Author(s): Carter Borden, Peter Goodwin, Darren Swanson
Linked Author(s): Carter Borden
Keywords: Integrated water resources management, conceptual model, sustainability indicators, ecosystem goods and services
Abstract: As the anthropogenic footprint increases on Earth, the wise use, maintenance, and protection of freshwater resources is key for sustainable development and integrated water resource management (IWRM). Methodologies supporting IWRM implementation have largely focused on the overall process, paying limited attention to evaluation methods of ecologic, economic, and social conditions. To assist in assessing water resource sustainability, the Integrated Hydro-Environment Assessment with Latitude (IHEAL) has been developed. IHEAL merges the driver-pressure-state-impact-response (DPSIR) framework used by the United Nations Global Environment Outlook, the ecosystem services and human wellbeing framework used by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, and sustainability criteria for water resource systems to better understand spatiotemporal interactions between hydrologic, socio-economic, and ecologic systems and evaluate impacts of disturbances on ecological goods and services (EGS) and human well-being. IHEAL comprises a Conceptual Template (IHEAL-CT), for assessing basin conditions and guiding indicator selection, and an Assessment Interface (IHEAL-AI) for organizing, processing, and assessing analytical results. IHEAL-CT connects water use directly, or through EGS, to constituents of human well-being. Disturbance Templates for eight pressure types (e. g. land use change, climate change, population growth) are provided to guide users regarding potential changes to landscape elements in the hydrological cycle, impacts to EGS, and societal implications to human well-being. IHEAL-AI organizes the output data from hydrologic, ecologic, economic, and social analyses with respect to time and space, computing the reliability, resilience, and vulnerability of the sustainability indicators for various water use scenarios. Results are presented as a time series of sustainability indicators and a star plot for comparison of management alternatives. IHEAL-CT was applied to the Lemhi River Basin, Idaho. IHEAL supports the IWRM process by providing a structured means to frame and analyze water related issues and select appropriate indicators to assess the contribution of water programs and policies to sustainable development in river basins
Year: 2017