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Water reuse becomes an alternative to reduce the demand in the conventional water supply systems, especially in regions, where non-potable use of drinking water, as for garden and grass irrigation, is predominant. This study evaluates the footprint of reuse on small water supply systems in rural areas, where raw water quality does not meet the drinking water standards and complicated treatment is needed. Individual facilities for reuse of potential rainwater, light gray, gray and domestic wastewater in the households could lead to a decrease in non-potable tap water use up to 60% and a decrease of households' annual expenses for water supply up to 93 €/household. The installation of individual facilities for common reuse of rainwater and gray wastewater requires the highest investment costs, but the option`s operational costs are between 15% and 20% lower than all other options considered. The Drinking Water Treatment Plant capacity reduction due to Integrated Water Resource Management measures implementation enables from 48% up to 58% saving in the total operational costs for drinking water supply in the settlement. The shortest payback period and best economic impact of reuse for small scale water supply systems is observed if rainwater and gray wastewater are reused together. HIGHLIGHTS Annual water balance of the households in selected pilot site.; Estimation of drinking water use reduction due to the implementation of selected integrated water resource management (IWRM) measures.; Impact of the selected IWRM measures on the settlement drinking water treatment plant capacity.; Payback period analysis of IWRM based on capital expenditure and operating expenses.;

The contribution of citizen scientists to environmental monitoring is notably increasing significantly. Governments worldwide establish Water Users Associations (WUAs) as a good practice model to implement Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) at local levels. These associations target different stakeholders depending on the expected outcome. However, their effectiveness, especially in East Africa, can only be determined case by case. In Kenya, Water Resources Users Associations are registered, voluntary community groups whose members are water users and land owners. Similarly, in Uganda, community-based initiatives exist, especially along degraded rivers, involving cooperation between local communities and regional water authorities. On the contrary, it has been reported that in Tanzania, many community initiatives created become non-functional within 2–3 years of induction. In general, the main responsibility of Water Users Associations or its equivalent is to manage and conserve water resources for sustainable uses. In most cases, water quality monitoring by communities through citizen science is limited to the visual appearance of water in the river channel. While this can indicate the water’s esthetic value, it is insufficient for assessing the ecological status of rivers, which is influenced by a variety of physical, chemical, biological, and socioeconomic factors. The use of bioindicators has been advocated as a feasible method for community-based water quality river monitoring. Therefore, this review explores the commonly used bio-indicators and bio-assessment tools for river health assessment and their complexities when using a biomonitoring community-based approach through citizen science. Tolerance and intolerance macroinvertebrate and fish metric protocols that utilize identification keys have been recommended. These protocols are designed to be user-friendly and require minimal taxonomic expertise, making them easy for community volunteers to use with minimal basic training. The sustainability of these citizen science initiatives relies on the motivation of volunteers, the frequency of monitoring activities, and collaboration with researchers and government agencies. These initiatives not only facilitate environmental monitoring but also foster community engagement and awareness regarding the ecological status of rivers, thereby addressing knowledge and data gaps necessary for effective policy-making. This approach provides a practical model for environmental stewardship and participatory resource management in East Africa.

Abstract The integrated management paradigm proposes dealing with a resource, such as water, considering its interrelationships with other environmental components. This vision has been adopted as a policy in several countries, including Colombia, but its results have not been satisfactory. This article studies the “integrative” approach in previous regulatory arrangements, making a historical review of them to understand how the perception and management of the environment by societies in Colombia have evolved. We show how the notion of a complex and integrated environment is not exclusive from current policies but has been present in the laws for several centuries, so its consideration does not guarantee success. Strategies are proposed to improve the results of recent regulatory arrangements.

