Adapting to Socio-Environmental Change: Institutional Analysis of the Adaptive Capacity of Interacting Formal and Informal Cooperative Water Governance
Abstract
:1. Introduction: Governing Complexity
2. Methods
3. Results: Case Study, Upper Snake River Basin
3.1. Hydrologic Setting of the Upper Snake River Basin
3.2. Social Setting of the Upper Snake River Basin
3.3. Multi-Scale Interaction of Formal Governance, Informal Governance, and the Hydrologic System in the Upper Snake River Basin
3.3.1. Development Era (1860–1950)
3.3.2. Groundwater Era (1950–1987)
3.3.3. Modern Water Management Era (1987–2015)
4. Discussion: Governing the Complex Social-Ecological System of the Upper Snake River Basin
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
- Virapongse, A.; Brooks, S.; Metcalf, E.C.; Zedalis, M.; Gosz, J.; Kliskey, A.; Alessa, L. A Social-Ecological Systems Approach for Environmental Management. J. Environ. Manag. 2016, 178, 83–91. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed] [Green Version]
- Walker, B.; Salt, D. Resilience Thinking—Sustaining Ecosystems and People in a Changing World; Island Press: Washington, DC, USA, 2006. [Google Scholar]
- Gunderson, L.H.; Pritchard, L. Resilience and the Behavior of Large-Scale Systems; Island Press: Washington, DC, USA, 2002. [Google Scholar]
- Hardin, G. The Tragedy of the Commons. Ethics Inf. Technol. 1968, 162, 1243–1248. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Green Version]
- Ostrom, E. A Diagnostic Approach For Going Beyond Panaceas. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2007, 104, 15181–15187. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed] [Green Version]
- Ostrom, E. Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action; Cambridge University Press: New York, NY, USA, 1990; ISBN 9781316423936. [Google Scholar]
- Ostrom, E. A General Framework for Analyzing Sustainability of Social-Ecological Systems. Science 2009, 325, 419–422. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed]
- Lubell, M.; Blomquist, W.; Beutler, L. Sustainable Groundwater Management in California: A Grand Experiment in Environmental Governance. Soc. Nat. Resour. 2020, 33, 1447–1467. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Alessa, L.N.; Kliskey, A.A.; Brown, G. Social–Ecological Hotspots Mapping: A Spatial Approach for Identifying Coupled Social–Ecological Space. Landsc. Urban Plan. 2008, 85, 27–39. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Williams, P.; Kliskey, A.; McCarthy, M.; Lammers, R.; Alessa, L.; Abatzoglou, J. Using the Arctic Water Resources Vulnerability Index in Assessing and Responding to Environmental Change in Alaskan Communities. Clim. Risk Manag. 2019, 23, 19–31. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Jones, K.; Abrams, J.; Belote, R.T.; Beltrán, B.J.; Brandt, J.; Carter, N.; Castro, A.J.; Chaffin, B.C.; Metcalf, A.L.; Roesch-McNally, G.; et al. The American West as a Social-Ecological Region: Drivers, Dynamics and Implications for Nested Social-Ecological Systems. Environ. Res. Lett. 2019, 14, 115008. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Kliskey, A.; Abatzoglou, J.; Alessa, L.; Kolden, C.; Hoekema, D.; Moore, B.; Gilmore, S.; Austin, G. Planning for Idaho’s Waterscapes: A Review of Historical Drivers and Outlook for the next 50 Years. Environ. Sci. Policy 2019, 94, 191–201. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Cosens, B.; Gunderson, L. (Eds.) Practical Panarchy for Adaptive Water Governance: Linking Law to Social-Ecological Resilience; Springer Publications: Basil, Switzerland, 2018. [Google Scholar]
