WaterWired

Paper: 'The Water Relations in Central Asia Dataset (WRCAD)' - An Online Tool

More Central Asia!

A few days ago I posted information about a 2018 book by Filippo Menga, Power and Water in Central Asia.

Since then I discovered a 2016 paper of his,The ‘Water Relations in Central Asia Dataset’ (WRCAD). It is billed as an online tool for researchers, practitioners and students. Looks like something very useful. 

Download The_Water_Relations_in_Central_Asia_Data

Abstract
The aim of this paper is to present the Water Relations in Central Asia Dataset (WRCAD, http://wrcad.info/), a new, open-access dataset specifically conceived to analyse transboundary water relations among the countries of the Aral Sea basin in Central Asia in the period 1991-2013. Following a methodological section that explains how the empirical material was collected and categorised, the paper illustrates the evolution of interstate relations in the basin discussing some of the key issues and trends that emerge from the dataset.

The graphic is from the European Parliament: Water in Central Asia: An Increasingly Scarce Resource.

Enjoy!

"A narcissist is someone better looking than you are." - Gore Vidal (quoted in @Forbes via @TheWeek)

G. Tracy Mehan III & Adam Carpenter Paper: 'Bringing Agriculture and Drinking Water Utilities Together for Source Water Protection'

G. Tracy Mehan III and Adam T. Carpenter of the American Water Works Association just published this paper in the Journal of the AWWA: Bringing Agriculture and Drinking Water Utilities Together for Source Water Protection

Download Mehan_Carpenter_2019_JAWWA

A few days ago I published a talk of the same title that Tracy gave at the 74th Annual Conference of the Soil and Water Conservation Society. That post generated some positive feedback. Tracy sent me copies of both his keynote address and this paper. 

Tracy is executive director for government affairs of AWWA and Adam T. Carpenter is its manager of energy and environmental policy.

Key Takeaways: 

1) While point‐source discharges are regulated for source water contamination, that's not necessarily the case with agricultural nonpoint sources.

2) Partnerships between drinking water utilities and farmers benefit from a mutual understanding of each partner's efforts and challenges in source water protection.

3) Examples of long‐standing collaborations between utilities and agricultural interests serve as models for new source water protection projects.

4) The Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 mandates that 10% of all conservation funds or $4 billion over 10 years is to be spent on source water protection.

 

The first few paragraphs:

In August 2014, an algal bloom in western Lake Erie produced a toxin known as microcystin in the part of the lake from which the city of Toledo, Ohio, draws its drinking water. For three days, the city issued a “do not drink” advisory, affecting more than 400,000 people served by its water system (The Blade 2014).

While it’s not certain what caused this particular algal bloom, there is no uncertainty about one critical aspect of algal blooms in general—namely, their association with areas that have high levels of nitrogen and phosphorus in the water. Other areas have experienced similar challenges, and cyanobacteria advisories are not uncommon; for example, in 2015 a cyanobacterial bloom of greater than 600 miles on the Ohio River threatened multiple water treatment plants in the vicinity (Seewer 2015). In Canada, there have been warnings that the prairie lakes could become permanently toxic from blue–green algae contamination (CBC News 2017). 

Although every watershed is unique and has its own mix of nutrient sources, Lake Erie and the other Great Lakes have been subject to regulation of point-source discharges (i.e., the traditional discrete pipe or conveyance of pollution) under the Clean Water Act by the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) for many decades. Yet across North America, some of the most prominent sources of nitrogen and phosphorus are nonpoint sources, such as diffuse runoff from regulated urban stormwater and unregulated agricultural stormwater.

Enjoy!

"Name the senior faculty member most likely to claim they are being recruited by headhunters, yet never goes anywhere." - @ass_deans

My Ten Cents - Paper: 'Human Domination of the Global Water Cycle Absent from Depictions and Perceptions'

The Paper
I have been meaning to post this paper for over a month. I saw Jay Zarnetske mention this work during a talk on another topic. Here it is: Human Domination of the Global Water Cycle Absent from Depictions and Perceptions, Nature Geoscience, volume12, pages 533–540 (2019).