Effective and sustainable water resource management requires flexibility and adaptation to local contexts. Our study analyzes the emergence and evolution of local water self-governing associations, reviewing how their struggles and conflicts, both with the public sector and among locals themselves, have been pivotal to achieving agreements and actions towards sustainable water management. Using an adapted version of the Combined Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) and social–ecological system (SES) framework, also known as CIS, we conducted a comparative analysis of two distinct Chilean cases. This research highlights the critical role of historical factors alongside institutional support, political landscapes, and financial realities in shaping current water management practices. The findings suggest that when the actors are aligned and actions are taken to support local water user management, more efficient, sustainable, and less conflict-ridden water resource management occurs. Furthermore, this study reveals how the experiences, struggles, and successes of these local user associations have shaped national policies, particularly regarding the development of monitoring mechanisms and the promotion of public–private cooperation in water governance. These efforts have not only fostered more resilient water management systems but have also demonstrated the power of grassroots organizations in shaping broader sustainable policies.

IntroductionThe Water Flow Diagram (WFD) is a novel advocacy and communication tool that presents urban water supply and management in a simple visualization. Rapid urbanization, growing populations, and the climate crisis increase the pressure on water resources, particularly in urbanized areas. The WFD aims to foster a dialogue around conflict of interests and opportunities among different stakeholders, and trigger actions toward more sustainable urban water management (UWM), as well as a water secure future.MethodThe WFD is produced from data on water abstraction, water use of different sectors, water treatment, water recycling and contamination risks. The data were obtained from government services, wastewater and water utilities, large industries, universities and reports of intergovernmental organizations. If these sources did not have data, reports from NGOs or consultants, comparable contexts, default values or expert judgements were considered. The annual water flows are presented in a Sankey Diagram. An intuitive color code highlights the flows as “problematic” or “appropriate” and points to areas where UWM practices should be improved.Results and conclusionsThe final diagrams are a concise instrument that identifies challenges of UWM in the four application cases presented in this article. Key challenges that became evident included: pollution from agricultural production, the lack of wastewater and sanitation infrastructure, high water losses in the distribution networks, water exports leading to a lack in local supply and sewer overflows during heavy rainfalls. Opportunities identified were the need to: invest in sanitation and wastewater to protect resources, create coordination bodies to align conflict of interests, and/or invest in blue-green infrastructure for rainwater retention. The WFD triggered local actions, such as in-depth discussions between relevant actors, the formation of integrated water use committees and the interest of the national ministry in Senegal to replicate the diagram for other locations. This article presents the methodology, discusses the four case studies and deliberates on the prospective use of the WFD.

Water resources and economic growth are two preoccupations that take different senses. The overconsumption can be very costly in terms of the quantity and quality of water resources, which indulges many negative impacts on water reserves. In arid zones, institutions and large national firms are obligated to deliver more efforts in term of adaptation to the area’s hydraulic situation. In this work, we addressed the issue of integrating good governance of water resources into the decision-making process of large firms in Morocco. We studied the case of the Guemassa mine of the Managem group, located in the Tensift Haouz basin. In order to assess the efficiency of their strategy, we carried out an impact study of the company’s mining activities on the quality and quantity of the region’s waterresources and we provided key information on the hydraulic situation of the region in question. As a result, the company is monopolizing a large part of the water resources of the Haouz plain and their integrated water resource management strategy is deemed insufficient.

Whether pursuing the breadth of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals or delivering joined-up approaches within a single environmental domain, policy objectives, policy design and policy implementation should cohere vertically and horizontally. However, policy coherence remains a challenge to implement. The limited empirical scholarship on policy coherence tends to focus on policy documentation and/or the outcomes, with little attention to individual agency or social processes involved. Furthermore, there is little discussion of the normative dimensions of policy coherence and the political aspects of individual agency, indicating the need for political ecology. We conducted an empirical study within four UK catchment (watershed) partnerships, using critical interpretive policy analysis to enrich the interface between political ecology and environmental policy. We explored who practices policy coherence and how; what motivates those investing their energy into these practices; their constraints and the contradictions arising. We found that the appetite and ability to support policy coherence depends on individual agency as much as partnership structures, which are themselves situated in technocratic regimes of policy implementation. Within these regimes, agents presented as apolitical and enabling, making it challenging to research the political and social processes of policy coherence. A political ecology lens highlights how power is involved in these voluntary initiatives, potentially shoring up existing privilege inscribed into riparian habitats and their resources. Our contribution therefore responds to and amplifies the critique of traditional presentations of integrated water resource management devoid of politics.

