Engineering Commons^™

Design Of Stormwater Bmps For Surface And Groundwater Protection Based On Site-Scale Soil Properties: Phase I, Kelly Kibler, Lisa Chambers, Melanie Beazley

Florida DOT

Much of Earth’s nutrient cycling takes place in soils. Characteristics of soils control physical, chemical, and biological processes that determine rates of nutrient fluxes, storage, or transformation. As remediation of excess nutrients in stormwater runoff is one function of stormwater Best Management Practices (BMPs), the soil profile constitutes one of the most important factors of BMP design. Variation observed in BMP effectiveness (e.g., why one BMP design works effectively in one place and not another) can often be explained by variations in the soil profile, either through direct means or by a soil’s influence on hydraulics of stormwater flow through …

Pan-Arctic Soil Moisture Control On Tundra Carbon Sequestration And Plant Productivity, Donatella Zona, Peter M. Lafleur, Koen Hufkens, Beniamino Gioli, Barbara Bailey, George Burba, Eugénie S. Euskirchen, Jennifer D. Watts, Kyle A. Arndt, Mary Farina, John S. Kimball, Martin Heimann, Mathias Göckede, Martijn Pallandt, Torben R. Christensen, Mikhail Mastepanov, Efrén López-Blanco, Albertus J. Dolman, Roisin Commane, Charles E. Miller, Josh Hashemi, Lars Kutzbach, David Holl, Julia Boike, Christian Wille, Torsten Sachs, Aram Kalhori, Elyn R. Humphreys, Oliver Sonnentag, Gesa Meyer, Gabriel H. Gosselin, Philip Marsh, Walter C. Oechel

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Long-term atmospheric CO₂ concentration records have suggested a reduction in the positive effect of warming on high-latitude carbon uptake since the 1990s. A variety of mechanisms have been proposed to explain the reduced net carbon sink of northern ecosystems with increased air temperature, including water stress on vegetation and increased respiration over recent decades. However, the lack of consistent long-term carbon flux and in situ soil moisture data has severely limited our ability to identify the mechanisms responsible for the recent reduced carbon sink strength. In this study, we used a record of nearly 100 site-years of eddy covariance …

Climate Change And The Law Of National Security Adaptation, Mark P. Nevitt

Faculty Articles

The Department of Defense (DoD) is the largest employer in the world, owns and operates an enormous global real estate portfolio, and emits more Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) than many nations. Entrusted with the national security, the DoD is now threatened by a new enemy—climate change. Climate change imperils national security infrastructure while undermining the military’s capacity to respond to climate-driven disasters at home and abroad. However, legal scholarship has yet to address what I call “the law of national security adaptation” and related questions. For example, how do environmental and climate change laws apply to the U.S. military? What laws …

Labile Carbon And Soil Texture Control Nitrogen Transformation In Deep Vadose Zone, Lidong Li, Jordan Shields, Daniel D. Snow, Michael Kaiser, Arindam Malakar

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Understanding transient nitrogen (N) storage and transformation in the deep vadose zone is critical for controlling groundwater contamination by nitrate. The occurrence of organic and inorganic forms of carbon (C) and nitrogen and their importance in the deep vadose zone is not well characterized due to difficulty in sampling and the limited number of studies. We sampled and characterized these pools beneath 27 croplands with different vadose zone thicknesses (6–45 m).We measured nitrate and ammonium in different depths for the 27 sites to evaluate inorganic N storage. We measured total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN), hot-water extractable organic carbon (EOC), soil organic …

Globally Scalable Approach To Estimate Net Ecosystem Exchange Based On Remote Sensing, Meteorological Data, And Direct Measurements Of Eddy Covariance Sites, Ruslan Zhuravlev, Andrey Dara, André Luís Diniz Dos Santos, Oleg Demidov, George Burba

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Despite a rapid development of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) for carbon removal in recent years, the methods for evaluating NBS still have certain gaps. We propose an approach based on a combination of remote sensing data and meteorological variables to reconstruct the spatiotemporal variation of net ecosystem exchange from eddy-covariance stations. A Lagrangian particle dispersion model was used for upscaling satellite images and flux towers. We trained data-driven models based on kernel methods separately for each selected land-cover class. The results suggest that the proposed approach to quantifying carbon exchange on a medium-to-large scale by blending eddy covariance flux data with …

Role Of Social Determinants Of Health In Differential Respiratory Exposure And Health Outcomes Among Children, Jagadeesh Puvvula, Jill A. Poole, Yeongjin Gwon, Eleanor G. Rogan, Jesse E. Bell

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Background Attributes defining the Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) are associated with disproportionate exposures to environmental hazards and differential health outcomes among communities. The dynamics between SDoH, disproportionate environmental exposures, and differential health outcomes are often specific to micro-geographic areas.

