Articles | Volume 22, issue 11
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-5675-2018
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-5675-2018
Research article
 | 
02 Nov 2018
Research article |  | 02 Nov 2018

Stochastic hydrogeology's biggest hurdles analyzed and its big blind spot

Yoram Rubin, Ching-Fu Chang, Jiancong Chen, Karina Cucchi, Bradley Harken, Falk Heße, and Heather Savoy

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Cited articles

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Short summary
This paper addresses questions related to the adoption of stochastic methods in hydrogeology, looking at factors such as environmental regulations, financial incentives, higher education, and the collective feedback loop involving these factors. We show that stochastic hydrogeology's blind spot is in focusing on risk while ignoring uncertainty, to the detriment of its potential clients. The imbalance between the treatments of risk and uncertainty is shown to be common to multiple disciplines.