EDITORIAL: When does a road become a river? Why hydrologists and water planners need to move beyond averages – Australasian Journal of Water Resources (July 2018)
Note to Reader:
In the July 2018 Issue of the Australasian Journal of Water Resources, the editors (daughter Katherine and father Trevor Daniell) have assembled a set of articles that contribute to a re-thinking of the challenges and more generally a move beyond averages, as well as many other articles from both Australia and New Zealand.
When Does A Road Become a River?
“In an increasingly unnatural world, many of our understandings of what is ‘natural’ are indeed coming under scrutiny,” wrote Katherine and Trevor Daniell. “It is easy to see that this distinction of what is ‘natural’ or ‘unnatural’ is becoming blurred. A river can be defined as ‘A large quantity of a flowing substance’. Obviously, a road could be defined as a river.”
“If we have best available evidence that now shows ‘sometimes’ (not on average), a road becomes a river and that naturally it becomes a channel for the flow of water, and this can lead to significant property damage or hazards to human life and health, then don’t we have the responsibility to understand ‘when’ and ‘how’ this is likely to occur?”
To Learn More:
To read the complete the editorial, download a copy of When does a road become a river? Why hydrologists and water planners need to move beyond averages