The evolution of human population distance to water in the USA from 1790 to 2010

• Published in: Nature communications 2019-01, Vol.10 (1), p.430-430, Article 430
• Main Authors: Fang, Yu, Jawitz, James W.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 20th century; 706/2805; 706/2808; Aquifers; Arid regions; Arid zones; Climate Change; Coevolution; Conservation of Natural Resources; Evolution; Floods; Groundwater; Groundwater - analysis; Heterogeneity; History, 18th Century; History, 19th Century; History, 20th Century; History, 21st Century; Human populations; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Humid areas; Industrial development; Land settlement; Models, Statistical; multidisciplinary; Population density; Population Dynamics - history; Population Dynamics - statistics & numerical data; Regions; Rivers; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Trends; United States; Water management; Water resources; Water Resources - supply & distribution
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-08366-z

Human societies evolved alongside rivers, but how has the relationship between human settlement locations and water resources evolved over time? We conducted a dynamic analysis in the conterminous US to assess the coevolution of humans and water resources from 1790 to 2010. Here we show that humans moved closer to major rivers in pre-industrial periods but have moved farther from major rivers after 1870, demonstrating the dynamics of human reliance on rivers for trade and transport. We show that humans were preferentially attracted to areas overlying major aquifers since industrialization due to the emergent accessibility of groundwater in the 20 th century. Regional heterogeneity resulted in diverse trajectories of settlement proximity to major rivers, with the attractiveness of rivers increasing in arid regions and decreasing in humid areas. Our results reveal a historical coevolution of human-water systems, which could inform water management and contribute to societal adaptation to future climate change. There are dynamic and complex interactions between population and water resources. Here the authors studied the spatio-temporal relationship between human and water resources in conterminous US and found that dynamic human distance to water reflects the changing societal reliance on adjacency to major rivers.