Water Resource System Planning and Management

Published: 2/15/2018

Water is essential to life and must be protected and managed effectively as a resource to avoid catastrophe. Currently, water is under threat from overpopulation, pollution and global warming. It is the job of water resource system planners to mitigate these concerns. A key consideration in water resource system planning is water’s availability versus its demand, though management goals are rarely one-dimensional. The dynamics that govern water systems are nonlinear and complex. Water management also carries enormous political power. As many countries all over the world begin to develop their water infrastructure, many policy questions come to light. Who does the water belong to? How are downstream countries affected? Who is the water being sold to? Because proposed plans may provoke conflict, there is a need for careful research and stakeholder involvement, in designing the best management policy.

The environmental effects of water infrastructure development must always be considered. For example, while dams provide a power supply and potential for recreational activities, they may also threaten wildlife and the natural habitat in which they are built. Fish populations, salmon in particular, have been rapidly declining due to river damming. This balance must be carefully considered when designing water infrastructure.

Damage due to flooding is a direct result of floodplain development that is incompatible with floods. This risk may on average result in positive private net benefits, but only because public agencies subsidize private risk takers who incur losses in times of flooding. While the increased economic value of developments on floodplains justifies increased development for some, it also increases the chance of flood damage that can be costly. Flood protection infrastructure aims to decrease the risks of flood damage, but in turn, also creates an increased incentive for economic development. Then, when a flood exceeding the capacity of existing flood protection strikes, the damage is catastrophic. One solution to this dangerous cycle comes from restrictions placed on floodplain development. Proper planning can also help identify the appropriate level of development and flood damage protection. Other planning and management issues that affect flooding include, dredging of river beds, river bank erosion, and degradation of the riverbeds upstream of reservoirs.

Planning and management should also pay attention to the negative consequences of industrial development and runoff containing pesticides and fertilizers. Wastewater discharges by industry and households can cause considerable damage to water quality, public health, and the ecosystem. Unfortunately, many environmentally friendly options for water infrastructure are deemed to be too expensive. Sadly, much of the world’s population does not have adequate drinking water. This is largely due to the inability of those living in poverty to pay and recover the costs of implementing, maintaining, and operating the needed infrastructure.

Both spatial and temporal scales should be considered in the planning and management of water resources. For this reason, watersheds are logical regions for water resources planning and management because the impacts of decisions regarding water resources management are contained within the watershed or basin. While basin boundaries make sense from a hydrologic point of view, they may be inadequate for addressing particular water resource problems that are caused by events taking place outside the basin. In this case, the spatial scale may be adjusted to include the entire “problem shed”. It is important to note that planning is a continuing process and that water resources plans need to be updated.

The two main approaches to planning and management are top-down (command and control) and bottom-up (grassroots). When used together, the approaches can lead to an integrated plan and management policy. The top-down approach produces multipurpose “master” development plans for many of the world’s river basins. This type of planning is dominated by professionals, and consequently, there is little if any active participation of interested stakeholders. The approach assumes that one or more institutions have the ability and authority to develop and implement the plan and are thus becoming less desirable or acceptable. More recently, water resources planning and management processes have moved towards involving stakeholders. This is done through a process of consensus building, where concerned citizens, nongovernmental organizations, and professionals in governmental agencies work together toward the creation of a water management program. The idea of integrated water resources management (IWRM) has been developing recently and is moving planning from a supply-oriented, engineering-biased approach toward a demand-oriented, multi-sectoral approach. Technical aspects of planning include hydrologic assessments, which identify and characterize the properties of, and interactions among, the resources in the basin or region. Planning today is also heavily dependent on the use of computer-based impact prediction models.

While IWRM focuses on the process of improving water management, water security focuses on the output. Water security is defined as the capacity of a population to safeguard sustainable access to adequate quantities of acceptable quality water for sustaining livelihoods, human well-being, and socio-economic development, for ensuring protection against water-borne pollution and water-related disasters, and for preserving ecosystems in a climate of peace and political stability. The financial component of any planning process is to make sure that the recommended plans and projects will be able to pay for themselves. This is why financial viability is often viewed as a constraint that must be satisfied. For plans to be successful, policies must exist nationally that enable the desired decisions to be implemented and fulfilled.

Governmental involvement in water resources is crucial. This is because water is a resource beyond property rights, water is a resource that often requires large investments to develop, and water is a medium that can easily transfer external effects. Altering the social and institutional components of water resource systems is often the most difficult, as they challenge institutional thought and action.