scholarly journals Trajectory of a divided river basin: law, conflict, and cooperation along Chile's Maipo River

Water Policy ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 127-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophia Borgias ◽  
Carl J. Bauer
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Integrated Water Resources Management ◽  
Prima Facie ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Political Consequences ◽  
Future Challenges ◽  
Emerging Issues ◽  
Historical Trajectory

Abstract The historical trajectory of the Maipo River basin offers critical insights into current and future challenges in Chile's internationally famous model of water management. We highlight the legal dimensions of the trajectory, looking beyond the 1981 Water Code and water market debates to some of the underlying principles of Chilean water law that shape river management. In particular, we focus on a legal-administrative rule that splits rivers into multiple, independently managed ‘sections’ – a policy that has received little attention despite posing a prima facie contradiction to the goal of integrated water resources management. We demonstrate that, despite government officials’ insistence that this policy is merely an ‘artificial’ administrative tool, river sectioning has significant material, discursive, and socio-political consequences for water governance. We highlight three emerging issues: (1) tensions over section boundaries, (2) the institutionalisation of a ‘right to leave the river dry’, and (3) ongoing struggles to establish formal vigilance committees in the lower sections. Far from functioning as a legal simplification, river sectioning is complicated and contentious and demands more attention in policy and research. We conclude by considering possible solutions aligned with efforts to move toward more coordinated and equitable water management in this crucial basin.

Stakeholder involvement in water management: the role of the stakeholder analysis within participatory processes

Water Policy ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 675-694 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paola Sabina Lupo Stanghellini
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Water Resource Management ◽  
Stakeholder Participation ◽  
Stakeholder Analysis ◽  
Stakeholder Involvement ◽  
Integrated Water Resources Management ◽  
Catchment Management ◽  
Analysis Methodology ◽  
Management Plans ◽  
Future Challenges

Water is a central resource supporting human activities and ecosystems and it is required for different purposes and uses that are often conflicting. Existing water-related problems are expected to increase and conventional water resource management systems are not likely to be able to face future challenges. There is the need for an integrated water resources management, which should be participatory, technically and scientific informed and which should be based on bottom-up approach. The Directive 2000/60/EC is based on principles of integrated planning and calls for stakeholder involvement in water management. Involving stakeholders is an important step to ensure that catchment management plans take into consideration local needs, experiences and interests. This paper presents a stakeholder analysis methodology that was developed to support stakeholder participation in water management. The methodology was implemented as a preliminary step in a stakeholder participation project in an alpine sub-catchment in Northern Italy.

from the plot to the river basin - agrisatwebgis®: a tool for efficient water management

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andres Cuesta ◽  
Carmen Plaza ◽  
María Calera ◽  
Vicente Bodas ◽  
Anna Osann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Continuous Innovation ◽  
La Mancha ◽  
Resolution Level

<p>The rigorous management of water in agriculture must be seen from the point of view of all its actors, covering the information and knowledge needs of each one of them: from supporting the farmer in making irrigation decisions at the foot of the plot, until the collection and management of objective information at the basin level, through planning and control at the level of user communities. Today it is not conceived to address this enormous task without resorting to the available technological arsenal, but to speak of complex technologies is to speak of a high degree of specialization that escapes individual capacities. In this context, successful solutions arise from cooperation between entities of different nature. An example of this is the collaboration between the Remote Sensing Section and GIS of the University of Castilla La Mancha and the company AgriSat Iberia SL, which have created a dynamic of continuous innovation work to, firstly, transfer complex knowledge in format to the farmer of simple services of direct application, later, with the information generated at the intraparcel level, to scale to the level required by the entities or authorities involved in water governance, and finally, to redirect efforts and resources in research, development and innovation from of a better knowledge of their perception, degree of adoption and suggestions for improvement in this regard.</p><p>The last result of this fruitful collaboration has been the development of an application that integrates information on the state of the crops, from satellite images, to predict reliably and at an intraparcel scale (with a resolution level of 100 m<sup>2</sup>) your needs water a week seen. This allows quantifying, at any moment of the crop cycle, its accumulated demand for water, and adding it spatially to the exploitation level, of the irrigation community or of the river basin. From the estimation of the relative photosynthetic activity obtained from the images, it is possible to know the evolution of the crops throughout their growth and development cycle, as well as their spatial variability, in a simple and intuitive way.</p><p>There are three technologies that jointly facilitate this important leap in water management: remote sensing, geographic information systems (GIS), and information and communication technologies (ICT).</p><p>Its online character makes it a service accessible from anywhere with data connection, and in turn makes it a “live” system not only for its capacity for functional expansion but for the possibility of increasing the quantity and quality of the sources of information, allowing access to each new improvement immediately.</p>

scholarly journals Data management for integrated water resources management in Central Asia

