Water for Ecosystems in Water Allocation Management

Aquatic ecosystems

Sectoral water use usually looks at water demand for domestic use, industrial use, and agricultural use. However, it typically does not consider ecosystem demands for water which takes for granted the environmental processes our planet goes through to keep us alive. Aquatic ecosystems refer to the many types of natural water infrastructure systems that supply us with more than just fish and water. Examples of aquatic ecosystems are rivers, wetlands, swamps, streams, coastal estuaries and more. These eco-infrastructure examples provide habitat for the biodiversity (plants and animals) that provide in many ways for us. Aquatic ecosystems store seasonal floodwaters – helping to lessen flood damages, recharge groundwater supply – making sure that water is available during dry spells, filter pollutants – purifying drinking water, deliver nutrients to coastal fisheries, and much, much more (Postel, 2008). This ecological infrastructure is often overlooked, yet is not only important to our health but also our economies. They should be valued as much as other engineered water infrastructures like dams, canals, pipelines, and more.

Ecosystem services

Ecosystem services are the various benefits provided by natural systems, like aquatic ecosystems, that make life on Earth possible for humans. These services can be categorized into four sections including provisioning services, cultural services, regulatory services, and supporting services. Provisioning services include Earth’s ability to provide basic survival needs like food, freshwater, wood/fiber, and fuel. Cultural services that nature provides are aesthetics, spirituality, education, and recreation. If we think about our different cultures they are heavily influenced by their location in the world. Communities that live in hotter climates dress differently than those in colder climates; Cultural identifiers for places like Colorado are the unique recreational opportunities due to their terrain. Regulatory services include climate regulation, flood regulation, disease regulation, and water purification. Mangroves in Florida are a great example of climate and flood regulators as they prevent erosion on coastlines and “absorb storm surge impacts during extreme weather like hurricanes” (The Nature Conservancy, 2020). Wetlands also have the capability of filtering impurities from our water as well as capture carbon dioxides from the atmosphere (Tyrna, 2018). Lastly, supporting services include nutrient cycling, soil formation, and primary production. Nutrient cycling includes crucial environmental cycles such as the hydrological cycle, and the carbon cycle (providing water and air). Another example is, food production would not be possible without soil formation (i.e. storing nutrients, anchoring roots, etc.) or primary production (e.g. photosynthesis). Supporting services are necessary for the production of the other categories of ecosystem services discussed (Green Facts, n.d.).

Environmental Flow Requirements

Water demand for ecosystems, or Environmental Flow Requirements (EFRs) are, “the quantity, quality, and timing of water flows required for sustaining ecosystems” and their vital functions (Ghebremichael, 2015). There are different methods of estimating environmental flows ranging from simple tables, hydrological methods, desktop analyses, habitat simulation, and other holistic methods. The more complex and accurate the method, the costlier it is (IWMI, n.d.). EFRs call for the sustaining or replicating of an aquatic ecosystems’ natural pattern of flows that they generally exhibit, of which their biodiversity has adapted to. Patterns can be consistent or variable such as high and low flows or periods of flooding and drought (Postel, 2008). As you can see this approach does not require returning to a natural state but rather continuing the historical routine to an adequate degree in order to sustain the services that aquatic system provides (Postel, 2008). The purpose of these methodologies is to inform policies and regulations related to sufficient allocation of water to keep ecosystem flows in check, and not just to domestic, industrial, and agriculture sectors.

Current practice and challenges of allocating water for ecosystems

Unfortunately, allocation of water to ecosystem practices are still not as common as they should be, with only a handful of countries implementing this into their water use plans. Out of twelve countries studied in a 2015 OECD report only six allocated water to the ecosystem and only one country (Peru) made it top priority over other users like agriculture, energy, and industrial sectors (OECD, 2015). South Africa and Australia are two other countries securing allocation of water to their natural ecosystems. South Africa has a National Water Act in place that protects water as a common good and has non-negotiable allocation requirements that first meet basic drinking, cooking, and sanitary needs and second for supporting ecosystem functions that benefit South Africans (Postel, 2008). Australia also signed a Water Reform Framework Agreement that requires the recognition of the environment as a legitimate user of water and to apportion water specifically for freshwater ecological infrastructure. This piece of policy includes twenty guiding principles including one that states river basin water extraction should be capped if aquatic ecosystems are not receiving enough allocated water in order to prevent significant harm to the environment (Postel, 2008). The U.S. on the other hand has not put in place any federal policies in regards to proper ecological allocation of water, but has rather handed off all water management responsibilities to state governments. One water policy pioneer in the U.S. is Texas who passed the Environmental Flows Allocation Process in 2007 (Postel, 2008). This law sets flow criteria for all river systems within state lines and determines and considers input from scientists and stakeholders in each watershed. Initially, it is surprising to see Texas of all states as a pioneer in this type of policy but their valuable recreational and commercial fishing and ecological tourism industries motivates them to protect these aquatic ecosystems (Postel, 2008). Similar agreements have come to fruition in the Great Lakes region (U.S. and Canada) and Europe. Hopefully this mean that ecological systems are being recognized more and more for their value and actively being protected through policy.

