Journal Articles

Advances in Transboundary Aquifer Assessment

March 02, 2023
Water
vol.
15
no.
6
MDPI
Basel, Switzerland
Advances in Transboundary Aquifer Assessment journal cover

Groundwater serves the drinking water needs of about 50% of the global population and contributes to over 40% of the global production of irrigated crops. Over 40% of the world’s water is transboundary in nature, crossing a binational border [1]. Management of the joint resource between countries involves the cooperation of multiple jurisdictions, sometimes with different languages and cultures. Management decisions about use of the groundwater resources require a physical understanding of the aquifer [2], including groundwater availability, stressors on the system, and the potential for sustainable groundwater use. Information about the physical system can support informed decisions by governments and managers regarding the shared resource. This Special Issue, “Advances in Transboundary Aquifer Assessment”, is intended to highlight both recent work to advance the physical understanding of transboundary aquifers and factors relevant in successful collaboration on transboundary groundwater resource use.

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Stakeholder Opinions on the Issues of the Central Arizona Groundwater Replenishment District and Policy Alternatives

March 31, 2023
Water
vol.
15
no.
6
pages
1-31
31
pp.
MDPI
Basel, Switzerland
journal water cover bernat

Arizona has been at the forefront of groundwater management since the establishment of the Groundwater Management Act in 1980. The Central Arizona Groundwater Replenishment District (CAGRD) is a groundwater management mechanism that facilitates development in regions of Central Arizona where the use of groundwater is limited by law. Several stakeholders have raised concerns about some of the CAGRD’s operations; however, stakeholders have yet to agree on the definition of the problems, let alone how the CAGRD might be improved. This study uses statistical and inductive thematic content analysis of a survey to determine (1) the CAGRD issues that stakeholders view as problems and (2) whether opinions differ significantly among different stakeholder groups. This study also uses deductive thematic content analysis to examine semi-structured interviews with CAGRD experts in order to find potential solutions to the CAGRD-related issues that are considered problems by stakeholders. The survey results show that long-term uncertainties related to the availability of renewable water supplies and hydrologic disconnect, where groundwater pumping and replenishment take place in different sub-basins, are stakeholders’ chief concerns. Sector affiliation and CAGRD membership status are associated with stakeholders’ opinions on some, but not all, questions. The potential policy changes offered address problems identified by stakeholders. This research will inform forthcoming policy discussions regarding groundwater management in Central Arizona as the state’s decision makers look to improve the CAGRD in the context of water scarcity exacerbated by climate change

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Increasing the visibility of transboundary groundwater

March 21, 2023
PLOS Water
Debora Walker, PLOS
ed. pages
1-4
4
pp.
PLOS
San Francisco, California, US
transboundary map

https://journals.plos.org/water/article?id=10.1371/journal.pwat.0000113

Released on World Water Day 2022, the 2022 United Nations World Water Development Report, Groundwater: Making the invisible visible [1], highlights the importance of groundwater in meeting water demands globally. Noted ominously in the report’s short summary is that “this natural resource is often poorly understood, and consequently undervalued, mismanaged and even abused.” Hence, the need for increasing the visibility of a critical water resource that, unlike rivers, lakes, and oceans, cannot be seen.

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Opening the Black Box: Using a Hydrological Model to Link Stakeholder Engagement with Groundwater Management

March 07, 2016
Journal Water
Eylon Shamir
Karletta Chief
MDPI
Basel, Switzerland
mexico/us transboundary ma

Stakeholder participation is a foundation of good water governance. Good groundwater governance typically involves the co-production of knowledge about the groundwater system. Models provide a vehicle for producing this knowledge, as well as a “boundary object” around which scientists and stakeholders can convene the co-production process. Through co-production, stakeholders and scientific experts can engage in exchanges that create system knowledge not otherwise achievable. The process involves one-way transfer of information, active two-way conversations, and integration of multiple kinds of knowledge into shared understanding. In the Upper Santa Cruz River basin in Arizona, USA, the University of Arizona Water Resources Research Center (WRRC) convened a project aimed at providing scientific underpinnings for groundwater planning and management. This project, entitled Groundwater, Climate, and Stakeholder Engagement, serves as a case study employing the first two stages of knowledge co-production using a hydrological model. Through an iterative process that included two-way communication, stakeholders provided critical input to hydrologic modeling analyses. Acting as a bridging organization, the WRRC facilitated a co-production process, involving location-specific and transferability workshops, which resulted in new knowledge and capacity for applying the model to novel problems.

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Modes And Approaches of Groundwater Governance: A Survey of Lessons Learned from Selected

May 12, 2016
Journal Water
Robert G. Varady
Adriana A. Zuniga-Teran
Andrea K. Gerlak
vol.
8
no.
10
pages
1-24
MDPI
Basel, Switzerland
modes and approaches of groundwater commerce cover

https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/8/10/417

The growing importance of groundwater as a critical component of water supply for agriculture, urban areas, industry, and ecosystems has increased the need to protect aquifers worldwide from overexploitation. Water governance is central to achieving this end. Thus, the article "Modes and Approaches of Groundwater Governance: A Survey of Lessons Learned from Selected Cases across the Globe", by Robert G. Varady, Adriana A. Zuniga-Teran, Andrea K. Gerlak, and Sharon B. Megdal from the University of Arizona, analyzes ten selected groundwater-governance case studies from diverse regions to identify characteristics of good governance practice. The cases selected varied across four elements - institutional setting, availability and access to information and science, robustness of civil society, and economic and regulatory framework. All four of these elements were found to have important impacts on governance by affecting incentives, conflict, power relations, effectiveness, and sustainability of process and outcomes. In sum, critical capacities of governments at multiple levels and civil society actors were found in the characteristics of shared governance. This article was published in a Special Issue of the journal Water with the title "Water Governance, Stakeholder Engagement, and Sustainable Water Resources Management," edited by the WRRC's Sharon B. Megdal and Susanna Eden and Eylon Shamir of the Hydrologic Research Center, San Diego, CA. 