Methods This study focused on children less than 20 years of age who lived in Douglas County, Nebraska, during 2016–2019. To assess the role of SDoH in differential exposures, we evaluated the association between SDoH metrics and criteria pollutant concentrations and the association between SDoH and pediatric asthma exacerbations to quantify the role of SDoH in differential pediatric asthma outcomes. …

Computational Decision Support For Socio-Technical Awareness Of Land-Use Planning Under Complexity—A Dam Resilience Planning Case Study, Andreas Tolk, Jennifer A. Richkus, F. Leron Shults, Wesley J. Wildman

VMASC Publications

Land-use planning for modern societies requires technical competence as well as social competence. We therefore propose an integrative solution enabling better land-use planning and management through better-informed decision-making. We adapt a method developed for cross-disciplinary team building to identify the stakeholders and their various objectives and value systems. We use these results to populate artificial societies embedded into a dynamic data analytics framework as a tool to identify, explore, and visualize the challenges resulting from the different objectives and value systems in land-use planning and management. To prove the feasibility of the proposed solution, we present two use cases from …

Earlier Snowmelt May Lead To Late Season Declines In Plant Productivity And Carbon Sequestration In Arctic Tundra Ecosystems, Donatella Zona, Peter M. Lafleur, Koen Hufkens, Barbara Bailey, Beniamino Gioli, George Burba, Jordan P. Goodrich, Anna K. Liljedahl, Eugénie S. Euskirchen, Jennifer D. Watts, Mary Farina, John S. Kimball, Martin Heimann, Mathias Göckede, Martijn Pallandt, Torben R. Christensen, Mikhail Mastepanov, Efrén López-Blanco, Marcin Jackowicz-Korczynski, Albertus J. Dolman, Luca Belelli Marchesini, Roisin Commane, Steven C. Wofsy, Charles E. Miller, David A. Lipson, Josh Hashemi, Kyle A. Arndt, Lars Kutzbach, David Holl, Julia Boike, Christian Wille, Torsten Sachs, Aram Kalhori, Xia Song

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Arctic warming is affecting snow cover and soil hydrology, with consequences for carbon sequestration in tundra ecosystems. The scarcity of observations in the Arctic has limited our understanding of the impact of covarying environmental drivers on the carbon balance of tundra ecosystems. In this study, we address some of these uncertainties through a novel record of 119 site-years of summer data from eddy covariance towers representing dominant tundra vegetation types located on continuous permafrost in the Arctic. Here we found that earlier snowmelt was associated with more tundra net CO2 sequestration and higher gross primary productivity (GPP) only in June …

Permafrost Landscape History Shapes Fluvial Chemistry, Ecosystem Carbon Balance, And Potential Trajectories Of Future Change, Scott Zolkos, Suzanne E. Tank, Steven V. Kokelj, Robert G. Striegl, Sarah Shakil, Carolina Voigt, Oliver Sonnentag, William L. Quinton, Edward A.G. Schuur, Donatella Zona, Peter M. Lafleur, Ryan C. Sullivan, Masahito Ueyama, David Billesbach, David Cook, Elyn R. Humphreys, Philip Marsh

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Intensifying permafrost thaw alters carbon cycling by mobilizing large amounts of terrestrial substrate into aquatic ecosystems. Yet, few studies have measured aquatic carbon fluxes and constrained drivers of ecosystem carbon balance across heterogeneous Arctic landscapes. Here, we characterized hydrochemical and landscape controls on fluvial carbon cycling, quantified fluvial carbon fluxes, and estimated fluvial contributions to ecosystem carbon balance across 33 watersheds in four ecoregions in the continuous permafrost zone of the western Canadian Arctic: unglaciated uplands, ice-rich moraine, and organic-rich lowlands and till plains. Major ions, stable isotopes, and carbon speciation and fluxes revealed patterns in carbon cycling across ecoregions …

