Transboundary River Basins Research Articles

Canadian federalism and the governance of water scarcity in the South Saskatchewan River Basin

Water governance in the South Saskatchewan River Basin (SSRB), a transboundary river basin in western Canada, occurs in one of the world’s most decentralized federations. The provinces sharing the SSRB—Alberta and Saskatchewan—have primary responsibility for governing water scarcity in the basin and have done so with minimal intergovernmental coordination, oriented around an interprovincial apportionment of their shared waters, and with little involvement of the federal government. While most studies of transboundary river basin governance have focused on the importance of intergovernmental collective action, the SSRB case highlights the importance of governmental policy innovation. The decentralized nature of SSRB governance has allowed Alberta to pursue a ‘cap and trade’ policy innovation and Saskatchewan to pursue a centralized management policy innovation simultaneously, creating an unusual degree of policy divergence between two basin-sharing jurisdictions. In this way, the SSRB shows a different ‘face’ of federalism that is not as evident in most other cases, that is, the capacity for federalism to spur sub-national policy innovation in addition to intergovernmental cooperation.

Relationship between urbanisation and pollutant emissions in transboundary river basins under the strategy of the Belt and Road Initiative

Urbanisation has increased the discharge of pollutants, altered water flow regimes, and modified the morphology of transboundary river basins. All these actions have resulted in multiple pressures on aquatic ecosystems of transboundary river basins, undermining the healthy development of their aquatic ecosystems as well as impairing the sustainable economic and social development associated therewith. Quantifying the relationship between socio-economic factors, and water environment systems, and understanding the multiple pressures in their combined impact on environmental fairness of transboundary river basins is challenging, and it is crucial to the strategic planning of the Belt and Road strategy. Here, the Songhua River basin, which is the largest branch of the China-Russia boundary river is taken as the study area. The Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) model, which is coupled with the integrated model (pollutant emissions intensity, pollutant discharge efficiency, and pollutant emissions per capita), are used to reveal the spatio-temporal variations in regional pollutant emissions in the SRB. The results show that the features of the EKC are present in the pollutant emissions during economic development of the SRB. It also demonstrates that the turning point value of the EKC appeared when the GDP per capita is around ¥40,000 (CNY) in the SRB, which means that the pollutant emissions show an increasing trend, when the GDP per capita is less than ¥40,000. Our findings could contribute to a better understanding of the coupling relationship between pollutant emissions in transboundary river basins and urbanisation process in water stress to help address water allocation problems.

Bankruptcy to Surplus: Sharing Transboundary River Basin’s Water under Scarcity

In this article a three-stage framework is proposed for allocating water and welfare in transboundary river basins under water scarcity. The proposed allocation framework combines the bargaining theory with resource allocation and bankruptcy games. The water bankrupt Euphrates River was taken as a case study to demonstrate the applicability of the allocation framework. The results showed that the total monetary welfare that can be generated by reallocating the water in order of decreasing water productivity value of each riparian country is greater by 43.43% of total monetary warfare that can be made if each country were to utilize the water allocated to it independently. The proposed allocation framework rewarded Turkey, Syria and Iraq with welfare assignments which are 41.5%, 42.1% and 57.45% greater than what they could have achieved by unilaterally utilizing the water allocated to them. Generally, the proposed water allocation, water reallocation and welfare assignment framework provide some insights for allocating transboundary water in a way which is efficient, fair and sustainable.

A Basin Approach to a Hydrological Service Delivery System in the Amur River Basin

This paper presents the basin approach to the design, development, and operation of a hydrological forecasting and early warning system in a large transboundary river basin of high flood potential, where accurate, reliable, and timely available daily water-level and reservoir-inflow forecasts are essential for water-related economic and social activities (the Amur River basin case study). Key aspects of basin-scale system planning and implementation are considered, from choosing efficient forecast models and techniques, to developing and operating data-management procedures, to disseminating operational forecasts using web-GIS. The latter, making the relevant forecast data available in real time (via Internet), visual, and well interpretable, serves as a good tool for raising awareness of possible floods in a large region with transport and industrial hubs located alongside the Amur River (Khabarovsk, Komsomolsk-on-Amur).

