Justice and Equity in Groundwater Resources Planning and Management

The concepts of equity-and-justice are presented in the laws, regulations, and decision-making frameworks as a central guiding principle in the allocation strategies of water-resources. Meanwhile, the inclusion of these concepts in the planning-and-management of water-resources faces obstacles such as incomplete conceptual understanding, lack of quantitative-qualitative criteria, unclear relationship between justice-and-fairness and planning frameworks and water-resources management strategies, and lack of concrete examples. This study presents a qualitative-documentary-study that examines what justice and with more focus equity, as one of the justice principles, mean in the context of groundwater planning-and-management. Accordingly, the methods of operationalizing equity and integrating equity into the planning processes of groundwater-resources have been introduced in this study. The results indicate that justice-and-equity are not universally defined. Water justice-and-equity differ according to water-resource content and type, laws, and frameworks defined in each country and water basin. Meanwhile, the use of metrics related to the equity principles, simulation-optimization methods, and the system-model design maybe used to operationalize, metricize, and benchmark equitable water policy and practices at all levels of decision-making (e.g., country, state, and local) to ensure an equitable water future. The study of equity dimensions revealed that participatory programs provide stakeholders with an opportunity to contribute to models and programming; however, skilled facilitation is necessary in order to ensure meaningful and equitable engagement between scientists and communities. In this study rather than providing a prescriptive-solution to “achieve” justice-and-equity within groundwater-resources management, we emphasize the need for contextualized approaches that include pragmatic steps toward more equitable practices and outcomes.