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Invisible Water: The Importance of Good Groundwater Governance and Management

September 03, 2018
invisible water map

Increasing demand for water has led to a higher reliance on groundwater. As dependence on groundwater increases, water managers and policy makers need to pay careful attention to both groundwater quality and quantity. This paper, written by Sharon B. Megdal for the journal npj Clean Water in 2018, summarizes the results of efforts to bring attention to the importance of understanding and improving groundwater governance and management. Discussion of survey work in the United States and global case studies highlights the importance of focusing attention on this invisible water resource before pollution or depletion of it causes severe economic, environmental, and social dislocations. Better governance and management of groundwater are required to move toward sustainable groundwater use.

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Critical Issues Affecting Groundwater Quality Governance in the United States

March 21, 2018
Sharon B. Megdal
Andrea K. Gerlak
Mike Wireman
Adriana A. Zuniga-Teran
Robert G. Varady
Critical issues map

The article, "Critical Issues Affecting Groundwater Quality Governance in the United States," published in Water in 2018, by Jacob D. Petersen-Perlman, Sharon B. Megdal, Andrea K. Gerlak, Mike Wireman, Adriana A. Zuniga-Teran, and Robert G. Varady, reports the results of the "State-Level Groundwater Governance and Management in the U.S.: Summary of Survey Results of Groundwater Quality Strategies". Survey respondents identify a wide assortment of groundwater issues and concerns, including quality and quantity impairment, staffing and budget issues, private well vulnerability, and overdraft. The authors also discuss how findings align with current groundwater uses in the U.S.

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Drought and Groundwater Management: Interconnections, challenges, and policy responses

Part of Special Issue: Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 2022: Management of Groundwater resources and pollution prevention

May 22, 2022
Current Opinion in Environmental Science & Health
Jürgen Mahlknecht;
Abrahan Mora
ed.
Jacob D. Petersen-Perlman
Ismael Aguilar-Barajas
pages
1-9
Elsevier
Amsterdam, Netherlands
enviromental science and health journal cover

Droughts have severe impacts on the economy, society, and environment. They also have impacts on groundwater and vice versa. While most analyses consider drought and groundwater as disconnected, we argue that drought and groundwater management should be conjunctively considered. This article presents some key interconnections, identifies challenges, and discusses illustrative policy responses. We highlight several advancements found in international scientific research and describe future directions for drought and groundwater management. While many technological innovations have improved our understanding of drought and groundwater’s complex nature, policy and governance advances have not kept pace.

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Hydrogeomorphologic Mapping of the Transboundary San Pedro Aquifer: A Tool for Groundwater Characterization

March 01, 2022
Water
Sharon B. Megdal;
Anne-Marie Matherne
ed.
José Ismael Minjárez Sosa
Grisel Alejandra Gutiérrez Anguamea
Rogelio Monreal
Francisco Javier Grijalva Noriega
Elia M. Tapia-Villaseñor
vol.
Volume 14
no.
6
pages
1-12
12
pp.
MDPI
location Basel, Switzerland

Abstract

Hydrogeomorphology is an emerging discipline that studies the relationship between landforms and hydrology, focusing on groundwater and surface water interactions. This study presents the methodology for the elaboration of a hydro-geomorphological map oriented to illustrate the relationships between the aquifer components and geomorphological characteristics in the United States-Mexico Transboundary San Pedro Aquifer (TSPA). This information contributes to a further understanding of the TSPA, facilitates the location of groundwater recharge and discharge zones, is useful for the development of sustainable groundwater management strategies, and could be useful in developing conceptual and numerical groundwater models for the region. View Full-Text

Keywords: hydrogeomorphologytransboundary aquiferrechargedischargeUnited StatesMexico

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Water Policy Options as Arizona Adapts to a Drier Colorado River: A Perspective

May 12, 2022
Renewable Resources Journal
vol.
37
no.
3
pages
2-10
29
pp.
Renewable Natural Resources Foundation
Bethesda
renewable resources journal cover

On August 16, 2021, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation announced the first-ever Tier 1 Colorado River shortage. The water delivery cutbacks, which went into effect on January 1, 2022, per the “Colorado River Interim Guidelines for Low Basin Shortages and Coordinate Operations for Lake Powell and Lake Mead” (2007 Interim Guidelines), are most significant for the Central Arizona Project (CAP). Governed by the Central Arizona Water Conservation District, CAP delivers water into Central Arizona for use by tribal, municipal and industrial, and agricultural users. The reason that CAP water users face the most severe cutbacks is because that, in order to secure approval of the 1968 Colorado River Basin Project Act authorizing CAP construction, Arizona had to agree that water delivered through the CAP canal would be junior in priority to California’s Colorado River water deliveries. This means that in deep shortage conditions CAP deliveries could be cut in their entirety before California would experience any cutbacks in water deliveries.

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