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The philosophy of integrated water resource management (IWRM), as formulated in several international summits, yielded numerous interpretations and extensions over the last decade but always focused on the overall objective of maximizing the welfare and livelihood of the people concerned. One of the major constraints of this concept is the gap between the well-defined philosophy and the fuzzy definition of operational and testable indicators for the achievement of its goals. This leads to difficulties in the evaluation of potential contributions from technological and managerial improvements. The experience of the multi-lateral IWRM research initiative SMART in the lower Jordan Valley shows that the evaluation and ranking of alternative IWRM strategies and their elements relies simultaneously on the identification of local goals and their interfaces with the superordinate national water sector policies. The documentation of the, still ongoing, development process of suitable assessment procedures describes their methodological embedding and conclusions drawn for the heterogeneous situation of water-related settings in this transboundary watershed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]