Call to Action: Connecting the World for Transboundary Groundwater Resilience
The Transboundary Groundwater Resilience Network is excited to announce its participation in New York Water Week (NYWW) to contribute to defining and solving water challenges worldwide. NYWW is comprised of many community-led events focused on helping solve global water challenges and bringing together researchers from across the globe who are dedicated to improving water management. NYWW is being held alongside UN Water 2023, the first United Nations dedicated water conference since 1977, which is committed to making a difference within global communities to solve the water and sanitation crisis.
This Call to Action event will make progress on the Connecting the World for Transboundary Groundwater Resilience (TGR) UN Water Action Commitment. Presentations on case studies, data analyses, network analyses, and simulation modeling methods will provide a basis for group discussion. Participants are encouraged to share best practices and priorities from their local regions and fields of study. This event will focus on data, systems, networks, and community-based approaches to foster Transboundary Groundwater Resilience.
Taking place on Monday, March 20, 2023, from 11am – 1pm ET (time converter here) this event will feature several speakers spanning multiple water disciplines, including Dr. Sam Fernald, director of the New Mexico Water Resources Research Institute, Dr. Ilya Zaslavsky, director of Spatial Information Systems Laboratory, San Diego Supercomputer Center, and others to provide current perspectives on transboundary groundwater resilience. This event will also include an interactive community participation session focused on audience needs and priorities related to transboundary groundwater research and management.
University of Bergen SD Prof. Saeed Langarudi will present
Title: Systems Science and Modeling for Transboundary Groundwater Resilience
Abstract: Transboundary groundwater resilience is a dynamically complex challenge involving multiple dimensions, such as natural, social, political, and economic components that interact in time and space. Disciplinary scientific methods are inadequate in addressing the issue’s dynamic complexity, especially in the policy design and implementation phases. To understand how transboundary groundwater resilience changes in response to our decisions and actions, we need to employ a wide range of analytical tools, including participatory systems mapping, dynamic simulation, and hybrid modeling approaches. In this presentation, we discuss how these analytical tools can contribute to our understanding and ability to control transboundary groundwater resilience.
and New Mexico Water Resources Research Institute (NM WRRI) researchers will present on case studies. They use SD in some of their work.
See the “Call to Action: Connecting the World for Transboundary Groundwater Resilience” event page on the TGR website for more details.
TGRR Focused Collective Learning Meeting – September
In this Transboundary Groundwater Resiliency Research (TGRR) focused CLM on Friday, September 30th 11AM ET (Here is a time converter), participants will summarize, discuss and reflect on the TGRR Annual Workshop, which is on September 28th and 29th from 9-11AM MT | 11AM – 1PM ET.
Participants do not need to attend the Annual Workshop to participate in this CLM. However, we strongly recommended that you do.
Note: This CLM is an hour later than the other CLMs this Fall semester because the TGRR Network of Networks consists of collaborators on Pacific time (USA).
Hosts: WPI System Dynamics, the Transboundary Groundwater Resiliency Research Network of Networks (TGRR NoN), and the System Dynamics Society’s Water SIG
Transboundary Groundwater Resiliency Research Annual Workshop
We invite you to join us on September 28th and 29th from 9-11AM MT for the Transboundary Groundwater Resiliency Research network’s first annual workshop. This virtual event will take place on Zoom in two-hour sessions over the course of two days. The workshop will feature a collaborative systems mapping session to identify key data, knowledge, and system components.
Register for this free two-day event below.
We look forward to seeing you there!
https://tgrr.nmwrri.nmsu.edu/event/tgrr-annual-workshop/
Additional Event: We partner with WPI System Dynamics and the System Dynamics Society’s Water SIG to host a TGRR Focused Collective Learning Meeting to discuss and reflect on the Annual Workshop. This additional event will be on Friday, September 30th 9AM MT and has a separate link.
TGRR Seminar Bi-Monthly Series – June – Featuring Khalid Saeed
This bi-monthly series provides perspectives from leading global researchers on how systems science and data science can contribute to transformative water research. Join us next week for a one-hour TGRR seminar series presentation by Dr. Khalid Saeed. A 20-minute Q&A session will follow Dr. Saeed’s 40-minute presentation.
Khalid Saeed is a professor of economics and system dynamics at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) and is widely recognized for his work on the interface of economics and system dynamics. He has published two books and numerous articles on various methodological, developmental, and management agendas, including sustainable agriculture, poverty alleviation, political instability, supply chain management, and system dynamics modeling. His current focus is on the operationalization of economic policy so it can be implemented through available managerial roles.
This presentation will go over the accounting and explanatory systems in modeling and apply the process to a simple water budget problem concerning urban management. As described by Dr. Saeed, water and money are quite similar in nature – homogenous, measurable, and conserved in a system of reservoirs and flows. No wonder hydrologists use the term ‘budget’ when discussing watersheds, town water, and wastewater systems. The analogue computers mimic stocks and flows when modeling electrical, financial, and water resource issues. Indeed, all watershed or waterfall systems consist of conserved stocks and flows, which can be easily modeled using system dynamics framework; however, the modeling effort must be addressed to specific policy agendas.
