Jamie Linton

Is the Hydrologic Cycle Sustainable? A Historical–Geographical Critique of a Modern Concept

The hydrologic cycle is treated in this article as an invention that represents and helps structure a particular understanding of water. Ideas about the circulation of water in what is now called the hydrosphere have been discussed for millennia, and quantitative proof of the basic water balance (between evaporation, precipitation, and streamflow) was established by the nineteenth century. However, “the hydrologic cycle” as a distinct entity and the diagrammatic form by which it is typically represented are much more recent products of hydrological discourse. This article describes the gestation of this entity in the English-speaking hydrological tradition and explains how and why it attained a specific form in the United States in the 1930s. This modern hydrologic cycle, it is argued, internalizes the historical and geographical circumstances in which it was formed; namely a northern temperate society in the throes of modern, state-led industrial development. These circumstances, however, no longer pertain to a majority of people, whose experience of water is different from that represented in the standard hydrologic cycle. To the extent that it structures an understanding of water that is increasingly at odds with social and hydrological experience, the modern hydrologic cycle can be considered unsustainable.

Governance of transboundary aquifers: new challenges and new opportunities

This paper discusses the emerging role of water governance as applied to transboundary aquifers. To allow for important differences in governance principles from transboundary surface water, the authors suggest that greater attention be paid to the scale of the aquifer when developing interest-articulation and decision-making processes. The authors further introduce five objectives that, if met, would help realize equitable and reasonable use of these aquifers. Good governance can best be met through appropriate scales of interest articulation and decision making, and involvement of a broad range of non-state actors as well as formal agencies of the state.

Governance of Transboundary Aquifers: Balancing Efficiency, Equity and Sustainability

Though most rules developed for governance of transboundary surface water will also apply to transboundary aquifers, adjustment is necessary to account for, among other things, paucity of data about aquifers, their sensitivity to contamination, and their potential to be treated as open access resources. This article explores those differences, and then suggests approaches to building institutions who can implement the rules. Experience shows that it is better to focus on future needs rather than past uses, to give priority to protection of the aquifer, and to use market instruments as tools to achieve rather than to propose results.