“La Ultra Periferia De Un País Periférico”: La Política Estratégica Litífera En Jujuy: Los Objetivos, Los Instrumentos, Y Los Desafíos / The Ultra Periphery Of A Periphery Country: The Strategic Policy Towards Lithium In Jujuy: The Objectives, The Instruments, And The Challenges, Max Kaye

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

La transición energética hizo cobrar nueva importancia a los yacimientos metalíferos y no metalíferos y generó un nuevo patrón de demanda, especialmente para el caso del litio. Los actores importantes en la cadena de valor de las baterías de ion-litio intensificaron su control sobre cada etapa de sus negocios, y las políticas de los países abundantes en litio son cruciales para determinar cómo afecta a sus territorios esta carrera por el litio. Jujuy, una provincia que podría considerarse periférica de la Argentina, declaró el litio como un recurso estratégico en 2011. La provincia creó ciertos instrumentos para ejercer mayor control …

Nebraska Water Center Annual Report 2022, Nebraska Water Center, Daugherty Water For Food Global Institute

Literature from The Nebraska Water Center

CONTENTS

Overview: The Nebraska Water Center (https://watercenter.unl.edu)

Fast Facts: NWC 2022 Snapshot

Our Work

Water Sciences Lab Sees Rapid Growth in 2022 (https://watercenter.unl.edu/water-sciences-laboratory2)

WSL is Key to AltEn Contamination Monitoring (https://go.unl.edu/mead)

Know Your Well Project Enters Third Phase (https://knowyourwell.unl.edu)

Computer Science Students Build New Platform for Know Your Well Data Collection

Water Sciences Laboratory Helps Nebraska Tackle Nitrate (https://watercenter.unl.edu/water-sciences-laboratory2)

Nebraska Rural Poll Includes Water Quality Questions (https://ruralpoll.unl.edu and https://go.unl.edu/nitrate_strategy)

NWC Holds Platte River Basin Conference (https://watercenter.unl.edu/2022-nebraska-water-conference)

Spring Seminar Series (https://watercenter.unl.edu/spring-seminar-series)

Water Center Undergoes Five-Year …

A Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory For Nebraska: Livestock And Coal Loom Large, Eric R. Holley, Adam Liska

Adam Liska Papers

Mitigation of climate change requires the systematic identification and cataloging of emissions sources at city, state, and national levels. In this study, an inventory of annual greenhouse gas emissions from the state of Nebraska was created based on industry data, and emissions inventories were completed each year from 1990 to 2016. Nebraska’s net emissions were found to increase from 56.2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents (MMtCO₂e) in 1990 to 87.4 MMtCO₂e in 2016. Agriculture was found to be the sector with the most emissions (36 MMtCO₂e) followed by electricity generation (21 MMtCO …

Application Of Climate-Smart Forestry – Forest Manager Response To The Relevance Of European Definition And Indicators, Euan Bowditch, Giovanni Santopuoli, Boyżdar Neroj, Jan Svetlik Jan Svetlik, Mark Tominlson, Vivien Pohl, Admir Avdagić, Miren Del Rio, Tzetvan Zlatanov Tzetvan Zlatanov, Höhn Maria, Gabriela Jamnická, Yusuf Serengil, Murat Sarginci, Sigríður Júlía Brynleifsdóttir, Jerzy Lesinki, João C. Azevedo

Articles

Climate change impacts are an increasing threat to forests and current approaches to management. In 2020, Climate-smart Forestry (CSF) definition and set of indicators was published. This study further developed this work by testing the definition and indicators through a forest manager survey across fifteen member European countries. The survey covered topic areas of demographics, climate change impacts, definition and indicators assessment, as well as knowledge and communication. Overall, forest managers considered the threat of climate change to their forests as high or critical and 62% found the CSF definition clear and concise; however, the minority suggested greater simplification or …

