Groundwater and Society Workshop

Where: 3rd floor, Earth and Engineering Sciences Building, Penn State University, University Park, PA, USA

When: May 8 – 10, 2024

Contact info: Danielle Grogan and Shan Zuidema (unh.wsag@unh.edu)

Workshop goals

The Groundwater and Society Workshop will advance research in the interdisciplinary study of human natural resource decisions and groundwater systems. This workshop will bring together expertise in physical macro-scale groundwater modeling, natural resource economics, and multi-sector dynamics. The goal of gathering researchers from these different disciplines is to scope the current state of groundwater studies in human-natural systems research, and to identify important open questions, key next steps, and grand challenges in this interdisciplinary space.

Structure

You can find the Workshop Agenda following this link.

The Workshop will feature a combination of invited and plenary presentations, alongs with active breakout sessions tailored to advance manuscripts for a Journal Special Issue in Environmental Research Letters (ERL).

There will be a total of 5 working sessions:

Session 1: Defining Sustainable Groundwater Use

Session leads: Ellen Bruno and Prema Narasimhan

A foundational component of well-designed policy for managing groundwater is a clear idea of what optimal groundwater use looks like. The dynamic nature of groundwater suggests that use of the resource today may mean less of the resource is available in the future, raising questions about sustainability and what should be left for future generations. This session will break down how different disciplines define groundwater sustainability and attempt to arrive at a collective definition that could be used by policymakers regulating groundwater.

Research Questions: How do different disciplines define sustainability? How should we define groundwater sustainability for optimal policy? What research or data gaps prevent policymakers from defining optimal/sustainable groundwater use?

Session 2: Groundwater and Global Change

Session lead: Hassan Niazi

The “Groundwater and Global Change” session seeks to explore the multi-scale, multisector role of groundwater in the context of global change, aiming to cover both natural system responses and human drivers establishing complex interactions between groundwater and various sectors including agriculture, energy, urban development, and coastal systems. The goal would be to map out the current state of the art in understanding groundwater supply, usage, and the interconnected dynamics across different sectors. We will identify interactions, investigate feedbacks, and aim to collate quantifications of both the evident and the less obvious human-Earth system impacts of groundwater use. A set of preview examples of such interactions could be the breakout of groundwater’s sectoral use, the emissions from energy utilized in groundwater pumping, the implications of municipal water reuse on groundwater quality, and the broader effects of groundwater withdrawals on impacts like land subsidence, saltwater intrusion, and coastal flooding.

We will also discuss groundwater’s role within the energy-water-land nexus, ranging from the evolution of groundwater resources under various global change drivers (e.g., population, pollution, parity changes) to the specific methods best suited for analyzing groundwater’s multisector dynamics at a variety of scales. By examining areas of commonality and difference across scales and sectors, such as the influence of groundwater on climate system physical water flows, energy use, and emissions associated with its extraction, the session also aims to identify pressing research needs to accurately represent groundwater within integrated human-Earth system models.

The ultimate goal is to synthesize knowledge, quantify interactions where possible, and outline a future research agenda focused on the critical processes, interactions, and uncertainties surrounding groundwater’s role in human-Earth system dynamics at a global scale. By collecting and drawing inspiration from seminal works, yet pushing for a more quantitative focus on groundwater use, this session and subsequent collaborations would aim to scope the grand challenges in groundwater and global change research, setting the stage for the next decade of interdisciplinary exploration and collaboration.

The format of the session would be mostly open-table discussions, complemented by thinking breakouts and co-working sessions, both in groups and individually. We will take start broad and work towards increasing our focus on chalking out specifics during sessions.

Research Questions: What is the current state of the art in understanding groundwater supply, usage, and the interconnected dynamics across different sectors and what are the pressing research needs about groundwater and global change?

Session 3: How much bad should be allowed for greater good? Understanding the potential impacts of Lithium mining on groundwater resources and the economy

Session lead: Jing Liu

In 2021, the Bureau of Land Management approved the plan of open-pit lithium mining in Thacker Pass, Nevada. The construction of the mining site started in March 2023 and the extraction is expected to begin in 2027. Lithium is one of the crucial minerals to make batteries for electronical vehicles (EVs) that represent a promising step toward reducing global carbon emissions from the transportation sector.

