Socio-environmental drought response in a mixed urban-agricultural setting: synthesizing biophysical and governance responses in the Platte River Watershed, Nebraska, USA
Ensuring global food and water security requires a detailed understanding of how coupled socio-environmental systems respond to drought. Using the Platte River Watershed in Nebraska (USA) as an exemplar mixed urban-agricultural watershed, we quantify biophysical response to drought in urban (Lincoln...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Resilience Alliance
2017-12-01
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| Series: | Ecology and Society |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol22/iss4/art39/ |
| _version_ | 1818580583979155456 |
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| author | Samuel C. Zipper Kelly Helm Smith Betsy Breyer Jiangxiao Qiu Anthony Kung Dustin Herrmann |
| author_facet | Samuel C. Zipper Kelly Helm Smith Betsy Breyer Jiangxiao Qiu Anthony Kung Dustin Herrmann |
| author_sort | Samuel C. Zipper |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Ensuring global food and water security requires a detailed understanding of how coupled socio-environmental systems respond to drought. Using the Platte River Watershed in Nebraska (USA) as an exemplar mixed urban-agricultural watershed, we quantify biophysical response to drought in urban (Lincoln NE) and agricultural systems alongside a qualitative analysis of governance response and adaptive capacity of both sectors. Synthesis of results highlights parallels and discontinuities between urban and agricultural preparations for and response to drought. Whereas drought prompted an increase in well installations and expansion of water-intensive crops, e.g., corn, in the agricultural sector, outdoor water use restrictions rapidly curtailed water withdrawals in the urban sector, where water conservation has gradually decoupled total withdrawals from population growth. Water governance institutions at the municipal, district, and statewide levels showed evidence of learning and adaptive management, facilitated by a shared regional identity around agriculture. We conclude that, rather than exacerbating intersectoral conflict, cities may introduce a high-value and flexible water use that can be rapidly curtailed during drought. The ability to rapidly reduce urban water use and thereby avoid limiting agricultural irrigation during drought enables cities to provide adaptive capacity in mixed urban-agricultural watersheds, particularly where crops are highly reliant on irrigation. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-16T07:19:55Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b4f5fc1dfe9a47638ec01a693e9dfa81 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1708-3087 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-16T07:19:55Z |
| publishDate | 2017-12-01 |
| publisher | Resilience Alliance |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ecology and Society |
| spelling | doaj.art-b4f5fc1dfe9a47638ec01a693e9dfa812022-12-21T22:39:41ZengResilience AllianceEcology and Society1708-30872017-12-012243910.5751/ES-09549-2204399549Socio-environmental drought response in a mixed urban-agricultural setting: synthesizing biophysical and governance responses in the Platte River Watershed, Nebraska, USASamuel C. Zipper0Kelly Helm Smith1Betsy Breyer2Jiangxiao Qiu3Anthony Kung4Dustin Herrmann5Department of Civil Engineering, University of Victoria, Victoria BC, CanadaNational Drought Mitigation Center, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln NE, USADepartment of Geography and Geographic Information Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana IL, USASchool of Forest Resources and Conservation, Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center, University of Florida, Davie FL, USAInternational WaterCentre, Brisbane QLD, AustraliaEnvironmental Studies Program, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati OH, USAEnsuring global food and water security requires a detailed understanding of how coupled socio-environmental systems respond to drought. Using the Platte River Watershed in Nebraska (USA) as an exemplar mixed urban-agricultural watershed, we quantify biophysical response to drought in urban (Lincoln NE) and agricultural systems alongside a qualitative analysis of governance response and adaptive capacity of both sectors. Synthesis of results highlights parallels and discontinuities between urban and agricultural preparations for and response to drought. Whereas drought prompted an increase in well installations and expansion of water-intensive crops, e.g., corn, in the agricultural sector, outdoor water use restrictions rapidly curtailed water withdrawals in the urban sector, where water conservation has gradually decoupled total withdrawals from population growth. Water governance institutions at the municipal, district, and statewide levels showed evidence of learning and adaptive management, facilitated by a shared regional identity around agriculture. We conclude that, rather than exacerbating intersectoral conflict, cities may introduce a high-value and flexible water use that can be rapidly curtailed during drought. The ability to rapidly reduce urban water use and thereby avoid limiting agricultural irrigation during drought enables cities to provide adaptive capacity in mixed urban-agricultural watersheds, particularly where crops are highly reliant on irrigation.http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol22/iss4/art39/agricultural water managementdroughtirrigationsocio-environmental systemsurban water usewater policy |
| spellingShingle | Samuel C. Zipper Kelly Helm Smith Betsy Breyer Jiangxiao Qiu Anthony Kung Dustin Herrmann Socio-environmental drought response in a mixed urban-agricultural setting: synthesizing biophysical and governance responses in the Platte River Watershed, Nebraska, USA Ecology and Society agricultural water management drought irrigation socio-environmental systems urban water use water policy |
| title | Socio-environmental drought response in a mixed urban-agricultural setting: synthesizing biophysical and governance responses in the Platte River Watershed, Nebraska, USA |
| title_full | Socio-environmental drought response in a mixed urban-agricultural setting: synthesizing biophysical and governance responses in the Platte River Watershed, Nebraska, USA |
| title_fullStr | Socio-environmental drought response in a mixed urban-agricultural setting: synthesizing biophysical and governance responses in the Platte River Watershed, Nebraska, USA |
| title_full_unstemmed | Socio-environmental drought response in a mixed urban-agricultural setting: synthesizing biophysical and governance responses in the Platte River Watershed, Nebraska, USA |
| title_short | Socio-environmental drought response in a mixed urban-agricultural setting: synthesizing biophysical and governance responses in the Platte River Watershed, Nebraska, USA |
| title_sort | socio environmental drought response in a mixed urban agricultural setting synthesizing biophysical and governance responses in the platte river watershed nebraska usa |
| topic | agricultural water management drought irrigation socio-environmental systems urban water use water policy |
| url | http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol22/iss4/art39/ |
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