An official website of the United States government
This dissertation provides a foundation for understanding how water governance has changed over time, how watershed positionality and governance level shape the goals and strategies as well as the coordination of organizations actively involved in water issues, and how local, rural stakeholders changed legacy groundwater management. The first study examines the evolution of Colorado River Basin water management over the last century to understand how changing environmental conditions and path dependency have shaped past water management changes. Improved understanding can help inform policy responses to current challenges. The combined spatial, temporal, and network analyses show that Colorado River Basin water governance has been influenced by 100 years of rules that are layered and still in place. The rules have evolved water management strategies over time, shifted the emphasis of water management actions, and changed the distribution of authority across actions and rule levels. The second study explores how water management coordination varies based on governance level and physical location in the watershed. Additionally, this study analyzes how the level of governance and hydrologic position of organizations shape goals, strategies, and beliefs about the risks and benefits of changes to Colorado River Basin water management factors. The content and cluster analysis found the level of governance more influential than the hydrologic position and that coalitions can rearrange in a short period of time based on how the issue is framed. The last study unveils how local, rural residents were able to change legacy groundwater management through a process that began with a social movement to a ballot initiative to public input on groundwater management via a management goal-setting policy process in the Douglas Groundwater Basin in Arizona. The framing analysis shows that the public can identify problems and solutions, including paired solutions, but residents do not know whom to identify as being responsible for addressing water management in the basin.
more »
« less
Institutional analysis of water governance in the Colorado River Basin, 1922–2022
The 1922 Colorado River Compact started the long history of water governance in the Colorado River Basin. Over the last century, the institutional structure has shaped water governance in the basin. However, an understanding of the long-term evolution is lacking. This study examines how water management strategies have evolved at the basin scale by incorporating institutional, temporal, and network structure analysis methods to examine long-term changes. Content analysis was employed to systematically investigate encouraged and/or discouraged water management actions at different rule levels. The water governance network was examined at four points in time to map the institutional structure, actors, and governance level at which rules are issued and targeted. Using institutional analysis, we found constitutional, operational, and collective-choice level rules for water supply, storage, movement, and use have been altered via layering of new governance rules without major rule or responsibility alteration. The network analysis results indicate that key decision-making positions have remained and actors who issue and are targeted by the rules lack significant change. We found original positions of power have been maintained, potentially stagnating the space for problem-solving and management strategy renegotiation. Our results indicate that path dependency has shaped water governance and who is able to influence decision-making.
more »
« less
- Award ID(s):
- 1942370
- PAR ID:
- 10556809
- Publisher / Repository:
- Frontiers
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Frontiers in Water
- Volume:
- 6
- ISSN:
- 2624-9375
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
null (Ed.)In Arizona, the policy debates over the Colorado River Basin Drought Contingency Plans exposed long-running tensions surrounding how we use and value scarce water resources in a desert. These negotiations also highlighted generations-old disputes between indigenous communities’ water rights and Anglo settlers. This paper explores how irrigators respond to, and participate in, the crafting of institutional arrangements while at the same time experiencing increased exposure to climatic and hydrological risk. Our analysis incorporates qualitative interview data, a literature review, archival information from policy reports, and secondary data on water use and agricultural production. Building on the fieldwork with farmers and water experts that we completed before the drought contingency planning efforts began, we describe the status quo and then explore potential future contexts based on shifting incentives and on the constraints that arise during periods of Colorado River water shortages. Through an understanding of the socio-hydrological system, we examine the region’s agricultural water use, water governance, indigenous water rights and co-governance, and the potential future of agriculture in the region. Our study illustrates how the historic and current institutions have been maintaining agricultural vibrancy but also creating new risks associated with increased dependence on the Colorado River.more » « less
-
Abstract Around the world, water rights systems govern the allocation of water to a multitude of users. Such systems primarily come into play during times of drought, when some users have to be shorted. Yet their management during times of excess can have implications for subsequent drought impacts. This is evident in the State of Colorado, where under “free river conditions” in which there is sufficient water to satisfy all water rights, anyone—including individuals lacking water rights—can divert as much as they want, unconstrained by the limit of their water right. Here, we estimate the amount of excess water used under such conditions within Division five of the Upper Colorado River Basin in the State of Colorado. Comparing the daily water withdrawals of diversion structures along the Colorado River and its tributaries with their (daily) water rights, we find that in 2017, 339 structures report days with excess withdrawals, amounting to 108 million cubic meters (87,577 acer feet). While such excess withdrawal is legal in Colorado, we argue that the free river condition is an antiquated rule that will make much needed reform of water allocation within the water‐stressed Colorado River Basin more difficult. We offer policy suggestions to address it.more » « less
-
Both centralized and decentralized governance arrangements often fail in successfully managing complex and delicate natural systems like forests. As a result, forests are often poorly managed and overexploited. We argue that polycentric governance systems offer a promising alternative to traditional governance systems to address the non-linear, unpredictable, dynamic, and interconnected nature of socioecological processes within and outside of forests. The success of polycentric governance relies heavily on the engagement of a variety of actors who prioritize long-term health of ecosystems as well as the establishment of resilient institutional frameworks. By combining theoretical analysis with empirical insights, we discuss the adoption of more responsive and agile governance structures capable of navigating complexity and promoting sustainable forest management for achieving longer-term environmental resilience and human well-being. We present questions for future research on comparatively evaluating the efficacy of different governance arrangements in shaping incentives for managing forest systems.more » « less
-
The Colorado River supplies over 40 million people in the United States Southwest with their daily water supply and is currently unable to meet these demands. Faced with the challenges of climate change, population growth, and aged infrastructure, urban water systems in the Southwest, as sociotechnical systems, will need to evolve to become more sustainable. A Net Zero Urban Water (NZUW) approach meets the needs of a given community with a locally available and sustainable water supply, without detriment to interconnected systems and long-term water supply. Transitioning to a NZUW future will require considerable changes related to water availability, sources, technology, management, costs, and the urban landscape. Acceptance of these changes is key to a successful sociotechnical shift in urban water systems in the arid Southwest. Our results identify three main actors (institutions, civil society, and the public) and five key factors (public trust, perceived issue severity, infrastructural inertia, cultural preferences, and cost) that influence acceptance of change across the urban water system. Under each factor, we identify strategies that have been used to influence acceptance by each of the three actors (e.g., transparent communication, community engagement, inter-agency collaboration, advocacy campaigns, and financial incentives). To better understand acceptance of the changes necessary for a NZUW future, we examined four case study cities across the Colorado River System to illustrate the dynamics between the identified actors, factors, and strategies: Albuquerque, Denver, Los Angeles, and Tucson. Our results highlight that fostering public trust and understanding, overcoming institutional and cultural barriers, and aligning financial policies are key for advancing a NZUW future. We conclude that cities in the Southwest are in the middle of significant sociotechnical shifts toward greater water system sustainability. Acceptance of these changes by institutions, civil society, and the public continues to be critical, particularly for a NZUW future to be realized.more » « less
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
-
Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.3389/frwa.2024.1451854
