Search Results (91)

Wetlands, as critical ecological systems, face increasing threats from anthropogenic pressures and climate change. This study investigates dynamic water allocation strategies for the restoration of Lake Marmara, a nationally important wetland within the Gediz River Basin of Türkiye, which has experienced complete desiccation in recent years. Within the scope of the PRIMA-funded “Mara-Mediterra” project, an integrated modeling approach was employed to evaluate multiple restoration scenarios using the WEAP (Water Evaluation and Planning) platform. Scenarios varied based on the initial storage capacity of Gördes Dam, irrigation demands, environmental flow priorities, and a potential water diversion investment from the Tabaklı reach. Results indicate that under current conditions, Lake Marmara’s ecological water needs can be sustained without the Tabaklı investment. However, under 2050 climate projections, scenarios lacking the Tabaklı investment or deprioritizing ecological needs consistently failed to meet the lake’s minimum water thresholds. Conversely, scenarios combining moderate dam storage levels, environmental prioritization, and Tabaklı inflow succeeded in restoring lake volumes by over 90%. These findings highlight the need for adaptive water planning that aligns with projected hydro-climatic shifts to ensure long-term wetland sustainability. Full article

This study examines the critical water management crisis facing the Río Turbio Basin (RTB) in Mexico’s Bajío region, Guanajuato. The RTB’s challenges are driven by a convergence of environmental degradation, industrial pollution, groundwater over-extraction, and fragmented governance structures. Intensified by climate change, urban expansion, and rising industrial demands, these issues place the basin’s long-term sustainability at serious risk. Employing a qualitative approach, this research synthesizes insights from expert interviews and stakeholder perspectives, highlighting the social, economic, environmental, and institutional dimensions of the crisis. Key findings point to a lack of collaboration among governmental bodies, industry, and local communities, resulting in escalating water scarcity, economic vulnerability in agriculture, and rising social tensions over resource allocation. The RTB exemplifies broader regional water management issues, where institutional fragmentation and the absence of strategic, basin-specific policies undermine sustainable practices. Without coordinated, multi-sectoral interventions, projections indicate worsening declines in water quality and availability, with potentially irreversible effects on ecosystems and public health. This study underscores the need for integrated water resource management (IWRM) strategies, combining technological, regulatory, and community-driven solutions to address the unique socio-environmental challenges of the Bajío region. Full article

Climate change causes a problem for the energy system in Poland, which is based on the availability of water resources throughout the year. In situations of water scarcity resulting from increased demand or due to water deficits caused by the phenomenon of drought, it is necessary to develop efficient management methods that take into account the needs of all stakeholders and obtaining approval for new investments. The principles of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) enable this efficiency to be achieved. The research used 51 questions in 3 surveys to assess the potential for IWRM implementation in 3 catchments located in an area of southern and south-western Poland with different topography, regional and socio-economic characteristics, i.e., the Białka (tourism domination), the Nysa Kłodzka (potential for hydropower) and the Widawa (lowland character). In order to interpret the results, the author’s method of grouping survey questions from different sources was applied. The results of the study showed that there is considerable social potential and willingness to develop cooperation between different stakeholder groups but there are barriers related to the state of knowledge and its transfer between stakeholders. It is important not to ignore the stakeholders whose resistance can effectively delay investment processes. Full article

This study applies panel techniques with macro variables to analyze the connection between date palms production and water management in GCC countries using the Bayesian random and mixed effects models. Also, this study utilizes panel-corrected standard error (PCSE) and feasibly generalized least squares (FGLSs) methods to test the robustness and verify the Bayesian results. By utilizing a Bayesian longitudinal model, this study not only fills in a critical research gap but also provides a fresh perspective on the dynamics of water management practices and their impact on date palm cultivation over time. The results of this study confirm that the posterior means for coefficients of the water efficiencies for all purposes are positive with a magnitude of 11%, 28%, and 125%, respectively, for agriculture, services, and industrial purposes, determining that the Bayesian inference is efficient and reasonable. This result indicates the fit of the model, the validation of the results, and the knowledge that decision-making can suggest water management strategies for date palm cultivation. The findings from the PCSE and FGLSs models confirm that efficient water use in services (β = −0.329, significant at 1%) and agriculture (β = −2.834, significant at 1%) can lead to increased competition for limited water resources, reducing water availability for palm cultivation. Water use efficiency for industrial purposes (β = 0.503, significant at 1%) shows a positive relationship. Industrial water efficiency practices, such as water recycling, can help preserve water resources, managing more water available for agricultural activities. In addition, industrial water efficiency initiatives often involve technological innovations that can be applied to agriculture, improving water management practices in palm production. Developing and implementing comprehensive strategies, such as Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM), that consider water needs for all purposes and establish coordinated water distribution plans to ensure sustainable water use practices across various sectors are highly recommended for policymakers and stakeholders. Also, further research must be performed to investigate the implications of climate change on water resources and date production to develop adaptation strategies that enhance the resilience of date palm cultivation. This will help the development of sustainable agricultural practices that balance water conservation with agrarian productivity. Full article