Models provide invaluable visions to decision-makers for basin-scale management of water resources. However, decision-makers have difficulties in directly using these complex models. Water managers are primarily interested in user-friendly features allowing an integration of their judgments into the decision-making process, rather than applying detailed theories and methodologies. This knowledge gap between technical simulation models and policy-makers highlights the urgent need for developing an integrated water resource management decision support system (IWRM-DSS). This paper describes the main aspects of a new IWRM-DSS in which Microsoft Visual Studio under the C# language was employed to integrate the Microsoft SQL server as a database and ArcGIS Engine DLLs for pre/postdata processing for the SWAT and MODFLOW models. Two particular ‘module’ and ‘presentation’ shells are specifically designed for decision-makers to create four different scenarios, namely, ‘climatic’, ‘recharge’, ‘discharge’, and ‘coupled’ and to analyze the results. Decision-makers, without any detailed modeling knowledge and computer skills, can access the data and run models to test different management scenarios in an attractive graphical user interface. The IWRM-DSS, which was applied for the Neishaboor watershed, Iran, reveals that mean annual potential evapotranspiration increased to 8.2%, while runoff and recharge rates are reduced to 35 and 63%, which led to a decline of 13.5 m in mean groundwater level for the 13-year projected period. HIGHLIGHTS Decision-makers have difficulties in directly using complex simulation models.; Decision-makers prefer the integration of their judgments into the decision-making process.; A scenario-based coupled SWAT-MODFLOW Decision Support System was developed.; Decision-makers can test different scenarios without any detailed modeling knowledge.; The DSS was efficient to engage stakeholders in the water resource management process.;

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. HIGHLIGHTS Critical assessment on Afghanistan's water resources development.; Challenges to Afghanistan's water resources development are inter-connected.; A novel framework and multisectoral approach toward the implementation of IWRM and the WEF nexus in Afghanistan is proposed.; Enhancing IWRM and WEF nexus may eradicate hunger as the agriculture sector is disconnected with water, land, and energy sectors.;

Interpretations of integrated water cycle management (IWCM) differ across jurisdictions. This paper discusses 10 interpretations of the IWCM concept globally, in Australia and in jurisdictions similar to Australia. Five interpretations of many IWCM versions in Australia are reviewed. This strategic concept aims to address the internal challenges of managing water demand and supply, achieving appropriate disposal and/or wastewater recycling for re-use and distribution networks and providing services at an affordable rate, per changing community needs. The IWCM concept is also recognised as a resource planning tool to address external challenges, such as the uncertainties of climate change, the circular economy and resilience. All 10 IWCM concepts reviewed in this paper acknowledge governance and stakeholders to be of primary importance: governance to drive the conceptual interpretation and stakeholders to develop, drive, implement and promote IWCM as adept at addressing local challenges. The two global interpretations place primary importance on governance, stakeholder engagement and natural resource management, whereas the local interpretations place equally high importance on water critical infrastructure and water economy. Technology, which is changing at an unprecedented pace, is considered, but not as an immediate or primary challenge. These differences are mainly attributed to the organisations’ responsibilities and constraints, which drive IWCM concept design.

Rapid population growth along with increased rates of economic growth around the globe are placing valuable natural resources, water in particular, under unprecedented stress; this in turn drives the pursuit of innovative tools to support integrated Water-Energy-Food (WEF) nexus management. This paper presents a framework for the integrated management of the WEF nexus, which brings together four separate models that address the less well-examined socio-anthropological aspects of the nexus. The proposed framework provides insight into the human element as part of the wider ecosystem in terms of socio-cultural and economic activities, the laws and policies that govern these activities, as well as their potential socio-economic impacts and consequences. This paper outlines each individual model, before going on to present a conceptual framework for the integration of the various models for the purpose of supporting more robust decision-making. The framework, which is grounded in systems thinking, adopts the principles of sustainable development as structural foci in order to position the various models in relation to one another; harmonizing their inputs as well as outputs.

