Chronicle of a Demise Foretold: State vs. Local Groundwater Management in Texas and the High Plains Aquifer System

This paper assesses a case of co-management of groundwater between the state of Texas, pushing for the rationalisation of groundwater management, and local (mainly farming) communities organised in Groundwater Conservation Districts (GCDs), which are protective of their private groundwater rights. We first describe the main legal and policy steps that have shaped this relationship. The article focuses on the Texan portion of the Ogallala Aquifer in the High Plains aquifer system – an almost non-renewable system covering 90,000 km2 and providing 95% of the irrigation needs in northern Texas. With this example, we further highlight the strategies of both parties, the different political, administrative, legal and regulatory complexities of the struggle around the definition of GCD-level aquifer management rules (the so-called 'Desired Future Conditions'). We end by reflecting on the power balance that has resulted from successive adjustments to a co-management form of governance, the advantages and disadvantages of a multi-layered state water governance system, and whether the de facto 'managed depletion' of the Ogallala Aquifer in Texas should be seen as an achievement or a failure

A scale-based framework to understand the promises, pitfalls and paradoxes of irrigation efficiency to meet major water challenges

An effective placement of irrigation efficiency in water management will contribute towards meeting the pre-eminent global water challenges of our time such as addressing water scarcity, boosting crop water productivity and reconciling competing water needs between sectors. However, although irrigation efficiency may appear to be a simple measure of performance and imply dramatic positive benefits, it is not straightforward to understand, measure or apply. For example, hydrological understanding that irrigation losses recycle back to surface and groundwater in river basins attempts to account for scale, but this generalisation cannot be readily translated from one location to another or be considered neutral for farmers sharing local irrigation networks. Because irrigation efficiency (IE) motives, measures, effects and technologies play out at different scales for different people, organisations and purposes, and losses differ from place to place and over time, IE is a contested term, highly changeable and subjective. This makes generalisations for science, management and policy difficult. Accordingly, we propose new definitions for IE and irrigation hydrology and introduce a framework, termed an ‘irrigation efficiency matrix’, comprising five spatial scales and ten dimensions to understand and critique the promises, pitfalls and paradoxes of IE and to unlock its utility for addressing contemporary water challenges

A scale-based framework to understand the promises, pitfalls and paradoxes of irrigation efficiency to meet major water challenges

An effective placement of irrigation efficiency in water management will contribute towards meeting the pre-eminent global water challenges of our time such as addressing water scarcity, boosting crop water productivity and reconciling competing water needs between sectors. However, although irrigation efficiency may appear to be a simple measure of performance and imply dramatic positive benefits, it is not straightforward to understand, measure or apply. For example, hydrological understanding that irrigation losses recycle back to surface and groundwater in river basins attempts to account for scale, but this generalisation cannot be readily translated from one location to another or be considered neutral for farmers sharing local irrigation networks. Because irrigation efficiency (IE) motives, measures, effects and technologies play out at different scales for different people, organisations and purposes, and losses differ from place to place and over time, IE is a contested term, highly changeable and subjective. This makes generalisations for science, management and policy difficult. Accordingly, we propose new definitions for IE and irrigation hydrology and introduce a framework, termed an ‘irrigation efficiency matrix’, comprising five spatial scales and ten dimensions to understand and critique the promises, pitfalls and paradoxes of IE and to unlock its utility for addressing contemporary water challenges

Groundwater, the state, and the creation of irrigation communities in Llanos del Caudillo, Spain

This article explores the creation of new groundwater-based irrigation communities as a result of the internal colonisation projects of Franco’s government in the 1950s in La Mancha, Central Spain. The literature on Spain’s hydraulic mission has mainly focused on the use and mobilisation of large surface water projects as part of a state-driven modernisation mission promoting irrigation and water management infrastructure without much contextualisation or focus on its operationalisation at the local level. This paper complements this body of work by examining the local socio-political development of government-led irrigation plans in the colonisation town of Llanos del Caudillo. Moreover, the study of Spain’s hydro-politics and colonisation efforts usually focuses on surface water infrastructure while the public promotion of groundwater use has always been relegated to a second place, as it was mainly driven by private initiative. This paper substantiates the role of groundwater within Spain’s hydraulic mission and production of state-sponsored irrigated landscapes

