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.

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>

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 The introduced snail Melanoides Tuberculatus (Muller, 1774) (Mollusca: Thiaridae) in aquatic ecosystems of the Brazilian Semiarid Northeast (Piranhas-Assu River basin, State of Rio Grande do Norte)

2010 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
CM. Santos ◽  
EM. Eskinazi-Sant'Anna
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
Aquatic Ecosystems ◽  
Rio Grande ◽  
Semiarid Region ◽  
Aquatic Environments ◽  
East African ◽  
African Species ◽  
Brazilian Semiarid ◽  
Potential Impact

Records of the gastropod Melanoides tuberculatus (Müller, 1774), family Thiaridae, in the Piranhas-Assu River basin in Rio Grande do Norte reveal the dispersal of this native Southeast Asian and East African species into aquatic environments of the Brazilian semiarid region, including artificial environments (reservoirs) and lotic systems. The eutrophic conditions of the local waterbodies appear to favor the present situation, where this invasive species reaches extremely high densities, sometimes over 10,000 ind.m-2 as in Armando Ribeiro Gonçalves Reservoir. These observations indicate the immediate need for new studies on the spatial distribution of the species and its potential impact on the biodiversity and water quality of the waterbodies of the semiarid region of the state. Implantation of regular and systematic monitoring of the aquatic resources of the region is urgently required.

scholarly journals Improving governance in transboundary cooperation in water and climate change adaptation

Water Policy ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (6) ◽  
pp. 1014-1029 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jos Timmerman ◽  
John Matthews ◽  
Sonja Koeppel ◽  
Daniel Valensuela ◽  
Niels Vlaanderen
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Water Management ◽  
Climate Change Adaptation ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Transboundary Water ◽  
Governance System ◽  
Adaptation Measures ◽  
Oecd Principles

Abstract Climate change adaptation in water management is a water governance issue. While neither climate change nor water respects national borders, adaptation in water management should be treated as a transboundary water governance issue. However, transboundary water management is, in essence, more complex than national water management because the water management regimes usually differ more between countries than within countries. This paper provides 63 lessons learned from almost a decade of cooperation on transboundary climate adaptation in water management under the UNECE Water Convention and puts these into the context of the OECD principles on water governance. It highlights that good water governance entails a variety of activities that are intertwined and cannot be considered stand-alone elements. The paper also shows that this wide variety of actions is needed to develop a climate change adaptation strategy in water management. Each of the lessons learned can be considered concrete actions connected to one or more of the OECD principles, where a range of actions may be needed to fulfil one principle. The paper concludes that developing climate change adaptation measures needs to improve in parallel the water governance system at transboundary scale.

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.

scholarly journals Assessing the Influence of Water Management and Rainfall Seasonality on Water Quality and Intestinal Parasitism in Rural Northeastern Brazil

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandre Pessoa Dias ◽  
Deiviane Calegar ◽  
Filipe Anibal Carvalho-Costa ◽  
Maria de Fátima Leal Alencar ◽  
Caroline Ferraz Ignacio ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Water Quality ◽  
Rainy Season ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
Northeastern Brazil ◽  
Semiarid Region ◽  
Human Consumption ◽  
Detection Rates ◽  
Brazilian Semiarid

Introduction. The drought in the Brazilian semiarid region has affected the quality of water. This study assessed the relationships between enteric parasitoses, water management, and water quality, correlating them with pluviometric seasonality.Methods. Cross-sectional surveys were carried out in four rural communities at the beginning of the dry season (n=151), at the end of the dry season (n=184), and in the rainy season (n=199), in order to collect sociodemographic data, human fecal samples, and samples of the water used for human consumption for physicochemical and microbiological analyses. In 2015, water filters were provided to 30 households under study.Results. There was an increasing trend in detection rates of commensal protozoa and theEntamoeba histolytica/Entamoeba disparcomplex at the beginning of the rainy season, with detection rates of 6% in 2014 and 21.6% in 2016.Giardia intestinalisandAscaris lumbricoidespresented distinct temporal distributions, which peaked in 2015: 20.1% and 30%, respectively. The proportion of inhabitants drinking inadequate water was 55% at the beginning of the dry season and 28.8% at the end of the dry season, reaching 70.9% at the beginning of the rainy season. The presence of filters reduced this proportion among those who received the hollow ceramic candle filter.Conclusions. Data suggest that the strategies to increase water supply in the Brazilian semiarid region can be ameliorated in order to improve the quality of drinking water.

