Unraveling intractable water conflicts: the entanglement of science and politics in decision-making on large hydraulic infrastructure
<p>The development of large infrastructure to address the water challenges of cities around the world can be a financial and social burden for many cities because of the hidden costs these works entail and social conflicts they often trigger. When conflicts erupt, science is often expected to...
Main Authors: | , , |
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Copernicus Publications
2020-10-01
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Series: | Hydrology and Earth System Sciences |
Online Access: | https://hess.copernicus.org/articles/24/4903/2020/hess-24-4903-2020.pdf |
Summary: | <p>The development of large infrastructure to address the water
challenges of cities around the world can be a financial and social burden
for many cities because of the hidden costs these works entail and social
conflicts they often trigger. When conflicts erupt, science is often
expected to play a key role in informing policymakers and social actors to
clarify controversies surrounding policy responses to water scarcity.
However, managing conflicts is a sociopolitical process, and often
quantitative models are used as an attempt to depoliticize such processes,
conveying the idea that optimal solutions can be objectively identified
despite the many perspectives and interests at play. This raises the
question as to whether science depoliticizes water conflicts or whether instead
conflicts politicize science–policy processes. We use the Zapotillo dam and
water transfer project in Mexico to analyze the role of science–policy
processes in water conflicts. The Zapotillo project aims at augmenting urban
water supply to Guadalajara and León, two large cities in western
Mexico, but a social and legal conflict has stalled the project until today.
To analyze the conflict and how stakeholders make sense of it, we
interviewed the most relevant actors and studied the negotiations between
different interest groups through participant observation. To examine the
role of science–policy processes in the conflict, we mobilized concepts of
epistemic uncertainty and ambiguity and analyzed the design and use of water
resources models produced by key actors aiming to resolve the conflict.
While the use of models is a proven method to construct future scenarios and
test different strategies, the parameterization of scenarios and their
results are influenced by the knowledge and/or interests of actors behind
the model. We found that in the Zapotillo case, scenarios reflected the
interests and strategies of actors on one side of the conflict, resulting in
increased distrust of the opposing actors. We conclude that the dilemma of
achieving urban water security through investing in either large
infrastructure (supply augmentation) or alternative strategies (demand-side
management) cannot be resolved if some key interested parties have not been
involved in the scientific processes framing the problem and solution space.</p> |
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ISSN: | 1027-5606 1607-7938 |