This paper addresses the need to improve the understanding of how integrated water resources management (IWRM) can be more effective in addressing diverse water challenges globally. The emphasis is on the use of systems methods to clarify IWRM and create support for it among the academic community for emphasis after the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) expire in 2030. The importance of using IWRM is apparent in frequent reports about challenges like access to water supply and sanitation, water-related disasters, water stresses, water pollution, and ecosystem losses. These affect the SDGs, especially Goal 6 for implementation of IWRM. Among competing paradigms for water resources management practice, IWRM has a more organized advocacy base than others, and sustaining it can support all of them. However, IWRM has been supported for more than 20 years and is still difficult to understand and criticized. Despite this, sustained support for it indicates that it meets an important need. Systems concepts of problem archetypes, skeletonization, and the concept of emergence were used to create a model to explain IWRM as a framework of institutional arrangements and a cooperative problem-solving process. A set of four synthesized problem archetypes was developed, and stakeholder analysis was used to identify key disciplines for its implementation and to identify the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed among them. These point the way for academics to develop clear explanations while retaining comprehensive perspectives of IWRM. Building and sustaining a viable academic community to support IWRM will face barriers because academics focus mainly on their disciplines where they are rewarded and recognized. This is also evident in the smaller membership bases of interdisciplinary water associations compared to disciplinary or sector-based water associations. IWRM as an organizing platform for cross-sector water resources management has a long-term future if academics focus on it and its support by international partners continues. By explaining IWRM better and marshalling greater support for it among the academic community, the same approach of clarifying ambiguous concepts and providing better ways to engage academia may help other SDG areas. Full article

Integrated water resource management (IWRM) has been globally recognized as a key strategy for advancing toward water security; however, Chile has not yet implemented it. While water governance in the country has been predominantly analyzed through documents and laws, integrating empirical insights from local actors’ perspectives is essential. This study applied the trialogue model of governance to understand stakeholders’ perspectives and relationships, to identify barriers to achieving water security, and to explore the roles of different actors in enhancing governance systems. The research design focused on the Biobío River Basin (BRB) as a case study, employing a qualitative strategy for data collection through semi-structured interviews. Qualitative data analysis consisted on a thematic analysis, where interview transcripts were coded to identify relevant topics. The results reveal that Chile’s highly centralized governance structure, along with inadequate information management and socioeconomic conflicts related to the construction of hydroelectric power plants, pose significant barriers to achieving water security in the BRB. Key opportunities to address barriers include legal reforms, improved information management, and strengthened enforcement and supervision. Achieving effective governance relies heavily on legal reforms, mobilizing resources and creating spaces for raising social awareness. Transparent and accessible data-sharing mechanisms are also crucial for better information management. Although the trialogue model is a valuable framework for analyzing river basin governance, it is necessary to emphasize the need to account for the intricate nature of the society cluster in future studies. Full article

The Irawan Watershed in Puerto Princesa, Philippines, is an important resource that supports domestic, agricultural, and industrial water needs. This study applies the Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) model to project the impacts of climate change on future surface water availability, integrating the findings into an Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) framework. Using bias-corrected General Circulation Models (GCMs) under four shared socioeconomic pathways (SSPs), this study examines scenarios from low to high emissions (SSP126, SSP245, SSP370, and SSP585) for the assessment of potential variations in water supply. The results indicate a significant vulnerability to water availability, especially under SSP370 and SSP585, where climate warming is pronounced, leading to significant reductions in streamflow. Conversely, SSP126 suggests relatively stable conditions with less pronounced hydrological changes. The study also explores the socioeconomic drivers that affect water demand, including population growth and land use changes that influence agricultural water needs. The findings underscore the urgency of using adaptive management strategies to conserve water resources in the face of these anticipated challenges. Key recommendations include optimizing water use efficiency in all sectors, establishing protective zones around natural ecosystems, implementing climate-resilient infrastructure, and promoting community engagement in water management. These measures are critical for enhancing water security and promoting sustainable development within the watershed, contributing to the broader goals of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6. This study offers decision-makers and resource managers an evidence-based framework for integrating hydrological modeling into IWRM, providing valuable insights to navigate the complexities of climate change and ensure the long- term sustainability of water resources in the Philippines. Full article