The author list is reminiscent of those particle physics papers: Benjamin W. Abbott, Kevin Bishop, Jay P. Zarnetske, Camille Minaudo, F. S. Chapin III, Stefan Krause, David M. Hannah, Lafe Conner, David Ellison, Sarah E. Godsey, Stephen Plont, Jean Marçais, Tamara Kolbe, Amanda Huebner, Rebecca J. Frei, Tyler Hampton, Sen Gu, Madeline Buhman, Sayedeh Sara Sayedi, Ovidiu Ursache, Melissa Chapin, Kathryn D. Henderson & Gilles Pinay 

Download Human_Domination_Absent_Global_Water_Cycle

Here is a very good online copy of the article: click here.

Abstract
Human water use, climate change and land conversion have created a water crisis for billions of individuals and many ecosystems worldwide. Global water stocks and fluxes are estimated empirically and with computer models, but this information is conveyed to policymakers and researchers through water cycle diagrams. Here we compiled a synthesis of the global water cycle, which we compared with 464 water cycle diagrams from around the world. Although human freshwater appropriation now equals half of global river discharge, only 15% of the water cycle diagrams depicted human interaction with water. Only 2% of the diagrams showed climate change or water pollution—two of the central causes of the global water crisis—which effectively conveys a false sense of water security. A single catchment was depicted in 95% of the diagrams, which precludes the representation of teleconnections such as ocean–land interactions and continental moisture recycling. These inaccuracies correspond with specific dimensions of water mismanagement, which suggest that flaws in water diagrams reflect and reinforce the misunderstanding of global hydrology by policymakers, researchers and the public. Correct depictions of the water cycle will not solve the global water crisis, but reconceiving this symbol is an important step towards equitable water governance, sustainable development and planetary thinking in the Anthropocene.

Below are some figures of what the authors would (presumably) love to see. Click on them to enlarge them or view them online. Note that pools (stocks) of water as well as fluxes are shown with uncertainties.

This figure shows some of the effects of human interference with the water cycle.

Here is another such diagram.

You get the picture.

My Approach
The authors make some excellent points. One thing that I dislike about many hydrologic cycle (I don't often say 'water cycle') is that they give little consideration to groundwater. Maybe they show an arrow buried somewhere. This negligence is understandable; most diagrams focus on flows, not stocks (or pools), and so surface and atmospheric waters dominate. My cryologist/glaciologist friends could also make the same case about glaciers and icecaps.

Here are two global hydrological cycle diagrams from my favorite physical hydrology textbook, Elements of Physical Hydrology, 2/e by G. Hornberger et al.

Pretty simple, right? No houses, factories or shopping centers, though.

Here's the companion figure, showing annual volumetric fluxes in relative units (100 units = 119,000 cubic kilometers per year). 

Groundwater is pretty visible even though its flux is pretty small. These two figures are accompanied by a table with stocks and residence times. It's best to use this table in conjunction with these diagrams.

Here is a 'local' hydrologic cycle I use, created by a friend - the 'Post-Modern Hydrologic Cycle'. It shows that water flows to money - so you know humans are involved. I always explain this when I use it... Students seem to enjoy it. 

The USGS has a bunch of diagrams - click here.

MyTen Cents
Do I think my approach is wrong? You'd think that after 47 years of teaching this stuff I'd get it right!

The authors have done us a great service by pointing out the problems with most depictions of the hydrologic cycle. Sure, humans and their activities (climate change and others) are affecting the cycle at all spatiotemporal scales and will continue to do so. But the cycle has been around for billions of years and will be around long after we leave. I like to point that out. Must be the geologist inside me.

