Abstract
Hydrological modeling tools can support collaborative decision processes by visually displaying hydrological systems connections, uncertainties and gaps, as well as conflicting preferences over water management strategies. Nevertheless, many challenges remain in the real application of these technical tools to successfully implement, capture, and communicate to non-experts the complexities of coupled human hydrological systems and effectively support science policy dialogues. The disappearance of a 12 km2 lake in the Aculeo basin in Chile led to increasing socio environmental conflicts over the causes and effects of the water scarcity. A traditionally WEAP based hydrological model study aiming to explore the causes of the lake desiccation, was transformed into a multiple question driven socio hydrological modeling process to help answer the diversity of questions instigating conflict. The surface aquifer hydrological model tested a subset of socially accepted management strategies under two climate change scenarios, showing that combining more low impact, but socially acceptable adaptation measures such as using the out of season irrigation surplus (March to May), improving irrigation efficiency for agriculture industry and decreasing the grass surface in new urbanizations, would allow to recover up to half the Lake water volume even under a pessimistic climate change scenario. As presented in this article, flexible approaches and research agendas could better support the exploration of synergies towards collaboration and production of useful and socially acceptable hydrological models and water management strategies.
Highlights
Sound science is necessary to support decision making where population, economic and climate change have aggravated conflicts over water (Poff et al, 2016, 2003)
Insights from behind the scenes during the Aculeo Lake modeling process are presented as a 90 guideline for participatory modeling and transdisciplinary efforts in contexts of high conflict and poor information on the hydrological system
The same process was important for the identification of a combination of strategies that were of moderate impact, but of higher local acceptability than the large structural options
Summary
Sound science is necessary to support decision making where population, economic and climate change have aggravated conflicts over water (Poff et al, 2016, 2003). 50 In this science policy challenge, there is an academic and practical need for a diversity of approaches and methods to better support transdisciplinary communication and understanding between scientists and non-scientists These approaches should ideally facilitate transdisciplinary efforts, in at least two aspects: i) the decision context: support communicating, structuring and displaying complex system information and connections (Arvai, 2003; Rowe and Frewer, 2000; 55 Wilson and Arvai, 2006), ii) the decision result: clarifying the role of stakeholders and society within the decision context, and the influence of that decision in that context (Gorddard et al, 2016). The importance of this study to shows how to use this tool to 95 work towards effective collaboration and mutual learning, while disseminate their usefulness for transdisciplinarity in hydrological and water resources management
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