Hydrologic Cycles & Human Rights PDF

WATER, ENVIRONMENT, SOCIETY: HYDROLOGIC CYCLES & HUMAN RIGHTS Dr. Luke Juran Dept. of Geography & VWRRC Virginia Tech HYDROLOGIC CYCLE  What is the hydrologic cycle?  This guy provides a good summation… “Daddy, water gets to...

WATER, ENVIRONMENT, SOCIETY: HYDROLOGIC CYCLES & HUMAN RIGHTS Dr. Luke Juran Dept. of Geography & VWRRC Virginia Tech HYDROLOGIC CYCLE  What is the hydrologic cycle?  This guy provides a good summation… “Daddy, water gets to take a lot of adventures!” -Levi Juran  HYDROLOGIC CYCLE  The hydrologic cycle is a continuous closed-loop system that moves water—in its various forms—above, below, and upon Earth’s surface driven by energy from the sun & wind  Gaseous water in the atmosphere condenses (i.e., into clouds) and falls to surface as precipitation (e.g., rain, snow, sleet, hail)  The water collects in reservoirs (e.g., rivers, lakes, oceans, glaciers, plants, humans, animals, soils, underground)  The water eventually reenters the atmosphere via evaporation, transpiration & sublimation  And the cycle repeats for perpetuity… Reservoirs during the hydrologic cycle and average residence time This imbalance is critical & allows us to survive HYDROLOGIC CYCLE  Why is the hydrologic cycle so important?  What limitations or caveats exist within the cycle?  HYDROLOGIC CYCLE  Importance:  Situates water as a renewable resource, which ensures Earth a constant quantity for biological beings to survive, to regulate the climate, and to support ecosystems, ecosystem services & various biogeochemical processes  Limitations & caveats:  Distribution of water across space & time is heterogeneous, and distribution is further disrupted by climate change  Quality of water is continuously deteriorating (e.g., PFAS)  Fixed quantity of water is becoming increasingly stressed as it’s spread more thinly across more people & more ag./economic/industrial uses every day  And humans disrupt the hydrologic cycle in numerous ways…  While the hydrologic cycle is natural, human activities also play a dominant role… HUMAN DISRUPTIONS TO THE HYDROLOGIC CYCLE Humans transform, divert & move water through various human systems Human withdrawals, treatment processes, consumption, pollution, wastewater treatment processes, disposal processes, irrigation, and engineering works (e.g., drainage infrastructure, dams, reservoirs, canals) both influence & comprise a subset of the larger natural hydrologic cycle All of these things are occurring within the larger hydrologic cycle This is a more accurate representation of the hydrologic cycle: some of these movements are natural, others are ‘unnatural’ human disruptions  THE HYDROSOCIAL CYCLE  Theoretically, water moves naturally according to laws of energy, physics & gravity  However, in actuality, humans control water with infrastructure, institutions, political boundaries, money & power to create a social hydrology that conveys water in unnatural directions  This unnatural hydrologic cycle does not operate blindly:  It is influenced by humans & the values human systems place on water  It is unfair & results in inequitable distributions within & across societies  Thus, it has been characterized as the hydrosocial cycle  “The hydrosocial cycle is a way of representing the deepening entanglement of flows of water & social power relations. Unlike the scientific hydrologic cycle, the hydrosocial cycle makes it impossible to abstract water from the social conditions that give it meaning, and from the people & the societies through which it flows.“ -AAG definition of hydrosocial cycle (2008) “Laws of hydrodynamics, or the hydrosocial cycle, determine that water flows towards money.” What examples -Swyngedouw (2004) come to mind? HYDROSOCIAL CYCLE IN ACTION  To humans, away from ecologies Examples of  To wealthy, away from poor unnatural  To majorities, away from minorities flows of water:  To urban centers, away from rural areas  To agriculture & irrigation, away from ecosystems  To the surface, away from subsurface  To drainage infrastructure, away from natural infiltration  To recreational activities, away from more vital purposes  To corporations, industries & bottling companies, away from individuals  To relatively wealthy countries, away from relatively poorer countries  To the powerful, away from powerless  To those who know the law, away from those who do not  To entities with capital, infrastructure & technology, away from those who lack  Toward profits, away from human rights  To the creation of energy, away from more beneficial uses  To landowners, away from landless Utah: Why should our precious water be used in a way that benefits few?  ~250,000 people golf in Utah (8% of population)  State uses 38 M gallons of water per day irrigating golf courses  In 2022, all of Utah's 29 counties were experiencing drought, leading citizens to complain that the water has better uses elsewhere  (Abbot et al., 2019) Consequences of human interferences with the water cycle IS WATER A HUMAN RIGHT? Discuss the following with your neighbors:  What is a human right?  Is water a human right?  Should it be a human right? Why or why not? IS WATER A HUMAN RIGHT? Human veins Let’s listen to Maude Barlow recount the historic date of July 28, 2010 (excerpt from The Right to Water, 2012) Slices of human visual cortex WATER IS A HUMAN RIGHT In 2010, water was finally declared a human right by the United Nations (UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/64/292): “For the first time, this UN Resolution formally recognises the right to water & sanitation and acknowledges that clean drinking water & sanitation are essential to the realisation of all human rights. The Resolution calls upon States & international organisations to provide financial resources, help capacity-building & technology transfer to help countries, in particular developing countries, to provide safe, clean, accessible and affordable drinking water & sanitation for all.” WATER IS A HUMAN RIGHT  However, the process was arduous & still continues:  Struggle began in 1948 with the UNUDHR, which did not include water  1977: ‘Action Plan’ recognized water as a right for first time declaring “All peoples, whatever their stage of development and social & economic conditions, have the right to have access to drinking water in quantities and of a quality equal to their basic needs.”  1992: ‘Dublin Statement’ / ‘Dublin-Rio Principles’  2002: ‘Article 1.1’ states that “The human right to water is indispensable for leading a life in human dignity. It is a prerequisite for the realization of other human rights.”  2006: Human Rights Council requests UNHCHR to conduct a study on the scope & content of what a human right to water would look like  2007: Study presented  2008: UN appoints independent expert on human rights of water & sanitation  2010: Victory at last… sort of, because water as a human right is primarily symbolic. How so? WATER IS A HUMAN RIGHT  We should also be aware of the struggle for water as a human right in Cochabamba, Bolivia (warning: graphic)  Let’s listen to part of ‘The Cochabamba Declaration’ (excerpt from ¡Cochabamba!: Water War in Bolivia, 2004) This case also exemplifies the hydrosocial cycle CONSUMPTION PATTERNS  How much blue/liquid water is required per day to adequately sustain a human being?  How much blue/liquid water does the average American use per day?  What is the global average?  (Gleick, 1998) → 50 liters total - 50 l/d is minimum quantity required to sustain a human life (50 l = 13.2 g) - 2,700 l/d is quantity required to produce an average diet (2,700 l = 713.3 g) CONSUMPTION PATTERNS  Average American consumes roughly 500-550 l/d (132-145 g)  Global average ~300 l/d (~79 g)  Many citizens of Gambia, Mozambique, Haiti, Djibouti, Somalia, Mali & other countries survive on ~4-15 l/d (~1-4 g)  We’ll explore consumption patterns in the next lecture, but remember this disturbing fact throughout the course & your life: The average American flushes more water down the toilet every day than many people have access to for meeting the entirety of their daily needs—and our toilet water is often of superior quality! RR1 INSTRUCTIONS (DUE 09/10)  Submit “Reading Reflection 1” to Canvas by 12:30PM as a single PDF file  Juran & MacDonald (2014), “An assessment of boiling as a method of household water treatment in South India”  Explicitly number each component (see example on Canvas): 1) Complete reference in a format of your choice 2) One paragraph summary (100-125 words) 3) Three themes/concepts you thought were significant 4) How data/methods/findings/etc. from the reading could be applied 5) Two questions you would like to ask the authors