The inter-scalar interaction of norms is pervasive in African hydropolitics due to the nature of freshwater on the continent – shared, strategic and that which necessitates cooperation. However, with few exceptions, particular norms created at specific levels of scale have been researched in isolation of those existing at other levels. It is argued that this exclusionary approach endangers the harmonised and integrated development of international water law and governance, producing sub-optimal cooperative strategies. The notable contributions of Ken Conca and the Maryland School’s research on the contestation of norms occurring at different levels of scale, and Anthony Turton’s Hydropolitical Complex (HPC), will be examined through a Constructivist theoretical lens, in terms of their applicability to furthering an understanding of multi-level normative frameworks. Through the use of the Orange-Senqu River basin, and the Nile Equatorial Lakes sub-basin (NELSB) as case studies, it is argued that norm convergence is possible, and is occurring in both case studies analysed, although to varying degrees as a result of different causal factors and different biophysical, historical, socio-political and cultural contexts. This is demonstrated through an examination of regional dynamics and domestic political milieus. Notwithstanding their varying degrees of water demand, Orange-Senqu and NELSB riparians present fairly different political identities, each containing existing constellations of norms, which have affected the ways in which they have responded to the influence of external norms, how the norm is translated at the local level and to what extent it is incorporated into state policy. In so doing, the interface between international norms and regional/domestic norms will be explored in an attempt to understand which norms gain acceptance and why. It is therefore advocated that a multi-level interpretation of norm development in Africa’s hydropolitics is essential to an understanding of the interconnectedness of context, interests and identities. Each level of scale, from the international to the subnational, give meaning to how norms are translated and socialised, and how they in turn, transform contexts.

published_or_final_version / Environmental Management / Master / Master of Science in Environmental Management

published_or_final_version / Environmental Management / Master / Master of Science in Environmental Management

<p>Denna rapport är en del av en förstudie som syftar att undersöka möjligheterna för ett bevattningsprojekt i de ecuadorianska Anderna. Rapport koncentrerar sig på vatten-tillgången för förstudien Estudio de Prefacitbilidad de un Proyecto de Riego en los Andes – el Caso de Balda Lupaxi Bajo, Chimborazo, Ecuador. Fältundersökningarna gjordes under mars till och med maj 2003 i Balda Lupaxi Bajo, en indian-by i provinsen Chimobrazo. I detta område är nederbörden bristfällig och följaktligen är skörden dålig och det är inte möjligt att bruka jorden under delar av året. Idén till projektet initierades av en bonde-förening som kallas UNASAC. UNASAC kommer att använda rapporten i sitt sökande efter finansiellt stöd för fördjupande studier och slutligen ett genomförande av projektet.</p><p>Målet med denna delrapport är att identifiera en lämplig plats för vattenuttag och att bestämma hur många hektar som kan bevattnas. Vidare presenteras ett förslag till utformning av vattenavledningen. Studien har gjorts genom fältstudier, vattenanalyser, intervjuer och bearbetning av hydrologiska och meteorologiska data.</p><p>Fyra vattenuttagsalternativ undersöktes, både flod- och grundvatten. Det mest lämpliga alternativet enligt denna studie är floden Llinllin. De andra undersökta alternativen förkastades på grund av brist på vatten, otillräcklig vattenkvalitet och höga kostnader. Llinllin-alternativet består av en direkt avledning, en öppen kanal och en sifon. Alternativet kan försörja 250 hektar av bevattnad odlingsmark under de antaganden som är gjorda i rapporten.</p><p>För att fortsätta med detta projekt måste bönderna lösa de sociala problem som finns i och mellan byarna. Kommunicationen med de närliggande byarna är nödvändig. Det finns många intressenter av Llinllin floden och det är nödvändigt att finna en hållbar lösning för vattenuttaget.</p> / <p>This report is a part of a prefeasiblity study to investigate the possibilities to introduce an irrigation system in a rural part of the Andes in Ecuador. The report concentrates on the water supply for the prefeasability study called Estudio de Prefacitbilidad de un Proyecto de Riego en los Andes – el Caso de Balda Lupaxi Bajo, Chimborazo, Ecuador. The field study was carried out in March to May 2003 in the indigenous village of Balda Lupaxi Bajo situated in the province of Chimborazo. In this area the precipitation is inferior throughout the year. Consequently the harvest is poor and it is not possible to cultivate during parts of the year. The project was initiated by UNASAC, an indigenous organization for farmers. UNASAC would use this report for finding finances to complete further studies and finally implement an irrigation system.</p><p>The main aims of this report are to identify a suitable site for water supply and to determine the size of the area possible to irrigate. Further, a distribution design of the water supply has been investigated. This was carried out by field studies, water analyses, interviews and processing of hydrological and meteorological data.</p><p>Four alternatives of water supply were studied, both river and ground water. The most appropriate water supply according to the study is the Llinllin River. The other investigated alternatives were rejected due to lack of water, insufficient water quality and high costs. The Llinllin River alternative consists of a direct abstraction, open channels and a siphon. This alternative can support 250 hectares under the constraints taken in this study.</p><p>In order to continue this project the farmers need to solve the social problems within and between the villages. An improvement of the communication with the nearby villages is necessary. There are many stakeholders involved in the usage of the Llinllin River and therefore it is of great importance to find a sustainable solution for the water abstraction.</p>

