The water cycle consists in the transport of water around the planet, from oceans to land and back again in a periodic fashion, delivering the water needed for life. This cycle is altered profoundly by societal demands for water, food, land, and energy. To meet these demands, water is consumed directly, water resources are managed (i.e., stored, treated, and conveyed), and land-cover is altered. These phenomena impact land-atmosphere interactions as well as climate, and, in turn, the water cycle. As human activity and population growth are forecast to increase the demand for water, water managers are exploring adaptation strategies to provide new supplies. For example, clouds are seeded; stormwater runoff, industrial wastewater, and municipal greywater are recycled; groundwater is banked; agricultural crops are rotated or discontinued; and ocean water is desalinated.
These modern adaptation strategies —some of which appear extreme and unconventional—create subsidies in local water balances to meet immediate demand and create buffers that provide security; however, some adaptations made for the short-term actually become permanent interventions in the water cycle. Bridging these temporal scales in the management of coupled human-natural systems remains an unresolved scientific and social challenge. Water supply systems can be very complex, involving multiple catchments, transfers, and regulation; the nature and source of relevant uncertainties at each temporal scale are different; and managing water for water users will become increasingly contentious. This brings up several questions:
• How do modern adaptation strategies impact the water cycle regionally and globally, in the short-term and long-term?
• What are the hard limits of these adaptations?
• Will these adaptations become adopted permanently?
• What is the water cycle forecast going to be in the coming decades?
In this Research Topic, we invite original research articles that 1) describe modern adaptation strategies to augment water quantity and quality, 2) project the long-term use and status of these adaptations, and 3) shed light on the water cycle of the future.
The water cycle consists in the transport of water around the planet, from oceans to land and back again in a periodic fashion, delivering the water needed for life. This cycle is altered profoundly by societal demands for water, food, land, and energy. To meet these demands, water is consumed directly, water resources are managed (i.e., stored, treated, and conveyed), and land-cover is altered. These phenomena impact land-atmosphere interactions as well as climate, and, in turn, the water cycle. As human activity and population growth are forecast to increase the demand for water, water managers are exploring adaptation strategies to provide new supplies. For example, clouds are seeded; stormwater runoff, industrial wastewater, and municipal greywater are recycled; groundwater is banked; agricultural crops are rotated or discontinued; and ocean water is desalinated.
These modern adaptation strategies —some of which appear extreme and unconventional—create subsidies in local water balances to meet immediate demand and create buffers that provide security; however, some adaptations made for the short-term actually become permanent interventions in the water cycle. Bridging these temporal scales in the management of coupled human-natural systems remains an unresolved scientific and social challenge. Water supply systems can be very complex, involving multiple catchments, transfers, and regulation; the nature and source of relevant uncertainties at each temporal scale are different; and managing water for water users will become increasingly contentious. This brings up several questions:
• How do modern adaptation strategies impact the water cycle regionally and globally, in the short-term and long-term?
• What are the hard limits of these adaptations?
• Will these adaptations become adopted permanently?
• What is the water cycle forecast going to be in the coming decades?
In this Research Topic, we invite original research articles that 1) describe modern adaptation strategies to augment water quantity and quality, 2) project the long-term use and status of these adaptations, and 3) shed light on the water cycle of the future.