Greenhouse Gas Emissions And Drought Projections For Nebraska, Adam Liska

Adam Liska Papers

This lecture will focus on three issues. The first is a presentation of data from the first greenhouse gas emissions inventory for the State of Nebraska, which will be published in the coming weeks. In 2016, emissions from beef cattle made up 23% of net state emissions, and coal for electricity made up 23.7% of net state emissions. The second issue to be addressed are the impacts of the 2012 drought on agriculture in Nebraska and the region. The drought of 2012 indicates that future droughts in the 21^st century in the region can be a dominant influence on …

Development-Induced Displacement In Kiryandongo District: A Case Study Of The Karuma Hydroelectric Power Plant, Remington Fritz

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper assesses the effects of the development induced displacement due to the Karuma Hydroelectric Power Plant on the Awoo village and surrounding areas in Karuma Town. Recently, Uganda has pursued several large-scale development projects that have repeatedly displaced people. Despite having strong displacement and resettlement framework, there is a continued pattern of failing to implement such framework, threatening the livelihood and well-being of those displaced.

Interview with key informants from several government agencies, such as the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development the National Environmental Management Authority and Ugandan Generation Electricity Company Ltd have illustrated the political framework and …

Contested Landscapes, Disputed Realities: An Investigation Of Socio-Environmental Conflict From Mining In Northern Ecuador: An Honors Thesis, Ian F. Hirons

Student Works

For decades, Ecuador has been one of the preeminent petrostates in South America. However, in response to recent drops in global demand and pricing for oil products, the country has made serious commitments to further develop its mineral resources. By opening a new natural resource sector, Ecuador has firmly cemented itself as a primarily extractivist nation. In the process, the national government has frequently come into conflict with activist and community groups who protest the encroachment of extractive industry. This thesis explores the various dimensions of socio-environmental conflict created by large-scale mining projects in northern Ecuador with specific attention to …

Modeling The Release And Spreading Of Permanganate From Aerated Slow-Release Oxidants In A Laboratory Flow Tank, Ann Kambhu, Yusong Li, Troy E. Gilmore, Steve D. Comfort

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Aerated, slow-release oxidants are a relatively new technology for treating contaminated aquifers. A critical need for advancing this technology is developing a reliable method for predicting the radius of influence (ROI) around each drive point. In this work, we report a series of laboratory flow tank experiments and numerical modeling efforts designed to predict the release and spreading of permanganate from aerated oxidant candles (oxidant-wax composites). To mimic the design of the oxidant delivery system used in the field, a double screen was used in a series of flow tank experiments where the oxidant was placed inside the inner screen …

Nanomaterials In The Environment, Human Exposure Pathway, And Health Effects: A Review, Arindam Malakar, Sushil R. Kanel, Chittaranjan Ray, Daniel D. Snow, Mallikarjuna N. Nadagouda

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Nanomaterials (NMs), both natural and synthetic, are produced, transformed, and exported into our environment daily. Natural NMs annual flux to the environment is around 97% of the total and is significantly higher than synthetic NMs. However, synthetic NMs are considered to have a detrimental effect on the environment. The extensive usage of synthetic NMs in different fields, including chemical, engineering, electronics, and medicine, makes them susceptible to be discharged into the atmosphere, various water sources, soil, and landfill waste. As ever-larger quantities of NMs end up in our environment and start interacting with the biota, it is crucial to understand …

Moving Beyond ‘More Crop Per Drop’: Insights From Two Decades Of Research On Agricultural Water Productivity, Meredith Giordano, Susanne M. Scheierling, David O. Tréguer, Hugh Turral, Peter G. Mccornick

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Concern over increasing water scarcity has led to the introduction of the concept of agricultural water productivity and an emphasis on interventions to achieve ‘more crop per drop’. Yet, a strong debate continues on how the concept is to be defined and used. Drawing largely from the irrigation literature, the origins of the concept and its methodological developments are reviewed, and its use in applied work over two decades is discussed. Based on this analysis of conceptual and applied research, key insights into the concept’s contributions and limitations are presented, as well as opportunities for further refinements.

