Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Water resources

Beyond infrastructure

Nature volume 467, pages 534–535 (2010)Cite this article

Subjects

Projects such as building dams and diverting watercourses enhance water security for humans. But they do little to protect the biodiversity of associated ecosystems, and that's a long-term necessity. See Article p.555

In the developed world, responses to natural disasters such as floods and droughts often involve taming or vexing nature instead of moving people out of harm's way or rethinking water-use policies. Dams are built, levees erected, and various infrastructure projects redirect flows to nourish water-stressed regions. Ironically, such actions affect the very ecological processes and natural systems that purify, store and ensure long-term delivery of the abundant fresh water that supports ecosystems and people. Many once-perennial streams and wetlands are now dry much of the year because they have been buried or re-engineered for human purposes.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Flow chart.

USGS

References

  1. Vörösmarty, C. J. et al. Nature 467, 555–561 (2010).

    Google Scholar 

  2. Wainger, L. A. & Boyd, J. W. in Ecosystem-Based Management for the Oceans (eds McLeod, K. & Leslie, H.) 92–114 (Island, 2009).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Carpenter, S. R. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 106, 1305–1312 (2009).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. http://www.earthobservations.org/geobon.shtml

  5. http://ipbes.net

  6. Raudsepp-Hearne, C. et al. BioScience 60, 576–589 (2010).

    Google Scholar 

  7. http://hydrosheds.cr.usgs.gov

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Margaret A. Palmer is at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Solomons, Maryland 20688, USA. mpalmer@umd.edu ,

    Margaret A. Palmer

Authors
  1. Margaret A. Palmer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Palmer, M. Beyond infrastructure. Nature 467, 534–535 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/467534a

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/467534a

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing