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Structural impediments to sustainable groundwater management in the High Plains Aquifer of western Kansas

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  • Matthew Sanderson
  • R. Frey

Abstract

Western Kansas is one of the most important agricultural regions in the world. Most agricultural production in this semi-arid region depends on the consumption of nonrenewable groundwater from the High Plains Aquifer, which will be 70 % depleted by 2070. The problem of depletion has drawn significant attention from local citizens and policymakers at the federal, state, and local levels for at least 40 years, resulting in a variety of policies and institutions to manage groundwater from the aquifer as a common pool resource. Yet depletion has persisted. We explain this conundrum as an outcome of a mismatch between the scale of resource management, which has become more intensively local, and the scale of resource exchange, which has rendered the High Plains Aquifer a global common pool resource. We then explain the deeper, structural origins of the management–exchange scale mismatch. Drawing on concepts from structural human ecology theory and empirical evidence from Southwest Kansas, we show that agriculture is predicated on local metabolic rift in the hydrological cycle that is exacerbated through ecological unequal exchange with higher-income, core areas beyond the region. We conclude by highlighting two key policies that, if implemented together, may lessen the deleterious effects of these structural dynamics and thus promote a more sustainable relationship between society and environment in this region and other water-scarce regions that are net-exporters of groundwater. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Matthew Sanderson & R. Frey, 2015. "Structural impediments to sustainable groundwater management in the High Plains Aquifer of western Kansas," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 32(3), pages 401-417, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:agrhuv:v:32:y:2015:i:3:p:401-417
    DOI: 10.1007/s10460-014-9567-6
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Tom Gleeson & Yoshihide Wada & Marc F. P. Bierkens & Ludovicus P. H. van Beek, 2012. "Water balance of global aquifers revealed by groundwater footprint," Nature, Nature, vol. 488(7410), pages 197-200, August.
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    5. Hornborg, Alf, 1998. "Towards an ecological theory of unequal exchange: articulating world system theory and ecological economics," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 127-136, April.
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    Cited by:

    1. Stephen Lauer & Matthew Sanderson, 2020. "Irrigated agriculture and human development: a county-level analysis 1980–2010," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(5), pages 4407-4423, June.
    2. Haacker, Erin M.K. & Cotterman, Kayla A. & Smidt, Samuel J. & Kendall, Anthony D. & Hyndman, David W., 2019. "Effects of management areas, drought, and commodity prices on groundwater decline patterns across the High Plains Aquifer," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 218(C), pages 259-273.
    3. Katuwal, Krishna B. & Cho, Youngkoo & Singh, Sukhbir & Angadi, Sangamesh V. & Begna, Sultan & Stamm, Michael, 2020. "Soil water extraction pattern and water use efficiency of spring canola under growth-stage-based irrigation management," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 239(C).

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