Title:
Working the waters: the political ecologies of scale and Georgia's 100-year drought
Working the waters: the political ecologies of scale and Georgia's 100-year drought
Author(s)
Kohl, Ellen A.
Advisor(s)
Editor(s)
Carroll, G. Denise
Collections
Supplementary to
Permanent Link
Abstract
Throughout 2007, as forecaster’s predictions
provided no relief for the drought stricken Southeastern
United States, Georgia’s politicians grappled
with how to manage a dwindling water supply. The interactions
between a 100-hundred year meteorological
drought, dramatic population growth, and unmanaged
water usage, stressed North Georgia’s water supplies to
an extreme level. Within Georgia, responsibility for
drought management lies with both state and local governments.
Drought management plans are developed at
multiple levels and are implemented by state and local
water suppliers. These scalar interactions challenge local
governments, as they must follow multiple guidelines
within the framework of their own communities.
As governments struggle to manage water supplies
locally, regionally, and statewide, water users struggle to
meet water restrictions placed upon them. In particular,
the green industry, a self-identified group who depend on
garden, lawn, and plant maintenance for their economic
livelihood, have confronted economic hardships due to
outdoor watering restrictions that have eliminated their
customer base. The green industry has recognized the
political interactions between state and local governments,
and has begun to organize themselves to maximize
their political influence. The scale of analysis, the
scale where people are exerting their political power, and
the scale in which organizations are acting, co-determine
their power to access water resources during a time of
shortage. To understand the power relations, and authority,
members of the community legitimated in relation to
drought management, it is critical to understand how
these relationships developed through the framework of
politics of scale. In this study I address the interactions
between state and local governments in the development
and implementation of drought management policies. I
will examine how members of the green industry have
worked within this scalar political framework to protect
the interests of their industry.
Sponsor
Sponsored by:
Georgia Environmental Protection Division
U.S. Geological Survey, Georgia Water Science Center
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service
Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia Water Resources Institute
The University of Georgia, Water Resources Faculty
Date Issued
2009-04
Extent
Resource Type
Text
Resource Subtype
Proceedings