scholarly journals Rhythms of Prediction in South Australian Water Resource Management

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 277-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve Rayner
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Water Resource ◽  
Water Resource Management ◽  
South Australia ◽  
Climate Impact ◽  
Climate Information ◽  
Australian Water ◽  
Millennium Drought ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Weather And Climate

Abstract In the complex institutional and physical infrastructure nexus of South Australia, weather and climate information is highly valued by freshwater managers and users. But different users focus on very different time scales. Recent changes in water rights and technology, driven by the Millennium Drought, enable agricultural users to focus on real-time monitoring and relatively short-term forecasts (3–5 days ahead). A wide range of users make extensive use of the full 7-day weather forecasts and there is awareness of, but not reliance on, seasonal outlooks. These are widely viewed as providing “background” indications and are seldom directly used in decision-making. While concern about climate change is driving scientific research on downscaling climate impact models for the region, there are different views among decision-makers about the usefulness of these for adaptation. All forms of weather and climate information appear to be best integrated into decision-making when incorporated into sector-specific models and decision-support tools alongside other relevant variables. However, there remains something of a mismatch between scientific aspirations to improve the skill of seasonal and long-term climate forecasting and the temporal rhythms of water-resource decision-making.

Water resource management in ancient Iran with emphasis on technological approaches: a cultural heritage

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 582-589 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gagik Badalians Gholikandi ◽  
Mandana Sadrzadeh ◽  
Shervin Jamshidi ◽  
Morteza Ebrahimi
Keyword(s):  
Resource Management ◽  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Water Resource ◽  
Water Resource Management ◽  
Hydraulic Systems ◽  
Water Demands ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
History Of ◽  
Engineered Structures ◽  
Water Conveyance

Water is an essential component in the history of Iran. Due to the unfavorable distribution of surface water and the fluctuation of yearly seasonal streams, to fulfill water demands, ancient Iranians have tried to provide a better condition for utilization of water. Accordingly, elegant designs like qanats became an indispensable element of hydraulic systems, while institutional frameworks were innovated to be combined with in water resource management. Evidence shows that hydraulic structures and water establishments date back thousands of years known as cultural heritage. Besides, the ancient Iranians have realized the importance of an organization to supervise irrigation and water conveyance. Thus, during the Achaemenid and Sasanian Empires, water engineering was developed significantly through the whole territory. The governmental endorsements associated with contemporary engineered structures have made extensive innovations in water systems, such as canals, watermills, water treatment, water storage, piping and construction. The infrastructure fulfilled a wide range of necessities of a civilized country and assisted in achieving its golden era. Consequently, this paper is aimed at studying ancient water resource management and technological approaches in Iran.

scholarly journals Integrating Sustainable Water Resource Management and Land Use Decision-Making

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 2282
Author(s):  
Heidi L. N. Moltz ◽  
Carlington W. Wallace ◽  
Erfaneh Sharifi ◽  
Karin Bencala
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Resource Management ◽  
Water Resource ◽  
Water Resource Management ◽  
Information Dissemination ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Clear Understanding ◽  
Sustainable Water Resource ◽  
Sustainable Water Resource Management

Human uses of land and water are directly linked and must, therefore, be managed with each other in mind. This paper puts forward an approach for integrating sustainable water resource management into local land use decision-making in the Potomac basin. The approach includes developing a clear understanding of the current regulatory, programmatic, and financial approaches to land use management; identifying opportunities from innovation; and developing a flexible, stakeholder-based framework for moving forward. Four opportunities for innovation were identified in the Potomac basin utilizing this approach, including enhancing coordination and access to information, promoting incentives to achieve desired outcomes, encouraging and promoting innovation, and integrating programs to achieve multiple objectives. The successful integration of land and water decision-making requires a sustained, long-term commitment to improvement rather than a one-time fix mentality. Initial steps for implementation include identifying and engaging diverse partners, as well as establishing channels for information dissemination. The lessons learned from this work may prove valuable to decision-makers in other regions to holistically manage diverse land and water resources.

scholarly journals Agricultural Advisors as Climate Information Intermediaries: Exploring Differences in Capacity to Communicate Climate

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tonya Haigh ◽  
Lois Wright Morton ◽  
Maria Carmen Lemos ◽  
Cody Knutson ◽  
Linda Stalker Prokopy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Management Decision ◽  
Climate Information ◽  
Climate Conditions ◽  
Extreme Precipitation Events ◽  
Information Intermediaries ◽  
Weather And Climate ◽  
Different Types ◽  
And Shifts ◽  
Willingness To Use

Abstract Although agricultural production faces chronic stress associated with extreme precipitation events, high temperatures, drought, and shifts in climate conditions, adoption of climate information into agricultural decision making has been relatively limited. Agricultural advisors have been shown to play important roles as information intermediaries between scientists and farmers, brokering, translating, and adding value to agronomic and economic information of use in agricultural management decision making. Yet little is known about the readiness of different types of agricultural advisors to use weather and climate information to help their clients manage risk under increasing climate uncertainty. More than 1700 agricultural advisors in four midwestern states (Nebraska, Indiana, Iowa, and Michigan) completed a web-based survey during the spring of 2012 about their use of weather and climate information, public or private sector employment, and roles as information intermediaries in three advising specializations: agronomic, conservation, and financial. Key findings reveal that advisors who specialize in providing agronomic information are positively inclined toward acting as weather and climate information intermediaries, based on influence and willingness to use climate information in providing many types of operational and tactical advice. Advisors who provide conservation advice appear to be considering weather and climate information when providing tactical and strategic land-use advice, but advisors who provide financial advice seem less inclined to act as climate information intermediaries. These findings highlight opportunities to increase the capacity of different types of advisors to enable them to be effective weather and climate information intermediaries.

