Water Management Institutions Research Articles

Disruptive Technologies for Improving Water Security in Large River Basins

Large river basins present significant challenges for water resource planning and management. They typically traverse a wide range of hydroclimatic regimes, are characterized by complex and variable hydrology, and span multiple jurisdictions with diverse water demands and values. They are often data-poor and in many developing economies are characterized by weak water governance. Rapid global change is seeing significant changes to the pressures on the water resources of large basins, exacerbating the challenge of sustainable water management. Diverse technologies have long supported water resource planning and development, from data collection, analytics, simulation, to decision-making, and real-time operations. In the last two decades however, a rapid increase in the range, capability, and accessibility of new technologies, coupled with large reductions in cost, mean there are increasing opportunities for emerging technologies to significantly “disrupt” traditional approaches to water resources management. In this paper, we consider the application of ‘disruptive technologies’ in water resources management in large river basins, through a lens of improving water security. We discuss the role of different actors and institutions for water management considering a range of emerging disruptive technologies. We consider the risks and benefits associated with the use of these technologies and discuss the barriers to their widespread adoption. We obverse a positive trend away from the reliance solely on centralized government institutions and traditional modeling for the collection and analysis of data, towards a more open and dynamic ‘data and knowledge ecosystem’ that draws upon data services at different levels (global to local) to support water planning and operations. We expect that technological advances and cost reductions will accelerate, fueling increased incremental adoption of new technologies in water resources planning and management. Large-basin analytics could become virtually free for users with global, regional, and national development agencies absorbing the costs of development and any subscription services for end users (e.g., irrigators) to help improve water management at user level and improve economic productivity. Collectively, these changes can help to ‘democratize’ water management through improved access to data and information. However, disruptive technologies can also be deployed in top-down or centralized processes, and so their use is sometimes contested or misunderstood. Increased attention therefore needs to be given to ensuring equity in technology access, and to strengthening the governance context for technology deployment. Widespread adoption of disruptive technologies will require adjustments to how water professionals are trained, increased adaptiveness in water resources planning and operations, and careful consideration of privacy and cybersecurity issues.

Withdrawal: Feng, C., Liu, X., Wang, C., Wang, J. and Sun, J. (2020), Characteristics and Changes of Microorganisms in Simulated Pipe Network with Ultraviolet‐Tea Polyphenols Combined Disinfection. Water and Environment Journal. Accepted Author Manuscript. doi:10.1111/wej.12557.

The above article from Water and Environment Journal, published online on 03 March 2020 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com), has been withdrawn by agreement between the authors, the journal Editor in Chief Dr Ana Soares, and John Wiley and Sons Ltd on behalf of the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management. The withdrawal has been agreed following a request from the authors due to their concern over some of the data in the article.

Monitoramento da qualidade da água do rio Paraopeba e entorno após o rompimento da barragem de rejeitos em Brumadinho, Minas Gerais, Brasil

Este trabalho tem como objetivo discutir os dados de monitoramento da qualidade da água do rio Paraopeba e em captações de água para consumo humano situados em suas margens realizados pelo Instituto Mineiro de Gestão das Águas – IGAM e pela Secretaria de Estado de Saúde de Minas Gerais – SES-MG posteriores ao rompimento da barragem B1 da Mina do Córrego do Feijão, sob responsabilidade da empresa VALE S. A. (Brumadinho – MG), ocorrido no dia 25 de janeiro de 2019. Além das vidas humanas perdidas e do grande impacto ao meio ambiente, a lama atingiu diversas captações de água para o abastecimento público, além de impactar na renda familiar de diversos ribeirinhos que utilizavam a água do rio para agricultura e dessedentação de animais. Os dados do monitoramento do IGAM apontam para violações aos parâmetros turbidez, ferro dissolvido, manganês total e alumínio dissolvido durante todo o período monitorado; chumbo total e cobre dissolvido no período chuvoso, e ainda zinco, mercúrio e níquel no primeiro trimestre do monitoramento. Já os dados do monitoramento da SES-MG apontam para violações relacionadas a antimônio, arsênio, bário, cromo, chumbo, mercúrio e selênio, além de alumínio, ferro e manganês. Diante dos resultados apresentados em ambos monitoramentos, sugere-se a manutenção da suspensão da utilização da água bruta do rio Paraopeba e de captações próximas às suas margens para qualquer finalidade, além da continuidade dos monitoramentos, que subsidiará a tomada de decisão pelos órgãos responsáveis.