Transmission Routes Of The Microbiome And Resistome From Manure To Soil And Lettuce, Yuepeng Sun, Daniel D. Snow, Harkamal Walia, Xu Li

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

The land application of animal manure can introduce manure microbiome and resistome to croplands where food crops are grown. The objective of this study was to characterize the microbiome and resistome on and in the leaves of lettuce grown in manured soil and identify the main transmission routes of microbes and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) from soil to the episphere and endosphere of lettuce. Shotgun metagenomic results show that manure application significantly altered the composition of the microbiome and resistome of surface soil. SourceTracker analyses indicate that manure and original soil were the main source of the microbiome and resistome …

Nebraska Water Center Annual Report 2019-2020

Literature from The Nebraska Water Center

Contents

Introduction: Foreword • Director’s Letter • Nebraska Water Center (NWC) Overview and Timeline • In Memoriam: Kyle Hoagland

Research • Water Sciences Laboratory • Nebraska Vadose Zone Program • Ogallala Water Coordinated Agriculture Project • Water for Agriculture Project • Greeley Award • U.S. Geological Survey 104b Projects

Extension & Outreach: NWC Events • Nebraska Nitrate Initiative • Bazile Groundwater Management Area • Water and Integrated Crops Hub • Water Faculty Directory • State Legislative Funding • Water Resources Advisory Panel

Teaching: Know Your Well • Sorab Panday Spotlight • NWC Postdoc Profiles • NWC Student Intern Profiles • …

Surveillance Of Plasticizers, Bisphenol A, Steroids And Caffeine In Surface Water Of River Ganga And Sundarban Wetland Along The Bay Of Bengal: Occurrence, Sources, Estrogenicity Screening And Ecotoxicological Risk Assessment, Paromita Chakraborty, Nancy W. Shappell, Moitraiyee Mukhopadhyay, Sathaporn Onanong, Daniel D. Snow

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

The transboundary River Ganga serves as a conduit for meltwater from the Himalayas and is a major freshwater source for two thirds of Indian population before emptying into the Sundarban Delta, the largest estuary in the Bay of Bengal. Endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) such as phthalic acid esters (PAEs) and bisphenol A (BPA) used as organic plastic additives can pollute the aquatic environment receiving plastic litter. Hence, we have investigated these EDCs in water samples from Ganga and Sundarban wetland of India. Since these compounds exhibit estrogenic potential, we have further measured steroids and evaluated the estrogenic activity (estradiol equivalents, …

Baseflow Nitrate Dynamics Within Nested Watersheds Of An Agricultural Stream In Nebraska, Usa, Galen Richards, Troy E. Gilmore, Aaron R. Mittelstet, Tiffany Messer, Daniel D. Snow

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

There is a need to evaluate high surface nitrate concentrations across agricultural watersheds, both spatially and temporally, to increase understanding of source and timing of nitrogen loads in streams and rivers. Bazile Creek is a high-nitrate stream originating in the agriculturally intensive Bazile Groundwater Management Area of Eastern Nebraska, USA. It is a gaining stream that receives groundwater with high nitrate concentrations originating from nonpoint sources. The objective of this study was to determine spatial and temporal variability of baseflow nitrate concentrations in Bazile Creek and its tributaries and to relate this variability to watershed characteristics. Surface-water nitrate samples were …

Satellite-Based Monitoring Of Irrigation Water Use: Assessing Measurement Errors And Their Implications For Agricultural Water Management Policy, T. Foster, Taro Mieno, Nicholas Brozovic

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Reliable accounting of agricultural water use is critical for sustainable water management. However, the majority of agricultural water use is not monitored, with limited metering of irrigation despite increasing pressure on both groundwater and surface water resources in many agricultural regions worldwide. Satellite remote sensing has been proposed as a low-cost and scalable solution to fill widespread gaps in monitoring of irrigation water use in both developed and developing countries, bypassing the technical, socioeconomic, and political challenges that to date have constrained in situ metering. In this paper, we show through a systematic meta-analysis that the relative accuracy of different …

