Mending Malawi's Water Institutions and IWRM Solutions

The aim of this chapter is to explain the challenges of decentralisation and management of water as economic good principles of integrated water resources management (IWRM) in Malawi in the rural areas of Ntcheu, Balaka, and Mangochi. Semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, community meetings, and observation of water points were conducted. It was established that households and other state institutions prefer to receive services from Mpira-Balaka Water Users Association, which subsidizes households, rather than Southern Regional Water Board, which operates along commercial lines. The chapter questions the focus in the implementation of IWRM, which remain the establishment and fixing of decentralised institutions whilst recognising water as an economic good.

Durban Community's Experiences of Class-Based Urinary Diversion Toilets

The aim of this chapter is to look at the integrated water resources management (IWRM)-related institutional shift in governance of water and sanitation in Durban and the extent to which class is considered in providing rural inhabitants with facilities they regard as sub-standard. The key finding is that rural communities remain uncomfortable with nearly 90,000 UD toilets constructed by eThekwini Municipality, despite current efforts being made to relieve them of the most hated chores of emptying vaults when they fill up. In a study conducted in rural areas of Durban through interviews with 70 households and focus group discussions, communities continue to reject UDs on the grounds of lack of equity, proximity to areas with flush toilets, lack of communication, and lack of sustainable institutional mechanisms associated with this project.

Toward sustainable water resources management: critical assessment on the implementation of integrated water resources management and water–energy–food nexus in Afghanistan

Afghanistan has abundant water resources; however, the current state of affairs is dismal because of the lack of integrated water resources management (IWRM) practices and prolonged war and conflict in the country. Therefore, there is a need for a systematic approach to water management, which can be materialized by integrating IWRM and the water–energy–food (WEF) nexus approach to maintain a critical balance of available water resources and their various uses at the national level. This study provides a comprehensive assessment of Afghanistan's water resource management, including the current state, challenges, opportunities, and way forward. The identified challenges are categorized as social and environmental issues, engineering and technical and regulatory, policy and government role. These challenges are inter-connected and a novel framework toward the implementation of IWRM and the WEF nexus in Afghanistan is proposed. This framework can be used by the relevant stakeholders to prepare a roadmap for sustainable management of water resources. Such integrative approaches will enhance Afghanistan's water, food, and energy security and significantly contribute to its economic development. Moving forward, the Afghanistan government must play a crucial role with regards to the efficient management of the country's water resources in an integrated manner as suggested in this paper.

Development of a Social Impact Assessment for the Water Environment: A Professional Perspective

Climate change and population growth are increasing the frequency of flooding and drought, resulting in conflict over water resources. Social impact assessments (SIA) of the allocation and management of water resources provide a way of reducing and resolving such conflicts. This article first explores the nature of SIA for water environments through an inductive analysis of the cases mentioned in more than 30 papers. Next, it identifies important advantages of SIA over integrated water resources management (IWRM) practices and indicates that while IWRM solves water-related issues to improve social well-being, it cannot entirely grasp the overall social impact of planned interventions. Following this, it analyzes the water environment governance structures in Taiwan, using questionnaire responses from water environment management professionals to discuss challenges of effectively implementing water environment SIA. The questionnaire covers 26 detailed tasks of SIA advocated by Vanclay et al. This research is the first to have evaluated the difficulty of the tasks. The survey results can be used as a reference for the implementation of SIA in other regions. The results show that (1) the water environment SIA is indeed necessary; (2) Taiwan’s water environment professionals need to improve from their current lack of understanding of SIA; (3) it is difficult to implement the water environment SIA; (4) it is necessary for SIA to clarify and integrate the authorities and responsibilities of relevant government departments; (5) the professionals believe the myth of quantification of SIA; and (6) water environment SIA must be integrated with the existing IWRM. Finally, we emphasize the need to integrate SIA and IWRM in a mutually complementary way, and illuminate the need for an integrated SIA framework for water environment management.

Degree of Integrated Water Resources Management Implementation in Context of Climate Change in a Watershed: Case of Oueme Basin, Benin (West Africa)

This study is based on the hypothesis that the implementation of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) tools in the Oueme watershed has not led to a systematic improvement in the degree of IWRM implementation in the Oueme Valley in Benin. Methodologically, data were collected through a semi-structured survey of stakeholder families in the study area using snowball sampling. The tool used was the form developed by the United Nations to collect data to assess the level of IWRM implementation. The four (4) assessment criteria, each covering a key component of IWRM, are the enabling environment, institutions and participation, management tools and financing. The results obtained per criteria according to the stepwise methodology adopted reveal on average a degree of implementation of 40 on a scale of 0 to 100 in the Oueme basin. This value varies according to the geographical area and the factors considered. This study, which is a decision-making tool, provides a guide for governments to monitor the progress of integrated water resources management in their territory.