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The Journey from Safe Yield to Sustainability
Author(s) -
Alley William M.,
Leake Stanley A.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
groundwater
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.84
H-Index - 94
eISSN - 1745-6584
pISSN - 0017-467X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-6584.2004.tb02446.x
Subject(s) - sustainability , perspective (graphical) , yield (engineering) , politics , sustainable development , engineering ethics , environmental planning , environmental ethics , management science , environmental resource management , political science , engineering , economics , geography , computer science , law , ecology , philosophy , materials science , artificial intelligence , metallurgy , biology
Safe‐yield concepts historically focused attention on the economic and legal aspects of ground water development. Sustainability concerns have brought environmental aspects more to the forefront and have resulted in a more integrated outlook. Water resources sustainability is not a purely scientific concept, but rather a perspective that can frame scientific analysis. The evolving concept of sustainability presents a challenge to hydrologists to translate complex, and sometimes vague, socioeconomic and political questions into technical questions that can be quantified systematically. Hydrologists can contribute to sustainable water resources management by presenting the longer‐term implications of ground water development as an integral part of their analyses.