Analyzing Water Resources Management Issues Along the US Midwest Region

Abstract

The US Midwest region known for its vast network of arable farmland ranks high as the food basket of the nation and a global agricultural hub. The area stretches through a multiplicity of states and sub regions. With the intense level of farming and good soil therein, water access and security are overly crucial considering the region’s water dependent sectors from agriculture, industry, residential, energy, commercial establishments, and others with notable benefits to the communities. Notwithstanding all that, there exists a wide range of challenges to hydrological security deeply rooted in water management in the US Midwest region. The emergent worries center around declining water quality triggered by decaying infrastructure, pollution, the risks of flooding emanating from changing climate and access deprivation with spillovers to minority communities. Despite its vast network of lakes and reservoirs together with global and regional capacity as key water source, the zone faces vast concentration of usage in a few sectors. This comes in the wake of policies centered on continual access to key water assets germane to the communities and states in the region, mostly to agriculture, as well as industrial and manufacturing sectors. At the same time, very little in the literature exists on the analysis of water resource use issues in the zone via a mix scale approach anchored in Geographic Information System (GIS) and descriptive statistics. Accordingly, this enquiry will fill that void in research using mix scale methods to assess the trends. With emphasis on the issues, trends, factors, impacts, and the efforts of institutions. The results point to abundance of water assets in the zone and visible changes in usage over time in the form of gains and declines. In terms of the impacts, the region saw degradation, declines, and stress from climate change. In the process, a GIS mapping of the trends pinpointed a gradual dispersion of water use patterns of varying dimensions clustered in the region. Given that the forces of change reflect socio-economic, ecological, physical, and political factors located within the larger hydrological structure. The paper proffered solutions ranging from education, monitoring, sustainability, the design of a regional water information system and the enactment of sound policy.