Environmental Soft Law As A Governance Strategy, Cary Coglianese

All Faculty Scholarship

Soft law governance relies on nongovernmental institutions that establish and implement voluntary standards. Compared with traditional hard law solutions to societal and economic problems, soft law alternatives promise to be more politically feasible to establish and then easier to adapt in the face of changing circumstances. They may also seem more likely to be flexible in what they demand of targeted businesses and other entities. But can soft law actually work to solve major problems? This Article considers the value of soft law governance through the lens of three major voluntary, nongovernmental initiatives that address environmental concerns: (1) ISO 14001 …

Climate Change And Market-Based Insurance Feedbacks, Eric R. Holley, Adam Liska, Cory Walters, Geoffrey C. Friesen, Michael Hayes, Max J. Rudolph, Donald A. Wilhite

Adam Liska Papers

Climatic events have accounted for 91% of $1.05 trillion in insured costs for global catastrophic events from 1980 to 2016. Costs are driven by socio-economic development and increased frequency and severity of climatic disasters driven by climate change. Government policies to reduce systemic risk (e.g., cap-and-trade, carbon tax) have been a predominant approach for mitigation and adaptation. Alternatively, market-based incentives for climate change adaptation and mitigation already operate via the insurance industry to lessen impacts on society. Insurance feedbacks include changes in 1) premiums and insurance policies, 2) non-coverage, and 3) policy making and litigation. Alongside government policies, insurance feedbacks …

Remote Sensing And Three-Dimensional Photogrammetric Analysis Of Glaciofluvial Sand And Gravel Deposits For Aggregate Resource Assessment In Mchenry County, Illinois, Usa, Xiaodong Miao, Christopher J. Stohr, Paul R. Hanson, Qiansuo Wang

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Sand and gravel deposits, one of the most common natural resources, are used as aggregates mostly by the construction industry, and their extraction contributes significantly to a region's economy. Thus, it is critical to locate sand and gravel deposits, and evaluate their quantity and quality safely and quickly. However, information on aggregate resources is generally only available from conventional two-dimensional (2-D) geologic maps, and direct field measurements for quality analysis at outcrops are time consuming and are often not possible due to safety concerns, or simply because exposures are too difficult to access. In this study, we presented a methodology …

Promoting The Sustainable Utilization Of Groundwater Resources In Ethiopia Using The Integrated Groundwater Footprint Index, Xinyu Lin

Honors Scholar Theses

The country of Ethiopia is highly vulnerable to human-caused climate change and is already suffering from the effects. The predominately rural population relies heavily on small-scale agriculture, with 78% of households having at least one member engaged in the field, yet staple crops are highly susceptible to droughts and other weather shocks. Total and agricultural GDP growth in the country have been strongly linked to inter-annual rainfall variability, of which Ethiopia has among the highest in sub-Saharan Africa. A decrease in rainfall since the 1970s has been one of the primary causes of low crop yields, and stresses the immediate …

Sediment Outflow Under Simulated Rainfall Conditions With Varying Geotechnical Properties, Pranjay Joshi, Akhilesh Kumar, P. V. Singh, Jahangeer Jahangeer

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

The vulnerability of soil toward erosion might be reduced by having a good vegetative cover over the soil surface, slope improvement, and improving soil properties so that it is not easily detached and transported. However, the establishment of proper vegetative cover is a long process because it takes time for seeds to germinate and attain maturity. As an alternative approach, if soil resistance was increased by increasing the shear strength of soil against erosive forces offered by eroding agents, the soil system would become capable of withstanding the detachment of its particles on the application of shear stress. To achieve …

Water Scarcity And Fish Imperilment Driven By Beef Production, Brian D. Richter, Dominique Bartak, Peter Caldwell, Kyle Fankel Davis, Peter Debaere, Arjen Y. Hoekstra, Tianshu Li, Landon Marston, Ryan Mcmanamay, Mesfin Mekonnen, Benjamin L. Ruddell, Richard R. Rushforth, Tara J. Troy

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Human consumption of freshwater is now approaching or surpassing the rate at which water sources are being naturally replenished in many regions, creating water shortage risks for people and ecosystems. Here we assess the impact of human water uses and their connection to water scarcity and ecological damage across the United States, identify primary causes of river dewatering and explore ways to ameliorate them. We find irrigation of cattle-feed crops to be the greatest consumer of river water in the western United States, implicating beef and dairy consumption as the leading driver of water shortages and fish imperilment in the …