Featured Collection Introduction: "Connecting Land and Water for Healthy Communities"

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title

Journal of the American Water Resources Association

Publisher

Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, Inc.

Publication Date

6-28-2022

Volume

58

Issue

3

First Page

313

Last Page

318

Abstract

This featured collection is a part of growing public policy conversation, professional practice, and academic research focused on the need and strategies to integrate land use and water planning. The need arises from fragmentation in the ways that professionals think about and have been organized to deal with land and water in their workplaces and professional organizations. However, there is an increasing recognition that land and water planning must be done jointly because how we use land shapes our demand for water and greatly impacts water quality, while the way we use and manipulate water involves significant changes to land. Integrative land–water strategies are the focus of this featured collection. The collection's purpose is to contribute to fostering land and water connections across the physical, social, and ecological domains. Here we provide a brief background on the origins of this featured collection in a 2021 specialty conference organized and hosted by the American Water Resources Association (AWRA) and the Babbitt Center for Land and Water Policy (Babbitt Center), and done in collaboration with many other sponsors, supporters, and participating organizations. We cover other activities associated with the 2021 specialty conference and plans for continuing conversations at a 2023 follow-up conference. We also highlight some of the themes and insights from this featured collection. Finally, we invite continuing submissions on integrating land and water to the Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA), which is planning another featured collection on this important topic.

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