Groundwater depletion in arid regions poses a significant threat to agricultural sustainability and rural livelihoods. This study employs geospatial analysis and economic modeling to address groundwater depletion in the arid Barind region of Northwest Bangladesh, where 84% of the rural population depends on agriculture. Using remote sensing and GIS, we developed an elevation map revealing areas up to 60 m above sea level, exacerbating evaporation and aquifer dryness. Field data collected through Participatory Rural Appraisal tools showed farmers exhibiting “ignorant myopic” behavior, prioritizing short-term profits over resource conservation. To address this, an Increasing Block Tariff (IBT) water pricing model was developed, dividing water usage into three blocks based on irrigation hours: 1–275 h, 276–550 h, and 551+ h. The proposed IBT model significantly increases water prices across the three blocks: 117 BDT/hour for the first block (from current 100–110 BDT/hour), 120 BDT/hour for the second block, and 138 BDT/hour for the third block. A demand function (y = −0.1178x + 241.8) was formulated to evaluate the model’s impact. The results show potential reductions in groundwater consumption: 59 h in the first block, 26 h in the second block, and 158 h in the third block. These reductions align with the principles of integrated water resource management (IWRM): social equity, economic efficiency, and environmental integration. The model incorporates economic externalities (e.g., well lifting costs) and environmental externalities (e.g., crop pattern shifts), with total costs reaching 92,709,049 BDT for environmental factors. This research provides a framework for sustainable groundwater management in arid regions, potentially reducing overextraction while maintaining agricultural productivity. The proposed IBT model offers a locally driven solution to balance resource conservation with the livelihood needs of farming communities in the Barind tract. By combining remote sensing, GIS, and economic modeling, this research provides a framework for sustainable groundwater management in arid regions, demonstrating the power of geospatial technologies in addressing complex water resource challenges. Full article

Enhancement of water and sanitation management acts as a significant component of global development as it is part of the United Nation’s sixth Sustainable Development Goal. Due to peculiar geographical and climatic attributes of the country and sincere efforts toward implementing IWRM, South Korea has improved its position in the SDG 6 index. The purpose of this research work is to evaluate the advancements that have been made in the IWRM of South Korea from 2018 to 2023 concerning policy changes, technical advancements, and societal engagement. Thus, this paper, through surveys and literature review, examines the measures that have been taken in the recent past to address the hydrological vulnerabilities resulting from climate change, as depicted by the UN Environment Program. Centrally, since South Korea has become more sensitive to climate change effects, and thus hydrological issues, the findings will assist in the improvement of current IWRM processes and help them achieve the SDG 6 goals. This study implies that there should be sustainable water management practices that balance natural and human interferences amidst prevailing climate change effects. Full article

Water resources management and the broad concept of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) attract varied perspectives about their effectiveness and equity as they address diverse needs across sectors and contextual situations. Managers in the water sector generally support their current governance models, while anti-poverty advocates seek more equity in the distribution of resources. Another group of stakeholders claims a lack of inclusivity in decision-making, leading to inequitable outcomes due to hegemony and colonialization of the water management domain by sector experts, officials, and other actors. IWRM focuses on reforms in water governance to achieve greater participation and sharing of power by all sectors of society in decision-making. It can facilitate the involvement of all groups of stakeholders, including those who may in some cases need to engage in social action to address water issues. This paper reviews the claims about the validity of IWRM and analyzes them according to management scenarios where water is a connector among sector issues. The scenarios show that participation in utility and local government decisions is the main pathway for urban water, wastewater, and stormwater management, while the same pathway is more difficult to organize in dispersed situations for domestic supply and irrigation in rural areas, some cases of aquifer management, and management of sprawling flood risk zones. The body of knowledge about participation in water resources management is robust, but organizational and financial capacities among existing entities pose barriers. Water resources management and IWRM do involve hegemony, and the field of practice has been colonialized, but the existential issues and complexity of the decisions and systems involved challenge society to manage successfully while assuring equity and participation through governance reform. The debates over hegemony and colonialization in water management provide an opportunity to continue improving the norms of practice and water resources education. Full article

Hydrological modeling can be challenging due to significant data requirements and computational complexities. Hydrological models must be sufficiently complex to describe physical processes yet simple enough to use. This paper describes the development of a simplified watershed-scale input–output model to simulate runoff quantity and quality during a storm event. This work builds upon an existing semi-distributed rainfall–runoff model by adding calculations for pollutant concentrations based on simplified mass balance equations. The model was tested against various watershed examples of increasing complexity. The results show the change in peak flow and pollutant concentration in different areas of the watershed, demonstrating the model’s ability to account for the dynamics of runoff movement through the watershed. This paper advances watershed management by addressing data scarcity through the development of a simplified hydrological model that effectively incorporates spatial variability within a watershed while requiring minimal data input. Full article