Due to the complex interactions of human activity and the hydrological cycle, achieving urban water security requires comprehensive planning processes that address urban water hazards using a holistic approach. However, the effective implementation of such an approach requires the collection and curation of large amounts of disparate data, and reliable methods for modeling processes that may be co-evolutionary yet traditionally represented in non-integrable ways. In recent decades, many hydrological studies have utilized advanced machine learning and information technologies to approximate and predict physical processes, yet none have synthesized these methods into a comprehensive urban water security plan. In this paper, we review ways in which advanced machine learning techniques have been applied to specific aspects of the hydrological cycle and discuss their potential applications for addressing challenges in mitigating multiple water hazards over urban areas. We also describe a vision that integrates these machine learning applications into a comprehensive watershed-to-community planning workflow for smart-cities management of urban water resources.

This study sheds light on the importance of boundary spanners in developing the conditions that foster trust between stakeholders in integrated water resource management (IWRM). Boundary spanners routinely reach across organizational borders to build interconnections and interdependencies in order to manage complex problems, inform policy, and encourage knowledge sharing. The importance of the boundary spanning role has been shown in organizational business practices, urban planning, and higher education yet little research exists on its impact in IWRM. The mixed methods approach used in this study involved surveying and interviewing individuals with previous experience with IWRM in Nebraska. The results of the survey indicated that boundary spanning behavior predicted a large percentage of the variance in conditions that build trust between stakeholders. Further exploration revealed that boundary spanning, cooperation, power imbalance, and scale mismatch were predictors of trust building conditions. In addition, authentic leadership, autonomy, and trustworthiness were predictors of boundary spanners' ability to establish trust building conditions between stakeholders, with trustworthiness being the strongest predictor. The qualitative phase included interviews with thirteen individuals who participated in the online survey and scored high in boundary spanning behaviors. The interview analysis resulted in seven themes, which strongly support the promising role that boundary spanners play in fostering conditions that build trust between stakeholders within IWRM. This paper reflects on the importance of a boundary spanner within integrated water management, demonstrates the effectiveness of boundary spanning on the development of trust building conditions, and encourages more research on how to better identify and train boundary spanners to assist in the co-production of knowledge.

Study region: This study explores the connectivity of upland farmers and downstream fishers through interlinkages of water, energy and food within the Dampalit sub-watershed of Laguna Lake, Philippines. Study focus: The aim of the study is to yield policy relevant results to improve the status of the water resources and food products and to reduce possible user conflicts. Surveying 176 households mainly in the mid- and downstream areas elements and interlinkages of the local Water-Energy-Food Nexus (WEF-Nexus) were identified by the five capitals of the sustainable livelihood approach through a socio-ecological network analysis. New hydrological insights for the region: Besides the innovative methodology, this research adds to the underserved local perspective in the WEF-Nexus research. The survey shows different livelihood profiles for the two groups and a lack of direct social links between them in the WEF-Nexus context. Also indirect links through consumption of the other group’s food products could not be identified. However, a large fraction of the population share the use of char coal for cooking, the Makiling groundwater for drinking and various household purposes and the Central Market in Los Banos for their food supply.

Water resources are under growing pressures globally, and better basin planning is crucial to alleviate current and future water scarcity issues. Communicating the complex interconnections and needs of natural and human systems is a significant research challenge. With advances in cyberinfrastructure allowing for new innovative approaches to basin planning, this same technology can also facilitate better stakeholder engagement. The potential benefits of using digital basin planning platforms for stakeholder engagement are immense; yet, there is limited guidance on how to best use these platforms for more effective stakeholder engagement in water-related issues and projects. We detail our digital platform, Basin Futures, and highlight the potential uses for stakeholder engagement through an integrative framework across different assessment levels. Basin Futures is a web application that is an entry-level modelling tool that aims to support rapid and exploratory basin planning globally. As a cloud-based tool, it brings together high-performance computing and large-scale global datasets to make data analysis accessible and efficient. We explore the potential use of the tool through three case studies exploring agricultural development, transboundary water-sharing agreements and allocating water for environmental flows.