Climate-Smart Initiatives in Sri Lankan Agriculture Sector: Experience and Perspectives in Solar Powered Water Pumping for Sustainable Crop Production

The availability of low cost and long-lasting water pumping technology is a dream of every farmer. In Sri Lanka, fuel or electricity-powered water pumps are used to irrigate thousands of hectares of field crops, Vegetables, and fruits. Based on the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) survey conducted in the year 2000, there are about 50,000 agro-wells in the dry zone of Sri Lanka. More than 110,000 pumps are used to pump water from those wells. The fuel cost is the biggest burden for the farmers, which results in a high cost of production. The use of solar energy for water pumping is a promising alternative to conventional electricity and fuel-based water pumping systems. Solar-powered water pumping is based on photovoltaic (PV) technology that converts solar energy into electrical energy to run a DC or AC type water pump. This paper presents a comparative analysis of economic and environmental benefits associated with solar water pumping systems against fuel-based water pumping systems. The analyses were based on practical experience over 50 acres of land cultivated for export-oriented Green Cucumber by 100 members of Tempitiya Farmer Organization in Ampara District of Sri Lanka. It concluded that the solar water pumping system is advantageous compared to a fuel-based pump in terms of economic and environmental aspects.

Simulace dopadu revitalizace meandru Jordánu na řece Orlici na režim přilehlého kvartérního kolektoru

An urgent issue of the water management institutions in the Czech Republic is enhancement of the water retention in the environment. One of the solutions presented by Elbe river basin authority is restoration of the meander Jordan of the Orlice River.

Development and technology of rural drinking water supply in China*

AbstractAccess to safe drinking water in rural areas is a basic need of the population. Since 2000 China has invested significantly in improving rural drinking water safety nationwide as an important measure to alleviate poverty and promote rural development. In 2009, China achieved the millennium development goal (MDG) of halving the ratio of the population without access to safe drinking water by 2015. Water quality, water quantity, guaranteed probability of water source and convenience of water acquisition are the four major factors in evaluating drinking water safety. Technology and innovative equipment for water purification, disinfection, construction models and management technology and institutions have been developed to support the large‐scale construction and management of rural drinking water supply projects during the last 20 years. This paper presents the technical progress and experience accumulated in the construction and management of the rural drinking water supply in China. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Water and the modern engineered city: the Association of Water Engineers in a British and transnational context, 1896–1914

This article shows how the primary water engineering institute of the United Kingdom, the association of water engineers [1896–1987(Now known as Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management after merger with other bodies in 1987)], conceptualised the city and its hinterlands. Using The Transactions of the Association of Water Engineers, an under-utilised record of engineering practice, this article shows that by 1914, water engineers had begun to conceive of the modern engineered city in similar terms, seen through the domestic and international nature of the Associations membership, discussions that took place around visits to different waterworks schemes across the country, and investigations regarding materiality, such as the standardisation of iron pipes. The paper also includes a transnational perspective, examining reports and expeditions made by engineers from the Association to other European municipalities during the first decade of the twentieth century to learn from differences in approach to British waterworks. This transnational focus examines relationships across borders through the Association’s role in coordinating and circulating examples of international practice through its Transactions.

Water governance challenges in rural South Africa: exploring institutional coordination in drought management

Abstract Droughts have severe direct impacts on the livelihoods of rural populations. Thus, the management of water for communal agriculture and water supply should be well coordinated to enhance drought resilience. Notwithstanding the interrelations among water management institutions in South Africa, there are complexities in the way these institutions work together, both in preparation for, and during drought times. In this article, we examine the governance of water resources in South Africa with a view to understanding institutional coordination in drought management at different operational scales. Using a qualitative approach, the roles and relationships between water actors at the local and regional level were analyzed for their adequacy in building local level drought resilience in a village in the Limpopo province, South Africa. Key informant interviews conducted revealed operational drought management challenges that emanate from communication barriers, coordination inconsistences, and undefined, unclear actor roles and responsibilities during disasters. The top-down approach to disaster management, while of some value, currently constrains the effectiveness of the local-level institutions implementing local drought risk reduction efforts. Achieving more successful water and drought governance endeavors could be enhanced by greater and wider engagement with community-based actors and water management institutions.

