Cross-scale interactions of socio-hydrological subsystems: Examining the frontier of common pool resource governance in Arizona
Acritical frontier ofwatermanagement in thewesternUS is the challenge of cross-scale interactions. It is difficult to establish clear governance boundaries and collectively actwhenbasins are interconnected, surfacewater and groundwaterflows are interrelated, andurban and ruralwater demands are increasingly affected by regional and international telecoupling.Changing climate, snowpack, and rainfall, peri-urbanization, and shifting economics of rural landscapes further increase sustainable governance challenges.Using a lens of cross-scale interactions drawn from the social-ecological literature,wedevelop a set of conceptual frames for socio-hydrology that highlight: (1) spatial and temporalmismatches, (2) telecoupledflows, and (3)networked andnested systems.Using the exemplary case ofCentralArizona,we explore nesting of the systemwithin the largerwestern sociohydrological system (SHS), impacts of changingColoradoRiver policies, such as theDrought Contingency Plan, and emerging institutional arrangements between the State of Arizona, agricultural communities, andTribalNations.We concludewith a set of questions that inform analyses of crossscale,multi-level governancewithin social-ecological systems.Without grapplingwith thedynamics and interconnectedness of SHSs,we cannot sustainablymanagewater in an increasingly aridWest.