The existing methods of river evaluation tend to focus exclusively on water quantity; therefore, they do not provide a suitable methodology for integrated water management. In this study, research was carried out to develop an integrated river evaluation system that can simultaneously consider water quantity and water quality to improve the existing river evaluation methods. To this end, specific indicators were established to evaluate water quantity and water quality; moreover, an integrated evaluation formula was developed to express each indicator as an index. The integrated evaluation formula used additive functions and enabled integrated and comprehensive river evaluation through the sum of each indicator’s indices. The research subjects were rivers in the Paldang watershed, which surrounds important water resources in rep. of Korea. The rivers were analyzed using the study’s integrated river evaluation formula to identify the deteriorated grade of the water quality as well as the water quantity. Finally, the results of the integrated river evaluation rating were found to be poor or very poor. Based on this, the study determined that an integrated river management policy is required to simultaneously consider water quantity and water quality to restore the integrity of the rivers in the Special Countermeasures Area. The existing evaluations of rivers, which had been conducted only with a focus on water quantity, could be judged narrow or incomplete results. Based on this finding, it was also possible to identify an urgent need for a basic river management plan that can consider both water quantity and water quality organically. Ultimately, the study demonstrated that its methodology was able to make highly intuitive judgments about rivers’ current conditions; thus, it can be utilized to generate basic data for the establishment of customized river management policies.

This article explores the water policy narrative in Pakistan, and identifies its historical trajectories and influences, as well as the impact of the global agenda setting of water for 2030. For this purpose, water sector reforms in Pakistan are examined as a case study. The National Water Policy (NWP) 2018 and Participatory Irrigation Management (PIM) reforms are critically evaluated and loopholes identified, in terms of both theoretical aspects and constraints in their practical implementation. The overall analysis reveals that the engineering narrative is dominant in policy circles and large-scale infrastructure construction is seen as an exceptional measure to overcome the current loss of storage potential due to sedimentation. On the other hand, the adoption of the Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) framework reflects the desire of state institutions to imbue water policy reform with international credibility. The IWRM framework has been adopted as isomorphic mimicry to appease international financing institutions and donors. PIM reform is thus far from delivering the desired results due to ideological battles among new (i.e., the Participatory Farmers Institution) and traditional bureaucratic irrigation institutions. As adopted, the global agenda setting of water, in the shape of IWRM, is a repackaging of existing activities, and prevents alternative thinking in the setting of water priorities according to developmental needs.

Botswana experiences a water stressed situation due to the climate and a continuously increasing water demand. Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) is considered, among other measures, to improve the situation. To evaluate the possibility for increased water supply security, a probabilistic and dynamic water supply security model was developed. Statistically generated time series of source water availability are used in combination with the dynamic storages in dams and aquifers, and the possible supply is compared with the demand to simulate the magnitude and probability of water supply shortages. The model simulates the system and possible mitigation measures from 2013 to 2035 (23 years), using one-month time steps. The original system is not able to meet the demand, and the estimated volumetric supply reliability in the year 2035 is 0.51. An additional surface water dam (now implemented) will increase the reliability to 0.88 but there will still be a significant water shortage problem. Implementing large-scale MAR can further improve the reliability to at least 0.95. System properties limiting the effect of MAR are identified using the model and show how to further improve the effect of MAR. The case study results illustrate the importance and benefit of using an integrated approach, including time-dependence and future scenarios, when evaluating the need and potential of MAR.

Scholars have increasingly argued for an integration of policies on agriculture and water due to their strong interlinkage. The entry of agricultural pollutants into water represents one of the main pressures on Europe’s ground and surface waters. This not only poses a risk to the environment and human health but also jeopardizes meeting the targets set by the EU Water Framework Directive. Research on the political agenda setting has shown that issue salience is key for triggering policy change. Nevertheless, Germany has repeatedly failed to adopt adequate policy measures despite the salience of the issue among the German public and increasing pressure by the EU. In this study, I shed light on the positioning of political parties in Germany on agricultural pollutants to explain the absence of policy change. More specifically, I ask whether there is an ideological division between political parties that hampers the adoption of effective, integrated policy measures. A qualitative content analysis of election manifestos published between 1998 and 2018 finds that political parties’ policy positions are predominantly influenced by their placement on an environmental and an economic ideological dimension. As a result, political parties in Germany advocate conflictive policy approaches, which is detrimental to the adoption of effective policy measures.