Effectiveness of environmental management institutions in sustainable water resources management in the upper Pungwe River basin, Zimbabwe

The management of environmental resources by separate entities ought to be well coordinated to avoid gaps and overlaps. This study assessed the effectiveness of environmental management institutions and participation processes in water resources management in the Upper Pungwe river basin, a transboundary river basin in Southern Africa. It evaluated interactions between environmental management institutions and how this impacted on the quality of the environment and water resources. A concurrent mixed methods approach was used in the study. Qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis techniques were employed. Twenty self-administered questionnaires were distributed to 17 ward environmental management committee chairpersons and three environmental management practitioners. Three in-depth interviews were held with water resources management practitioners operating in the river basin. Runoff, water quality and sediment load data over a 17 year period were collected and analysed using Mann-Kendal and Regression Analysis Statistics to detect trends and predict future levels. The study revealed a positive linear relationship (r2=0.1718) between runoff and sediment load while sediment load showed a negative linear relationship with pH levels (r2=0.0329). Based on the Mann-Kendal analysis (p>0.05) there were no statistically significant trends detected in the data. The study concluded that water and environmental management institutions lacked effective regular interaction and cooperation at the river basin level. Effective coordination of environmental management institutions remains key to the achievement of sustainable water resources management in the Upper Pungwe river basin.

Relation between use and occupation of soil and water quality in Mucuri’s basin

Knowing the characteristics of water bodies, especially those that directly attend the population, is essential to maintain parameters of water quality. Antropic action and soil properties directly interfere in the quality of water bodies. In order to recognize and identify water quality, the Minas Gerais Water Management Institute evaluates 9 parameters that, analyzed, give rise to the Water Quality Index, which translates in an objective way to the authorities and public the influence of development processes on the environmental dynamics of aquatic environments (IGAM, 2017). Based on this, this study seeks to compare information from the IQA of the Mucuri River Basin with the use and occupation of soil in this region, in order to identify the influence of soil use on water quality. It was observed better values of IQA for regions near forest areas and a negative impact on the IQA caused by the presence of the main urban center of the Mucuri Basin.

PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF IRRIGATION SCHEMES IN RUGERAMIGOZI MARSHLAND, RWANDA

Evaluating irrigation schemes contributes to the identification of performance gaps and this may lead to implementation of necessary improvements for enhancing agricultural productivity. In Rwanda, despite significant investments in irrigated agriculture, most of the irrigation schemes are performing far below their planned capacity. This study aimed at benchmarking the performance of Rugeramigozi 1 and Rugeramigozi 2 irrigation schemes located in Rugeramigozi marshland, Rwanda using irrigation indicators developed by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI). The study showed that land productivity for both the two irrigation schemes was generally low. Rugeramigozi 2 irrigation scheme had superior performance than Rugeramigozi 1 in terms of water productivity due to adoption of deficit irrigation strategies that promoted water conservation. The performance indicators for water service delivery showed that water use was more sufficient in Rugeramigozi 1 compared to Rugeramigozi 2 irrigation scheme. The water delivery capacity performance for both schemes revealed that the existing irrigation canals were sufficient to meet the irrigation water requirements at peak demand. The analysis of financial performance in both schemes indicated that the collected irrigation fees were inadequate to cover the operation and maintenance costs. Similarly, the gross returns on investment were low in both irrigation schemes due to low crop yields that generated low revenue for farmers. Overall, the performance indicators showed that both Rugeramigozi 1 and Rugeramigozi 2 irrigation schemes were in need of intensive management and infrastructural improvements in order to increase productivity and enhance sustainability of the schemes.

How Can Intentionality and Path Dependence Explain Change in Water-Management Institutions in Uzbekistan?

We review historical and contemporary literature on change in water-management institutions in post-socialist Uzbekistan, exploring the dynamics of change of formal institutions in irrigation-water management there by analyzing relationships between the perceptions and beliefs of policymakers, policy interventions they undertake, and the consequences that these seem to have on resource-use practices. We have mainly relied on the reviewed literature, but have also made use of expert interviews conducted by the authors during 2011–2016 in Uzbekistan. Our results indicate that Uzbek policymakers have learned much from the unanticipated and undesired consequences of earlier irrigation reforms, as their perceptions and beliefs have changed and developed over time. Yet, although policymakers’ beliefs have been fostered by a newly emergent Integrated Water Resources Management approach – which has become a central, globally promoted paradigm – the beliefs and institutions inherited from the Soviet era, as well as informal practices in irrigation-water use, have also been acting to constrain the choices of politicians and economic entrepreneurs.

