Recharging groundwater security by ensuring polycentric

governance and social learning strategies

Maria Paula Mendes1,*, Nuno Barreiras1

1CERIS, Civil Engineering Research and Innovation for Sustainability, Instituto Superior Téc-
nico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal
*corresponding author: mpaulamendes@tecnico.ulisboa.pt

Abstract. The natural water cycle has been altered by human actions. Ground-
water is an essential part of this cycle and, an important source for human con-
sumption. Climate change effects carry also ethical implications, where most-
favored-nations are able to cope better with water scarcity issues than the other
countries. Here phenomena such as “urban sprawl”, the “tyranny of small deci-
sions", the “Jevon paradox” and, “intergenerational injustice” are presented,
showing that it is impossible to have groundwater security without taking into
consideration the human nature itself. Several examples are presented, showing
that many individual minor actions can induce big transformations in the water
cycle, and therefore, in groundwater security. Effective groundwater manage-
ment processes must incorporate polycentric governance and social learning
strategies. Moreover, citizens should be involved emotionally. Public participa-
tion in the groundwater governance is a trend that needs to be cherished and fos-
tered, since Geoethics is dependent of the knowing. Due to its nature, groundwa-
ter ethical exploration depends greatly on the regular water users' will, introduc-
ing challenges in its governance. However, politicians and decision-makers point
out that water management has been poorly conscious.

Keywords: Groundwater, Urban sprawl, Jevons Paradox, Water Security, Gov-

ernance.

1 Introduction

In the second half of the twentieth century, human activity exploded, causing a strong
impact on the earth's system. This post-Second World War period marks the beginning
of the so-called “great acceleration” (Steffen et al., 2015). One of the main conse-
quences was the decline of ecosystem services, primarily affecting water and food sup-
ply. During the 2001-2010 decade, although a leveling of the trajectory of water use in
OECD countries, the middle class's growth of BRICS nations leads to a global increase
in its use (Steffen et al., 2015). For instance, the groundwater over-exploitation in Bei-
jing has declined its quantitative and qualitative status (UNESCO, 2016). In Europe,
urban sprawl and soil sealing threaten biodiversity and increase the risk of both flooding
and water scarcity (EC, 2011). Raising public awareness for (ground)water resources
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is an essential means of empowering citizens, enhancing the societal resilience to ex-

treme weather events (GWP, 2017; John and Kagan, 2014).
Urban water resilience can be tackled through more efficient use and landscape man-
agement. At the scale of the individual plot, small changes occurred en masse can im-
pact urban groundwater resources. For countries with moderate to high per-capita in-
come, domestic investments can be adequate to find solutions to water shortage if suf-
ficient political will can be found (Mcdonald et al., 2011). Some groundwater-related
issues are presented and debated, illustrating public perspective should be integrated
into the urban groundwater resource planning and, citizens have also responsibilities to
create a more sustainable water management.

2 Urban Sprawl and the “tyranny of small decisions”

Urban sprawl is a specific form of land take, resulting from the spread of low-density
settlements. Urban sprawl contributes to the loss of agricultural land and, to the degra-
dation of ecosystems (EC, 2011), causing an increase of soil sealing, which in turn,
leads to disturbances in the hydrological cycle (Bricker et al., 2017; Mendes and
Ribeiro, 2014; 2017).
During the period 1990–2000, urbanization grew along the coastal regions of Europe
faster than inland areas, with the highest rates of increase (20–35%) in Portugal, Ireland
and Spain (AEA, 2006). Overexploitation of coastal aquifers can increase groundwater
salinity. In Graciosa and Pico islands (Portugal), groundwater salinization is due to sea-
water intrusion. Although there are natural factors associated with groundwater salini-
zation, high pumping rates and well completion problems were also driven forces (Cruz
and Andrade, 2017).
Individual gardens can play an attenuating role in urban floods and, can promote
groundwater recharge, since, as a whole, they form a green complex inside urban space
(Verbeeck et al., 2011). In Portugal, in Alfama district (Lisbon), we have been witness-
ing the paving inside these small green spaces (Ribeiro et al., 2008). In Flanders’s re-
gion (Belgium), in five residential areas, top-down measures have been established for
preventing the pavement or construction inside private domestic gardens; nevertheless,
the imperviousness area increased from 38% (date of original building plans) to 56%
in 2008 (Verbeeck et al., 2011). Goddard et al. (2010) used the term “tyranny of small
decisions” for this cumulative outcome of many garden-scale management decisions.
Here is extended this term for all those situations where the small decisions of many
can have a strong impact on the quality and quantity of groundwater.

3 Groundwater use and Jevon Paradox

In southern Europe, water competition can be enhanced especially during the summer
months. Moreover, Mediterranean climate regions face periodic droughts. Improving
the efficiency of groundwater use does not necessarily mean a reduction in its consump-
tion (Jevons paradox).
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Urban agriculture and green spaces need water for their maintenance and compete
with other urban uses of water. Perth (Australia) was a growing city that was facing an
increased water supply deficit. Private citizens started to use groundwater as the source
to irrigate their gardens, reducing the consumption of treated water for human con-
sumption. However, citizens who used this water source consumed more water than
those who used other sources. In the end, Perth Water Authorities imposed water-use
restrictions, regardless of its source (Saayman and Adams, 2002). Improving agricul-
tural water efficiency can sometimes translate into more land under irrigation and/or
cultivation of water-intensive crops (Perry and Steduto, 2017). In Morocco, drip irri-
gation is related to higher crop density, a shift to more water-intensive crops, and the
reuse of 'saved water' to expand cultivated areas (Molle and Tanouti, 2017).

