GROUNDWATER SUSTAINABILITY ACROSS DISCIPLINES AS WELL AS TIME AND SPACE SCALES: CONSIDERING NATURAL DISASTERS, SOCIAL-ECOLOGICAL SYSTEMS, ART, COMMUNITY-BASED RESEARCH AND EQUITY IN OUR PRACTICES

Long-term, regionally focused, and physically based thinking is broadly advocated for groundwater - the largest available freshwater resource that is essential for drinking water, irrigation and ecosystems around the world. Long-term, regionally focused, and physically based analysis and management is crucial to support sustainability of this slowly renewed, heterogenous resource, but here I elevate complimentary, more interdisciplinary approaches to groundwater. The world is changing, and our geoscience practices need to change with it. First, I elevate the importance of shorter time scales of days and months during various natural and human-made disasters and incorporating disaster and environmental justice, disaster sociology, sustainability science and sociohydrology. As the frequency and magnitude of climate, earthquake and wildfire emergencies accelerate and are compounded by other social, political and economic crises in the meta-crisis, short-term groundwater use is emerging as a strategic solution that is inexpensive, speedy and distributed. Second, I elevate the importance of bridging spatial scales using a social-ecological systems frameworks from highly contextual community-based research supporting an innovative co-management between Indigenous and colonial governments to address decreasing summer flows, to global analysis characterizing groundwater’s social, ecological and Earth System functions. Third, I elevate the importance of art and beauty even for physically trained scientists to consider groundwater in art, how groundwater-connected landscapes and cultures can be beautiful, and the value of engaging with artistic practices and collaborations. The importance of equity is woven through all these different examples and approaches, which I hope will inspire geoscientists to keep expanding their horizons and toolkits with complimentary, interdisciplinary practices to enable sustainable groundwater outcomes for all in our changing world.