- Villamor, G.B.; Kliskey, A.D.; Griffith, D.L.; de Haro-Marti, M.E.; Martinez, A.M.; Alfaro, M.; Alessa, L. Landscape Social-Metabolism in Food-Energy-Water Systems: Agricultural Transformation of the Upper Snake River Basin. Sci. Total Environ. 2020, 705, 135817. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Shi, L.; Moser, S. Transformative Climate Adaptation in the United States: Trends and Prospects. Science 2021, 372, eabc8054. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed]
- Béné, C.; Doyen, L. From Resistance to Transformation: A Generic Metric of Resilience Through Viability. Earths Future 2018, 6, 979–996. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Alessa, L.; Kliskey, A. People, Perceptions, and Process: Multisystemic Resilience in Social-Ecological Systems. In Multisystemic Resilience; Oxford University Press: New York, NY, USA, 2021; ISBN 978-0-19-009588-8. [Google Scholar]
- Brown, K. Multisystemic Resilience: An Emerging Perspective from Social-Ecological Systems. In Multisystemic Resilience: Adaptation and Transformation in Contexts of Change; Oxford University Press: New York, NY, USA, 2021; pp. 771–784. ISBN 978-0-19-009588-8. [Google Scholar]
- Denzin, N.K. The Qualitative Manifesto: A Call to Arms; Routledge: New York, NY, USA, 2018; ISBN 978-0-429-44998-7. [Google Scholar]
- Creswell, J.W.; Poth, C.N. Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among Five Approaches; SAGE Publications: New York, NY, USA, 2016; ISBN 978-1-5063-3019-8. [Google Scholar]
- Wildemuth, B.M. Applications of Social Research Methods to Questions in Information and Library Science, 2nd ed.; ABC-CLIO: Santa Barbara, CA, USA, 2016; ISBN 978-1-4408-3905-4. [Google Scholar]
- Hutchinson, T.; Duncan, N. Defining and Describing What We Do: Doctrinal Legal Research. Deakin Law Rev. 2012, 17, 83–120. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Green Version]
- Cosens, B.; Ruhl, J.B.; Soininen, N.; Gunderson, L.; Belinskij, A.; Blenckner, T.; Camacho, A.E.; Chaffin, B.C.; Craig, R.K.; Doremus, H.; et al. Governing Complexity: Integrating Science, Governance, and Law to Manage Accelerating Change in the Globalized Commons. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2021, 118, e2102798118. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Kliskey, A.; Alessa, L.; Wandersee, S.; Williams, P.; Trammell, J.; Powell, J.; Grunblatt, J.; Wipfli, M. A Science of Integration: Frameworks, Processes, and Products in a Place-Based, Integrative Study. Sustain. Sci. 2017, 12, 293–303. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Mcginnis, M.; Ostrom, E. SES Framework: Initial Changes and Continuing Challenges. Ecol. Soc. 2012, 19, 30. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Green Version]
- Anderies, J.M.; Janssen, M.A.; Ostrom, E. A Framework to Analyze the Robustness of Social-Ecological Systems from an Institutional Perspective. Ecol. Soc. 2004, 9, art18. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Dietz, T.; Ostrom, E.; Stern, P.C. The Struggle to Govern the Commons. Science 2003, 302, 1907–1912. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Green Version]
- Locher, F. Historicizing Elinor Ostrom: Urban Politics, International Development and Expertise in the U.S. Context (1970–1990). Theor. Inq. Law 2018, 19, 533–558. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Cobourn, K.M. Externalities and Simultaneity in Surface Water-Groundwater Systems: Challenges for Water Rights Institutions. Am. J. Agric. Econ. 2014, 97, 786–808. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Mundorff, M.; Crosthwaite, E.; Kilburn, C. Ground Water for Irrigation in the Snake River Basin in Idaho; U.S.G.P.O.: Washington, DC, USA, 1964. [Google Scholar]
