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The New Normal: Water Use Conflicts in the 21st Century
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The New Normal: Water Use Conflicts in the 21st Century

A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Water Resources Management, Policy and Governance".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2022) | Viewed by 6742

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Ilona M. Otto

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Earth System Analysis, Potsdam, Germany
Interests: rapid social change; social tipping dynamics; human agency; inequlities; climate change impacts

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Climate change is here now. Last winter turned out to be the second warmest on record globally (after 2016); this spring, many areas in the Northern Hemisphere are suffering from drought. WMO warns that heatwaves and floods, which used to be “once in a century” events, are becoming more regular occurrences. In 2019, wildfires swept through the Arctic and Australia. More erratic rainfall patterns are the new normal.

At the same time, landowners and farmers all over the world compensate for decreased water availability by increasing groundwater use. Some of these practices are very short sighted and not necessary. As an example, there is a beautiful lake close to the area where I live that is supplied mainly by groundwater. In the last 5 years, the water table of the lake has decreased dramatically. Decreased water availability is only one part of the story. More problematic, in my opinion is the excessive groundwater use by the golf club and homeowners nearby, whose lawns look perfectly green even during the hottest summers. Due to decreased rainfall and increased pumping, groundwater tables do not recharge at a sufficient speed. Nearby nature suffers; the lake might completely disappear in a few years. Swimming in this lake during hot summer days often brought relief and was very enjoyable for me and my children, as well as for many other families living nearby. No entry tickets—just going there, putting down a blanket, and heading straight to the water. It is sad to think that my children might not be able to enjoy the lake when they are adults and have their own children. It will be difficult to explain to our children that we made the lake disappear and not because we had to meet our basic survival needs. Excessive water use fulfills unnecessary and conspicuous lifestyle needs of a narrow high-income population group. The problem we are facing now is not something temporary. Climate projections show that even if the global temperature increase is limited to below 2 degrees, freshwater availability will decrease globally by about 20%. If we miss this climate policy target, freshwater availability might decrease globally by 50% by the end of the century.

For this Special Issue, I invite contributions highlighting water use conflicts, inequalities, and social justice issues focusing not only on underprivileged social groups, but also exploring water use patterns among the wealthy and privileged. I also invite contributions presenting possible solutions and best practices from around the world. We can adapt, but we also need very rapid lifestyle, behavioral, and social norm changes to open up to new solutions.

Dr. Ilona M. Otto
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Water is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • water use conflicts
  • inequalities
  • social justice
  • best practices

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

22 pages, 451 KiB  
Article
Cooperation Enhances Adaptation to Environmental Uncertainty: Evidence from Irrigation Behavioral Experiments in South China
by Sebastian Heinz, Ilona M. Otto, Rong Tan, Yingyi Jin and Thilo W. Glebe
Water 2022, 14(7), 1098; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14071098 - 30 Mar 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2110
Abstract
The world currently faces an unprecedented phase of global environmental change largely driven by the combined impact of anthropogenic climate change and environmental degradation. Adaptation to global environmental changes in natural resource management is often hindered by high levels of uncertainty related to [...] Read more.
The world currently faces an unprecedented phase of global environmental change largely driven by the combined impact of anthropogenic climate change and environmental degradation. Adaptation to global environmental changes in natural resource management is often hindered by high levels of uncertainty related to environmental impact projections. Management strategies and policies to support adaptation measures and sustainable resource management under substantial environmental uncertainty are thus urgently needed. The paper reports results of behavioral irrigation experiments with farmers and students in the region of Hangzhou in China. The experimental design simulates a small-scale irrigation system with five parties located along an irrigation channel. The first treatment adds weather variability with a drying tendency that influences water availability in the irrigation channel. In the second treatment, the participants can select one of two adaptation options. Our results suggest that participants react with a marked delay to weather uncertainty. In addition, upstream players are more likely to adapt to uncertainty than those further downstream, and groups who show higher levels of cooperation more frequently invest in adaptation measures. Lastly, extraction inequality in earlier stages is found to constitute a key obstacle to collective adaptation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The New Normal: Water Use Conflicts in the 21st Century)
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17 pages, 672 KiB  
Article
Interpersonal Conflict over Water Is Associated with Household Demographics, Domains of Water Insecurity, and Regional Conflict: Evidence from Nine Sites across Eight Sub-Saharan African Countries
by Amber L. Pearson, Elizabeth A. Mack, Amanda Ross, Richard Marcantonio, Andrew Zimmer, Erin L. Bunting, Audrey C. Smith, Joshua D. Miller, Tom Evans and The HWISE Research Coordination Network
Water 2021, 13(9), 1150; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13091150 - 22 Apr 2021
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 3919
Abstract
Water insecurity may precipitate interpersonal conflict, although no studies to date have rigorously examined these relationships. We examined relationships between household demographics, water insecurity, regional conflict, and interpersonal conflict over water. Using survey data from eight sub-Saharan African countries, we found that interpersonal [...] Read more.
Water insecurity may precipitate interpersonal conflict, although no studies to date have rigorously examined these relationships. We examined relationships between household demographics, water insecurity, regional conflict, and interpersonal conflict over water. Using survey data from eight sub-Saharan African countries, we found that interpersonal conflict within and outside the home is associated with multiple domains of water insecurity, particularly accessibility. Furthermore, we found that higher levels of remote violence and protests are associated with greater within household conflict, whereas riots and violent armed conflict are associated with greater conflict between neighbors. Our findings expand upon the current literature by examining factors affecting interpersonal conflict over water, which may become increasingly important as precipitation patterns and land temperatures change in this region. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The New Normal: Water Use Conflicts in the 21st Century)
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