The legacy of large dams in the United States.
Agricultural expansion
Droughts
Population growth
Sustainability
Water crisis
Water infrastructure
Journal
Ambio
ISSN: 1654-7209
Titre abrégé: Ambio
Pays: Sweden
ID NLM: 0364220
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
Oct 2021
Oct 2021
Historique:
received:
16
10
2020
accepted:
28
01
2021
revised:
23
12
2020
pubmed:
10
3
2021
medline:
18
8
2021
entrez:
9
3
2021
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
The sustainability of large dams has been questioned on several grounds. One aspect that has been less explored is that the development of dams and reservoirs often enables agricultural expansion and urban growth, which in turn increase water consumption. As such, dam development influences, while being influenced by, the spatial and temporal distribution of both supply and demand of water resources. In this paper, we explore the interplay between large dams, patterns of population growth and agricultural expansion in the United States over the past two centuries. Based on a large-scale analysis of spatial and temporal trends, we identify three distinct phases, in which different processes dominated the interplay. Then, we focus on agricultural water use in the Southwest region (Arizona, California and Nevada) and explore chicken-and-egg dynamics where water supply partly meets and partly fuels water demand. Lastly, we show that the legacy of dams in the United States consists of a lock-in condition characterized by high levels of water consumption, especially in the Southwest, which leads to severe water crises and groundwater overexploitation when droughts occur.
Identifiants
pubmed: 33686608
doi: 10.1007/s13280-021-01533-x
pii: 10.1007/s13280-021-01533-x
pmc: PMC8363679
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
1798-1808Subventions
Organisme : H2020 European Research Council
ID : 771678
Informations de copyright
© 2021. The Author(s).
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