However, the mining activity can pose a significant threat to local groundwater resources. Intensive mining uses large quantities of water. The environmental stress will be even more severe given that Nevada is already struggling with a dwindling water supply. The water quality will be affected as well, as current extraction techniques heavily involve drilling, blasting and excavation, thereby increasing the risk of water contamination.

While the lithium mining has the potential of boosting local economy in the short run and may generate long term indirect impacts to the global market, the concerned over the detrimental effects on hydro- and ecosystems, as well as the quality of life for neighboring tribes should not be ignored. The proposed session aims at understanding the cost and benefits of Lithium mining integrating the expertise from multi-disciplines.

Research Questions: What are the economy-wide implications of lithium mining (local and spillover effect to global market), and impacts on groundwater depletion and contamination?

Session 4: Groundwater and Trade

Session leads: Karen Fisher-Vanden and Megan Konar

This session will involve a method comparison of work done on groundwater and trade. Papers on “virtual water” are largely found in the hydrology literature using a systems approach. Economists are looking at the implications of trade on groundwater using econometric approaches; and others are using coupled models (hydrology models coupled with an economy-wide model) to also look at the implications of trade on groundwater (and vice versa).

Research Questions: What questions are most appropriate for the different modeling frameworks? When can/can’t you compare outcomes across models? What are the strengths/weaknesses of the different models for this topic? What is the future of groundwater + trade modeling?

Session 5: Model to management: what are the pathways for science to become policy?

Session lead: Erin Haacker

Scientists who study groundwater habitually justify their studies by pointing out the real-world applicability of their research. Despite the “honest broker” approach, in which scientists are expected to describe possible outcomes to decisions without weighing in on the “right” decision, most scientists would likely agree that maintaining clean, abundant groundwater is in everyone’s best interest. However, despite accelerating volumes of scientific research, aquifers continue to degrade in quantity and quality.

In this session, we will investigate the gaps among natural science, social science, and groundwater management in both data-rich and data-poor environments. We will investigate cases of success and failure in natural resource management, and seek to compile best practices for conducting science in a way that is easy to apply to real systems. Scientists are not resource managers, but surely we can facilitate both the translation of existing science into policies that will serve the public, and the design of future studies in ways that will more directly address the priorities of the public.

Research Questions: What are the gaps in communication and expectations among natural science, social science, and groundwater management? What are examples of success and failure in research-informed groundwater policy? How can we design studies to be maximally informative and useful to decisionmakers?

Keynote

The Workshop will feature two keynote presentations:

1. Groundwater and economic development in developing nations by Dr. Esha Zaveri, senior economist at the World Bank.
2. Groundwater sustainability across scales: from partnering with indigenous communities to contributing to global initiatives by Dr. Tom Gleeson, Professor and President’s Chair of Civil Engineering at the University of Victoria.

Product

Produce 10+ manuscripts for a special edition in ERL. Submissions will remain open through 2024.

Session proposals

Until February 29, 2024, we welcome proposals for sessions aimed at deepening our understanding of a specific topic regarding groundwater resources and society.
Please use the following Google Form for submitting your session proposal: Session Proposal RSVP

Participant applications

Until March 22, 2024, we welcome applications from those interested in participating in the workshop and getting deeply involved in a single multi-day breakout session.
Please use the following Google Form for workshop registration: Workshop Registration RSVP

Funding support

Limited funding is available to support travel to the workshop. Please indicate when registering whether you would like to apply for travel support. Preference will be given to individuals convening sessions, students, postdocs, and early career researchers.

Hotel info

A block of rooms has been reserved at a discounted rate at Hyatt Place State College. Please indicate your hotel needs when filling out the Workshop Registration RSVP. The Workshop organizers will handle room reservations directly with the hotel. Attendees don’t need to contact the hotel; simply inform the organizers of your required hotel stay dates.