Governance status in water management institutions in Barind Tract, Northwest Bangladesh: an assessment based on stakeholder’s perception

In Bangladesh, the approach of water sector emphasises on the agenda like infrastructural development to meet the needs, neglecting governance issues in the water management institutions (WMIs) to achieve their sustainable development. However, the Government of Bangladesh (GoB) is committed to work for SDG 2030 by addressing good governance issues in all sphere of its activities. In this context, present study is undertaken to assess the existing water governance status of the WMIs like the Barind Multipurpose Development Authority (BMDA); the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB); the Department of Public Health and Engineering (DPHE); and the Local Government and Engineering Department (LGED) as government agencies; and Development Association for Self-reliance, Communication and Health (DASCOH) is a non-government and non-profit organization selected purposively based on their activities in water sector in the drought-prone water scarce Barind Tract in the north-western part of country. The methodology for governance status assessment includes both quantitative and qualitative approaches; and eight indicators like institutions, transparency, accountability, participation, social equity, environmental integrity, efficiency, and effectiveness are taken into consideration where each indicator includes five sub-indicators. Considering individual performance, the assessment indicated that DASCOH Foundation performs ‘good’, BMDA and LGED show ‘moderate’, while BWDB and DPHE exhibited ‘bad’ performance. However, the overall governance status of WMIs falls under ‘moderate’ category. This result indicates that BWDB and DPHE should look into the governance issue seriously and take a rigorous action plan for its scaling up. On the other hand, BMDA and LGED should be careful about the indicators like transparency, accountability, participation, and social equity. The DASCOH Foundation is performing well by introducing noble concepts to institutionalise the Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) under BWA (2013). Finally, there exist gap in governance issues of WMIs in coordination, technical capacity, and transparency in project selection, implementation, and citizen’s participation which should be considered seriously in managing water resources in sustainable manner.

Changes in institutional and social–ecological system robustness due to the adoption of large‐scale irrigation technology in Navarre (Spain)

AbstractMany regional and national organisations promote the modernisation of agriculture by supporting new technologies to increase their territory's competitiveness in a free‐market context. Such technologies and their associated intensive land management practices are geared towards obtaining higher yields. However, their application also entails changes in water and land management institutions, which could alter interactions among multiple components of the agrarian social–ecological system and potentially weaken the system. Here, we assess how these components and their relations change in a village situated in Navarre (Spain) after the uptake of large‐scale irrigation infrastructure. Specifically, we analyse such changes by comparing how the design principles for robust social–ecological systems manifest before and after the adoption of large‐scale irrigation. Our findings indicate that an unequal distribution of water and land induces some farmers to abandon their agrarian activities. Our case study also shows how irrigation communities have partially lost their autonomy to self‐organise and make agrarian management‐related decisions. We suggest that the adoption of large‐scale irrigation in this region contributes to a decrease in cooperation among resource users, and between users and infrastructure providers. This is due to a decline in the capacity to achieve collective‐choice arrangements and higher external control and monitoring of water use. We argue that the current agrarian management changes may damage social–ecological system robustness and affect the sustainable use of common‐pool resources, leading farmers to maladaptation to climate and market variability.

DELINEAMENTO DE ÁREAS COM POTENCIAL EROSIVO PARA A BACIA HIDROGRÁFICA DO RIO PARANAÍBA (PN1-IGAM)

A identificação do potencial erosivo de uma área antes que ele se manifeste é de grande importância para mitigar impactos ambientais negativos e evitar prejuízos econômicos ao uso do solo. Assim esse trabalho teve como objetivo identificar as áreas com maior potencial de sofrer processos erosivos na Bacia Hidrográfica PN1 (o Instituto Mineiro de Gestão de Águas dividiu a área da Bacia do Rio Paranaíba, em MG, em: PN1, PN2 e PN3). Por meio do emprego do Sensoriamento Remoto e de Sistemas de Informação Geográficas, foram feitas a identificação das áreas mais suscestíveis a um processo erosivo, bem como a manipulação das variáveis inerentes a esse processo, que atuam na bacia. Foram avaliados os tipos de solo, uso da terra, relevo e outros parâmetros necessários ao entendimento da dinâmica erosiva na bacia e calculada Equação Universal de Perdas de Solos (EUPS) para os diferentes cenários de uso do solo. Para obtenção dos resultados foram elaborados mapas de erodibilidade e erosividade que permitiram dar uma indicação das principais áreas de risco erosivo em cada cenário de uso. Os resultados apresentados para o potencial erosivo, foram abordados de forma qualitativa, com cenários onde se empregam e onde não se empregam práticas conservacionistas.
 Palavras-Chave: Bacia Hidrográfica; Solo; SIG; Conservação do solo; Erosão.

