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

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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.