the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
| 09 Apr 2026
HESS Opinions: Operationalizing sociohydrology from systems thinking to systems doing for sustainable and resilient water management
Abstract. Sociohydrology has advanced explanations of coupled human-water systems, but its translation into decision support remains uneven. We argue that a practical bridge from systems thinking to systems doing can be built around two complementary abstractions: (i) canonical feedback structures that make cases comparable without erasing context, and (ii) critical pathways that trace how interventions propagate through behavior, exposure, and outcomes. Canonical forms help organize recurring emergent phenomena such as the levee effect and reservoir effect, while critical pathways turn these insights into a repeatable workflow for intervention design, monitoring, and adaptive learning. We propose a minimal "systems doing loop" that links feedback mapping, pathway tracing, indicator selection, and iteration, with equity and legitimacy treated as explicit constraints on what counts as useful knowledge and acceptable action. This framing complements integrated water resources management by making unintended consequences operational and by clarifying what to monitor and revisit when system behavior changes.
Competing interests: At least one of the (co-)authors is a member of the editorial board of Hydrology and Earth System Sciences.
Publisher's note: Copernicus Publications remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims made in the text, published maps, institutional affiliations, or any other geographical representation in this paper. While Copernicus Publications makes every effort to include appropriate place names, the final responsibility lies with the authors. Views expressed in the text are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher.- Preprint
(437 KB) - Metadata XML
- BibTeX
- EndNote
Status: open (until 02 Jun 2026)
- RC1: 'Operationalising socio-hydrology is a timely and fascinating theme', Alberto Montanari, 12 May 2026 reply
Viewed
| HTML | XML | Total | BibTeX | EndNote | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 233 | 93 | 12 | 338 | 24 | 27 |
- HTML: 233
- PDF: 93
- XML: 12
- Total: 338
- BibTeX: 24
- EndNote: 27
Viewed (geographical distribution)
| Country | # | Views | % |
|---|
| Total: | 0 |
| HTML: | 0 |
| PDF: | 0 |
| XML: | 0 |
- 1
Operationalising socio-hydrology is a timely and fascinating theme! Socio-hydrology has the potential to play a fundamental role in overcoming the lack of public—and local administrations—consensus on solutions aimed at improving sustainability and mitigating environmental and climate-related risks. To translate the concepts and methods of socio-hydrology into operational advice is indeed a challenge, also for the complications posed by so-called “institutional barriers”, that more and more represent the real obstacle to change adaptation rather than purely technical barriers (see, for instance, Oberlack, 2017).
The contribution herein presented is timely and highly significant. I enjoyed reading it as it has the potential to clarify the technical advance proposed by socio-hydrology. I believe this piece may be interesting not only to scientists working in the specific field, but also to the general public. To maximise the potential of reaching a large audience I am providing here below some minor suggestions in order to make the contributions more widely accessible. Quotes from the manuscript are copied in italic font.
This is a significant and timely contribution that has the potential to make an excellent opinion piece.
Alberto Montanari
References
Bruley, E., Scolobig, A., Ellena, M., Pickard, S., Englund, M., Baulenas, E., ... & Stoffel, M. (2026). Advancing stakeholder engagement in climate adaptation: a systematic review of structural barriers and operational enablers. Sustainability Science, 1-19.
Catalano, A. J., & Hall, D. M. (2026). Reviewing the Levee Effect: From Theory to Practice. Journal of Flood Risk Management, 19(2), e70211.
Oberlack, C. (2017). Diagnosing institutional barriers and opportunities for adaptation to climate change. Mitigation and adaptation strategies for global change, 22(5), 805-838.
Wamsler, C., Alkan-Olsson, J., Björn, H., Falck, H., Hanson, H., Oskarsson, T., ... & Zelmerlow, F. (2020). Beyond participation: when citizen engagement leads to undesirable outcomes for nature-based solutions and climate change adaptation. Climatic Change, 158(2), 235-254.