Groundwater, the state, and the creation of irrigation communities in Llanos del Caudillo, Spain

This article explores the creation of new groundwater-based irrigation communities as a result of the internal colonisation projects of Franco’s government in the 1950s in La Mancha, Central Spain. The literature on Spain’s hydraulic mission has mainly focused on the use and mobilisation of large surface water projects as part of a state-driven modernisation mission promoting irrigation and water management infrastructure without much contextualisation or focus on its operationalisation at the local level. This paper complements this body of work by examining the local socio-political development of government-led irrigation plans in the colonisation town of Llanos del Caudillo. Moreover, the study of Spain’s hydro-politics and colonisation efforts usually focuses on surface water infrastructure while the public promotion of groundwater use has always been relegated to a second place, as it was mainly driven by private initiative. This paper substantiates the role of groundwater within Spain’s hydraulic mission and production of state-sponsored irrigated landscapes

Burning water - the state, irrigation technology and the production of scarcity in Spain

Through studying the adoption of groundwater abstraction technology in the twentieth century in La Mancha, this research investigates the historical role of the state in the development of modern groundwater-fed irrigation in Spain between the 1940s and 1985. By focusing on the Mancha Occidental aquifer and the Las Tablas de Daimiel wetland, this study also scrutinizes how the adoption of groundwater abstraction technology led by the state fed back into the environment through ecosystem degradation and groundwater scarcity at the local and regional level. By examining the historical links between technology adoption, statecraft and ecological change, this study explores the different ways through which the state has taken a prominent role in producing groundwater-fed irrigation socio-ecologies. Additionally, it traces the socio-political mechanisms involved in the progressive desiccation of the Las Tablas de Daimiel wetland and its transformation into a burning dryland.</p

Solar-based groundwater pumping for irrigation: Sustainability, policies, and limitations

The increasing demand for solar-powered irrigation systems in agriculture has spurred a race for projects as it potentially offers a cost-effective and sustainable energy solution to off-grid farmers while helping food production and sustaining livelihoods. As a result, countries such as Morocco and Yemen have been promoting this technology for farmers and national plans with variable finance and subsidy schemes like in India have been put forward. By focusing on the application of solar photovoltaic (PV) pumping systems in groundwater-fed agriculture, this paper highlights the need to further study the impacts, opportunities and limitations of this technology within the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) nexus. It shows how most policies and projects promoting solar-based groundwater pumping for irrigation through subsidies and other incentives overlook the real financial and economic costs of this solution as well as the availability of water resources and the potential negative impacts on the environment caused by groundwater over-abstraction. There is a need to monitor groundwater abstraction, targeting subsidies and improving the knowledge and monitoring of resource use. Failing to address these issues could lead to further groundwater depletion, which could threaten the sustainability of this technology and dependent livelihoods in the future

Contadores e medição de águas subterrâneas: revisando una ‘buena práctica’ omnipresente

International audienceIt is often taken for granted that metering is an unarguable ‘best practice’ when it comes to the quantitative management of groundwater resources. This paper revisits empirical evidence of the performance of meters on the ground, distinguishing between the logistical, financial, political and institutional factors that condition acceptability, implementation and monitoring. It is shown that metering should only be implemented when certain conditions are met. The options for technical and institutional improvements are reviewed. Then the paper turns to co-management arrangements between the state/administration and water user associations. It is argued that metering can play a key part in these arrangements rather than be, by default, an undesired nuisance. Hence, the distribution of the costs of meter installation, maintenance and monitoring should be construed as part of the balancing of costs and benefits, carrots and sticks, threats and opportunities, and of the roles of the states and water user associations. All must be designed to elicit collective action towards, and adherence to, sustainability targets