Freshwater is our planet's most precious resource — essential for life itself. Despite this fact, many people across our planet face difficulties finding safe, clean, potable water. A U.S. State Department report contends that the world's thirst for water may become a human security crisis by 2040. The World Bank reports many developing nations face catastrophe from intensive irrigation, urbanization, and deteriorating infrastructure. Also, numerous reports contend that in many places un-treated wastewater is still released directly into the environment. This is particularly true in low-income countries, which on average treat less than 10% of their wastewater discharges. In short, we face three imminent challenges regarding freshwater: (1) demands by agriculture, cities, industry, and energy production are increasing; (2) severe pollution from various contaminants and growing withdrawals are limiting the capacity of waterways to dilute contaminants — threatening human and aquatic life; and, (3) climate change will cause periods of frequent and severe droughts — punctuated by acute periods of flooding. The goal of this book is to illuminate how the governance of freshwater is a political, social, economic, cultural, and ecological challenge. The management and provision of water are not merely technical problems whose resolution hinges on hydrological principle, cost, or engineering feasibility. They are products of decisions made by governments, businesses, and interest groups that exercise control over who has access to water, how they use it, and in what condition they receive it. It discusses basic knowledge about water supply and quality; the evolution of water policy in different societies; the importance of water to human and environmental health; the role of law, politics, and markets in its allocation, use, and protection; and, the importance of ethics in its equitable provision.
Author(s): David L. Feldman
Series: World Scientific Lecture Notes in Economics and Policy
Publisher: World Scientific Publishing
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 235
City: Singapore
Contents
About the Author
Introduction
Process
Power
Purpose
Section 1 Introduction — Freshwater Management as Global Policy Challenge
How Could This Happen?
Some Key Issues in Water Policy
Understanding Water Stress
Global water demands and trends
Disparities in Water Demand — By Country
And Climate Change?
Water Stress — Colorado River
Societal Inequities — Water as an Environmental Justice Problem
Gender Equity and Water — Mexico
Other Inequities … Debate Over Water as a Human Right
For Discussion
Pollution and Threats to Water Quality
Human Health and Water Quality — Sanitation
Water Quality, Climate Variability, Nutrient Pollution — a Growing Problem
Examples of Nutrient Pollution
Water Quality Problems can Stem from Unusual Sources
Competition Over Shared Freshwater
Some Transboundary Water Conflicts
Sharing Water? — A Middle East Example
Novel Remedies are Problems, too
Should we Desalinate?
Should We Re-Use Wastewater?
Can Conservation Work? — Los Angeles as Example
California Urban Water Demands
What Makes a Water Remedy Acceptable?
Conclusions
Section 2 Past as Prologue — Water Resources Policy in Historical Perspective
China — Water Innovations and Imperial Control
Irrigation and the Rise of Mesopotamia
Petra, Jordan — World’s Oldest Water Supply System?
Egypt (Nile River Irrigation, c. 2000 BC)
Roman Empire — Domestic Water Management
Failures of Ancient Hydraulic Societies
For Discussion
California as a Hydraulic Society — Balancing Development and Preservation
California as Hydraulic Society
California as Hydraulic Society — a More Provocative View
How Did the First Californian’s Manage Water?
Providing Urban Supply — San Francisco
Hetch Hetchy Valley — 2020
Hetch Hetchy — Urban Water Diversion
… And Los Angeles
How Much is Enough? — Los Angeles Aqueduct (1913)
Building the Owens Valley Aqueduct — 1908–1913
St. Francis Dam — Storage for the Los Angeles Aqueduct
Local Reaction to Los Angeles Aqueduct — 1920s
Harbors and Ports — Toward a Pacific Empire
Legacies of California’s Hydraulic Society
Other Legacies — The Gold Rush and Environmental Devastation
The Public Trust Doctrine — Balancing Development and Environment
California as Hydraulic Society — Continuing Challenges
Section 3 US Policies in a Global Context — Law, Practice, and Institutions
United States — Average Annual Precipitation
The 100th Meridian — A Geographic and Hydrological Dividing Line
Water Law — How Water Supply is Allocated
Riparian Rights — an Illustration
Prior Appropriation Rights — A California Illustration
Moving Beyond Conventional Law — Compacts
Some Examples of Compacts
Colorado River Compact (1922)
Colorado River Compact — Overview
Politics vs. Science — Climate Variability on the Colorado River
Politically — California’s Thirst wasn’t Fully Appreciated
Science vs. Politics — How Negotiators Got it Wrong
Remaining Challenges in Getting the Science and Politics Right
For Discussion
Politics of the River — Arizona vs. California
US Supreme Court Intervenes — 1963
Central Arizona Project — One Result of Arizona vs. California
And then there’s Las Vegas and Southern Nevada
More Conflict — Mexico vs. U.S.
How Bad can Bi-National Water Conflicts Become?
“Minute 323” — 1944 Treaty Addition: Significance?
For Discussion
Conclusions — An Uncertain Future
Section 4 Who Controls Freshwater? Allocation and Uses
Who “Owns” Your Water?
Water Provision — Southern California and Orange County
Comparing Public and Private Water Service
Comparing Water Rates — US
Comparing Water Rates — Internationally
US Gradually Moving Toward Greater Privatization — Why?
France — World Leader in Privatization
A Case Study of Private Water Service — Bolivia
Protests Elsewhere Over Privatizing Water
Why Opposition to Privatization?
Bottled Water — Another Privatization Issue
Is Bottled Water Fair and Equitable?
Is Bottled Water Targeted to Minorities?
Is Bottled Water Healthy?
Is Bottled Water Safe?