2014 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. 1425-1440 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iskandar Abdullaev ◽  
Shavkat Rakhmatullaev
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Data Management ◽  
Central Asia ◽  
Information Technologies ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Integrated Water Resources Management ◽  
Water Sector ◽  
Management Tools ◽  
Institutional Settings

Information technologies can act as technical artifacts and can facilitate stakeholder communication, supporting decision making in a complex societal context. The water sector is one such example where limited water resources are threatened by climate change and growing competition for resources between sectors, regions and countries. Attempts to improve water governance and management through information technologies have been made by international, regional and national water agencies for the last 20 years in Central Asia. However, early attempts were focused on collection, systematization and analysis of the generic data related to the water sector in the region. There are still significant gaps (technical, human and financial capacities) for application of such technologies at the lower operational levels of water management, i.e. where the full dimensions of variables, interactions and complexities are observed and, most importantly, everyday politics of water are performed. The aim of this paper is to present practical results on improving water management in Central Asia through the application of better data management tools at the operational level across diverse institutional settings, i.e. transboundary, watershed levels in the region.

scholarly journals Water governance assessment at different scales: a reservoir case study in the Brazilian semiarid region

RBRH ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aline Pessoa Bezerra ◽  
Zédna Mara de Castro Lucena Vieira ◽  
Márcia Maria Rios Ribeiro
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Evaluation Criteria ◽  
Semiarid Region ◽  
Severe Drought ◽  
National Agency ◽  
Brazilian Semiarid ◽  
Oecd Principles ◽  
Policy Alignment

ABSTRACT This article analyses the application of OECD water governance principles to the semiarid region of Brazil. Between 2012 and 2017, the Paraíba River basin (macroscale) and its Epitácio Pessoa reservoir – EPR (microscale) suffered a severe drought. The reservoir came close to collapse in 2017, which led to water use conflicts that were aggravated due to water mismanagement. Four evaluation criteria were considered: policy alignment to the OECD principles, its implementation, on-ground results, and policy impacts. The outcomes indicate water management fragilities, even after 24 years of the Brazilian National Water Resources Policy enactment, and the need for a better water management integration at different scales: National, State, and River Basin. By considering a smaller scale (a basin and its main reservoir), it was possible to observe water governance failures that lead to water crises since the best practices performed by the national agency, at the national scale, have not been verified at the local scale.

Complement or competition in water governance? Analysing two collaborative water management arrangements in one river basin

Water Policy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irina Mancheva
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Collaborative Governance ◽  
Regional Level ◽  
Social Value ◽  
Fish Migration ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Policy Documents ◽  
Feasible Solutions

Abstract This study aims at advancing collaborative governance theory by investigating the interaction between two different collaborative arrangements within the same forested area of high ecological and social value in the Vindel River basin. Semi-structured interviews, policy documents and observations of board meetings were analysed based on analytical typologies of collaborative arrangements to answer the following questions: which factors can explain why a new collaborative arrangement was established within an area where one already existed? In what way do the two arrangements compete with or complement each other? And, to what extent do they address the effects of forestry on water? The analysis shows that a new collaborative arrangement was formed because the existing arrangement did not materialise certain stakeholders' expectations. Moreover, the two collaborative arrangements do not compete but rather complement each other. The newly established organisational/action collaborative arrangement presented those stakeholders most interested in on-the-ground action with the appropriate venue while freeing them from the organisational/policy arrangement that did not match their aims. However, both arrangements experienced power misbalances as certain stakeholders were perceived as having more influence on their agenda. Collaboration at this local-regional level was found to focus on limited problems with concrete and feasible solutions, such as fish migration, rather than on the complex problems with solutions marked by ecological uncertainty and power asymmetries, e.g. diffuse pollution from forestry.

scholarly journals Integrated Urban Water Management and Water Security: A Comparison of Singapore and Hong Kong

Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 785 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olivia Jensen ◽  
Sreeja Nair
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Hong Kong ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Water Security ◽  
Integrated Water Resources Management ◽  
Urban Water ◽  
Urban Water Management ◽  
Integrated Urban Water Management ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The City

Integrated Urban Water Management (IUWM) has emerged in the past two decades as a promising approach to the application of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) principles at the city-level. IUWM is expected to contribute to the achievement of multiple policy objectives, often including increased water security. This paper uses a case-based approach to study the impact of IUWM on water security, focusing on the influence of the level of institutionalization of IUWM within water governance at the city-level. Process tracing is applied to the cases of Singapore and Hong Kong, in which IUWM has been adopted but implementation and outcomes have diverged. We find that the depth of institutionalization, a difference between the two cases identified at the outset, has contributed to the achievement of better water security outcomes in Singapore as it has facilitated the development and implementation of a more far-reaching strategy. A supportive governance framework appears to amplify the impact of IUWM on progress towards water security and other policy targets.

