Introduction
We are on the brink of endless opportunities to learn more by consolidating science instead of breaking it apart into traditional silos.
The science of implementation invites us to investigate individual, organizational, political, and social ecologies that interact with, facilitate, or create barriers to practical applications of knowledge. Even with the most refined tools and technologies and engaged communities, implementation of best practices or best evidence does not always go according to plan. We know this well as community-engaged scholars: there is so much more that influences decision-making than research.
Effective implementation demands a broad ecological approach. As the previous section on community responses illustrates, competing interests, political maneuvering, lack of communication, limited cultural diversity and knowledge, fear, denial, fatigue, apathy, and poorly designed change management can all interfere with even life-sustaining and positive action. How then can the complex global systems be taken into account for effective water management practices? Through this complexity, how can the philosophical immersions, social and cultural formations, connected histories, aesthetic expressions, and storied community responses converge wide-reaching ecologies with global applications?
This final section provides a practical solution to water being at the centre of the global climate crisis, through management change and its application at both human and global scales. In her chapter, engineer Anna Frank highlights a new cycle of hydrology that takes into account multiple levels of implementation to address the crucial hydro-climatic, agricultural, industrial, and water management concerns of our times. Through the exploration of water cycles around the world, Frank’s presentation of a global model concludes this book with material and practical matters at hand, allowing us to consider solutions for understanding and stewarding our water—and ourselves—in the Anthropocene.