Alternatives to Conventional Bottled Water
Section 5 Water Quality — Impacts to Health, Environment, and Well-Being
Water Quality — Threats and Challenges
What’s Point Source Pollution?
What’s Non-Point Source Pollution?
Recent Reforms — Los Angeles County
What Australia can Teach us — Managing Rainwater Runoff
How Water Pollution Became a Recognized Problem
In some Places — Cholera from Pollution is Still a Problem
A Legacy of Cholera Epidemics — Sanitary Engineering
Pollution and Public Safety — More Recent History
For Discussion
Unconventional Threats — Contaminants of Emerging Concern
Contaminants of Concern — In Our Backyard
Flint, Michigan — “It’s Ridiculous we have to Live in Such a Way”
The Saga of Flint — Lead in Our Drinking Water Flint
Timetable to a crisis
How Could this Happen?
A “Perfect Storm” of Environmental Injustice
Nationwide — Drinking Water Quality Problems Widespread
Nutrient Pollution — Need for Innovation
Nutrient Trading — Is it a Solution?
Nitrogen Reductions by Agriculture
Nitrogen Loadings (Concentrations) — Pamlico Estuary
Water Pollution is a Global Problem — Rhine River
What Rhine Basin Countries are Doing
Conclusions
Section 6 Sources of Water Conflicts — Diversion, Depletion, and Degradation
Sources of Water Conflicts — Diversion, Depletion, and Degradation
Aral Sea — Diversion and Depletion
Aral Sea in Crisis
Aral Sea and Water Resource Policy
… An Update
The Salton Sea — Playground or Battleground?
Nature Rules — from “Sink” to “Sea” and Back Again
From Human Diversion to Catastrophic Flood
Can it be Restored?
Depletion — Groundwater in California’s Central Valley
Dwindling Groudwater — Californiaʼs Central Valley
San Joaquin and Central Valleys — Groundwater Depletion Impacts
Groundwater Stewardship — It can be Done
For Discussion
Degradation
Cities and their Rivers — Why do we Mistreat them?
Before and After — From Degradation to Restoration
Los Angeles Really has a River
Los Angeles River — Modern History
Transforming the River — Army Corps of Engineers
A River No More — Some Challenges
Can it be Restored? The Los Angeles River Revitalization Master Plan
What Restoration Could do — Recreational Amenities
Who is Restoration for? Benefits and Costs
Restoration and Controversy
River Degradation and Restoration are Global Challenges
How the Cheonggyecheon River was Restored
Conclusion — Why do we Degrade Rivers and then Restore them?
Section 7 California as “Hydraulic Empire” — Fact, Fiction, Fantasy?
California as “Hydraulic Empire” — Fact, Fiction, Fantasy?
Flood as Water Resource Policy Challenge
Flood and Flood Protection
A Growing Threat — Sea Level Rise and Coastal Flooding
Sea Level Rise from Climate Change a Global Threat
The Built Environment and Flood Risk
Solutions — Geo-Engineering?
Geo-Engineering Limits — California as Example
Historic Flood Flows — American River, Sacramento
Sacramento Area Flood Control Authority (SAFCA)
For Discussion
What are Some Flood Risk Alternatives?
Why Geo-Engineering Alone Cannot Work — Sacramento’s Levees
Sacramento’s Remedies — Many Measures, Gradual Risk Reduction
…And Today?
Adaptive Solutions — Mapping of Risk, Educating about Risk
And St. Francis Dam?
Applying Adaptive Solutions — Bangladesh
Adaptation Through Empowerment
Other Water Risks: Fracking
Fracking — A Schematic
Fracking — Risks to Groundwater
Adaptively Managing Fracking
Fracking — California
Conclusions — Managing a Hydraulic Empire
Section 8 Californiaʼs Water — Problems and Solutions in Global Context
Is this a Solution?
California’s Biggest Water Need — Resilience
What Makes an Option Resilient?
Can we Build More Dams and Diversion Projects?
Can we Get More Water from the Delta?
Can we Tunnel Under the Delta?
Delta Tunnels — Pro and Con
Seawater Desalination?
Feasibility and Economics — Energy Consumption
For Discussion
Addressing Concerns
International Lessons — Israel
How About Re-Using Wastewater?
Concerns
Addressing Concerns
Public Confidence and Technology Acceptance
Los Angeles — Prospects for Re-Use
L.A.’s bold goal to turn waste to drinkable water LA Times, February 23, 2019
International Lessons — Australia
Conservation — What Works?
…What Doesn’t Work
Resilience and the Environment or, “Fish Need Water Every Day”
Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Program
Other Examples — “Mal-Adaptive” Solutions
Conclusions
Section 9 Ethics, Values, and Water — The Challenges of Adaptive Management
Ethics, Values, and Water — The Challenge of Adaptive Management
Adaptive Management — Principles
Three Ways of Thinking about Water Ethics
Applying Utilitarianism — Colorado River
Categorical Imperatives — UN Dublin Conference (1992)
Stewardship — The Legend of the Lost Salmon
Faith-Based Water Stewardship
For Discussion
A Final Adaptive Management Lesson — Trans-Boundary Water Conflict
How to Cooperate? — Confidence-Building
Patterns of Confidence-Building
Tigris-Euphrates Conflict — Low Confidence
…and Today?
Water as a Weapon? — Iraq
Israel and Palestine — Low Confidence
Managing Shared Water Resources
Challenges
Oslo accord remedies (2001)
Water and the “Cycle of Violence”
Precarious Cooperation
Divergent Views of Conflict
Partial Cooperation — India and Pakistan
International Arbitration — What can a “Third Party” Do?
Conclusion — A Way Forward for Water Policy?
Index