TGRR Focused Collective Learning Meeting – May
In collaboration with Worcester Polytechnic Institute, the Transboundary Groundwater Resiliency Research (TGRR) network will be hosting a series of bimonthly peer mentoring session called Collective Learning Meetings (CLMs).
CLMs are for obtaining collegial and non-evaluative feedback on unfinished or exploratory research projects.
These meetings will cover systems approaches to water resiliency research. You can find more information by clicking here.
Networking and Discussion Session
Join WPI System Dynamics, the Transboundary Groundwater Resiliency Research (TGRR) network, and System Dynamics Society’s Water SIG for a Networking and Discussion Meeting. Below is the tentative agenda for this meeting:
- Introductions (Name, occupation, affiliation, application area, system dynamics level [beginner, intermediate, advanced], current location)
- TGRR volunteering opportunities
- Open discussion
Please click the button below to join us on Friday, May 27, 2022, from 10:00-11:00 AM MT (Here is a time converter) to participate in this discussion!
No background expertise is required to attend these meetings, and no signup or registration is required.
Systems approach to water management and infrastructure planning: role of integrated planning and collaborative decisions
Join us for a one-hour inaugural Transboundary Groundwater Resiliency Research (TGRR) seminar series presentation by Dr. Ana Mijic, Director of the Centre for Systems Engineering and Innovation at Imperial College London. This bi-monthly series provides perspectives from leading global researchers on how systems science and data science can contribute to transformative water research. A 20-minute Q&A session will follow Dr. Mijic’s presentation.
Systems approach to water management and infrastructure planning: role of integrated planning and collaborative decisions
Abstract
At a time of system shocks, significant underlying challenges are revealed in current approaches to delivering infrastructure, including the need for holistic assessment and that infrastructure users in many societies feel distant from nature. In this seminar, I will present systems approach for integrated land use planning and sustainable water management. The methods are based on a systems approach to infrastructure and environmental management, which identifies systems integration, integrated modelling and collaborative decisions as key research themes that can improve our understanding of the environmental impacts and multifunctionality of infrastructure interventions and operational decisions. I will introduce a novel Systems Water Management (SYWM) framework developed as part of the NERC Innovation Placement with the Environment Agency, and how its meta-model can be used to analyse a range of water management and land use planning challenges. I will also give examples of how the SYWM meta-model can be used to inform the development of integrated water management models at city and catchment scales to evaluate adaptation options designed to offset adverse impacts of development on water resources, water quality and flood risk. These models provide a much needed systems-level evidence that has a potential to inform environmental policy, local planning and water infrastructure decisions.
Dr. Ana Mijic is a Reader in Water Systems Integration and Director of the Centre for Systems Engineering and Innovation (CSEI). She leads the development of novel systems tools focused on quantifying the interaction between water systems and sustainable development. Currently, Ana is leading VENTURA, a project that brings together interdisciplinary expertise across fields of water management, systems engineering, computer and geoscience, digital technology, innovation, and social science. Ana is also a Systems Analysis Lead for the CAMELLIA impact program, where her work focuses on developing systems water management models.
Mehdi Moghadam Manesh and Reza Eslamifar on “Groundwater Depletion in Iran: Does Rural Youth Migration Matter?”
Please join us online Friday, March 25th Noon ET (Boston time. Here is a time converter).
In this Collective Learning Meeting (CLM), WPI System Dynamics, the System Dynamics Society’s Water SIG and the Transboundary Groundwater Resiliency Research (TGRR) network host Mehdi Moghadam Manesh and Reza Eslamifar who will present
Groundwater Depletion in Iran: Does Rural Youth Migration Matter?
Short Description: Iranian agriculture relies heavily on groundwater resources and is responsible for more than 90% of groundwater consumption. The groundwater-dependent agriculture has led to the consumption of about 100 billion cubic meters of groundwater resources in less than 50 years. The main reasons for this dependence are surface water scarcity, low annual precipitation, and improper spatial and temporal distributions of the precipitation. Given such factors and Iranian leaders’ aspirations for agricultural self-sufficiency, groundwater depletion is not surprising. However, two other factors accelerate groundwater depletion: low irrigation efficiency and competition between farmers to harvest more water, referred to as “the tragedy of the commons” in the economic literature. Therefore, although geographical, climatic, and political factors are beyond our control, by encouraging farmers to cooperate and improve irrigation technology, it can be hoped that the problem of groundwater depletion will be managed to some extent. Now, Iran witnesses an increasing rural migration. In this study, we are interested in understanding:
- How can rural youth migration affect “self-organized collective action” and farmers’ motivation to improve irrigation efficiency?
- Under what circumstances may rural youth migration decrease/ increase groundwater consumption?
Biographies:
Mehdi Moghadam Manesh has a BS in mechanical engineering and an MBA and MS in system dynamics. He is passionate about applying system dynamics for policymaking, strategic management, and sustainable development. For additional information, please visit his LinkedIn profile.
Reza Eslamifar has a BS in IT engineering, an MBA, and a PhD in public policy.
We will record this session and post it to the System Dynamics Society’s YouTube channel.
Call-in details: https://bit.ly/CLM-2022-03-25