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.

scholarly journals Integrated Water Quality Governance and Sectoral Responsibility: The EU Water Framework Directive’s Impact on Agricultural Sector Policies in Norway

Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 2215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sissel Hovik
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Ecological Status ◽  
Management Plan ◽  
Economic Incentives ◽  
Goal Structure ◽  
Agriculture Sector ◽  
The Eu

In accordance with the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD), Norway has made the river basin the basis for coordination of sectoral policies. New units of River Basin Districts and Sub-Districts have been introduced. In each district, the joint water management plan and program of measures is formulated by cross-sector and multi-level networks. This network structure is added to and clearly subordinated to the primary structure following the sectoral principle and hierarchical steering. Therefore, the WFD objectives of good environmental status of all waters must be integrated into the goal structure and policy priorities of different sector authorities and levels of government. This paper examines whether and, if so, how the activities within the secondary structure of water governance influence the policies and practices of the agricultural sector regarding diffuse water pollution mitigation. The analyses of sector policy documents and water management plans reveal that even though the WFD’s aim of good ecological status of water is integrated into the objectives of the agricultural environmental program, only minor changes have been made in instrument targets and settings. Economic incentives and voluntary measures still dominate. This leads to the conclusion that the corporatist governance mode of the agriculture sector dominates the sector’s choice of policy objectives and instruments.

Communities of Interest in the Nordic Management of International Watercourses

2016 ◽  
Vol 85 (4) ◽  
pp. 348-367
Author(s):  
Julie Gjørtz Howden
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
International Law ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Nordic Countries ◽  
Management Regime ◽  
River Basin District ◽  
The Common ◽  
International Water Law ◽  
International Water

This article takes a closer look at water cooperation among Nordic countries, and in particular the newly established Finnish-Norwegian River Basin District. It addresses the effectiveness of water governance within the structure chosen for managing the River Basin District and compares this with the main features of the community of interest approach in international water law. Serving as backdrop for this comparison is the earlier Finnish-Swedish Frontier Rivers Commission, which was considered a pioneer project of common water management, and the common values that unite the Nordic countries. Cooperation over shared water resources challenges the principle of territorial sovereignty in international law, and requires engaged cooperative regimes. While Norway and Finland have excellent opportunities to create a progressive water management regime, their current solution has some significant shortcomings.

Water Governance and Management in Indus Basin - Challenges & Threats

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marium Sara Minhas Bandeali
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Water Policy ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Water Security ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
The State ◽  
Indus Basin

Water governance and management are important challenges for the River Indus Basin in Pakistan. Water governance refers to social, political and economic factors that influence water management. The water scarcity and water security are a major concern for the state to control its water resources. The study aims to give Sindh water policy by exploring the challenges to Indus Basin in managing water resources and to identify opportunities Indus Basin can look to improve water management. Interviews were conducted from water experts and analysts having 5 years’ experience or more in the water sector of Pakistan through a semi-structured self-developed questionnaire using purposive sampling technique and transcripts were analyzed using thematic content analysis. The findings show that increasing population, climatic change and rising demand of water are major challenges Indus is facing and Indus with time is getting water-scarce therefore need strong institutions, civil society and legislatures to ensure equitable distribution of water and maintain the ecosystem. The study emphasizes that water governance and management are necessary for sustainable use of water. Pakistan, the water stress country needs to address ‘governance’ at a wider scale to solve problems in the Indus Basin for the livelihood of people. The research will benefit the state, water experts, institutions as well as civil society to promote efficient use of water in Indus Basin.

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