scholarly journals Why the use of weather and climate information is essential for SDG implementation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Griggs
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Climate Information ◽  
Climate Services ◽  
2030 Agenda ◽  
Weather And Climate ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Development Goals

<p>The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is an ambitious plan for “people, “planet and prosperity”. At its core are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the achievement of which is critically affected by weather and a changing climate. To that end emphasis has been given to delivering weather and climate services, with information packaged in ways that support timely decision making.</p><p>Yet often these approaches tend not to address which decision-making processes need what information, why they need it, or what form they need it in. They have also tended to be focussed on specific situations and SDGs (such as SDG 14, 15) where the need for weather and climate information is clear and obvious.</p><p>In this presentation, we will look at how weather and climate information impinges on different decision making contexts, requiring that information to be tailored in new ways. In doing so we will identify key action areas that need to be addressed to improve integration of weather and climate information into SDG decision making. </p>

Proposal of a typology of karst systems functioning based on relevant indicators of karst springs hydrodynamics

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guillaume Cinkus ◽  
Naomi Mazzilli ◽  
Hervé Jourde
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Resource Management ◽  
Water Resource ◽  
Water Resource Management ◽  
Spring Discharge ◽  
Karst Water ◽  
Discharge Time ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Karst Systems ◽  
Hydrological Functioning

<p>10% of the world’s population is dependent on karst water resources for drinking water. Understanding the functioning of these complex and heterogeneous systems is therefore a major challenge for long term water resource management. Over the past century, different methods have been developed to analyse hydrological series, and subsequently characterize the functioning of karst systems. These methods can be considered as a preliminary step in the development and design of hydrological models of karst functioning for sustainable water resource management. Recent progress in analytical tools, as well as the emergence of data bases of discharge time series (e.g. the French SNO KARST database and the WoKaS database at global scale) allow reconsidering former typology of karst system hydrodynamic responses. Ten karst systems and associated spring discharge time series were considered for developing the typology. The systems are well-known with a high-quality monitoring and they cover a wide range of hydrological functioning, which ensure the relevance of the analyses. The methodology for the assessment and the development of the typology consisted in (i) the analysis of springs discharge time series according to four different methods, (ii) the selection or proposal of the most relevant indicators of karst systems hydrodynamics, and (iii) the interpretation of the information from these indicators based on principal component analysis and clustering techniques. A typology of karst systems accounting for 6 different classes is finally proposed, based on 3 aspects of functioning: the capacity of dynamic storage, the draining dynamic of the capacitive function and the variability of the hydrological functioning. The typology was applied to a wider dataset composed of spring discharge of 78 karst systems. The results show a relevant distribution of the systems among the different classes.</p>

scholarly journals How is Baseflow Index (BFI) impacted by water resource management practices?

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (10) ◽  
pp. 5355-5379
Author(s):  
John P. Bloomfield ◽  
Mengyi Gong ◽  
Benjamin P. Marchant ◽  
Gemma Coxon ◽  
Nans Addor
Keyword(s):  
Resource Management ◽  
Surface Water ◽  
Water Resource ◽  
Water Resource Management ◽  
Low Flow ◽  
Minor Importance ◽  
Groundwater Abstraction ◽  
Large Sample ◽  
Water Abstraction ◽  
Wide Range

Abstract. Water resource management (WRM) practices, such as groundwater and surface water abstractions and effluent discharges, may impact baseflow. Here the CAMELS-GB large-sample hydrology dataset is used to assess the impacts of such practices on Baseflow Index (BFI) using statistical models of 429 catchments from Great Britain. Two complementary modelling schemes, multiple linear regression (LR) and machine learning (random forests, RF), are used to investigate the relationship between BFI and two sets of covariates (natural covariates only and a combined set of natural and WRM covariates). The LR and RF models show good agreement between explanatory covariates. In all models, the extent of fractured aquifers, clay soils, non-aquifers, and crop cover in catchments, catchment topography, and aridity are significant or important natural covariates in explaining BFI. When WRM terms are included, groundwater abstraction is significant or the most important WRM covariate in both modelling schemes, and effluent discharge to rivers is also identified as significant or influential, although natural covariates still provide the main explanatory power of the models. Surface water abstraction is a significant covariate in the LR model but of only minor importance in the RF model. Reservoir storage covariates are not significant or are unimportant in both the LR and RF models for this large-sample analysis. Inclusion of WRM terms improves the performance of some models in specific catchments. The LR models of high BFI catchments with relatively high levels of groundwater abstraction show the greatest improvements, and there is some evidence of improvement in LR models of catchments with moderate to high effluent discharges. However, there is no evidence that the inclusion of the WRM covariates improves the performance of LR models for catchments with high surface water abstraction or that they improve the performance of the RF models. These observations are discussed within a conceptual framework for baseflow generation that incorporates WRM practices. A wide range of schemes and measures are used to manage water resources in the UK. These include conjunctive-use and low-flow alleviation schemes and hands-off flow measures. Systematic information on such schemes is currently unavailable in CAMELS-GB, and their specific effects on BFI cannot be constrained by the current study. Given the significance or importance of WRM terms in the models, it is recommended that information on WRM, particularly groundwater abstraction, should be included where possible in future large-sample hydrological datasets and in the analysis and prediction of BFI and other measures of baseflow.

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