Delineation of River Basin Committees in Peru using WARPLAM DSS

Water Policy ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 387-400
Author(s):  
Ana Carolina Coelho ◽  
Rodrigo Flecha ◽  
Jorge Benites ◽  
Alberto Serrato ◽  
Humberto Torres ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Integrated Water Resources Management ◽  
Management Decision ◽  
Water Resources Planning ◽  
Planning And Management ◽  
Governance Practices ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Resources Planning

In order to promote good water governance practices, harmonize multiple objectives, and reflect the linkages between environmental, socioeconomic and politico-administrative aspects, it is imperative to define appropriate regions for water resources planning and management. The Water Resources Planning and Management Decision Support System (WARPLAM DSS) is presented here as a tool to support the definition of suitable limits for water resources regions. Although river basins are generally considered the most suitable regions to achieve Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) goals, WARPLAM DSS facilitates the analysis of politico-administrative, historic-cultural, socioeconomic, and physical-environmental aspects. This paper summarizes an initiative to define integrated water resources regions for the establishment of River Basin Committees (RBCs) in Peru, based on a comprehensive analysis of the Peruvian territory. The study was developed through a partnership between ANA-Peru and ANA-Brazil, with the cooperation of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). The results simulated in this attempt anticipate a more harmonized division of Peru's territory into water resources regions. Such an approach aims to establish more robust RBCs and to increase the chances of attaining IWRM goals.

scholarly journals Sustainable water financing and lean cost approaches as essentials for integrated water resources management and water governance: lessons learnt from the Southern African context

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 536-544 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jens Hilbig ◽  
Karl-Ulrich Rudolph
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Water Resources Management ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Great Influence ◽  
Integrated Water Resources Management ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Resources Management ◽  
Environmentally Sustainable ◽  
Scarce Water

Abstract The deterioration of water quality, stressed water resources and increasing water demand are among the most serious concerns in Africa and worldwide. At the same time, there is a lack of efficient and sustainable water management. This is a major challenge for future water governance policies and processes. Economic aspects play a key role for the successful implementation of integrated water resources management (IWRM) measures. Financing mechanisms are of great influence regarding how water and wastewater facilities are designed, built and operated and how these facilities contribute to an efficient long-term management of scarce water resources. Research projects in Southern Africa have shown the need of water management efficiency and the essential role of sustainable water finance for an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable management of these resources.

scholarly journals Promoting Federalism, IWRM, and Functional Approach to Water Governance under Ethiopian Water Laws

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 384-418
Author(s):  
Zbelo Haileslassie
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Integrated Water Resources Management ◽  
River Basin Management ◽  
Functional Approach ◽  
Federal State ◽  
State Structure ◽  
The Government ◽  
Key Terms

Integrated functional approach to water governance in a federal state structure can avoid vertical and horizontal conflicts. There are queries on how functional approach to water governance can be promoted in the context of federal state structure. Other concerns include linkages, the meditating factor demanding for reconciling competing water uses, integrated water resources management (IWRM) and integrated river basin management (IRBM). This article assesses the existing governance framework and its suitability to promote functional approach to water governance, reconciliations and policy options. There are inconsistencies in the Constitution, Federal water management laws, river basin high councils and authority’s laws, policies, strategies and the regulation that establishes and defines the powers and duties of the Ethiopian Basin Development Authority.  Moreover, there are missing links and integrations, centralizing tendencies and failures to accommodate and harmonize pluralistic and diversified local practices. The water laws need to integrate both the bottom-up approach (by empowering the grassroots and bringing efficient, equitable, and sustainable use of water) and top-down form of governance (to harmonize the inter-local linkages among and within regional states). The inter-state basin governance needs reform and the over-centralized role of the government to designate water institutions should be controlled. Reconciliation is mandatory for better empowerment, cooperation and harmonization at all linkages, levels and types of inter-governmental relations.  Key terms: Federalism, IWRM-IRBM, Functional approach, Water governance linkages, Reconciliation, Harmonization

Scale and consequences – the limits of the river basin as a management unit

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 618-625
Author(s):  
Mike Muller
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Resource Management ◽  
Recent Work ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Aquatic Environment ◽  
Water Resource Management ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Network Governance ◽  
African Experience ◽  
Basin Scale

Abstract Contrary to dominant paradigms, the river basin is not the obvious unit within which to undertake water management given the diversity of functions inherent in water resource management. The Southern African experience is presented to illustrate issues that may arise when using the river basin for different functions. Functions best addressed at a larger ‘problem-shed’ level are identified and it is explained why some other functions should rather be performed at smaller, sub-basin scales. Using recent work on water governance, which emphasise polycentricity and network governance, it is suggested that a better understanding of the appropriate scales for different functions will support activities such as planning, monitoring and the protection of the aquatic environment that may best be focused at river basin scale.

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