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

由于气候变化和发展压力本已过度分配的水资源，干旱地区的水资源正面临越来越大的压力。水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。该项目通过研究将水从农村农业用途转移到城市地区的社会、法律和环境背景和后果，分析了水转移的政策、做法和后果。这项研究尤其关注“浪费”这一概念。水转移的一个关键目标是减少低效或浪费的用水--但浪费是一个社会创造的概念，对不同的群体具有不同的含义。对于依赖这些所谓的浪费用水的人和野生动物社区来说，调水可能会危及他们的生命和生计。这项研究的广泛影响在于，它仔细研究了将某些水流定义为浪费的社会和环境正义含义。这项工作对包括政治生态学、自然/社会地理和社会法律研究在内的多个文献主体做出了贡献。这项研究使用以下三个研究问题来调查水转移和浪费的想法：1)围绕水的浪费和价值产生了什么相互竞争的话语和叙述，谁与水转移有关，以及人类和非人类用水者(或代表)提出的不同主张在这些话语中是合法的还是非法的？2)法律机构是如何使用的，谁来验证浪费或有价值的用水以及不同用水者主张的合法性？3)水转移对水源地区有何影响，包括空气质量、野生动物栖息地和生计的变化，被不同的团体陷害和经历过？该项目的重点是加利福尼亚州，这是一个长期围绕用水发生冲突的地区。这项研究使用比较案例研究的方法，研究了加利福尼亚州三个湖泊--欧文斯湖、莫诺湖和索尔顿海--从农村到城市的三个极具争议性的调水案例。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不同的关键时刻，揭示了随着时间的推移而变化和稳定的情况。数据来源包括关键线人访谈、档案数据和参与者观察。通过考察水资源重新分配的论述和过程，这项研究建立了对加州水资源政策的理念和法律结构如何随着时间的推移而演变的更好的理解。这项研究将对美国西南部内外努力以社会和环境公正和可持续的方式分配水资源的其他干旱地区得出一般性结论。

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.