Transforming Rural Water Governance: The Road from Resource Management to Political Activism in Nicaragua by Sarah T. Romano

Reviewed by: Transforming Rural Water Governance: The Road from Resource Management to Political Activism in Nicaragua by Sarah T. Romano Michael A. Petriello Sarah T. Romano Transforming Rural Water Governance: The Road from Resource Management to Political Activism in Nicaragua. The University of Arizona Press, 2019. xxv + 196 pp. Figures, maps, boxes, tables, notes, references, index. $60.00 cloth (ISBN 978-0-8165-3807-2); $60.00 electronic (ISBN 978-0-8165-4060-0). Decades of scholarship in geography, anthropology, political science, and conservation science, among other disciplines, have shown that effective natural resource management regimes often emerge from bottom-up, community-based approaches. However, locally situated management programs, especially those that aim to empower and mobilize resource users for political change, must contend with social and environmental complexities and challenges at multiple scales. These dynamics in Latin America run the gamut from revolutionary upheaval to legal misrepresentation and disenfranchisement to shifting resource management and sustainability regimes amidst rapid and often unpredictable ecological change. In this way, Romano’s Transforming Rural Water Governance is a must-read for scholars, policy makers, conservation practitioners, and broader audiences who are interested in the theory and practice of collective action for political mobilization and grassroots natural resource management, particularly within the contexts of ongoing social and environmental change. It is an easily digestible and effectively organized book for novices and experts alike. The book emerges from ethnographic accounts of the daily struggles of Nicaraguan communities (in particular, their Potable Water and Sanitation Committees, or CAPS) with water access, rights, sanitation, and anti-privatization at different scales. This work brings together twelve years (2004-2016) of insights and findings, including one-and-half years of intensive fieldwork, collected through a multiscalar process tracing approach using semistructured interviews with individuals and groups (e.g., CAPS and NGO staff), participant observation (e.g., observing CAPS meetings), and synthesizing organizational and government documents (e.g., websites and NGO reports) focused on rural water governance in Nicaragua and Latin America. Through her detailed analyses across multiple sectors of society, Romano explores the roles of nearly fifty key local, state, and international players in supporting, creating, and being excluded from, a handful of laws and decrees that mediate Nicaraguan water policies, with an emphasis on the National Water Law (Law 620) and the Special Law of Potable Water and Sanitation Committees (CAPS) (Law 722). These roles and dynamics are used to outline how and why CAPS were “invisible” actors who had little influence on the formulation and implementation of Nicaraguan water laws (such as Law 620). The reader is walked through these problems with detailed descriptions of a milieu of political decisions, state and nonstate alliances, legal frameworks, and political narratives that adversely affected, yet also benefitted, local water management institutions in Nicaragua. [End Page 288] Three factors are laid out to sequentially and iteratively explain “CAPS’ transcendence from community-based resource management into the realm of political activism” (p. xiv), namely 1) “organic” empowerment; 2) multi-sectoral alliances; and 3) collective discourses. Each factor, and its relationship to the other factors, is meticulously described in its own chapter (chapters 2, 3, and 4), and introduced through a one-page ethnographic vignette or quote depicting a real-world example of their dynamics. I found these vignettes especially useful for rooting her analysis and findings in residents’ lived experiences as citizens in one of the most environmentally, economically, and more recently, politically, fraught countries in the Western Hemisphere. In turn, Romano expertly positions her work within the rapidly evolving political and environmental history of Nicaragua, both past and present. For example, after outlining the book’s theoretical and conceptual contributions to an interrelated body of literature on collective action, social movements, and social capital, the introduction (chapter 1) makes note of recent protests against the current administration’s – that of José Daniel Ortega Saavedra – social security reforms and the ways in which it has sought to integrate itself into community-level decision making through partisan Citizen Power Councils (CPCs). While CPCs are not featured as a central institution in this book, this work highlights CAPS’ desires to remain nonpartisan in a country that is mired by past and...

Methodological proposal for the allocation of water quality monitoring stations using strategic decision analysis.