Citizen participation to water management is becoming more important regulatory wise and appears as a profound social aspiration. The implementation of participatory actions under Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) is now a part of the manager’s mission. Which would suggest a new way to manage and work. In France, the water legislations set the guidelines of the participatory approach, but implementation modalities remain vague and raise questions as to the objectives. With this ambiguity, managers have plenty of flexibility but also uncertainties on its own terms and merits. Implement water management strategies require dealing with a large range of actors and actions with various objectives and forms. In this paper, by the analysis of French watershed management implementation in the regional nature parks, we present some reasons which highlight the complexity linked with citizen participatory approach. Looking at local authorities answers related to the institutionalization of participation, allows us to identify the main challenges to improve the participatory approach of IWRM according to the feedback of the Regional Nature Parks.

Bolivia has influenced the international water arenas as a pioneer of the Human Water Rights Declaration before the United Nations General Council. However, despite a positive but rather ideological evolution, the country is still facing several water challenges in practice. Water governance is extremely complex due to intricate social structures, important spatial and temporal differences in the availability of water resources, ecological fragility, and weak institutions. A Transdisciplinary Learning Community approach has been adopted by the Universidad Católica Boliviana to take into account the complexity of the water problems caused by social, hydrological, and ecological system imbalances. In this approach, researchers and non-academic actors work closely together to integrate different ways of conceiving, using, valuing, and deciding on water issues. The approach aims at co-creating resilient solutions by recovering and restoring not only the ecological system, but also the social system in which all actors are aware of their role and responsibility. We explain the challenges and concerns raised by this approach in a case study of the Katari River Basin (KRB), which is impacted by a high degree of contamination that is mainly caused while crossing El Alto city, leading to dramatic consequences for the Lake Titicaca ecosystem and its surrounding communities.

Water is both a key and limited resource in the Okavango Catchment of Southern Africa. It is vital for the ecosystem and the three riparian states Angola, Botswana and Namibia who use the water of the catchment for multiple purposes including pastoralism, farming and tourism. Socioeconomic changes, primarily strong population growth and increasing development demands pose significant challenges for the Okavango Catchment and its Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM). In this paper, we first review the socioeconomic background and the current and projected water situation. Against this background, we analyze the dependence of the riparian states and the local livelihoods on the Okavango Catchment. Third, we discuss the implications of socioeconomic changes and increased water demand for the IWRM in the catchment. We review the scientific literature and relevant reports. Further we utilize (geo-spatial) analysis of socioeconomic, livelihood and hydrological data, supplemented by a field visit to Namibia and Botswana. Our findings suggest that strong population growth and the stabilization of Angola are likely to increase the pressure to develop the region along the Okavango. The central challenge for IWRM is hence to enable Angola to meet its development needs without limiting livelihood and economic prospects in Botswana and Namibia.

Urban water reuse is one of the most rapidly growing water reuse applications worldwide and one of the major elements of the sustainable management of urban water cycle. Because of the high probability of direct contact between consumers and recycled water, many technical and regulatory challenges have to be overcome in order to minimize health risks at affordable cost. This paper illustrates the keys to success of one of the first urban water reuse projects in the island Bora Bora, French Polynesia. Special emphasis is given on the reliability of operation of the membrane tertiary treatment, economic viability in terms of pricing of recycled water and operating costs, as well as on the benefits of water reuse for the sustainable development of tourist areas.

