Socially-informed urban aquifer analysis: evaluating the role of aggregation scale in modeling differential impacts of groundwater pumping policies
Abstract
Groundwater supply planning in urban settings is often achieved at the regional scale while the effects of excessive aquifer exploitation are experienced on a local scale. In the Mexico City Metropolitan Area, land and water use changes have caused massive overdraft and subsidence, threatening water supply, particularly in marginalized communities. Regional-scale, spatially distributed groundwater models have been developed in prior work to test model uncertainty and policy interventions. However, there is little understanding of how regional aggregation of spatially distributed planning objectives can obscure or exacerbate existing social inequalities. This study develops socially informed spatial analysis to investigate the differential impacts of urban groundwater pumping policies at multiple scales. Specifically, we compare four planning objectives calculated at three spatial resolutions (municipality, census block, and cluster) to determine whether the preference for groundwater pumping policies shows a relationship with socioeconomic indicators. We find that the multi-objective performance of pumping policies can neglect marginalized communities according to multiple indicators. Further, clustering model grid cells according to socioeconomic indicators allows for more accurate analysis of the effects of policies on marginalized populations. Finally, the determination of policy preference at the subregional scale and considering the socioeconomic characteristics of subregional units can aid in equitable and reasoned selection of aquifer management alternatives at the regional scale. This study highlights the importance of evaluating the interaction between spatially distributed management objectives and socioeconomic characteristics to understand the potential for adverse impacts to be concentrated in the communities least able to manage them.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2022
- Bibcode:
- 2022AGUFM.H13B..04M