Abstract
Abstract We identify and describe social perspectives on the sustainability of the water sector in the metropolitan area of Phoenix, Arizona. Using Q methodology, we find evidence for different meanings of sustainability when stakeholders are presented with concrete policy options and applications in spite of an apparently widespread agreement on the concept of sustainability itself. We put the social perspectives articulated by local stakeholders in perspective by analyzing whether they adhere to a commonly used set of sustainability principles when applied to water management and governance. The analysis indicates that although there is some level of acceptance of sustainability principles among the social perspectives identified, there are important discrepancies in the salience of different principles. Results suggest that when people are interacting in policy-making processes they tend to support their previously held own vision of the problems and that their normative considerations may be opposed to broadly accepted sustainability discourses. The different visions of water sustainability may have a direct impact on the water policy-making process depending on the position and influence of the actors involved in the governance scheme.
Highlights
The city of Phoenix, the capital and largest city in the State of Arizona (USA), was once described as ‘the world’s least sustainable city’ (Ross, 2011)
Following a ratio close to 3:1 between total number of statements and participants (Webler et al, 2009), we interviewed a total of 13 respondents: two members of local water users’ associations, a member from a water company, two government officials, three scholars working on waterrelated issues, three members of local environmental NGOs, and two university students who were working on water-related issues and may have had distinctive opinions on the sustainability of water management in Phoenix3
Our results show that there are at least three distinctive social perspectives on the sustainability of water management in Phoenix
Summary
The city of Phoenix, the capital and largest city in the State of Arizona (USA), was once described as ‘the world’s least sustainable city’ (Ross, 2011). The metropolitan area of Phoenix faces complex water management challenges involving patterns of urban development, population growth, the necessity to reconcile water availability and consumption, and the increasing competition between residential, industrial, and agricultural uses (Glennon, 2018). Strongly opposite discourses are present, supporting the idea that ‘meeting current and future water demands during times of drought does not require stopping (urban) growth....’2 These conflicting narratives combined with extreme weather conditions have led some scholars to consider metropolitan Phoenix and other southwestern cities as ‘testbeds for developing adaptation and mitigation strategies that cities with less extreme climates may need before the turn of the century’ (Hondula et al, 2019: 79)
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