Water Resources Basics
Two units commonly used to measure water volume in the US
What is acre-feet; cubic feet/sec, cubic meters/sec; gallons
This type of pollution comes from direct discharges into water from factory pipes, sewers, or other discernable outlets
Point source pollution
This book by Marc Reisner paints a portrait of unsustainable water use in the American West
Cadillac Desert
Water rights doctrine that provides tribes with the legal basis to claim water rights, often with higher priority than rights granted under state law
Winters doctrine
The three “coequal” pillars of a modernized Columbia River Treaty
Flood control, hydropower, ecosystem function
Largest stock of liquid freshwater on Earth
Groundwater
Under this allocation framework, the water right remains with the land and cannot be bought or sold
Riparian rights
The two main categories of environmental water transactions
water management and consumptive use
Dine scholar Andrew Curley uses this term to describe how Indian water settlements can dispossess Indigenous peoples of their water rights
Three characteristics that all wetlands have in common
water, hydric soils, and hydrophytic vegetation
A perspective that argues water is inseparable from society and is the product of social, spatial, and ecological relations
Hydrosocial cycle
This drinking water source is not regulated by the Safe Drinking Water Act
Private wells
Name two pros and cons of dam removal
Restore riparian habitat, safely removes hazardous dams, decreased eutrophication/dead zones
reduces options for clean energy, short-term ecological harm, restricts navigation, reduces water for ag
Tribes can apply for this status in order to administer their own water quality standards under supervision of the EPA
Treated as states
Four benefits that wetlands provide to people and/or the
cultural value, habitat, food/fuel, carbon sequestration, recreation, flood protection, local climate regulation, water purification, protect shorelines, aquifer recharge
The rate at which the atmosphere can remove water from Earth's surface, provided adequate water is available
Potential evapotranspiration
Five sources of water law in the US
The Sabo et al. article found scientific evidence to support all of Reisner's claims but this one
This branch of justice research focuses on fairness and equity in processes of resource allocation and conflict resolution
Procedural justice
Two problems with using treaties as a “gold standard” of cooperation
solidify power imbalances, lock out public participation, can be a source of conflict, treaty does not equal hydropolitical resilience
Three main components of water availability
stocks and flows, runoff, and groundwater
Under the CWA, a body of water is deemed impaired if its quality does not support its _________ use
Designated use
The four prerequisites for a water market
The resource must be:
scarce, rivalry, exclusionary, tradable
These are the four stages of water conflict transformation
Adversarial, reflexive, integrative, action
There are this number of transboundary river basins
313