7 pp. / First in a planned series for each county in the state. / Limited information is available to the County Extension offices to address common concerns of water supply in rural Arizona. In addition, in the more metropolitan areas of the state, little is understood about water resources. This project is proposed to provide a ten to twelve page primer on water resources on a county-by-county basis, beginning with Yavapai County.

4 pp. / Following on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's "Arsenic Rule" decision to require public water systems to lower the allowable arsenic content in drinking water from 50 parts per billion (ppb) to 10 ppb by January 23, 2006, private well owners across the state have realized the importance of testing their own water supply for arsenic. Under Arizona law, it is the sole responsibility of the private well owner to determine the quality (potability) of their private well water. This article discusses the geologic prevelance of arsenic across the state, and options available to the well owner to address this water quality concern. Expected to be the first in a 3-part series on ground water quality issues common in Arizona.

6 pp. / Well Owners' Guide to Ground Water Resources in Yavapai County. AZ1451 / Private well owners are responsible for the safety and quality of their water supply. The nearly 6,000 exempt wells in Gila County are not regulated by any state or federal agency, and lot splits and subdivisions may result in an unregulated water supply serving several homes. This publication is one in a series of county-based publications that identifies well maintenance and testing procedures for the well owner, with an emphasis on water quality concerns for Gila County.

The groundwater level in Pinal County has been dropping steadily since large scale expansion of irrigated agriculture began in the early 1940s. The current average rate of decline of the water table of about nine feet per year means steadily increasing pumping costs. Since over 95 percent of the water in Pinal County is used by farmers, the initial impact of increasing pumping costs fall almost entirely on farmers, resulting in continuous adjustments in resource use, cropping patterns, output and income. The principal objective of this dissertation is to estimate the extent and significance of the adjustments Pinal County farmers will make over time as their water costs increase due to increasing pumping lifts. Farmer adjustments to increasing pumping costs are analyzed in two major steps. First, an economic model of typical Pinal County farms is developed for four size groups and three pumping lifts within each size class. This model provides estimates of net return over variable costs for the various field crops in Pinal County for each farm size and pumping lift. Second, data provided by the analysis of typical Pinal County farms is incorporated in a linear programming model which estimates enterprise combinations, output, and income from typical farms subject to restrictions regarding factor supplies, and assuming profitmaximization as a goal. Changes in cropping patterns, output and income over time are estimated by comparing the result from a linear programming model based on 1965 water costs to the results from a model based on projected water costs in the years 1966, 1976, 1986, 1996, and 2006. The results from this model suggest that Pinal County farmers do not face an immediate "water crisis", as often suggested. While the declining water supply will require large adjustments over time in acreage of low-valued hay and feed grain crops, this will not substantially affect net farm income because these crops provide a relatively small portion of the net income to Pinal County farmers. Cotton provides Pinal County farmers with most of their net income and the return to cotton is more dependent on lint price and Government programs and payments than on water costs. Certain assumptions regarding prices, technology and institutions are implicit in this model. Changes in these assumptions can generally be reflected by general or relative price changes. A sensitivity analysis of the effect of price changes shows that net income is very sensitive to changes which affect cotton, but not very sensitive to price changes in other crops in the model. Cotton acreage is determined by Government acreage allotments. However, price decreases in cotton do not result in decreases in cotton acreages with current Government payments, while price decreases in other crops generally result in substantial decreases in output. Pinal County farmers, like the users of any stock resource, will continue to face declining net returns as the cost of tapping the stock of water increases. Adjustments in land values, net income, and number of farms will continue. The continued overdraft of water by Pinal County farmers apparently presents no particular threat to nonagricultural water users in the foreseeable future because nonfarm consumption is small relative to the total supply. Costs of supplying the nonagricultural sector with water would increase, but would be small relative to the productivity of water in these uses.

