Human-Environment Interface

Impacts of Policy Design and Risk Management on Groundwater Conservation Program Effectiveness

Irrigated agriculture has led to aquifer depletion in many places, necessitating effective groundwater conservation policies to slow unsustainable water use. However, the success of conservation policies is contingent on complex interactions between …

Variability of an adaptive capacity index to construction method and socio-economic context

Vulnerability, resilience, and adaptive capacity are key concepts for understanding the societal preparedness for, and impact of, natural hazards and environmental change. These metrics are often assessed through composite indicators, which are …

Lagged streamflow depletion due to pumping-induced stream drying: Incorporation into analytical streamflow depletion estimation methods

Water management often requires accounting for reductions in streamflow caused by groundwater pumping (‘streamflow depletion’). Since streamflow depletion cannot be quantified from observational data, it is typically modeled. Analytical depletion …

Agricultural human-water systems

Agriculture involves the exploitation of land, water and other natural resources for food production. It is an important economic activity and represents the source of livelihood for farmers and farm workers. With increasing human populations and …

Assessing the effectiveness of irrigator-driven groundwater conservation programs to drought: A case study of the northwestern Kansas Local Enhanced Management Areas

Groundwater pumping for irrigation has led to declining groundwater levels in agricultural areas around the world, including the U.S. High Plains Aquifer. Here, we used a process-based crop model, AquaCrop, to assess the effectiveness of different …

Using values-informed mental models to understand farmer, water manager, and scientist use and perceptions of hydrologic models

Decision-support systems using environmental data and models are increasingly common, but not always adopted by the intended end-users. This disconnect may be partly due to different values related to nature and the scientific process. In this study, …

Current Knowledge on Low-Impact Ground-Mounted Solar Siting, Construction, and Installation Practices

Solar energy represents an increasingly large proportion of total energy generation in the United States and worldwide and is projected to continue to grow rapidly in the future. Like any landscape modification, solar development can have unintended …

Current trends and biases in groundwater modelling using the community-driven groundwater model portal (GroMoPo)

Unlocking aquifer sustainability through irrigator-driven groundwater conservation

Aquifer depletion due to intensive irrigation threatens global economies, food security and ecosystems. This Perspective examines the hydrological, social and economic complexities of managing groundwater resources, focusing on the Sheridan 6 Local …

PyCHAMP: A crop-hydrological-agent modeling platform for groundwater management

The Crop-Hydrological-Agent Modeling Platform (PyCHAMP) is a Python-based open-source package designed for modeling agro-hydrological systems. The modular design, incorporating aquifer, crop field, groundwater well, finance, and behavior components, …