (%Error) of the control samples were assessed and the results met the requirements by the ISO/IEC 17025 and ASTM E2549-14 guidelines. 
    more » « less
  4. Abstract Background

    People with mental illnesses are disproportionately entangled in the criminal legal system. Historically, this involvement has resulted from minor offending, often accompanied by misdemeanor charges. In recent years, policymakers have worked to reduce the footprint of the criminal legal system. This paper seeks to better understand how misdemeanor systems intervene in the lives of people with mental illnesses.

    Methods

    System mapping exercises were conducted with misdemeanor system stakeholders from the jurisdictions of Atlanta, Chicago, Manhattan, and Philadelphia. Narrative detail on decision-making and case processing, both generally and in relation to specific types of behavior, including trespassing, retail theft/shoplifting, and simple assault, were coded and analyzed for thematic patterns. Based on the qualitative analysis, this paper offers a conceptual diagram of contexts shaping misdemeanor system interventions among people with mental illnesses.

    Results

    All four sites have been engaged in efforts to reduce the use of misdemeanor charges both generally and in relation to people with mental illnesses. Decision-makers across all sites experience contexts that shape how, when, and where they intervene, which are: (1) law and policy environments; (2) location of the behavior; (3) expectations of stakeholders; (4) knowledge of mental illnesses; and (5) access to community resources. Law and policy environments expand or constrain opportunities for diversion. The location of offending is relevant to who has a stake in the behavior, and what demands they have. Clinical, experiential, and system-level knowledge of mental illnesses inform a chain of decisions about what to do. The capacity to address mental health needs is contingent on access to social services, including housing.

    Conclusion

    People making decisions along the criminal legal continuum are critical to illuminating the dynamic, inter-related contexts that facilitate and frustrate attempts to address defendants’ mental health needs while balancing considerations of public safety. Multi-sector, scenario-based or case study exercises could help identify concrete ways of improving each of the contexts that surround whole-of-system decisions.

     
    more » « less
  5. Despite public concern over immigration enforcement, little attention has been given to transgender immigrants, who are disproportionately at risk for arrest and deportation. Organizations dedicated to protecting LGBT people’s rights and immigrant rights have been working to address this issue and shape policy decisions to better protect transgender immigrants in detention centers; however, research has not investigated how these organizations frame transgender immigrant detainees and their experience in detention to accomplish their goals. This current study uses a content analysis of public documents spanning 2009–2021 from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Transgender Law Center (TLC) to investigate how two legal advocacy organizations frame the issue of transgender immigrants within detention centers. The ACLU rarely discusses transgender immigrants and thus upholds cisnormativity. When they do discuss transgender immigrants, their transgender identity is referenced as a singular issue in isolation from other facets of their identity. The TLC, on the other hand, frames immigration detention for transgender immigrants as part of a larger web of oppression. Through a comparison of the ACLU and TLC, this study underscores the role of cisnormativity as a tool for racialized social control. Findings highlight the importance of a critical, intersectional approach to immigration advocacy and scholarship that challenges the cisnormative assumptions guiding the current immigration system. Implications for future research and service provision are discussed.

     
    more » « less