TY - JOUR
T1 - The Ecohydrological Approach in Water Sowing and Harvesting Systems
T2 - The Case of the Paltas Catacocha Ecohydrology Demonstration Site, Ecuador
AU - Albarracín, Marco
AU - Ramón, Galo
AU - González, Jorge
AU - Iñiguez-Armijos, Carlos
AU - Zakaluk, Thomas
AU - Martos-Rosillo, Sergio
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 European Regional Centre for Ecohydrology of the Polish Academy of Sciences
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Water sowing and harvesting (WS&H), a term adopted from Latin America, is an ancestral process that involves gathering and infiltration (sowing) of rainwater, surface runoff, and groundwater to recover it (harvesting) later and/or elsewhere. The WS&H systems follow the approaches of integrated water resource management, nature-based solutions and the recovery of ancestral knowledge for water management. In this paper, we present some representative types of WS&H in Latin America, Spain, and Portugal, and then, we focus on the Paltas Catacocha Ecohydrology Demonstration Site in southern Ecuador as a study case. The recovery of such local ecohydrological knowledge in the study case has made enabled the regulation and retention of water in the aquifers through the restoration of artificial wetlands (cochas) and stream dams (tapes or tajamares). Also, this ancestral way of water management has recently supported and reactivated several biological aspects and human activities. The experience of the Paltas Catacocha site shows that there are more appropriate and sustainable alternatives to gray infrastructure projects for water resources management and denotes the need to study ancestral water and soil management systems.
AB - Water sowing and harvesting (WS&H), a term adopted from Latin America, is an ancestral process that involves gathering and infiltration (sowing) of rainwater, surface runoff, and groundwater to recover it (harvesting) later and/or elsewhere. The WS&H systems follow the approaches of integrated water resource management, nature-based solutions and the recovery of ancestral knowledge for water management. In this paper, we present some representative types of WS&H in Latin America, Spain, and Portugal, and then, we focus on the Paltas Catacocha Ecohydrology Demonstration Site in southern Ecuador as a study case. The recovery of such local ecohydrological knowledge in the study case has made enabled the regulation and retention of water in the aquifers through the restoration of artificial wetlands (cochas) and stream dams (tapes or tajamares). Also, this ancestral way of water management has recently supported and reactivated several biological aspects and human activities. The experience of the Paltas Catacocha site shows that there are more appropriate and sustainable alternatives to gray infrastructure projects for water resources management and denotes the need to study ancestral water and soil management systems.
KW - ancient practices
KW - Andes
KW - artificial wetlands
KW - ecohydrology
KW - Ecuador
KW - Ibero-America
KW - water management
KW - water sowing and harvesting
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85113316882&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ecohyd.2021.07.007
DO - 10.1016/j.ecohyd.2021.07.007
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85113316882
SN - 1642-3593
VL - 21
SP - 454
EP - 466
JO - Ecohydrology and Hydrobiology
JF - Ecohydrology and Hydrobiology
IS - 3
ER -