This paper analyzes the events that originated an integrated water resources management (IWRM) model called Consorcio de Aguas de la Marina Baja (CAMB), in the province of Alicante (Spain), in 1978. The impact of tourism and population growth in the second half of the 20th century motivated the need for new management formulas seeking a balance between available resources and a greater need for water resources. The emergence of mass tourism in Benidorm at the end of the 1950s generated a great imbalance between the needs and availability of water resources. Also considering the effect of periods of severe drought, the solution to the deficit was found in the principles of institutional economics and circular water management. Water infrastructure and technology are elements of great importance in this model, allowing the exchange of natural water for reclaimed water, as a result of previous agreements between traditional irrigators and supply users of coastal populations. Its success has guaranteed the coexistence of traditional agriculture and the consolidated tourism activity, making possible the conservation of the cultural landscape. The historical and economic analysis of the model that led to the creation of CAMB can be applied to other regions facing similar challenges. Full article

Sustainable Development Goal 6 addresses water issues, and Target 6.5.1 sets a goal to implement integrated water resources management (IWRM) at all levels. The reporting system shows slow progress, which indicates that changes are needed. The assessments focus mainly on the function of IWRM as a framework of institutional arrangements and less on its function as a process for water resources management, with emphasis on practices like multi-objective planning and stakeholder participation. While IWRM has a rich body of knowledge and wide recognition among water management communities, it is still misunderstood and criticized by some stakeholders, even after 25 years of explanations. While its support base appears stable, indications of fatigue and waning interest in IWRM point to the need for fresh explanations and demonstrations. These can be facilitated by distinguishing the functionalities of IWRM as a framework and a process. SDG data focuses on its framework function, which generally tracks the status of environmental governance in countries. Case studies provide better indicators of its use as a process, but their narratives may not be persuasive. If educators adopt the framework and function model of IWRM advocated in the paper, the narratives can improve and facilitate greater acceptance. Advancement of IWRM implementation to support the Sustainable Development Goals requires continued support by the Global Water Partnership, which might be bolstered by cooperation with international water associations for standardization, accreditation, and credentialing. IWRM’s future implementation will also depend on its adoption among educators and on interdisciplinary approaches. Full article

The summer of 2022 was one of the hottest and driest summers that Germany experienced in the 21st century. Water levels in rivers sank dramatically with many dams and reservoirs running dry; as a result, fields could not be irrigated sufficiently, and even power generation and supply were affected. The impact of abnormally high temperatures for extended periods (heatwaves) is not restricted to nature and the economy but is also a considerable public health burden. Experts worldwide agree that these extreme weather events are being driven by climate change and will increase in intensity and frequency in the future. The adverse impact of these extreme weather events multiplies among dense urban environments, e.g., through heat islands. This calls for cities to take action to heat-proof and water-secure their urban developments. Water-Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) is one such approach to mitigate the aforementioned challenges by leveraging the urban water ecosystem with special attention to the subject of water reclamation, retention, treatment and distribution. This paper introduces and builds upon a prototype of WSUD that centers around an artificial lake as an integrated water resource management system (IWRMS) fed by treated grey water and storm water obtained from two housing blocks flanking the water reservoir. Based on the specifications of this prototype, indicators of site suitability are derived and applied to identify potential locations for replicable projects in the city of Darmstadt. The results confirm the impact WSUD can have: a total of 22 sites with 2527 apartments are found suitable for prototype implementation in Darmstadt. Savings in town water consumption from these 22 sites would add up to 147 million liters. Further benefits include the provision of 24 million liters of irrigation water, storm water retention, adiabatic cooling during heatwave, increased biodiversity and the improvement in livability of the sites and the city. Full article

The present study applied a multi-criteria analysis to evaluate the best approach among six theoretical frameworks related to the integrated management of water–environmental resources, analyzing the frequency of multiple management criteria. The literature review covers the period from 1990 to 2015, with a notable presence of the theoretical frameworks of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), Ecohealth, Ecosystem Approach (EA), Water Framework Directive (WFD), and, to a lesser extent, the Watershed Governance Prism (WGP) and the Sustainability Wheel (SW). The multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods applied include AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process), TOPSIS (Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution), and PROMETHEE (Preference Ranking Organization Method for Enrichment Evaluations). Twenty-five criteria were analyzed, such as governance, participation, sustainability, decentralization, and health and well-being, among others. We started with five criteria for evaluating the hierarchy of the six theoretical frameworks using the AHP method. Subsequently, we again evaluated the five criteria using the TOPSIS and PROMETHEE methods to calibrate the results with the AHP. Then, using word counting, we evaluated the best approach, applying 10, 15, 20, and 25 more criteria. Our results indicate that the best integrated management alternative was the WFD, which fulfilled 47% of the management criteria. Second, with 45%, was the WGP, and third was IWRM, with 41%; less successful approaches to the criteria were demonstrated by the EA, SW, and Ecohealth methods. By applying this methodology, we demonstrated an excellent structured tool that can aid in the selection of the most important issue within a given sector. Full article