Integrating Sustainable Water Resource Management and Land Use Decision-Making

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.

Sustainable Water Resource Management: Multistakeholder Engagement Approach: A narrative Review

Fresh water resources and limited across the globe. They are threatened by agriculture, economic development and climate change. Measure to sustainably manage water resources are not well documented. This review aimed at analyzing publications from 2000-2019 regarding stakeholders’ involvement as a key for sustainable water resource management. Literature search was conducted using key words: integrated water resource management; transboundary water resource management; collaborative water resource management; Multistakeholder water resource management; challenges and opportunities of water resource management; domestic water saving; sustainable water resource management from Science Direct database, ResearchGate professional network and Google School Search engine. 280 publications were retrieved from which 150 were found relevant, were read and used during the publication of this paper. It was found that climate change, population explosion, economic development all threaten water resources management and involvement of all stakeholders, transboundary agreements, collaboration with international water agencies and financial investment were recommended for sustainable water resource management.