Abstract

There is increasing interest in the potential of source water protection to address chronic challenges with small systems and rural drinking water provision. Such a planning and management approach to increasing safe drinking water access, however, will likely require leveraging multi-stakeholder collaborative governance venues to this effect. This paper investigates the prospects of doing so using the case of California’s groundwater reform process known as the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act or SGMA. Interviews with drinking water stakeholders from small low-income communities in the San Joaquin Valley show how existing power and resource disparities limit the prospects of integrating rural drinking water priorities into regional planning. Long-term, more fundamental changes will be needed to meaningfully transform water management in this direction. Short-term state intervention is needed to protect equity and public good goals, raising potential contradictions between devolved water management and improved drinking water access that need to be addressed.

摘要

人们越来越关注源水保护的潜力，以解决小型系统和农村饮用水供应方面的长期挑战。但是，这种增加安全饮用水获取的规划和管理方法可能需要利用多方利益相关者的协作治理场所来达到这一效果。本文以称为“可持续地下水管理法”或SGMA的加利福尼亚地下水改革过程为例，研究了这样做的前景。来自圣华金河谷小规模低收入社区的饮用水利益相关者的访谈显示，现有的电力和资源差异如何限制将农村饮用水优先事项纳入地区规划的前景。长期，为了朝着这个方向有意义地改变水资源管理，需要进行更多的根本性改变。需要采取短期的国家干预措施，以保护公平和公共利益目标，加剧放权的水管理与改善的饮用水获取之间潜在的矛盾，需要解决。