The political ecology of water use and development

Political ecologists use various approaches to understand the human-environment interaction and mechanisms for environmental change. An actor-centered analysis is one approach that can provide valuable insight to first world water resource issues by providing a deeper understanding of environmental change not available through traditional policy or resource analysis. In the case study described in this paper anthropogenically modified water resource systems can be seen as resulting from the actions of all the actors who are using and appropriating water and resources in the riparian corridor The case study uses the Boulder Creek watershed in Colorado, USA to describe how the process of Euro-American settlement and development has permanently and irreversibly altered river hydrology, ecology, and geomorphology in many western North American watersheds. The observed character of streams today represents the cumulative result of the motivation and interactions, both collectively and independently, of the various actors who have appropriated water extracted resources, and modified the environment to meet their various needs. With over 140 years of development, the streams in the Boulder Creek watershed bear little resemblance to what once existed. The water has been fully appropriated, lakes created where there were none, native riparian vegetation replaced or dominated by introduced species, and native fish species replaced by introduced species. Additionally, the stream channels have been bridged, channelized, modified by flood control structures, inundated by reservoirs, and encroached by all forms of urbanization.