Introduction to Integrated Water Resources Management

Introduction to

Integrated Water

Resources Management

Franziska Steinbruch

Visiting Professor, IIT Madras, Chennai

IGCS Summer school 2015 in Kiel

1

Outline

1. Water

2. Water Scarcity

3. Water and Development

4. Integrated Water Resources

Management / Sustainable Water

Resources Management

5. Systems Approaches to Water

Resources Management

2

About Water

• A “Single” Resource – has no substitute and ALL living things on Earth depend on it

• A Limited Resource

• A Scarce Resource

• Has Social, Economic, and Environmental Value

• Water impacts all aspects of life on the planet

Poor water management and water shortages

can lead to

disease, malnutrition, reduced economic growth, social instability, conflict, and environmental disaster.

3

Consumptive use – water that is not available anymore for other

users (evaporation, contamination, plant transpiration, human consumption)

Drinking / domestic

Agriculture / irrigation

Production of goods

Mining

Dilution

Cooling

Removal of waste

Non-consumptive use – in-situ use, withdrawal, storage, and

return flowHydropower

Transportation

Cultural, religious, recreational

Water use is a function of the type of access to water (distance,

climate)

Water Utilization

4

Water has been turned into a goal of national economic

development

Water is considered as an asset, an economic good

River systems were changed to serve human needs and achieved

many beneficiaries, e.g.:

Water-borne sanitation systems

Irrigation systems

Pipelines

Borewells

Dams for various purposes

Water Status

5

Global Water

97% Seawater

3% Freshwater

Global Freshwater

87% Not Accessible

13% Accessible (0.4% of global)

Global Water

6

The Global Water Cycle

7

P = A + E ± S

Global

River / Basin Watershed

Temporary deficits /

Temporary surpluses

Water Budget

8

Planetary System Boundaries - Environment

(Rockstroem, et al.(2009) ,

Steffen et. al, 16 January 2015, Science)9

(Earth Security Index, 2014)

Water – Social Stability

10

http://www.irem.org

Water Scarcity

Water scarcity: is broadly understood as the lack of access to

adequate quantities of water for human and environmental uses

is increasingly being recognised in many countries as a serious

and growing concern.

11

(UNEP GRID ARENDAL)

Water Scarcity Index

Ratio of total annual withdrawals to available water resources (Raskin, et al., 1997)

A country is considered as having:

• no water scarcity: withdrawals below 10% of annual supply

• low water scarcity: annual withdrawals between 10 and 20% of annual supply

• water scarce: annual withdrawals are between 20 and 40% of annual supply

• severely water scarce: withdrawals exceed 40% of annual supply 12

Water scarcity already affects almost every continent

and > 40 % of the people on Earth

Water Scarcity

13

Water is unevenly distributed and subject to

extreme fluctuations due to climate

variability.

Physical symptoms of water stress occur not

only in water-scarce countries but in water-

wealthy countries, too.

High uncertainty for planning because of

lack of data, archives, monitoring

Water Resources Distribution –

natural challenges

14

Water Scarcity – Man-made

• competition for access to scarce water

resources at the community, national and

regional levels in an effort by states to achieve

water security; (e.g. drought induced starving-

migration)

• colonization and decolonization disputes (e.g.

country borders dividing traditionally common

resources areas)

• water security and access to freshwater are top

on the political agendas and increasingly

perceived as part of the struggle for democratic

empowerment in the region.