The main challenge of allocating water for ecosystems is being able to manage water holistically in cooperation with other sectors of society that demand water. For the most part they are managed independently of and in competition with each other even though they are all so interconnected. Every other sector like agriculture, industry, and domestic use of water are valued more because it is easier to measure their economic benefits or directly meet people’s water needs in the home. It is hard to put a value on the ecosystem services that aquatic systems provide and we only get a glimpse of their value after a disaster strikes. We can measure how much financial capital is lost in damaged property, how much it costs to rebuild communities and how many lives are lost or impacted during something like a hurricane. All things that could have been avoided if proper allocation of water and other protections were given to natural systems like wetlands that could have blocked or dampened storm surges. Now that global warming and climate change is inevitable, the challenge is not only to save and restore what is left of our natural ecosystems but to adapt to the even more intense disasters we are facing like constant fires or droughts in the west and more consistent, stronger storms, flooding and salt water intrusion in the East.

Other challenges are in the actual implementation of environmental flow strategies. This can be exemplified by that of some Australian water-use entitlements that are expressed as specific quantities rather than portions of the total amount of water actually available. As droughts become multi-year occurrences reducing private water rights or permits (to more equitable amounts) is crucial in order to ensure river basins and other aquatic ecosystems are receiving their sustaining flows (Postel, 2008). This is a challenge that will only become more frequent in Australia and other water scarce regions of the world as climate change progresses. However, a poorly managed or regulated water cap can lead to other challenges. The example in Australia specifically follows water extraction restrictions of the Murray River Basin and the subsequent creation of a water trading market. Though the intention was conservation, the outcome became higher extraction rates of groundwater. This can create potential for higher salinity in the river basin and negative impacts on that ecosystem after all (Wheeler et al., 2013). Water trading also has other challenging impacts on local communities, small scale farmers, and economies as a whole (Wheeler et al., 2013).

Best management practices and recommendations

Best management practices of water look different in different countries or regions depending on their specific societies, economies, and native aquatic ecosystems. However, there are a few recommendations that are important across all frameworks of water management. First, and most importantly is forming or adjusting an existing water allocation plan that recognizes the ecosystem as a sector that needs water distributed to it just like the domestic, agriculture, and industry sectors. Not only that but ecosystem water allocation should take precedent over the others because without a healthy and functioning ecosystem the other sectors can’t succeed or even exist. That being said, the second recommendation would be to strive for collaboration not only between water user sectors, but political, social, economic, and environmental institutions. Water allocation initiatives that fail to include all stakeholders and fail to gain enough support from them, jeopardize being taken seriously or necessary by those who were excluded (Wineland, et al., 2021). In general water management strategies, implementations, or regulations need to be approached holistically otherwise we can face worse unforeseen challenges like the water trading example discussed above. Lastly, best management practices of water allocation for ecosystems need to rooted in adaption to climate change and not simply in conservation. Environmental flow implementation cannot be based on outdated hydrologic and climate conditions. Adapting to climate change means being prepared for uncertain, variable climate and socio-economic circumstances (Wineland et al., 2021). Water availability now is much different than it was historically, or even will be ten years into the future. Allocating water to ecosystems at all is securing water for future generations, but doing so strategically and adaptively helps extend water availability and sustainability for as long as possible.

References

Ghebremichael, K. (2015, September 11). Sustainable Water Resources Management - Sectoral Water Use. Patel College of Global Sustainability.

Green Facts. (n.d.). Ecosystem services. Retrieved October 7, 2022, from https://www.greenfacts.org/glossary/def/ecosystem-services.htm

IWMI (International Water Management Institute). (n.d.). Environmental Flow Requirements. Retrieved October 7, 2022, from https://www.unescap.org/sites/default/files/Session7_Environmental_flow_requirements_Water_use_Central_Asia_8-10Oct2019_ENG.pdf

OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development). (2015). Water Resources Allocation - Policy Highlights - Sharing risks and opportunities. Retrieved October 7, 2022, from https://www.oecd.org/environment/resources/Water-Resources-Allocation-Policy-Highlights-web.pdf

Postel, S. L. (2008). The Forgotten Infrastructure: Safeguarding Freshwater Ecosystems. Journal of International Affairs, 61.

The Nature Conservancy. (2020, May 4). Why are Florida's mangroves important? Retrieved October 7, 2022, from https://www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/where-we-work/united-states/florida/stories-in-florida/why-mangroves-important/#:~:text=Mangroves%20are%20important%20to%20people,weather%20events%20such%20as%20hurricanes.

Tyrna, A. (2018, May 17). The importance of Florida Wetlands. UF/IFAS Extension Sarasota County. Retrieved October 7, 2022, from https://blogs.ifas.ufl.edu/sarasotaco/2018/05/17/the-importance-of-florida-wetlands/#:~:text=Wetlands%20provide%20many%20benefits.,and%20wildlife%20species%20of%20Florida.

Wheeler, S., Loch, A., Zuo, A., & Bjornlund, H. (2014). Reviewing the adoption and impact of water markets in the murray–darling basin, Australia. Journal of Hydrology, 518, 28–41. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2013.09.019

Wineland, S. M., Bașağaoğlu, H., Fleming, J., Friedman, J., Garza‐Diaz, L., Kellogg, W., Koch, J., Lane, B. A., Mirchi, A., Nava, L. F., Neeson, T. M., Ortiz‐Partida, J. P., Paladino, S., Plassin, S., Gomez‐Quiroga, G., Saiz‐Rodriguez, R., Sandoval‐Solis, S., Wagner, K., Weber, N., … Wootten, A. M. (2021). The Environmental Flows Implementation Challenge: Insights and recommendations across water‐Limited Systems. WIREs Water, 9(1). https://doi.org/10.1002/wat2.1565