- Ryu, J.H.; Contor, B.; Johnson, G.; Allen, R.; Tracy, J. System Dynamics to Sustainable Water Resources Management in the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer Under Water Supply Uncertainty. JAWRA J. Am. Water Resour. Assoc. 2012, 48, 1204–1220. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Lindholm, G.F. Summary of the Snake River Plain Regional Aquifer-System Analysis in Idaho and Eastern Oregon; U.S. Geological Survey: Washington, DC, USA, 1996; Volume 1408-A. [Google Scholar]
- Kjelstrom, L.C. Methods to Estimate Annual Mean Spring Discharge to the Snake River between Milner Dam and King Hill, Idaho; U.S. Geological Survey: Reston, VA, USA, 1995. [Google Scholar]
- Heaton, J.W. The Shoshone-Bannocks: Culture and Commerce at Fort Hall, 1870–1940; University Press of Kansas: Lawrence, KS, USA, 2005. [Google Scholar]
- Lindholm, G.F.; Goodell, S.A. Irrigated Acreage and Other Land Uses on the Snake River Plain, Idaho and Eastern Oregon; U.S. Geological Survey: Reston, VA, USA, 1986. [Google Scholar]
- Fiege, M. Irrigated Eden: The Making of An Agricultural Landscape in the American West; University of Washington Press: Washington, DC, USA, 1999. [Google Scholar]
- Strong, C.J.; Orr, M.C. The Origin and Evolution of Hydropower Subordination Policy on the Snake River: A Century of Conflict and Cooperation. Ida. Law Rev. 2009, 46, 119–176. [Google Scholar]
- Contor, B.A. Groundwater Banking and the Conjunctive Management of Groundwater and Surface Water in the Upper Snake River Basin of Idaho; Idaho Water Resources Research Institute: Moscow, ID, USA; University of Idaho: Moscow, ID, USA, 2009; Volume 200906. [Google Scholar]
- Harrington, P.R. The Establishment of Prior Appropriation in Idaho. Ida. Law Rev. 2012, 49, 23–38. [Google Scholar]
- Boyce, R.R. The Mormon Invasion and Settlement of the Upper Snake River Plain in the 1990s: The Case of Lewisville, Idaho. Pac. Northwest Q. 1987, 78, 50–58. [Google Scholar]
- Tarlock, A. The Legacy of Schodde v. Twin Falls Land and Water Company: The Evolving Reasonable Appropriation Principle. Environ. Law 2012, 42, 26. [Google Scholar]
- Worster, D. Rivers of Empire: Water, Aridity, and the Growth of the American West; Oxford University Press: New York, NY, USA, 1985. [Google Scholar]
- Fereday, J.C.; Meyer, C.H.; Creamer, M.C. Idaho Water Law Handbook: The Acquisition, Use, Transfers, Administration, and Management of Water Rights in Idaho; Givens Pursley, LLP: Boise, ID, USA, 2018. [Google Scholar]
- Kjelstrom, L.C. Assessment of Spring Discharge to the Snake River, Milner Dam to King Hill, Idaho; Department of the Interior: Washington, DC, USA, 1992. [Google Scholar]
- Lovin, H.T. The Carey Act in Idaho, 1895–1925; University of Washington: Washington, DC, USA, 1987; Volume 78, pp. 122–133. [Google Scholar]
- BOR. The Story of the Minidoka Project; U.S. Bureau of Reclamation: Heyburn, ID, USA, 2010. [Google Scholar]
- Norvitch, R.F.; Thomas, C.A.; Madison, R.J. Artificial Recharge to the Snake Plain Aquifer; Idaho Department of Reclamation: Boise, ID, USA, 1969. [Google Scholar]
- Streiff, J.; Yost, G.; Kramer, D.; Nettleton, J.; Jones, F.; Reed, S.; Schlender, E.; Hansen, M. State Water Plan—Part Two; Department of Water Resources: Boise, ID, USA, 1976. [Google Scholar]
- Strong, C.J.; Orr, M.C. Understanding the 1984 Swan Falls Settlement. Ida. Law Rev. 2016, 52, 223–288. [Google Scholar]
- IWPG. IGWA. Available online: http://www.idah2o.org/igwa.html (accessed on 24 April 2019).
