What happens when static policy instruments are used to regulate dynamic water systems?
Benavides Höglund, Nikolas LU
(2026)
AIDA World Water Law Congress 2026- Abstract
- Water protection areas (WPAs) are legal instruments that require fixed boundaries that can be clearly defined on a map. Groundwater systems, however, are not fixed. Groundwater capture zones expand, contract, and shift with pumping, while groundwater flow changes with seasons, climate, and land use. In practice, some older protection areas follow roads, property boundaries, or other convenient surface features that do not necessarily match how water flows underground.
This mismatch is difficult to resolve because groundwater is hard to observe. Unlike surface water such as lakes, rivers, and streams, it cannot be easily monitored, and data are often sparse. Investigations are typically based on a limited number of wells and define a... (More) - Water protection areas (WPAs) are legal instruments that require fixed boundaries that can be clearly defined on a map. Groundwater systems, however, are not fixed. Groundwater capture zones expand, contract, and shift with pumping, while groundwater flow changes with seasons, climate, and land use. In practice, some older protection areas follow roads, property boundaries, or other convenient surface features that do not necessarily match how water flows underground.
This mismatch is difficult to resolve because groundwater is hard to observe. Unlike surface water such as lakes, rivers, and streams, it cannot be easily monitored, and data are often sparse. Investigations are typically based on a limited number of wells and define a single boundary for the contributing area, even when the data support several plausible flow patterns. This is often referred to as the non-uniqueness problem, where multiple interpretations can explain the same observations. As a result, relying on a single interpretation may give a false sense of certainty, while alternative flow paths and associated risks, such as contamination, remain unaccounted for.
Using the Swedish context of groundwater protection areas, this presentation explores what happens when a dynamic and only partially observable system is regulated through static policy instruments. One consequence is a risk that uncertain hydrogeologic interpretations come to be treated as settled fact once translated into fixed legal boundaries. This can lead to underprotection of areas that may contribute to a drinking water source and overregulation of areas that are easier to define on a map but less important from a groundwater perspective. This raises the question of whether WPAs should be treated as revisable risk-management instruments. This implies a more explicit treatment of uncertainty, considering multiple plausible interpretations rather than a single deterministic one, along with periodic revision as abstraction, land use, and climate change evolve. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/4047c9b6-3c90-484c-be3c-41819a4e7952
- author
- Benavides Höglund, Nikolas
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2026-06-24
- type
- Contribution to conference
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- water protection, water policy, water governance, water law
- conference name
- AIDA World Water Law Congress 2026<br/>
- conference location
- Oslo, Norway
- conference dates
- 2026-06-24 - 2026-06-26
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 4047c9b6-3c90-484c-be3c-41819a4e7952
- date added to LUP
- 2026-09-04 09:53:21
- date last changed
- 2026-09-04 11:49:07
@misc{4047c9b6-3c90-484c-be3c-41819a4e7952,
abstract = {{Water protection areas (WPAs) are legal instruments that require fixed boundaries that can be clearly defined on a map. Groundwater systems, however, are not fixed. Groundwater capture zones expand, contract, and shift with pumping, while groundwater flow changes with seasons, climate, and land use. In practice, some older protection areas follow roads, property boundaries, or other convenient surface features that do not necessarily match how water flows underground.<br/>This mismatch is difficult to resolve because groundwater is hard to observe. Unlike surface water such as lakes, rivers, and streams, it cannot be easily monitored, and data are often sparse. Investigations are typically based on a limited number of wells and define a single boundary for the contributing area, even when the data support several plausible flow patterns. This is often referred to as the non-uniqueness problem, where multiple interpretations can explain the same observations. As a result, relying on a single interpretation may give a false sense of certainty, while alternative flow paths and associated risks, such as contamination, remain unaccounted for.<br/>Using the Swedish context of groundwater protection areas, this presentation explores what happens when a dynamic and only partially observable system is regulated through static policy instruments. One consequence is a risk that uncertain hydrogeologic interpretations come to be treated as settled fact once translated into fixed legal boundaries. This can lead to underprotection of areas that may contribute to a drinking water source and overregulation of areas that are easier to define on a map but less important from a groundwater perspective. This raises the question of whether WPAs should be treated as revisable risk-management instruments. This implies a more explicit treatment of uncertainty, considering multiple plausible interpretations rather than a single deterministic one, along with periodic revision as abstraction, land use, and climate change evolve.}},
author = {{Benavides Höglund, Nikolas}},
keywords = {{water protection; water policy; water governance; water law}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{06}},
title = {{What happens when static policy instruments are used to regulate dynamic water systems?}},
year = {{2026}},
}