Laying the Groundwork for Raising Awareness on Water Related Issues with a Socio-Hydrogeological Approach: The Inle Lake Case Study (Southern Shan State, Myanmar)

Elisa Sacchi,Myat Mon Thin,Viviana Re,Chiara Tringali,Enrico Destefanis,Mya Mya

doi:10.3390/w13172434

Elisa Sacchi, Myat Mon Thin + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/w13172434

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Abstract

Translating scientific findings into concrete action for (ground)water protection should be fundamental component of any hydrogeological and hydrogeochemical assessment, thus ensuring that scientific outcomes have a positive impact in the real world. To this purpose, understanding the water-related issues and the perceived criticalities by the water users is an asset, especially for earth scientists who are often the first contact with local communities during in situ measurements. By presenting the results of a socio-hydrogeological assessment in the Inle Lake area, this paper aims at demonstrating the feasibility and added value of this approach. In conjunction with groundwater sampling, public engagement activities were conducted by administering semi-structured interviews at a household level in each monitoring site. Hydrogeochemical data show that groundwater is characterized by an elevated hardness and by the presence of trace metals in solution due to the low redox potential. The work provides suggestions on how to translate the hydrogeochemical information associated to (i) the impact of climate change on water supply and availability, and (ii) the presence of geogenic groundwater contamination (Fe, Mn, As) into accessible information for local communities and water users’ associations. Sharing knowledge and promoting capacity building would also help to assess the reasons for the discrepancy between self-reported perception of groundwater quality (e.g., hardness) and analytical results.

Highlights

Water resources management roots its effectiveness in sound scientific knowledge and its translation into concrete decisions targeting environmental sustainability, social equity, and economic efficiency
Access to safe water resources is tightly linked to equity and justice, and this has been recently evidenced with the Human Rights-Based Approach to Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM), that sees human rights, development and governance as interlinked, and mutually reinforcing
This paper aims at discussing how to effectively translate the scientific outcomes of a five-years surface and ground water quality assessment in the Inle Lake catchment into accessible information for local communities and water users’ associations

Summary

Introduction

Water resources management roots its effectiveness in sound scientific knowledge and its translation into concrete decisions (and actions) targeting environmental sustainability, social equity, and economic efficiency. Access to safe water resources is tightly linked to equity and justice, and this has been recently evidenced with the Human Rights-Based Approach to IWRM, that sees human rights, development and governance as interlinked, and mutually reinforcing This additional lens provides a good opportunity to simplify water governance both in the sphere of environmental sustainability and human development [3]. This is crucial in countries where physical water scarcity exacerbates conflicts related to competing interests in water access and use, and in those where, despite the presence of abundant resources, the portion of population without access to safe water and sanitation is still high

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