Reflections

by Ann Clarke

When Apollo 17 astronauts viewed the Earth, they saw a bright “blue marble” in the vastness of space. More than 75 percent of the Earth’s surface is covered with water. Water is synonymous with life. Water is so essential to life, at least as we know it, that NASA and other international space agencies are “following the water” in search of evidence of life elsewhere to better understand how life developed here. Meanwhile, if water is seemingly ubiquitous on Earth, why do we sometimes hear the aphorism that “whiskey is for drinking, water is for fighting,” especially in the West and particularly in California?

So, in spite of water in abundance, water is often not available in the right place at the right time or in the right condition for desired uses. No geopolitical conflict can be resolved without consideration of the water factor. The hydrosphere (the aqueous envelope of the Earth) and associated hydrological cycle are common goods whose environmental functions cannot be easily appropriated or re-engineered. These common goods contain bundles of sticks, or resources, that can be appropriated, but the line between the common good and specific resource is increasingly muddy, leading to what Garrett Hardin in his seminal paper called a “tragedy of the commons.

As a bundle of resources, water has many uses. In addition to appropriated uses such as the territorial waters of nations or a landowner’s well water, water is a versatile technology. It is used in everything from household, religious, industrial and agricultural needs to recreational activities. Each type of use requires water of a certain quantity and quality, yet as discussed above, the hydrological timeframe for recharging or cleansing water is long compared to our demand for clean water, hence clean fresh water has become more valuable than gold.

Even though water may be more valuable than gold, the seemingly infinite ocean has been seen as the ultimate dilutor of our waste. We now know that the ocean’s ability to absorb this waste is finite, whether it is trash, CO2, or waste heat. For example, plastics, whether tossed overboard or washed off the land, have polluted the high seas, considered a commons. Large garbage patches of plastic micro-particles in the ocean have been observed. Foraging fish mistake the plastic for food. Plastic bags smother marine life. Toxins in plastics move up the food chain and affect human health. Further, plastic debris of all types washes up on once pristine beaches around the world, affecting public health and the world’s biggest industry – tourism. This layering of the Earth’s land and waters with plastic has prompted some geologists to call this epoch the Plasticene.

Like the oceans, groundwater aquifers were once considered limitless underground seas. But this common resource is appropriated and removed faster than it is replenished – that is, dewatered, such as during drought or due to increased demand – and may be permanently depleted.

California was alone with Texas in not regulating groundwater use until, in the face of the prospect of continued severe drought, the State enacted the 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. Among other things, the Act requires local water agencies to create groundwater sustainability authorities whose jurisdictions align with groundwater basins, and who must develop basin management plans with public input, assess fees, monitor extractions, and report to the State.

Another component to consider are wetlands, which act as sponges to absorb floodwaters, filter runoff, and provide habitat for fish and wildlife. “Wet” lands, despite their valuable environmental functions, were often considered wasteland to be reclaimed for other uses. The world has lost more than half its wetlands in the 20^th century. California has lost more than 90 percent of its historical wetlands since the 1800s. The Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, which is 700 square miles in area and receives runoff from 40 percent of the State’s land area, was once a vast tidal freshwater marsh ecosystem. Over time, people acquired property interests in the land and cleared and drained vast areas. The organic material in the peat soils began decomposing and releasing carbon into the atmosphere rather than accumulating organic carbon. In addition to contributing carbon to atmospheric warming, these incremental actions led to subsidence of two-thirds of the Delta.

Oceans and other bodies of water, such as wetlands and glaciers, play an important part in moderating the climate. Oceans, however, have been absorbing heat from a warming atmosphere like a pot of water before it boils. Sea level and mean high tide worldwide have risen several inches on average due to thermal expansion. As oceans warm, this natural air conditioning is compromised, adversely affecting agriculture, tourism, forestry, transportation, high tech industries, public health and emergency response, and dislocating communities.

Oceans also play an important role in the global carbon cycle, but likewise have limits. Oceans have been considered an infinite “sink” for carbon and are thought to have absorbed half of the CO2 released during the industrial age. Algae and other plants use the CO2 in photosynthesis for energy and to build tissue, while releasing oxygen as waste. Other organisms incorporate carbon into carbonate skeletons. Over eons, some carbon is removed into rock. Excess CO2 has begun acidifying the ocean, affecting the ability of organisms, such as shellfish, to thrive and support local fishing communities.

The U.S. Department of Defense released its Climate Adaptation Roadmap due to its concern about the heightened risk of conflict and natural disaster, and its ability to respond given the vulnerability of its installations, supply chains, and personnel to changing climate conditions and water availability. Water itself has been used as a weapon, either directly or indirectly, by compromising water supplies. In light of these and other threats, the president signed an Executive Order on Stewardship of the Ocean, Our Coasts, and the Great Lakes, establishing national policy, an interagency National Ocean Council, and an action plan predicated on collaboration.

Readers will find multiple opportunities during their lives to engage in dialogue to address these and other complex water conflicts. William Isaacs describes dialogue as a shared inquiry among diverse interests, or the flow of meaning to the center. The quality of our future on this Blue Marble will depend on our ability to join in thinking blue. The stakes could not be higher.

Dr. Clarke is an environmental mediator affiliated with Silicon Valley Mediation Group and an Associate of the Monterey Institute of International Studies Center for Conflict Studies. She earned her doctorate from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and her J.D. from the University of New Mexico Law School. Opinions are those of the author alone.