Doctoral Dissertation Research: Wastefulness, Beneficial Use, and Water Transfers

干旱地区的水资源正面临越来越大的压力，因为气候变化和发展对已经过度分配的供水造成压力。 水资源管理者解决这些供水问题的一种方法是将水从一个用途或地区转移到另一个用途或地区。该项目通过研究社会、法律的和环境背景以及将水从农村农业用途转移到城市地区的后果来分析水转移的政策、实践和后果。 特别是，研究集中在“浪费”的想法。“水转移的一个关键目标是减少水的低效或浪费使用-但浪费是一个社会创造的想法，对不同群体有不同的意义。对于依赖这些所谓浪费用水的人和野生动物社区来说，水的转移可能危及他们的生命和生计。这项研究的广泛影响在于它的定义为waste.This工作有助于多个机构的文学，包括政治生态学，自然/社会地理学和社会法律研究的社会和环境正义的影响进行了仔细检查。 本研究调查水的转让和浪费的想法使用以下三个研究问题：1）围绕水的浪费和价值的竞争话语和叙述已经产生，由谁，在水的转让，以及如何不同的索赔主张（或代表）人类和非人类水用户被诬陷为合法或非法的这些话语？ 2)如何利用法律的机构，由谁来证实浪费或有价值的用水，以及不同用水者要求的合法性？3)水转移对水源地的影响，包括空气质量、野生动物栖息地和生计的变化，是如何被不同的群体描述和体验的？ 该项目的重点是加州，一个长期以来围绕水资源使用发生冲突的地区。 该研究采用了比较案例研究的方法，以检查三个高度有争议的农村到城市的水转移在加州的三个湖泊-欧文斯湖，莫诺湖和索尔顿海的情况。 这些案例有许多物理上的相似之处，但代表了水管理历史上独特而关键的时刻，揭示了随着时间的推移的变化和稳定性。 数据来源包括关键线人访谈、档案数据和参与者观察。 通过研究水资源重新分配的话语和过程，本研究建立了一个更好的理解如何塑造加州水资源政策的思想和法律的结构随着时间的推移而演变。 该研究将为美国西南部内外的其他干旱地区提供可推广的结论，这些地区正在努力以社会和环境公正和可持续的方式分配水资源。

Water resources in arid regions are under increasing pressure as climate change and development stress already over-allocated water supplies. One way for water managers to address these water supply issues is by transferring water from one use or area to another. This project analyzes the policies, practices, and consequences of water transfers by examining the social, legal, and environmental contexts and consequences of moving water from rural agricultural uses to urban areas. In particular, the research focuses on the idea of 'wastefulness.' A key goal of water transfers is reducing inefficient or wasteful use of water -- but waste is a socially created idea with different meanings for different groups. For the communities of people and wildlife that depend upon those so-called wasteful uses of water, a water transfer may jeopardize their lives and livelihoods. The broad impacts of this research lie in its close examination of the social and environmental justice implications of defining certain water flows as wasteful.This work contributes to multiple bodies of literature including political ecology, nature/society geography, and socio-legal studies. The study investigates water transfers and ideas of wastefulness using the following three research questions: 1) What competing discourses and narratives around water's waste and value have been produced, by whom, in relation to water transfers, and how have different claims asserted by (or on behalf of) human and nonhuman water users been framed as legitimate or illegitimate in these discourses? 2) How have legal institutions been used, and by whom, to validate wasteful or valuable uses of water and the legitimacy of different water users' claims? 3) How have impacts of water transfers on source areas including changes to air quality, wildlife habitat, and livelihoods, been framed and experienced by different groups? The project focuses on California, an area with a long history of conflict around water use. The research uses a comparative case study approach to examine three cases of highly contested rural-to-urban water transfers at three lakes in California -- Owens Lake, Mono Lake, and the Salton Sea. The cases share many physical similarities, but represent distinct and pivotal moments in the history of water management, revealing both change and stability over time. Data sources include key informant interviews, archival data, and participant observation. By examining the discourses and processes of water re-allocation, this study builds a better understanding of how ideas and legal structures shaping California water policy have evolved over time. The study will have generalizable conclusions for other arid regions within and beyond the Southwestern U.S. struggling to allocate water supplies in a socially and environmentally just and sustainable manner.