From Imperial Dam downstream, in addition to Mexico, the Colorado River supplies water to Arizona and California for predominantly agricultural use. In Arizona, the Colorado River is the major source of water supply to the various irrigation districts in the Yuma area. Due to legal constraints, the amount of Colorado River water available to the State of Arizona is limited. On the other hand, it was discovered that the amount of water applied to the soil in irrigation exceeds that amount needed for crop-growing. Two areas where the amount of water considerably exceeds the requirements, the mesa section of the Wellton-Mohawk Irrigation and Drainage District and the Yuma Mesa Irrigation and Drainage District, were studied in detail. The excess water applied on the mesa of the Wellton-Mohawk Irrigation and Drainage District flows into the Wellton-Mohawk Valley whence it is pumped into a conveyance channel and then discharged into the main channel of the Colorado River. This drain water has a very high salt content and therefore it adversely affects the quality of the river water. Since the drain water is discharged into the Colorado River above the point of diversion to Mexico and it is considered to be part of the Mexican water allotment, the quality of the Colorado River water has become a source of friction between the United States and the Republic of Mexico. The excess irrigation water from the Yuma Mesa Irrigation and Drainage District flows into the adjacent valleys as well as into uncultivated areas. In the adjacent valleys it is raising the water table and thus causing drainage problems. When it flows underground into the uncultivated lands, in large measure it constitutes a loss of water that otherwise could be put to beneficial use by Arizona. It is known that flood irrigation is not conducive to efficient application of water in the sandy soils that are predominant in these areas, and that the effects of this application of excess water are diverse and far-reaching. The change to sprinkler irrigation would be advantageous in many ways and beneficial to all concerned. The change to sprinkler irrigation on the mesa of the Wellton-Mohawk Irrigation and Drainage District would benefit both the farmers and the district financially. At the same time, it would decrease the salinity of the Colorado River water, thereby improving the quality of the water that Mexico receives and, consequently, the relations between the United States and the Republic of Mexico. In the Yuma Mesa Irrigation and Drainage District, the change in the method of irrigation would increase the amount of water available for use by the State of Arizona. Furthermore, it would alleviate the drainage problem of the adjacent valleys and would thereby decrease the amount of drain water flowing back into the channel of the Colorado River. In this district, such a change may entail a small added cost to the farmer. Alternatives for augmenting the flow of the Colorado River, such as importation of water from other basins, desalting sea water, phreatophyte eradication, and evaporation suppression, were found to be economically unfeasible at present or still in the experimental stages.

Inventory-prediction equations describing snowpack water content as functions of readily available or easily obtained inventory variables were developed for use in the ponderosa pine type in Arizona. Although empirical in nature, these equations include parameters assumed to index interception of precipitation inputs, obstruction of direct beam solar radiation, and re-radiation from trees onto the snowpack. Primary consideration was given to forest cover variables in synthesizing the inventory-prediction equations I because currently proposed water improvement programs designed to increase water yield derived from snow consist essentially of vegetative manipulations. Additional independent variables evaluated include potential direct beam solar radiation, elevation, soil, and precipitation inputs. All of the inventory-prediction equations describing a particular snowpack condition were not statistically equivalent in terms of the standard error of estimate or the coefficient of determination. Equations including basal area, bole area I volume, and height-index as expressions of forest cover density were generally better than equations with point density, sum of diameters, and number of trees. Inventory-prediction equations developed to describe snowpack dynamics throughout the accumulation period showed similar statistical form, except as possibly attributable to different precipitation inputs. Equations for characterizing residual snowpacks during spring runoff were statistically weak, possibly because factors other than those considered in this study control the runoff process. The inventory-prediction equations were developed to estimate the mean snowpack water content on a basin, and to describe the trade-off , or the rate of exchange, between snowpack water content and forest-site variables on a decision-making unit. The equations do not necessarily predict changes in recoverable water yield resulting from the implementation of a land management system, however. Nonbiotic characteristics of the land, L e., topographic features, geologic formations, and soil . properties, could conceivably control water yield to the extent that changes predicted by the inventory-prediction equations could be masked. Because of limitations in predicting potential changes in recoverable water yield, it was assumed that a land management system that maximizes snowpack water content on site would also provide the maximum potential for increasing recoverable water yield derived from snow. Management guidelines designed to allow snowpack water content to be maximized on site can be formulated within the framework of the inventory-prediction equations, multiple use management constraints, and forest-based product benefits and costs. Management guidelines indicate that the greatest gain in snowpack water content on site would be realized on decision-making units where the greatest reduction in forest cover density could be prescribed. However, a timber production constraint may limit the array of management possibilities. This constraint was defined as 35 to 40 square feet of basal area or 1,050 to 1,175 cubic feet of volume per acre, depending upon the existing growth percent and the intermingling of tree volumes and size classes. The potential increase in snowpack water content on site will be determined by the magnitude of the reduction in forest cover density and how close management re-direction can approach the timber production constraint. The proportion of the snowpack water content on site converted to recoverable water yield is dependent upon the runoff efficiency.