4 Climate change and intergenerational justice

The effects of human-made climate change also carry ethical implications, with a par-
ticular focus on the issue of global and intergenerational injustice. Many works have
been done to address this problem, but the legal implementation of intergenerational
justice remains a challenge. While the normative obligations to future generations are
greater than we commonly assume, the empirical probability that we will leave behind
a world with better or at least equal opportunities for future generations has dropped
over the past decades (Tremmel, 2009). The path towards a common vision for sustain-
able development took a major step with the publication of the UN Sustainable Devel-
opment Goals (SDGs, 2015). Nevertheless, even if the acknowledgment of the rele-
vance of fair distribution principles in the implementation of sustainable development
strategies is unanimous, distant future generations’ requirements are not minimally en-
sured by the current formulation of the SDGs (Vasconcellos Oliveira, 2018). The de-
stabilization of the hydrological cycle caused by climate change tends to exacerbate
these problems.
Regarding Portugal, the perception of the political class is that water resources are
being depleted due to climate change (namely in the southern regions) and to pollutant
activities and other serious socio-economic pressures. Various opinions of Portuguese
politicians have been heard on this topic, in the review report made by Moury (2018),
and the general opinion is quite worrying: “(…) In fact, we are not thinking about future
generations, we are only thinking about current ones. And even in these, I also have
many doubts”. Several decision-makers point out that water management has been
poorly conscious, with negative effects on future generations, and no reference to
groundwater resources has been made. Another opinion states that “In Portugal there is
a major problem of lack of supervision, and we know that there are repeated permanent
polluting behaviors without any punishment for these entities, and we know that this
also jeopardizes people's quality of life”. However, there is also the perception that
there is no area as Water-related regulations where so many advances in so short period
of time had been made in the last 30 years. Moury (2018) points out the difficulty in
solving these problems. The inability to deal with them is mainly related to the lack of
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political incentives to do so, followed by unfit political agendas and unconscious socio-
economic driving forces.

5 Collective actions to an improved groundwater governance

Water governance is critical to water security, and to the long-term sustainability of the
freshwater systems. Water security is defined as “the capacity of a population to safe-
guard sustainable access to adequate quantities of acceptable quality water for sustain-
ing livelihoods, human well-being, and socio-economic development, for ensuring pro-
tection against water-borne pollution and water-related disasters, and for preserving
ecosystems in a climate of peace and political stability”- (UN-Water, 2013).
Bakker and Morinville (2013) debated the governance dimensions of water security,
that can be applied to groundwater governance: adaptive governance, multi-level gov-
ernance and the political and institutional dimensions. Briefly, water security enhances
the uncertainty inherent to the management of complex socio-ecological systems, com-
bined with economic driving forces. Therefore, the adaptive management paradigm is
raised, wherein polycentric governance fosters social learning. The multi-level govern-
ance is enhanced for the necessity of multi-scalar linkages within and beyond the
groundwater bodies. Important as well is to “Mind the Gaps, Bridge the Gaps”, as it is
documented by OECD (2013), that identified seven categories of governance deficits
related to (ground)water management, relevant to all countries regardless of their insti-
tutional organizations, water availability and demand. The third aforementioned dimen-
sion is related to the centrality of social power, in a variety of modalities (both legal
and illegal) and scales (from the local to supranational). Social power emphasizes ne-
gotiating conflicts generated by tensions at the water–energy–food nexus. In this con-
text, environmental management processes that incorporate polycentric governance and
social learning strategies are considered to be desirable.
When looking to phenomena as urban sprawl and the “tyranny of small decisions",
Jevon paradox and, intergenerational justice it is clear that social (and ethical) learning
has to be enabled and improved through the involvement of a greater diversity of actors
in on-the-ground management and decision-making processes. Part of this diversity is
the citizens, as individuals, which in fact for some phenomena (i.e. water use) are the
problem, and the solution as well. For example, calls for public participation in the
environment (and water) governance are a trend that is increasing due to multiple fac-
tors, including awareness of the expertise available outside of government agencies,
new approaches to citizen participation, and the socio-economic restructuring. Never-
theless, there are very few examples of effective public participation in groundwater
governance. So the question remains, how to deal with the ethic and socio-economical
phenomena directly related to groundwater in order to achieve long-term sustainability?
Cutting the story short, a resilience collective action is required for an integrated long-
term socio-ecological policy towards groundwater governance.
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6 Final considerations

Some ideas are presented by Re and Misstear (2017) that contribute to the development
of resilient collection actions in this context. Education and, capacity development are
crucial and two different actors and educational needs are considered: 1) Academic and
groundwater professionals, 2) Policymakers and the general public, including well
owners (key stakeholders).
For the success of the education it must be considered that different communication
strategies are required for different stakeholders, and there are opportunities for ground-
water scientists to make more use of social media and visual art in their outreach activ-
ities. Awareness-raising of the groundwater issues is also only possible by including
the public. The informing about success stories around groundwater can help to bring
these issues to public eyes. But in order to engage massive public participation, and
towards optimal results, in collective action, citizens should be involved emotionally.
This is quite visible nowadays regarding climate change, where especially the young-
sters which are indeed the heirs of the environmental actions we take today, are mobi-
lized in unforeseen manifestations of will. Though, from manifestation to real action
on the day-by-day living the outcomes are not quite visible.
The same goes for the regular water users, which keep using water above the replen-
ishment levels based on the rooted traditions, practices and live standards. If real col-
lective action is to be achieved, stronger actions need to be implemented in the society,
technology and citizens’ lives. Educational and establishment of actions and practices
made by the governing environmental agencies would be very recommendable towards
a sustainable and intergenerational groundwater use and conservation. Therefore, from
our view not only an urban policy needs to be understood and to operate in a multi-
scalar context but also new governance modes based on citizens' empowerment, the
participation of all relevant stakeholders and innovative use of social capital are
strongly needed.

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