Adaptation to Extreme Droughts in Arizona, Georgia, and South Carolina: Evaluating Adaptive Capacity and Innovative Planning and Management Approaches for States and Their Community Water Systems

Arizona, Georgia, and South Carolina have experienced extreme droughts within the past decade. Droughts of even greater intensity will likely increase in the coming years, and other stresses such as population growth will compound the effects of climate variability and change on water resources in these and other states. Decision makers need frameworks that expand the range of options and instill the flexibility necessary to adjust to the predicted and unpredicted changes they will face. Research suggests that innovative approaches such as drought preparedness, integrated water resources management, and adaptive management might instill such flexibility and improve adaptive capacity to droughts.;I investigate these approaches at the state and local levels, with an emphasis on the operation of community water systems (CWS). I combine quantitative and qualitative mixed methodologies to measure and characterize adaptive capacity. Also, I look more closely at the largest urban CWS in Arizona and Georgia to evaluate the timing, bridges, and barriers for implementing these approaches in relation to the onset of droughts.;Across the states, I find that factors contributing most to adaptive capacity include (but are not limited to) flexible and iterative drought triggers/indices/monitoring and local drought plans/planning, state-backed comprehensive planning and informational support systems, and regional forums for collaborating between communities. I identify potential conflicts in balancing state regulation and support with local CWS drought preparation and response. I also uncover a mix of positive and negative relationships between the onset of droughts and management approach implementation in Georgia, while in Arizona, the relationships are mainly negative. In Arizona, a 'culture of conservation' has developed within large CWS and their publics, but adaptedness to the arid conditions has created cognitive barriers that could limit stronger conservation efforts during more extreme droughts. In Georgia, although droughts serve as 'windows of opportunity' to innovate, the cyclical implementation of approaches suggests that there are important impediments to their more permanent adoption in the future.;Broadly, my findings suggest that there are tensions in building adaptive capacity at various spatial scales, as well as potential tradeoffs between the proactive and reactive elements of adaptive capacity.