Impacts of Land-Use Change on Groundwater Supply: Ecosystem Services Assessment in Kona, Hawaii
Publication: Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 141, Issue 12
Abstract
Payments for watershed management link upstream inhabitants whose actions affect water resources with downstream water users. This paper evaluates the effect of plausible shifts in watershed land use on hydrologic services on the Kona coast of Hawai’i Island by measuring vegetation effects on hydrologic fluxes, modeling land-use change impact on the water-supply aquifer, and evaluating the local water department’s associated pumping expenses. Transitions between native and plantation forest will have a 25–40% greater impact on the aquifer than the transition from pasture to either forest type. However, for all transitions, the value to the water department is just 2–5% of the opportunity cost to landowners. To provide context for these findings, the effects of these land transitions on carbon storage, provision of native bird habitat, and land stewardship are assessed. Estimates show that delivery of other services does not always increase when water services increase and suggest that the value of impacts to these other services are greater than effects on water. In Kona, as in any watershed payment project, the particular physical and social context determines which services are valuable.
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Acknowledgments
The writers are grateful for support from the Center for Conservation Biology, the Koret Foundation, the Moore Family Foundation, Peter and Helen Bing, the Winslow Foundation, the Natural Capital Project, an Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources (E-IPER) Rudolf research fellowship, and McGee Stanford School of Earth Sciences research funds, as well as a National Science Foundation graduate research fellowship, a Lucille and David Packard Stanford graduate fellowship, a William C. and Jeanne M. Landreth IPER student fellowship, and the University of Minnesota Institute on the Environment (for support of the first writer). G. Asner, R. Benner, J. Berry, K. Carlson, E. Carter, P. Engstrom, T. K. Duarte, B. Keeler, D. and J. Fergerstrom, C. Field, M. Garces and the University of Hawai’i Infrasound Lab, J. Goldstein, L. Goulder, A. Kagawa, K. Moffett, L. Pejchar, B. Robinson, H. Tallis, B. Thompson, H. Van Vleck, and P. Vitousek provided help in the field and with scoping and writing. The writers also wish to thank anonymous reviewers for thoughtful comments on previous drafts. Kamehameha Schools, Kealakekua Ranch, and Palani Ranch graciously allowed the writers to build weather stations on their property. Martha Greenwell provided inspiration and sustenance. Jody Fergerstrom provided invaluable field assistance.
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Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 141 • Issue 12 • December 2015
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© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: Jul 7, 2014
Accepted: Oct 7, 2014
Published online: Nov 20, 2014
Discussion open until: Apr 20, 2015
Published in print: Dec 1, 2015
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