Keeping the Flow: sociotechnical tinkering and informal governance of Southwest ditch irrigation systems

Keywords: water infrastructure, Southwest, irrigation, environmental governance
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Saturday
Session Start / End Time: 2/26/2022 08:00 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/26/2022 09:20 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 24

Abstract

In the Southwestern United States, the effects of climate change are creating unprecedented challenges for water security and community resilience, signaled by the activation of the Colorado River Basin Drought Contingency Plan this year. In Arizona, agricultural producers must navigate a shifting legal, social, and hydrological context to maintain their operations and their lifeways. Drawing on interviews with stakeholders along the Verde River in central Arizona, we identify practices of sociotechnical tinkering (Sanchez, et al., 2019) and informal governance by water users dependent on aging and unregulated ditch irrigation systems, in order to adapt to unpredictable flows and changing social landscapes. Sociotechnical tinkering is an emerging theoretical framework for understanding water systems as always in the making, as users alter delivery infrastructure to address ever-changing human needs and hydrological processes (Kemerink-Seyoum, 2019; Sanchez et al, 2019). Recently, the introduction of new technology for monitoring flows and operating diversion gates is reframing how users interact with water infrastructure. We find that shared ditch irrigation systems are constantly being improved, adjusted, and reshaped by water users with changes to both physical infrastructure and local management processes that have both short and long-term consequences for resilience.