- IDWR. Water Management and Sustainability in Idaho; IDWR: Boise, ID, USA, 2017. [Google Scholar]
- MSWRC. Coordinated Water Resource Management Plan; Middle Snake Regional Water Resource Commission: Twin Falls, ID, USA, 2018. [Google Scholar]
- Cosens, B.A.; Ruhl, J.B.; Soininen, N.; Gunderson, L. Designing Law to Enable Adaptive Governance of Modern Wicked Problems Symposium: Governing Wicked Problems. Vanderbilt Law Rev. 2020, 73, 1687–1732. [Google Scholar]
- Pahl-Wostl, C. Governance of the Water-Energy-Food Security Nexus: A Multi-Level Coordination Challenge. Environ. Sci. Policy 2019, 92, 356–367. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Pahl-Wostl, C.; Gorris, P.; Jager, N.; Koch, L.; Lebel, L.; Stein, C.; Venghaus, S.; Withanachchi, S. Scale-Related Governance Challenges in the Water–Energy–Food Nexus: Toward a Diagnostic Approach. Sustain. Sci. 2021, 16, 615–629. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Gilmore, S. Assessing the Adaptive Capacity of Idaho’s Magic Valley as a Complex Social-Ecological System; University of Idaho: Moscow, ID, USA, 2019. [Google Scholar]
# | Interaction | Example |
---|---|---|
1 | Between resource and resource users | Diversion or pumping of water by water users |
2a | Between resource users and formal institutions | Voting; assessment fees to users for the distribution of water; water user participation in the development of rules and use of the judicial system; state and federal subsidy for the development of water infrastructure |
2b | Between resource users and local informal institutions | The use of legal mechanisms to form irrigation districts and canal companies; the assessment of fees |
3a | Between formal institutions and public infrastructure | Funding and scientific expertise for the development of dams and large-scale water distribution systems; rules requiring the adoption of new technology for efficiency for enforcement of water right |
3b | Between local informal institutions and public infrastructure | The operation and maintenance of irrigation infrastructure by irrigation company; monitoring and enforcement of rules |
4 | Between public infrastructure and resource | Unlined canals resulting in surface water infiltrating to groundwater resources; recharge dependent on irrigation method; diversion structures; presence or absence of structures for return flow; dams |
5 | Between public infrastructure and resource dynamics | Alteration of low timing by dams; alteration of water quality by dams and return flows; reduction in minimum flow by diversions |
6 | External forces on resources and infrastructure | Disturbances including climate change, drought, flooding; lack of funding; policy incentives driving cropping patterns, therefore altering irrigation demands |
7 | External forces on social actors | Disturbances, including: rising populations, and suburban development of former farmland |
Time Period | Description |
---|---|
Development Era 1860–1950 | Period beginning with the development of the earliest water rights in the Snake River Plain and the development of surface water irrigation, including major federal reservoirs, and ending with the introduction of groundwater pumping technology and the beginning of the ESPA’s water level decline. |
Groundwater Era 1951–1987 | Period beginning with the passing of groundwater legislation and the growth of groundwater pumping and usage throughout the USRB until 1987 when the state and the Idaho Power Company enter into the Swan Falls Agreement. |
Governing Complexity Era: Adjudication and Conjunctive Management 1987–2015 | Period beginning with the commencement of the Snake River Basin Adjudication and the adoption of the Conjunctive Management Rules and ending with the 2015 Settlement Agreement entered into between surface and groundwater users. |
Year | Initiative | Formal and Informal Institutional Actions and Interactions | Summary |
---|---|---|---|
1924 | Committee of Nine | Informal self-organization by basin water users Formal legislation to institutionalize the management committee | The cooperation among early irrigators across the basin resulted in the organization of the Committee of Nine. Their initial organization created a platform for communication and conflict resolution for the proceeding years, and today’s role in the coordination with federal entities in the operation of dams. |
1924 | Annual compromise agreements determined by the Committee of Nine | Committee, now recognized as a formal institution facilitates informal collaboration | The communication platform offered by the Committee of Nine led to annual compromises in regard to the seasonal distribution of water within District 01, or the Snake River system above of Milner Dam. These annual compromises are altered each irrigation season to suit the fluxing irrigation demand and water supplies to ensure water allocation. |
1965 | Idaho Water Resource Board (IWRB) | Informal self-organization develops political support for a formal institution Establishment of the formal statewide institution | With growing realization that basin water is over-allocated and susceptible during drought, the IWRB is created by statute to, and adjacent to the IDWR, with the principal responsibility of engaging in conservation initiatives, including creating a state water plan and funding state water projects. |
