Document Type
Article
Publication Date
5-12-2011
Abstract
Hydrologic science has largely built its understanding of the hydrologic cycle using contemporary data sources (i.e., last 100 years). However, as we try to meet water demand over the next 100 years at scales from local to global, we need to expand our scope and embrace other data that address human activities and the alteration of hydrologic systems. For example, the accumulation of human impacts on water systems requires exploration of incompletely documented eras. When examining these historical periods, basic questions relevant to modern systems arise: (1) How is better information incorporated into water management strategies? (2) Does any point in the past (e.g., colonial/pre-European conditions in North America) provide a suitable restoration target? and (3) How can understanding legacies improve our ability to plan for future conditions? Beginning to answer these questions indicates the vital need to incorporate disparate data and less accepted methods to meet looming water management challenges.
Included in
Civil and Environmental Engineering Commons, Environmental Sciences Commons, Hydrology Commons
Comments
This article originally appeared in Water, available at DOI: 10.3390/w3020566
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).