• competitive exclusion or resource capture

created a disadvantaged communities � in favor

of wealthy economic sectors15

Example – Jordan River

16

e.g. Cahora Bassa Dam on

Zambezi river completed in 1974

Bulk electricity was transported

to South Africa

Mozambique imported its

electricity from South Africa

South Africa determined

electricity priorities and prices

until 2012

(en.wikipedia.org)

Example: Zambezi River Dams

Competitive exclusion

17

• Decreasing per-capita availability

• Degrading water quality

• Increasing competition/conflict within sectors and within society

– Urban versus agriculture

– Haves versus have nots

– Upstream versus downstream

– National versus international

• Increasing competition/conflict with the environment

Water Pathway

18

• Water pollution

• Water governance

• Poverty

• Climate change

• Global water cycle

• Globalization – virtual water trade

• Role of corporations in water sustainability

• Demography

• Technology

• Monitoring; data, information

..examples…

Water Challenges

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Demography - Population Growth

Nature 478, 300 (2011)

20

India

(James 2011)

The 1951– 2011 data are enumerated by decadal census, and 2025

and 2100 data are projections by the United Nations

Lagged System‘s response

21

Largest urban growth expected in India, China and

Nigeria.

It will account for 37% of the projected growth of the

world’s urban population between 2014 and 2050.

By 2050, India is projected to add 404Mio urban

dwellers (China 292Mio, Nigeria 212Mio).

Megacities: urban connected geographical area with

>10Mio inhabitants (UN)

(Revision of the World Urbanization Prospects , UN DESA 2014)

Pollution - Urbanization

22

Water – Food Security / Poverty

Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and

economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food which meets their

dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life (FAO, 2011) 23

Water and Potential Conflict

Legal and institutional frameworks largely determine the

issues of access to resources (water, minerals, wildlife

and products, land, timber) � “colonial heritage”,

“commons”

Development of national and shared water resources is

part of political economy and done on the basis of

strategic intent

Economic disparities between neighboring countries

sharing a watercourse – as these countries develop

demand in their “share” of water increases.

Underlying factors> climate, population growth, economic

development and historical realities24

Basic water needs – a human right

� Access to water linked to sanitation, and linked to

health and living quality

According to WHO, between 50 and 100 litres of water

per person per day are needed to ensure that most

basic needs are met and few health concerns arise.

Basic Water Needs

25

Water and Sanitation

26

(www.chemtech-online.com)

India

5 % domestic

use

8 % Industrial

use

ca. 87 %

agricultural

use

Germany

5.9 % other

use

13.8 %

Industrial use

ca. 80.3 %

Household

and Service

Sector use

(Bundesverband

der Energie- und

Wasserwirtschaft

e.V., 2012)

Water and Development Pathway

27

SOURCES: Igor A. Shiklomanov, Archive of World Water Resources and World Water Use, Global Water Data Files, State

Hydrological Institute, St. Petersburg, Russia, CD-ROM, 1998; Peter H. Gleick, “The Changing Water Paradigm: A Look at Twenty-

First Century Water Resources Development,” Water International, Vol. 25, No. 1, 2000, pp. 127-138, available online as of March

2006.

� People in industrialized countries demand more water-intensive products and

services

� Urbanization and migration to urban areas strains water resources

� Per capita, smaller households consume more water and produce more waste

than do larger households, consume more land for housing, etc.

Water Utilization - Development

28

India – water use balance

Water Demand Development

29

Water Demand Gap Fill- India

30

Open Basin

Closing Basin Closed Basin

Basin Development leads to:

Over-commitment,

degradation,

diversion, control

Overlooked functions, e.g. of

outflow into sea,

environmental flows

Downstream needs

River Basin Development

31

(Bhave P.R., 2011)

Water

Development:

�structures to

abstract water

Abstraction is

above total

annual

renewable

resources:

when almost

all water can

be stored or

pumped (incl.

flood events)

River Basin Development - India

32

Note:

Temporal and

spatial

interconnectivity

across scales in

both

hydrologic and

governance

terms 33

Current Adjustment strategies:

Water Conservation, Water Allocation, Water Development

Reflect mere spatial redistribution of the resource water

� No increase in control

� No change in amount and quality of water

Water conservation � ”paper savings”:

“losses” to one user are return flows for another user

Saved water from drip-irrigation offset by expansion of irrigated

fields if land is available

Groundwater is not an additional source/stock

Water Adjustments

34

Approaches to Water Management

o Ad hoc

o Economic Analysis -- Single Project or Basin

o Multi-Objective Planning

o Comprehensive Multi-Purpose River Basin Planning

and Management

o Strategic Planning and Implementation through

IWRM

35

�River Basin Development

Traditional methods of water provision are purely engineering

based and are today

unable to provide sustainable solutions to the mismatch between

water demand and supply, and the arising conflicts from this

�Integrated Water Resources Management – Sustainable River

Basin Management

Today’s water projects require more negotiation, extensive

environmental impact assessments and stakeholder participation.

Trans-boundary river basins require international and national

regulations

Institutional capacity

Changes in Water Management

36

“the coordinated development and management of

water, land, and related resources in order to

maximize economic and social welfare without

compromising the sustainability of vital

environmental systems.”

(Global Water Partnership, UNDP)

Integrated Water Resources

Management - Definition

37

Sustainability in River Basin Management

River basins are internally interdependent

at social, economical, and political scale, and

hydrologic interactions express itself in competitive uses

between

Upstream downstream users,

Agriculturalists urbanites,

Subsistence-oriented farmers fishermen commercial

enterprises,

Off-stream on-stream uses

All users have themselves different

• Priorities,

• Objectives,

• Political power 38

The Dublin principles (1992)

• Water is a single, finite resource

• Water management and development should include stakeholders

• Water is an economic good

• Women play a central role in management and conservation of water

The Dublin Principles have served as guide for the global water dialogue

IWRM Framework

39

Water Governance to address

1. Good water governance

2. Securing water for ecosystems

3. Securing water for people

4. Securing water for food

5. Gender disparities

6. Managing risks (droughts, floods, pollution,

upstream-downstream interventions)

7. Valuing water

8. Water for industries and cities (secure bulk water)

9. Trans-boundary water

40

�Legal aspects of Water

�The Water Cycle

�Water Resource Management Priorities

�Water Resource Management Approaches

�Water Institutions and Water Services

�Conflict Management Mechanisms

Adequate Legal Frame

41

Economic

efficiencyEquity

Environmental

sustainability

Balance

Water for livelihoods

And

Water as resource

Management

instruments

• Assessments

• Allocation

instruments

Enabling

environment

• Policies

• Legislation

Institutional

framework

• Central-local

• River basin

• Public-private

Resistance to change advantageous conditions to benefit others (e.g. downstream)

Unwillingness to adhere to own countries laws (e.g. environmental pollution)

Pillars of sustainability in water

resources management

42

A systemic process for linking water and water-related policy,

objectives, and uses to improve decision making in:

– operation and management of natural resources and

environmental systems;

– design and implementation of programs and policies.

A coordinating framework for integrating sector needs, water

and water-related policy, resource allocation, and

management within the context of social, economic, and

environmental development objectives.

Integrated Water Resources

Management

43

• A process, not a product

• Considered scale independent - applies at all

levels of development

• A tool for self assessment and program

evaluation

• A tool for policy, planning, and management

• A mechanism for evaluating competing demands,

resource allocation, and tradeoffs

Integrated Water Resources

Management

44

Governance

Hea

lth

Wat

er Q

ualit

y

Wat

er S

uppl

y

Flo

ods/

Dro

ught

s

Ene

rgy

Agr

icul

ture

Indu

stry

Pol

lutio

n P

rev

Coa

stal

Mgt

.

Eco

syst

em M

gt.

Activity Sectors

(water uses)

Social

Development

Economic

Development

Env.