1978 | Recharge Statutes | Cooperation between locally self-organized water users water districts and canal companies and scientific agency identifies problem and a solution of recharge Formal legislation to allow implementation of the solution within the legal system of prior appropriation | Aquifer statutes allowed for recharge initiatives to be implemented across the ESPA through adding ‘recharge’ as a recognized beneficial use. |
1979 | Create of State Water Bank and Water District 01 Rental Pool | Informal self-organization to move water around within districts requires formal legislation to expand Formal legislation to create water bank and facilitation through the provision of state and federal technology. Use of formal institution originally designed through local self-organization with local representation | Additional statutes created a State Water Bank and institutionalized local rental pools to be operated by the Committee of Nine. The success of the water bank and rental pool operation is facilitated by the many links connecting water users all the way up to federal entities, such as the Bureau of Reclamation operating dams and the U.S. Geological Society monitoring water flows throughout the basin. |
1987 | Snake River Basin Adjudication (SRBA) | Formal institution requiring legislation and designation of a water court within the judicial system | The commencement of the SRBA was critical to developing a comprehensive determination of the extent of all water rights within the Snake River basin to provide information to improve the management of water rights and to support conjunctive administration of surface and ESPA groundwater rights. |
1995 | Conjunctive Management (CM) Rules | Use of the formal judicial system to force priority enforcement between surface and groundwater users Formal development of administrative rules Use of the formal judicial system to challenge the administrative rules | The CM Rules determined that the administration of water rights ‘first in time, first right’ was also subject to evolving interpretations of what was a beneficial use and how to determine the optimum use of the state’s water resources. This offered a process for surface water usersto initiate water calls against groundwater users. |
1995 | Idaho Ground Water Appropriators (IGWA) | Self-organization of groundwater users. | To specifically represent those ESPA groundwater users subject to delivery calls by surface water users, IGWA organized to help represent these users and share the cost of litigation and mitigation plans. |
2005 | Surface Water Coalition (SWC) | Self-organization of surface water users | Similar to the organization of IGWA, SWC organized to represent surface water users with higher seniority in litigation against ESPA groundwater pumpers. |
2005 | Mitigation Plans | Formal administrative rules provided an alternative. While self-organization to settle conflict could arrive at the same solution, the rules allowed the administrative agency to determine the adequacy of a plan even if the parties are not in agreement Self-organization to develop mitigation plans | Without the intricate links connecting social and ecological subcomponents from the local to federal levels, mitigation plans that avoid curtailment of groundwater use would not have been possible. System capacity supported by the many dams and reservoirs throughout the basin played a large role in their success. |
2015 | Settlement Agreement between IGWA and SWC | Self-organization to develop a longer-term solution than possible with yearly mitigation plans Formal legislation and funding facilitate implementation | When mitigation plans could no longer compensate SWC members due to a period of drought and decreasing water supply in the system, the settlement agreement offered a new pathway for avoiding curtailment and increasing management initiatives in the basin. All previous evolutions of the system came to support the success of this agreement, which to this day has been markedly successful in stabilizing the aquifer and reducing reliance on storage volumes upriver. |
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. |
© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Share and Cite
Gilmore, S.; Cosens, B.; Griffith, D.L.; Alessa, L.; Kliskey, A. Adapting to Socio-Environmental Change: Institutional Analysis of the Adaptive Capacity of Interacting Formal and Informal Cooperative Water Governance. Sustainability 2022, 14, 10394. https://doi.org/10.3390/su141610394
Gilmore S, Cosens B, Griffith DL, Alessa L, Kliskey A. Adapting to Socio-Environmental Change: Institutional Analysis of the Adaptive Capacity of Interacting Formal and Informal Cooperative Water Governance. Sustainability. 2022; 14(16):10394. https://doi.org/10.3390/su141610394
Chicago/Turabian StyleGilmore, Sarah, Barbara Cosens, David L. Griffith, Lilian Alessa, and Andrew Kliskey. 2022. "Adapting to Socio-Environmental Change: Institutional Analysis of the Adaptive Capacity of Interacting Formal and Informal Cooperative Water Governance" Sustainability 14, no. 16: 10394. https://doi.org/10.3390/su141610394