Whither India’s Federal Governance for Long-Term Water Security?

The River Chief System (RCS) is an effective measure for China to solve complex water problems and maintain the health of rivers and lakes. It is an institutional innovation to improve the water governance system and ensure national water security. Guiding and encouraging the public to participate in the construction of the RCS can promote the improvement of the level of social governance. The RCS is an effective supplement and supervision to the performance of the river chief and related departments, which can effectively promote the transformation of the RCS from nominal to practical and efficient. This study summarizes the innovative models and practical effects of, and public participation in, the RCS, analyzes the prominent problems, and proposes some measures to maximize the influence of public participation. The study provides insights on how to ensure the long-term operation of the RCS, a reference for countries around the world as a suitable solution for the sustainable management of water environments.

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Summary and Conclusions 2000

Water Science & Technology ◽

10.2166/wst.2001.0160 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 43 (4) ◽

pp. 1-4

Keyword(s):

Water Management ◽

Water Supply ◽

Rapid Change ◽

Space Station ◽

Water Security ◽

Polluted Water ◽

Technical Aspects ◽

The World ◽

Civilized Society

Water security for a world under rapid change Since water represents a profound need of both organisms and society, a crucial question is how that need can be satisfied in a secure manner. There is something fundamentally wrong when we still, in what we call a modern and civilized society, are willing to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on building a space station, and exploring other planets in the search for water, while millions of people die each year due to preventable water-related diseases due to polluted water supply. At the millennium shift, the water management profession and society at large are facing a challenge, the magnitude and complexity of which no earlier generation has had to face. A key issue is to strive towards water security for everyone and to identify the innovative approaches needed to achieve this. Long-term challenges in water management are not so much linked to classical scientific and technical aspects as to institutional innovations. As the world is changing rapidly, so do water professionals, who have to keep up with such changes. Education and competence development is more important than ever.

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Applied Perspectives on Pre-Columbian Maya Water Management Systems

The Oxford Handbook of Historical Ecology and Applied Archaeology ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199672691.013.22 ◽

2016 ◽

pp. 505-523

Author(s):

Christian Isendahl ◽

Vernon L. Scarborough ◽

Joel D. Gunn ◽

Nicholas P. Dunning ◽

Scott L. Fedick ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Water Management ◽

Water Security ◽

Management Systems ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Water Abundance ◽

Global Challenge ◽

Technological Diversity ◽

Wide Range ◽

Current Water

Water security is a fundamental global challenge for humanity. Suggesting that scholars, water management engineers, and policy-makers draw from a wide range of examples, this chapter argues that knowledge gained from archaeological research provides unique insights into the long-term function and efficacy of water management systems. This chapter presents six cases of water management systems in the pre-Columbian Maya lowlands, from the Yalahau, Puuc-Nohkakab, Petén Karst Plateau, and Belize River Valley subregions, that demonstrate significant variation; a product of the interplay between social, political, and economic factors and hydrological regimes. The analysis suggests four insights relevant for current water security concerns: (1) water management systems are characterized by a diversity of solutions, (2) water scarcity promotes increased management investments that result in long-term vulnerability, (3) water abundance does not require complex management systems but increases the risk for mismanagement, and (4) institutional and technological diversity provide flexibility and greater security.

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Local Experts as the Champions of Water Security in the Nepalese town of Dhulikhel

New Angle: Nepal journal of social science and public policy ◽

10.53037/na.v5i1.14 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 165-176

Author(s):

Hemant Ojha ◽

Eszter K Kovacs ◽

Kamal Devkota ◽

Kaustuv Raj Neupane ◽

Ngamindra Dahal ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Water Management ◽

Water Supply ◽

Scientific Knowledge ◽

Water Security ◽

Water Supply Management ◽

Hybrid Knowledge ◽

Scarce Water ◽

Local Expert ◽

Local Water

This commentary paper examines our local expert engagement methodology that we developed to understand water supply issues as well as to inform the direction of our action research conducted in Dhulikhel, a small town in Nepal. Through three years of field-based research at Dhulikhel, our inquiry uncovered a range of data ‘gaps’ and emergent as well as long-term conflicts around increasingly scarce water resources. To respond to this gap and contribute to inclusive water management, we developed and used a local expert engagement method, through which we were able to pool and mobilise a rich repertoire of hybrid knowledge from a range of local experts in Dhulikhel and others from nearby towns. The method of expert engagement was simultaneously linked to deliberations among local water stakeholders concerned with water supply management. Based on the lessons from this work, we argue that rich local expertise exists in water management and policy in Nepal, one that transcends the dichotomy between indigenous and scientific knowledge. We also show that as formal scientific knowledge becomes hybridised in different ways, this creates an important and actionable opportunity for advancing local science-policy processes to support water security agendas across the country.

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Glacier melt poses multiple threats around the world

Emerald Expert Briefings ◽

10.1108/oxan-db242370 ◽

2019 ◽

Keyword(s):

Water Security ◽

Content Type ◽

The Andes ◽

The World ◽

Governance Institutions ◽

National Boundaries ◽

Long Term Impact ◽

Agricultural Areas ◽

Mountain Development

Subject Melting glaciers. Significance The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, in Nepal, released a report in February highlighting the long-term impact of increasing glacial melt in the Himalayas and the risks that climate change will pose to fragile mountain ecosystems and societies. Similar issues affecting glaciers in the Andes have also raised concerns about water security. Venezuela’s last glacier, Pico Humboldt, is no longer a significant source of water and is expected to disappear completely by 2021. Longer-term warnings have been issued regarding Ecuador’s Carihuairazo glacier. Impacts Impacts of reduced glacial melt will be greatest on areas closest to glaciers, but distant areas downstream will also be affected. Effective adaptation responses will rely on increased coordination among governance institutions, including across national boundaries. Increased water stress in agricultural areas will risk food insecurity and exacerbate migration pressures internally and internationally. Demographic changes and development efforts suggest that water demand will increase, putting further pressure on supplies.