To date there has been limited research on integrated water resource management, specifically regarding investments, from a global perspective, largely due to the complexity of the problem and to generally local water management practices. Water demand and supply are very often affected by international factors and with global climate change, population growth and increasing consumption, water management is now more than ever a global issue. This paper gives an overview of current and impending water problems while assessing investment needs for integrated water management as a possible solution to projected water challenges. The analysis compares a business as usual case (BAU) to a scenario in which investments improve water efficiency use across sectors to curb demand, increase innovative supply from desalination and enhance conventional water resources management measures. System dynamics modeling is employed to represent the structural factors influencing water demand and supply in the context of an integrated framework including cross-sectoral linkages. The analysis confirms that sustainable water management is feasible, but it requires investments in the range of $145 billion per year between 2011 and 2050 (0.16% of GDP or $17/person/year) and timely, effective action.

Abstract: Challenges and perspectives of water governance and integrated water resource management in BoliviaBolivia is not only highly affected by social and political instability, but also by erosion and climate change and an indiscriminate and vast exploitation of its natural resources. The new policy structure seeks to establish a broad consensus on better water governance relying on a participatory democracy approach and the commitment to indicators for sustainable development. The creation of a Water Ministry in 2006, which emerged from the water riots against privatization of water rights and sanitation services in 2000, can be interpreted as a clear sign for more integration of social movements and civil organizations. But at the present these organizations seemed to be marginalized from the decision-making process, and government and public institutions are confronting a complex situation of weakened legitimacy. The present paper offers an insight on the ongoing process, including the challenges and obstacles for the implementation of a new water policy and local integrated water management systems. The reflections consider the official legal framework and a policy analysis in order to illustrate the conflictive schemes in different regions and localities. The final aim is to indicate the gaps between the official discourse and local realities for water governance and to indicate some recommendations for a more coherent public-civic action in water governance, control and transparency. Resumen:Bolivia no solo es afectada por una inestabilidad social y política, sino también por erosión, efectos del cambio climático y una explotación indiscriminada de los recursos naturales. La nueva política de cambio social se propone, entre otros objetivos, lograr un consenso amplio de gobernanza en el agua, basado en un proceso democrático participativo y el compromiso de cumplir indicadores de desarrollo sostenible. La creación del nuevo Ministerio del Agua en el año 2006, que surgió de movimientos sociales como la ‘guerra por el agua’ en Cochabamba en el 2000, abrió una nueva perspectiva para las políticas hídricas en Bolivia. No obstante, a dos años de gestión, la nueva política hídrica boliviana se encuentra estancada, entre otros motivos, debido al debilitamiento político y técnico del propio Ministerio del Agua, que no permite coordinar acciones con las instancias públicas de los gobiernos departamentales y municipales, y la escasa coherencia entre las normas que regulan las actividades del sector. El presente documento expone los retos y las perspectivas del proceso de formulación e implementación de la política nacional de agua en Bolivia, sobre la base de reflexiones respecto del marco regulatorio existente y la estrategia de implementación sectorial de riego, agua potable y cuencas. El objetivo final es delinear las brechas entre el discurso oficial en el agua y las realidades y dificultades locales y regionales en el agua e indicar algunos métodos alternativos para una acción cívico- pública más coherente en la gobernanza del agua y la gestión integrada de recursos hídricos.

This article deals with the way hazards, resulting from the interactions between fresh and marine waters in coastal zones, lead to question the variety of management practices of natural resources and the environment. In a first step, we underline the bidirectional character of hazards driven by fresh and marine waters in coastal areas. We discuss, in a second step, two way of dealing with integrated management of natural resources in those areas: namely Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) and the Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM). While it is easy to recognize a convergence in the philosophy of such processes, we stress the necessity to go beyond distinctions, in order to build a more comprehensive approach. Finally, with the example of the Wateringues territory, located in the North of France, we illustrate the stakes of an integrated approach, in an area characterized by multiple pressures, where use conflicts are sometimes strengthened by the presence of hazards.

