Hydrology and Its Discontents : Contemplations on the Innate Paradoxes of Water Research

This book examines the intricate web linking water science and society using diverse philosophical lenses. Highlighting the tensions within the threads of this web, we spotlight major conceptual tightropes that water researchers tread daily. To effectively navigate these delicate threads, a 'healthy' tension in the encompassing web is necessary. Drawing inspiration from Freud's examination of tensions in " Society and Its Discontents ," we illuminate the tension-filled paradoxes inherent to water science, emphasizing the challenges in keeping these paradoxical threads taut enough to ensure a navigable and sustainable bond with society. Central to our narrative is the escalating societal urge to quantify and 'manage' water―something interwoven throughout every environmental layer, including the fabric of our being. An excessive focus on management may alienate users from their water realities, jeopardizing the vital threads that sustainability tether water science and society. Consequently, this book explores compelling and inescapable tensions that resist tidy universal resolution, such as: the language of water science, including its mathematical reductions (i.e., models); the effect of water's commodification on its science; hydrology’s intersection with colonialism; and other concerns that reveal distortions in our hydrology. We aim to aid water professionals in recognizing and fine-tuning the paradoxes intrinsic to their work. To underscore the interwoven complexity of contemporary hydrology, " Hydrology and Its Discontents " guides readers into the tempestuous depths of water research, all the while urging a recalibration of perspectives and motivations. Forewords Preface Acknowledgments Contents On Contemplating Paradoxes Glossary (A Cautionary Note on “Defining Hydrology”) The “Water Problem” 1 Must Science Serve Civilization? 2 The “Water Problem” as Paradox 3 Hydrology and Water Management Tensions from the Start: Tales of the First Hydrologist and His Civilization 1 Thales’ Philosophical Hydrology 2 After Thales: Dismembering Water to Serve Society Divide and Ponder: Dismembering Water to Study Water 1 The Paradox of Specialization 2 Why Did Hydrology Become a Specialization? 3 Dividing Water from Nature and Itself Adopting a More Fluid “Frame of Mind” in Hydrology 1 Drawing Lanes Is Making Frames 2 From Abstract to Action: Advancing a “Ready-to-Hand” Approach in Hydrology 3 Paving Paths in Hydrology Makes Strange Waves: Double-Edged Currents Limits in Language: Which “Water” Do You Mean? 1 Water by (M)any Other Name(s) 2 When Language About Water Is Divided, So Are Experiences of Water Hydrology by the Numbers and for the Numbers 1 Oversimplification: Can a Quest for the Universal Process Hinder Regional Solutions? 2 Overcomplication: When Are Decisions “by the Numbers” No Better (or Maybe Worse) than Intuition? 3 Overfitting: Too Fit to Function 4 Overlooking Nonnumerical Sources of Information 5 The “Overs” Can Overlap Are Hydrologists Wading Through Ideas, Instead of Water? 1 How Hydrology Could Become a Fable: Transcendental Objects of Water 2 Confusion at the Core of Some Hydrological Concepts An “Umbrella Perspective” of Water: The Hermeneutics of Hydrology 1 When Dry Scientists Interpret Observations from Wet Sensors and “Damp” Models 2 The Umbrella Is Wide: Impacts Across Phenomena of the Natural World 3 Closing the Umbrella When Water Bows to Market Demands, So May Its Science 1 Capitalist Hydrology: Studying Fetishized Flows 2 Hydrological Alienation 3 From Each Source According to Its Ability, to Each Community According to Its Needs Neocolonial Hydrology: How “Authentic” Are Today’s Human–Water Interactions? 1 A Brief History: Hydro-colonialism or Colonized Hydrology? 2 Can Neocolonial Hydrology Drown Out Emerging Wisdom? 3 A Concluding Introduction: Meet the Modern Hecatoncheires of Hydrology How a “Hypermasculine” Hydrology Can Suffer from ED (Explanatory Dysfunction) 1 Hypermasculinity, Control, and Some Salty Consequences 2 The “Whose Is Bigger?” Distraction 3 Embracing the Tides: Pursuing Balanced Perspectives in Hydrology A Psychoanalysis of Wet Dreams 1 Dreams of the Past Decade 2 Dreams of Our Youth 3 Waking from the Last Hydrologic Decade: Confronting Our Hydrological Horrors Plato’s Wonder and Hydrology 1 Reimagining Hydrological Knowledge: Confronting the Paradox of Truth 2 The Wonder of Water 3 Dr. Parmenides: A Platonic Dialogue 4 Concluding Thoughts on Navigating the Paradoxes Inherent to Hydrology Epilogue: On Responsibility and Blame (and a Toast to Hydrology) Works Cited Index