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THE COLLECTIVE IMPACT OF DIMINISHING LONG-TERM WATER SECURITY IN OKLAHOMA AND NORTH TEXAS

10.1130/abs/2018sc-310191 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

William Reese Shelden ◽

Keyword(s):

Water Security ◽

Collective Impact ◽

North Texas

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Water Laws for Water Security in the Twenty-First Century

Managing Water Resources, Past and Present ◽

10.1093/oso/9780199267644.003.0013 ◽

2004 ◽

Author(s):

Stefano Burchi

Keyword(s):

Water Resources ◽

Good Governance ◽

Water Security ◽

Legal Framework ◽

First Century ◽

African Countries ◽

Recommendations For Action ◽

Management And Development ◽

The Third World

Concern for the long-term sustainability of water resources development and use has gained definitive prominence on the agenda of the world community at the Second World Water Forum and Ministerial Conference held at The Hague in March 2000. The concept and goal of water security were loosely articulated there, by reference to ‘key challenges’, namely, meeting basic needs; securing the food supply; protecting ecosystems; sharing water resources; managing risks; valuing water; and governing water wisely. Governance, in particular, attracted attention and debate at the International Freshwater Conference held in Bonn, in December 2001, preparatory to the United Nations World Summit for Sustainable Development (Johannesburg, 2002) and to the Third World Water Forum (Kyoto, 2003). Governance has also attracted the attention of the water ministers of African countries meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, in April 2002, and it has been echoed in the ensuing Abuja Ministerial Declaration on Water committing African countries to put in place ‘arrangements for the governance of water affairs at all levels’. It is readily apparent that water security, and the governance issues which that concept and goal trigger in train, will be the mainstay of much contemporary international and domestic discourse about water resources. However, the authoritative pronouncements recalled earlier invariably fail to pin down with accuracy the concepts of ‘water security’, and of ‘good governance’ in relation to water. The ‘Recommendations for Action’ issued from the Bonn Freshwater Conference articulate seventeen priority actions in the field of water-related governance at the domestic and the international levels, which, in effect, help substantiate that elusive concept and translate it into measurable goals. Implicitly, action, in particular, at the domestic level is underpinned by legislation for the management and development of water resources, setting out a web of rights and obligations for the resource users, for government, and the members of civil society. This chapter will focus on such legislation, and, in particular, on the requirements for a supportive legal framework for the ‘priority actions’ recommended by the Bonn conference. A comparative state-of-the-art review and analysis of the contemporary legal framework for the management of water resources will first be made, and salient features and main trends highlighted.

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Rivers and reciprocity: perceptions and policy on international watercourses

Water Policy ◽

10.2166/wp.2016.229 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 18 (4) ◽

pp. 803-825 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Yong Zhong ◽

Fuqiang Tian ◽

Heping Hu ◽

David Grey ◽

Michael Gilmont

Keyword(s):

Adverse Effects ◽

United Nations ◽

Quantitative Data ◽

Qualitative Data ◽

Water Security ◽

Policy Implications ◽

Downstream Location ◽

United Nations Convention ◽

Global Water

The paper analyses geopolitical dimensions of the 1997 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses (UNWC) using quantitative data on transboundary flows and qualitative data on basin State location within a watercourse. The UNWC has had a long and difficult history. A tendency for downstream support for, and upstream ambivalence/opposition to, the UNWC is identified. It appears not widely recognized that adverse effects can be caused by any State on other States, regardless of their upstream or downstream location. Thus downstream States consider that their actions cannot harm upstream States, and upstream States consider that the UNWC provides them with greater obligations than downstream States. Clarification of the UNWC with the principle of reciprocal obligations on all States, both upstream and downstream, will remove any ambiguity, correct misperceptions, have clear policy implications for all States, promote UNWC engagement of upstream States, and contribute to long-term global water security.

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Impact of invasive alien plants on water provision in selected catchments

Water SA ◽

10.4314/wsa.v44i4.20 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 44 (4 October) ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

IR Preston ◽

DC Le Maitre ◽

JN Blignaut ◽

L Louw ◽

CG Palmer

Keyword(s):

Negative Impact ◽

Water Security ◽

Integrated Approach ◽

Alien Plants ◽

Dam Failure ◽

Catchment Management ◽

Invasive Alien Plants ◽

Water Provision ◽

The Impact

We analyse the impact of failing to control invasive alien plants (IAPs) on the water supply to the Berg River and De Hoop Dams, in other words, the opportunity cost of not clearing IAPs in these two catchments. To do this we used models to assess and compare the impact of current and future invasions on inflows into the dams. Although the clearing of current invasions would only provide a modest increase in the amount of water compared to, for example, the construction of another dam, failure to clear the invasion will have a negative impact on water security in the long term. We estimated that the Berg River Dam could lose up to 51% of its mean annual inflows to IAPs over a 45-year period, and the De Hoop Dam catchment could lose up to 44%. These impacts would continue to increase over time, and the costs of control could become very high as the plants invade rugged terrain. Major infrastructural development requires Ministerial approval, supported by advice from senior officials. We suggest that such advice should substantively take sufficient account of the benefits of clearing existing invasions, or at least of preventing further invasions. Our results suggest that serious consequences arise from insufficient investment in catchment management. An integrated approach to the management of the supply of and demand for water, that ensures long-term sustainability, is essential in informed decision-making and the early control of IAPs is a key component of that approach.

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