I will likely continue to use the versions I have been using. They are simple to explain and very helpful in elucidating the basic hydrologic processes. I can describe the difficulty in estimating stocks, flows and residence times. I can show how climate change will likely alter things. I can ask the students about the diagrams' shortcomings and what the cycle might look like at a regional or local level. And what about water quality? Where is that? Is it important? How could we insert water quality into the picture?

One thing I've started  doing on exams (take-home as well as in-class): asking students to draw and label their own hydrologic cycles. Sometimes I ask them to do a region-specific one. Maybe where they grew up. Or maybe I'll ask them what's wrong with the ones I use.

One thing I will continue to do (with some exceptions): keep the ocean in the picture of most cycle diagrams I use. I thought about this when an audience member in New Mexico asked me sarcastically, "Why do you have an ocean in your diagram? We're hundreds of miles from the nearest shore!". My reply silenced him: "Where do you think your precipitation originates?" No matter where you are on Earth the oceans matter. 

But this paper made me think and examine my own shortcomings. So you should all read it. Teachable moment for sure!

Enjoy!

"Inside every silver lining there's a dark cloud." - George Carlin (as Al Sleet, the Hippy Dippy Weatherman, 1960s)

CRS In Focus Report: 'The Reclamation Fund' (Updated 21 May 2019)

I wonder how many Western WaterWonks have heard of the Reclamation Fund? Probably a bunch.

Here's a nice little CRS two-pager from Charles V. Stern simply titled 'The Reclamation Fund'.   

Download CRS_InFocus_Reclamation_Fund_21May2019

Here is the introduction:

The Reclamation Act of 1902 authorized the Secretary of the Interior to construct irrigation works in western states through the Reclamation Service (later renamed the Bureau of Reclamation [BOR or Reclamation]). It also established the Reclamation Fund to pay for these projects. The Reclamation Fund was established as a special fund within the U.S. Treasury. (Special funds are fund accounts for receipts and spending with specific taxes or revenues earmarked for a specific purpose.) The fund was designated to receive receipts from the sale of federal lands in the western United States, as well as other sources. It was originally conceived as a revolving fund (i.e., a business- like fund). That is, after its initial capitalization by federal appropriations, receipts from existing project repayments were expected to fund new projects. Congress later made substantial changes to the fund, including adding new receipt sources and making it subject to annual appropriations.

Enjoy!

"You are piling up a heritage of conflict and litigation over water rights for there is not sufficient water to supply the land". - John Wesley Powell, 1893

J. Cobbing & B. Hiller Paper: 'Waking a Sleeping Giant: Realizing the Potential of Groundwater in Sub-Saharan Africa'

Jude Cobbing was kind enough to send me this paper he authored with Bradley Hiller: Waking a Sleeping Giant: Realizing the Potential of Groundwater in Sub-Saharan Africa, World Development, Volume 122, October 2019, Pages 597-613. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2019.06.024 

This is an excellent piece of work that flies in the face of the belief that SSA has little groundwater. I won't go into the reasons for that. Glad to see that it was not published in a groundwater or hydrologic journal but in one that might reach non-believers.

Click on the title above to read the online version with all its hot links.

Click on the graphics to enlarge them.