In order to fill a gap in the monitoring of water quality in Brazil, the objective of this study was to propose a methodology to support the allocation of water quality monitoring stations in river basins. To achieve this goal, eight criteria were selected and weighted according to their degree of importance. It was taken into account the opinion of water resources management experts. In addition, a decision support system was designed so that the methodology could be used in the allocation of water quality monitoring stations by researchers and management bodies of water resources, to be fully implemented in geographic information system environment. In order to demonstrate the potential of the proposed methodology, which can be used in places that have or not existing monitoring networks, it has been applied in the Minas Gerais portion of the Doce river basin. Because the area already has a monitoring network with 65 stations in operation under the responsibility of the Minas Gerais Water Management Institute (IGAM), an expansion of the network was suggested and a simulation of a scenario was performed considering that the study area did not have an established network. The results of the analyses consisted of maps of suitability, indicating the locations with greater and lesser suitability for the establishment of the stations. With the application of the methodology, seven new sites were proposed so that the study area had the density recommended by the National Water Agency (ANA), and it was verified that the Caratinga River Water Resources Management Unit (UGRH5 Caratinga) has the most deficiency of stations among the six units evaluated in the Minas Gerais portion of the Doce river basin. In the simulated scenario considering the non-existence of a network, the adequacy map obtained was compared with the existing monitoring network and it was possible to classify the stations according to the purpose for which they were established, such as monitoring environments under anthropic activities or establishing benchmarks for the water bodies. Overall, the proposed methodology proved itself robust, and although the results were specific to one basin, the criteria and decision support system used are fully applicable to other areas of study.

Subnational Hydropolitics: Conflict, Cooperation, and Institution-Building in Shared River Basins. By Moore, Scott M. 2018. New York: Oxford University Press.

<i>Subnational Hydropolitics: Conflict, Cooperation, and Institution-Building in Shared River Basins</i>. By Moore, Scott M. 2018. New York: Oxford University Press.

More Irrigated Crop Production with Less Water Use

Three major performance indicators developed by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI, 1998) are used in this paper to evaluate the performance of the irrigated crops in the region according to the commonly followed practices among farmers as compared with their performance under conditions of much improved irrigation management and agricultural practices. These indicators include the Standardized Gross Value Production (SGVP), the unit area production output (crop yield or its financial value per hectare) and the unit volume of irrigation water production output (crop yield or its financial value per cubic meter). The comparison between the two agricultural practices indicated that the unit area output of the common practices among farmers did not exceed 6483 Libyan Dinars / hectare, while that under the improved practices was 11605 Libyan Dinars / hectare. The unit volume of irrigation water output for the common practices was 0.63 Libyan Dinar / cubic meter, while that under the improved practices reached 1.63 Libyan Dinar / cubic meter. These results clearly show the importance of the applied performance indicators in the assessment and clarification of the economic impacts of any introduced interventions aiming at the improvement of and/or the differentiation among irrigation management practices and alternative agricultural cropping systems.

СУЧАСНІ МЕТОДИ ДОСЛІДЖЕННЯ МАКСИМАЛЬНОГО СТОКУ ВЕСНЯНИХ ВОДОПІЛЬ І ДОЩОВИХ ПАВОДКІВ РІЧОК УКРАЇНИ

Determination of the characteristics of maximum runoff of rain floods and spring water is widely used, but their calculation in the conditions of limited output data should be attributed to insufficiently studied both in theoretical and practical terms. For the normal functioning of hydraulic structures, as well as to avoid catastrophic consequences for settlements, it is necessary to calculate and predict the maximum runoff precisely. The insufficient degree of studying the peculiarities of forming the maximum runoff of rivers in Ukraine requires further development of the research. Unlike modern normative documents, the authors of the article are proposed a generalized structure for rain floods and spring water. Different methods are only parameters that are individually for floods and spring water. The current normative documents in force in Ukraine use the base-years experience in the field of the theory and practice of hydrological calculations, accumulated by scientific research institutes and project water management institutions as of 1975. In particular, in the absence of observation data for the maximum drainage of spring water, the structure of the empirical type is recommended, using the dependence on the estimated layers of the runoff and the coefficients that characterize the watercourse's friendliness, calculated from the materials of the analogue rivers. In order to take into account the reduction of the reduction of maximum drainage modules in the area of small catchment areas (with an area less than 10 km2), the parameter “b” is introduced into the structure of the formula. The maximum drainage of rain floods is determined taking into account the size of the catchments (at F 200 km2 – the reduction structure). The method of calculation and forecasts is brought to the level of their use. The relevance of the past period is due to the need to study the processes of forming the characteristics of the maximum runoff of rain floods and spring water.