IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/agrhuv/v32y2015i3p401-417.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

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

Author

Listed:
  • 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
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10460-014-9567-6
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10460-014-9567-6?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    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.
    2. Stephen Gasteyer, 2008. "Agricultural transitions in the context of growing environmental pressure over water," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 25(4), pages 469-486, December.
    3. Andersson, Jan Otto & Lindroth, Mattias, 2001. "Ecologically unsustainable trade," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 113-122, April.
    4. Pfeiffer, Lisa & Lin, C.-Y. Cynthia, 2012. "Groundwater pumping and spatial externalities in agriculture," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 16-30.
    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.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    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).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Eric C. Edwards & Todd Guilfoos, 2021. "The Economics of Groundwater Governance Institutions across the Globe," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(4), pages 1571-1594, December.
    2. Mostafa, Mohamed M. & Nataraajan, Rajan, 2009. "A neuro-computational intelligence analysis of the ecological footprint of nations," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 53(9), pages 3516-3531, July.
    3. Infante-Amate, Juan & Krausmann, Fridolin, 2019. "Trade, Ecologically Unequal Exchange and Colonial Legacy: The Case of France and its Former Colonies (1962–2015)," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 98-109.
    4. Piñero, Pablo & Pérez-Neira, David & Infante-Amate, Juan & Chas-Amil, María L. & Doldán-García, Xoán R., 2020. "Unequal raw material exchange between and within countries: Galicia (NW Spain) as a core-periphery economy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    5. Ramon Garrabou & Enric Tello & Xavier Cussó, 2006. "Between specialization and globalization. The marketing of agrarian products and its environmental impacts seen from a historical perspective: the province of Barcelona in the mid-nineteenth century," UHE Working papers 2006_06, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Departament d'Economia i Història Econòmica, Unitat d'Història Econòmica.
    6. Goddard, Jessica J. & Kallis, Giorgos & Norgaard, Richard B., 2019. "Keeping multiple antennae up: Coevolutionary foundations for methodological pluralism," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 1-1.
    7. Hornborg, Alf, 2006. "Footprints in the cotton fields: The Industrial Revolution as time-space appropriation and environmental load displacement," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(1), pages 74-81, August.
    8. Steven A. Mejia, 2023. "Global inequities in the prevalence of undernourishment," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 104(3), pages 329-344, May.
    9. Rouhi Rad, Mani & Haacker, Erin M.K. & Sharda, Vaishali & Nozari, Soheil & Xiang, Zaichen & Araya, A. & Uddameri, Venkatesh & Suter, Jordan F. & Gowda, Prasanna, 2020. "MOD$$AT: A hydro-economic modeling framework for aquifer management in irrigated agricultural regions," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 238(C).
    10. Teixidó-Figueras, J. & Duro, J.A., 2014. "Spatial Polarization of the Ecological Footprint Distribution," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 93-106.
    11. Stahn, Hubert & Tomini, Agnes, 2021. "Externality and common-pool resources: The case of artesian aquifers," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    12. Tunç, Gül İpek & Akbostancı, Elif & Türüt-Aşık, Serap, 2022. "Ecological unequal exchange between Turkey and the European Union: An assessment from value added perspective," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    13. Carlos Gómez & C. Pérez-Blanco, 2014. "Simple Myths and Basic Maths About Greening Irrigation," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 28(12), pages 4035-4044, September.
    14. E. Keith Smith & Dennis Kolcava & Thomas Bernauer, 2024. "Stringent sustainability regulations for global supply chains are supported across middle-income democracies," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, December.
    15. Aparicio, Jesus & Tenza-Abril, Antonio & Borg, Malcolm & Galea, John & Candela, Lucila, 2018. "Agricultural irrigation of vine crops from desalinated and brackish groundwater under an economic perspective. A case study in Siġġiewi, Malta," MPRA Paper 92268, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 04 Sep 2018.
    16. Jayanta Das & A. T. M. Sakiur Rahman & Tapash Mandal & Piu Saha, 2021. "Exploring driving forces of large-scale unsustainable groundwater development for irrigation in lower Ganga River basin in India," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(5), pages 7289-7309, May.
    17. Konrad Siegfried & Susann Günther & Sara Mengato & Fabian Riedel & Daniela Thrän, 2023. "Boosting Biowaste Valorisation—Do We Need an Accelerated Regional Implementation of the European Law for End-of-Waste?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-13, September.
    18. Kosoy, Nicolás & Corbera, Esteve, 2010. "Payments for ecosystem services as commodity fetishism," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(6), pages 1228-1236, April.
    19. Suarez, Federico & Fulginiti, Lilyan & Perrin, Richard, 2015. "The Value of Water in Agriculture: The U.S. High Plains Aquifer," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 211644, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    20. Muradian, Roldan & Martinez-Alier, Joan, 2001. "Trade and the environment: from a 'Southern' perspective," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 281-297, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:agrhuv:v:32:y:2015:i:3:p:401-417. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.