ProtectionObjectives

Policy/Inst.Framework

Management Institutions

Feedback

Prosperity

IWRM Water and water related policies review and revi sion

IWRM Resource development, management, monitoring, and evaluation

IWRM Resource availability/use analysis and allocation

45

•Stocks

•Flows

•Feedback Loops

•Information / Communication

Flows

Systems analysis to implement IWRM

With intrinsic capacities of:

• Self-organization

• Resilience

• Construction of

hierarchies

Water management unit (catchment, watershed) is composed of:

46

�Balancing feedback loop

�Commons

�Low performance

�Escalation

�Competitive exclusion

�Dependence and burden-shifting systems

�Appearance of achieving goals

�Wrong goals

System traps / paradigms

47

Has stabilizing role

Can create a resistance to change

trapped in an unwanted system - no one likes it

yet all spend considerable effort to maintain it

e.g. Poverty alleviation: “Bred for Work”

Fertilizer subsidy schemes

Centralized over-dimensioned water treatment

technology due to more efficient water use

Ways out:

Definition of larger commonly shared goals

Harmonization of objectives, reforms

Balancing feedback loop

48

Commons systems

Tendency of:

•Overexploitation of renewable resources

•Over-usage of common sinks (shared

places where pollution is dumped)

•Every user benefits directly but shares

the costs of its abuse with everyone else

Commons systems make selfish behavior

more convenient and profitable than

behavior that is responsible to the whole

community or future

e.g. Discharge pollutants into a river

49

� Educate and exhort

about consequences of unconstrained use of commons

appeal to morality, social disapproval

� Privatize commons

divide and make people live the consequences of their

own actions

people may destroy their own resource but not harm all

� Regulate commons

prohibition, restriction, rationing, quotas, permits,

taxes, incentives

must be monitored and enforced/enforceable

Overcome misuse of commons - Water

50

Performance standards shifting based on past experiences

can result in a negative feedback loop and a shift to low

performance

� performance measurement against worst

e.g. “how things used to be”

lower effort, lower expectations, lower performance

Desired state of the system is influenced by the perceived state

e.g. “we are just like everybody else having troubles to get

around”

Instead:

Keep absolute standards or

Use goal-sensitive standards based on best past performance

Low performance

51

Escalation

Is a reinforcing feedback loop – leading to exponential growth

and collapse

Competition to keep ahead of someone else

hard to stop independent from whether it is initially

thought to be positive

e.g.

Population numbers

Cheap boreholes and subsidized electricity

Instead:

Refuse competition and interrupt reinforcing loop

Create new balancing loops to control escalation

52

Competitive exclusion

Success influences following success and leads to:

� Resources appropriation

� Domination of access to a resource

� Elimination of competition and diversity

“the rich become richer, the poor become poorer”

e.g. Land ownership, farmers, water rights

Instead:

� Diversification

� “leveling the playfield” – increasing advantages

for weaker or removing advantages of strongest

� Antitrust laws, policies 53

Dependence and burden-shifting systems

A way of reducing symptoms of a systemic problem (hiding the

solutions)

Loss of control

Increased vulnerability and loss of adaptive capacity

e.g.

Dependence on subsidy schemes

Reliance of farmers on fertilizers

Dependence of economies on oil

Dependence of regions on desalination for water supply

Instead:

Remove focus from short-term relief

Emphasize on long-term restructuring / reforms54

Appearance of achieving goals

Rules which create distortions in a system

Self-organizing capabilities of a system used in negative

feedback loops

Provides appearance of obeying rules or achieving goals

e.g. farmer loses water permit, if he uses less water due to his

investment into water efficient technologies;

Institutions receive less money in the following year, if less

money was spent

Instead:

Redesign rules to release creativity for positive feedback loops

55

Wrong goals

Efforts and results get confused

Goals of feedback loops define the direction / behavior of a

system

If set wrong or incomplete the system ends up working for the

achievement of unwanted outcomes

Following perfectly rules and procedures which nobody

wanted

e.g. GDP –gross domestic product –measures consumption

and not welfare

Daily water consumption as measure of welfare

Instead:

Goals and their indicators must reflect what is wanted56

Thank you for your attention

57