Graduate Thesis Or Dissertation
 

Sustainable Management of the Water-Energy-Food Nexus: From Traditional to Integrated Hydro-Irrigation-Restoration Systems

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https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/graduate_thesis_or_dissertations/v405sh767

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  • A growing number of scholars and policymakers are advocating for the integrated management of water, energy, and food production. The integrated water-energy-food (WEF) nexus approach suggests that systems able to capture and effectively deal with the interdependencies of such coupled systems are more likely to yield long-term sustainable outcomes. In the irrigated farming communities of the American West, the complexity of the WEF nexus is further complicated by water scarcity and the need for endangered species protection. Traditional irrigation systems are often unable to accommodate these competing demands successfully. In response, some farming communities have started transforming and modernizing their irrigation systems into integrated hydro-irrigation-restoration systems. This modernization process incorporates small hydropower plants and encloses open canal systems in pressurized pipes, while simultaneously creating new opportunities for environmental restoration and fish protection, along with water and energy savings. This research examines three irrigation districts – Farmers, Middle Fork, and East Fork – in Oregon’s Hood River Valley that are at different phases of the modernization process. Qualitative methods are employed to investigate the conditions under which transitions toward integrated hydro-irrigation-restoration systems occur. Insights from socio-technical transitions and collaborative governance approaches are applied to explore the drivers and factors that facilitate such kind of transitions toward sustainability in irrigated agriculture. The findings reveal that incentives offered by the context – for example, economic incentives, environmental regulations and the minimization of the adverse effects of natural disasters and severe weather events – help explain the transition from a traditional to modernized irrigation delivery system. The findings demonstrate that six factors are critical for enabling and sustaining transitions to integrated hydro-irrigation-restoration systems: facilitative leadership, financial resources, regulations and policies, technology, stakeholder relationship/engagement, and environmental mindset. Overall, this study contributes to scholarly discussions on the WEF nexus and, more generally, socio-technical transitions. It sheds light on how sustainable management of the WEF nexus may look like and the kind of transition needed to advance the WEF nexus approach. It also suggests how collaborative approaches contribute to better understand the actor-dynamics during transitions. Finally, the findings point toward the policy implications for facilitating the transition to such integrated systems.
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  • Intellectual Property (patent, etc.)
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  • 2020-06-12 to 2022-07-13

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