Download Cobbing_Sleeping Giant_main

Abstract

Unlike many global regions, Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has yet to undergo a groundwater revolution. In this paper we confirm that for most SSA countries current groundwater use remains under 5% of national sustainable yield. This is likely to be a constraint on wider economic development and on addressing vulnerabilities to climate change and other shocks. Groundwater use has supported the process of economic structural change in other global regions; hence we derive an empirical model for groundwater use to support economic development, comprising trigger, boom and maturation phases. We identify that the trigger phase depends on political and economic (‘secondary’) factors, in addition to resource characteristics. The boom phase is described as ‘semi anarchic’, while the maturation phase is characterized by slowing abstractions but continued economic benefits. In SSA, we posit that the predominance of limiting secondary factors, coupled with a discourse of caution and focus on the maturation phase (more appropriate for other regions), is constraining the use of groundwater for economic development. We suggest that groundwater has the potential to be a foundational resource to support irrigated agriculture, urban and rural water security, and drought resilience across the region, as it has in many other global regions. We argue that overcoming the current barriers and costs to groundwater development can be offset by the benefits of regional socioeconomic development and increased resilience. In the context of enduring poverty and recurrent humanitarian crises in SSA, this new synthesis of information suggests that such an underutilization of sustainable groundwater is unjustifiable. Stakeholders active in the region should prioritize groundwater development to help facilitate a transition to higher value-added activities and greater regional prosperity and resilience, and ensure that measures are put in place for this to be done sustainably. We conclude with some ideas to help trigger such development in SSA.

 

Highights

•Low renewable groundwater use in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) constrains development.

•Poverty, demographic changes and shock events make groundwater development urgent.

•An empirical model shows political economy factors trigger groundwater development.

•A global discourse of caution inadvertently hinders groundwater development in SSA.

•A groundwater boom is key to irrigation, water security and drought resilience.

 

Cutting to the chase...

Conclusions and Recommendations

We confirm, at regional scale, that SSA hosts significant groundwater resources, often in areas where it could be most impactful, and which have the capacity to contribute significantly as a baseline resource for regional development. Despite the wealth of regional resources, groundwater use is thought to remain under 5% of sustainable yield for most countries in SSA, meaning that significant renewable resources are currently dormant.

We substantiate that ‘secondary’ or political-economy factors are the primary impediments to further groundwater development in SSA. There is further work to be conducted to understand political economy factors, their complex interactions, and how to trigger them. This work will allow appropriate policy to be developed, to remove bottlenecks.

We identify a predominance of limiting, rather than enabling conditions in groundwater development, which have discouraged investment at scale. Based on the development cycle of groundwater in other parts of the world which have already experienced trigger-boom-maturation phases, the international discourse on groundwater has shifted towards conservation and remediation, which may inadvertently be denying SSA its opportunity to experience social and economic benefits derived from groundwater development.

We also argue that attention and funding for groundwater projects should be of similar scale to that afforded to surface water projects in SSA. Groundwater has the potential to act as the foundational resource to underpin regional development in sectors such as irrigated agriculture, urban and rural water security, and drought resilience, just as it has in other global regions. We argue that it is now unconscionable and unjustifiable not to develop SSA’s groundwater resources.

Finally, while the primary intentions of this paper are to inform readers about SSA’s renewable groundwater potential and encourage discussion on future groundwater development actions for economic and humanitarian purposes, we draw on our empirical model to offer some non-prescriptive elements of a roadmap to help support this process:

•Dissemination of study findings to decision-makers and policy-makers in SSA countries, highlighting the significant latent renewable groundwater potential and the importance of secondary (political economy) factors in triggering wider groundwater development.

•Encourage improved resolution and coverage of hydrogeological data, including exploration of proxy indicators, as appropriate.

•Provide financial and technical resourcing for adequate groundwater-specific investigations to be included in national water resource assessments in all SSA countries.

•Educate and encourage international institutions to prioritize groundwater development support in SSA, including bolstering internal technical capacities.

•Establish a taskforce (comprising relevant stakeholders such as the UN agencies, multilateral development banks, disaster relief organizations, local community representatives, etc.) to explore the potential benefits of a strategic network of deep groundwater boreholes in recurrent (and predicted future) drought hotspots.

•Explore linkages between groundwater development and emerging climate (financing and convening) mechanisms to promote adaptation and resilience building.

Simultaneously, we encourage countries to help themselves whilst also calling upon international and regional institutions to provide financial and technical support to help realize SSA’s pending groundwater revolution.

Disabuse yourself of the notion that there is no groundwater of consequence in SSA...now!

Enjoy!

"All monkeys cannot hang on the same branch." ~ Kenyan proverb