Multi-Stakeholder Platforms are a currently popular concept in the international water world. It is however not a very well defined phenomenon. The present article unpacks the concept, proposes to see platforms as networks, and identifies two ´schools of thought´: social learning and negotiation. It attempts a preliminary typology of platforms encountered in real life, in which the Comités de Bacia in Brazil, for all their shortcomings, come out as a relatively influential type. In closing, the article then identifies reasons for non-participation, suggesting that it is an inevitable corollary of organised participation.Arena de stakeholders múltiplos é um conceito estabelecido na área de recursos hídricos internacional. Contudo, é um fenômeno pouco definido. O presente artigo destrincha o conceito, propondo conceber as arenas como redes, e identifica duas "escolas de pensamento": aprendizagem social e negociação. O texto procura por uma tipologia preliminar das arenas identificadas na vida real, nas quais os Comitês de Bacias no Brasil, por todas suas peculiaridades, aparecem como um tipo significativo. Ao final, o artigo identifica as razões que explicam a não participação, sugerindo que esse é um corolário inevitável da participação organizada.

Climate is a very decisive factor in water resource availability of a region. Warming of the climate system in recent decades is evident from increase in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global sea level. The hydrological cycle is intimately linked with changes in atmospheric temperature and radiation balance. A warmer climate may lead to intensification of the hydrological cycle, resulting in higher rates of evaporation and increase of liquid precipitation. These processes, in association with a shifting pattern of precipitation, may affect the spatial and temporal distribution of runoff, soil moisture, groundwater reserves etc. and may increase the frequency of droughts and floods. Agricultural demand, particularly for irrigation water is considered more sensitive to climate change. A change in field-level climate may alter the need and timing of irrigation. Increased dryness may lead to increased demand, but demand may be reduced if soil moisture content rises at critical times of the year. It is projected that most irrigated areas in India would require more water around 2025 and global net irrigation requirements would increase relative to the situation without climate change by 3.5–5% by 2025, and 6–8% by 2075. The effect of climate change on water resources may be mitigated through better water harvesting through the creation of micro-storage facilities in watersheds. These would not only provide supplemental irrigation but also recharge the groundwater aquifers.

Water resource governance, much like the systems it endeavors to manage, must be resilient and adaptive. Effective, resilient and adaptive water resource governance requires continuing stakeholder engagement to address the complex nature of human and natural systems. Engagement is an adaptive and iterative process of education and empowerment, building relationships and trust, and facilitating collaboration. Collaborative modeling is a methodology that integrates diverse stakeholder perspectives, fosters discussions, and creates space for problem identification and consensus-based strategies and solutions to current water resource challenges. We define collaborative modeling broadly, such that it includes a wide range of systems thinking exercises, as well as dynamic models. By focusing on the relationships and interconnections in the system, collaborative modeling facilitates clarification of mental models and the communication of science. We will describe our work in two interstate basins and how it has evolved over time as these basins strive to develop collaborative governance, and find solutions for their water resource challenges.

Lessons from integrated natural resource management (INRM) practiced at different scales are reviewed, with a focus on catchment management. INRM is complex, and many interactions have to be addressed. Consequently, the scale of investigation can restrict the generality and utility of the findings. Examples show that temporal, biophysical, and institutional scales can each be critical. Contexts and dynamics associated with particular scales, and interactions or lateral flows that become important with increasing scale, also pose serious challenges. A conceptual framework is presented for scaling issues in INRM and how to deal with them. To benefit many people over large areas within sensible time frames requires considerable political will, investment, and strategic planning from the outset. Only then will an enabling environment be created to meet a range of preconditions identified in previous studies of integrated catchment management, watershed development, common property management, and devolution. This paper focuses on the links between the organizational/human aspects and the biophysical/technical perspective of various scaling issues. In particular, there is a need to reconcile current top-down and bottom-up approaches, both of which are needed to achieve effective delivery in structured programs beyond the scale of a few villages or isolated success stories. Options for bridging this gap are discussed and recommendations are made for research that might be undertaken. Action research is recommended to enable learning-by-doing, and should focus at two levels: strategic studies to help create the political and institutional landscapes required for scaling-up; and specific studies of gaps in knowledge, in particular, programs that account for scale issues. These suggestions are illustrated using the example of groundwater management via nested scales of interdisciplinary research.