Freshwater conservation planning under climatic and socio-political uncertainty: a case study in the Southern Great Plains
Dates
Publication Date
2019-03-26
Summary
Water resource managers face the complex challenge of balancing water allocation between human and environmental needs. Declining water availability in many regions globally is driven by over- allocation and usage by municipal and agricultural users and climate-driven changes in rainfall. At the same time, environmental flows in rivers and streams that sustain fish and other aquatic life are decreasing for the same reasons. Because freshwater species’ populations are declining rapidly, it is increasingly important to balance between human and environmental water needs. However, there are significant barriers and socio-political issues that prevent water from being allocated to conserve freshwater ecosystems. This study had two primary [...]
Summary
Water resource managers face the complex challenge of balancing water allocation between human and environmental needs. Declining water availability in many regions globally is driven by over- allocation and usage by municipal and agricultural users and climate-driven changes in rainfall. At the same time, environmental flows in rivers and streams that sustain fish and other aquatic life are decreasing for the same reasons. Because freshwater species’ populations are declining rapidly, it is increasingly important to balance between human and environmental water needs. However, there are significant barriers and socio-political issues that prevent water from being allocated to conserve freshwater ecosystems. This study had two primary goals: (1) Identify high priority locations in rivers and streams for freshwater conservation under climatic uncertainty and different levels of socio-political feasibility of allocating more water to freshwater ecosystems, and (2) Survey water and natural resource managers about their perceptions of climate change impacts on water availability, the major barriers to allocating more water to freshwater ecosystems, and their communication networks to better understand how decision makers perceive this major challenge. I studied these challenges in the Red River, a drought-prone river basin in the Southern Great Plains. I found that only a few locations in the Red River can satisfy both human and environmental water needs under future climate scenarios. Water and natural resource managers showed variation in their perceptions of allocating more water to the environment and climate change and could be grouped into two clusters based on their values and beliefs. The two clusters indicated different barriers to allocating more water to the environment, mainly one group stating that more data is needed to make these decisions while the other points to a lack of funding and an unawareness of the benefits to humans. The results of this study suggest that drought-prone river basins like the Red River face many water-related challenges in the future. Unless significant reductions in societal water usage happen, more water cannot be effectively allocated to environmental needs like fish conservation. On top of that, those in charge of making decisions to allocate more water to the environment tend to differ in views about the importance of doing so, if climate change is part of the problem, and how to best do so. Thus, better communication and coordination could help efforts to more sustainably manage water in the future.
