Hydraulic development as a process of response

Abstract

The relationship between political organization and hydraulic development is discussed, using illustrations from the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico. It is suggested that change in political organization toward greater or lesser centralization of control over local water resource use may be part of a social response to environmental degradation (in this case, a receding water table) resulting from the effects of change in resource use (in this case, intensified water extraction). Economic stress due to environmental degradation varies in duration and intensity; such variations must be taken into account in understanding shifts in response patterns. Small-scale hydraulic development which places pressure on the availability of water for irrigation may elicit an initial response of centralization of control over its use to correct for the disturbance, water shortage. However, this response itself tends to exacerbate the disturbance through reducing previously existing homeostatic controls on the extraction of water and hence leads to greater economic stress, up to the point at which new responses must take place. Other kinds of environmental disturbance resulting from initial development attempts appear to have similar feedback effects which contribute to potential systemic instability.