Quantifying and evaluating the impacts of cooperation in transboundary river basins on the Water-Energy-Food nexus: The Blue Nile Basin

Efficient utilization of the limited Water, Energy, and Food (WEF) resources in stressed transboundary river basins requires understanding their interlinkages in different transboundary cooperation conditions. The Blue Nile Basin, a transboundary river basin between Ethiopia and Sudan, is used to illustrate the impacts of cooperation between riparian countries on the Water-Energy-Food nexus (WEF nexus). These impacts are quantified and evaluated using a daily model that simulates hydrological processes, irrigation water requirements, and water allocation to hydro-energy generation and irrigation water supply. Satellite-based rainfall data are evaluated and applied as a boundary condition to model the hydrological processes.The model is used to determine changes in the long-term economic gain (i.e. after infrastructure development plans are implemented and in steady operation) for each of Sudan and Ethiopia independently, and for the Blue Nile Basin from WEF in 120 scenarios. Those scenarios result from combinations of three cooperation states: unilateral action, coordination, and collaboration; and infrastructure development settings including the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and planned irrigation schemes in Sudan. The results show that the economic gain of the Blue Nile Basin from WEF increases with raising the cooperation level between Ethiopia and Sudan to collaboration. However, the economic gain of each riparian country does not necessarily follow the same pattern as the economic gain of the basin.

COMMUNITY-BASED NATIONWIDE CAPACITY BUILDING FOR GIS-BASED INTEGRATED FLOOD MANAGEMENT

Abstract. After the development of a flood action plan (FAP) in 1988, the Bangladesh government has led practical actions for nationwide flood management. However, Bangladesh is on its way to improve the capacity and knowledge of sustainable infrastructure and non-structural countermeasures. Local government and communities are also struggling to mitigate flood risk and severe damage. Therefore, a government-driven strategy of capacity building on sustainable flood risk management is an inevitable process to support local authorities’ responsibility under the leadership. This pilot study introduced the GIS-based integrated flood management (GiFM) for improving nationwide flood risk management at different levels from communities. First, we proposed the conceptual framework of GiFM to strengthen local government-based capacity focusing on a cost-effective way under the FAP. Then the proposed GiFM employed hydro-GIS geo-database and Earth Observation (EO) data for sharing information on the current flood risk situation including flood monitoring, forecasting and river embankment erosion in transboundary river basins. For flood risk reduction, the prototype of GiFM showed a good example of consultation and action plan to realize high-priority demands at all levels of multi-stakeholders, from decision makers to residents who are living in vulnerable low-lying floodplains of Bangladesh.

An integrated model of water resources optimization allocation based on projection pursuit model – Grey wolf optimization method in a transboundary river basin

Under the effects of global change, water crisis ranks as the top global risk in the future decade, and water conflict in transboundary river basins as well as the geostrategic competition led by it is most concerned. This study presents an innovative integrated PPMGWO model of water resources optimization allocation in a transboundary river basin, which is integrated through the projection pursuit model (PPM) and Grey wolf optimization (GWO) method. This study uses the Songhua River basin and 25 control units as examples, adopting the PPMGWO model proposed in this study to allocate the water quantity. Using water consumption in all control units in the Songhua River basin in 2015 as reference to compare with optimization allocation results of firefly algorithm (FA) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithms as well as the PPMGWO model, results indicate that the average difference between corresponding allocation results and reference values are 0.195 bil m3, 0.151 bil m3, and 0.085 bil m3, respectively. Obviously, the average difference of the PPMGWO model is the lowest and its optimization allocation result is closer to reality, which further confirms the reasonability, feasibility, and accuracy of the PPMGWO model. And then the PPMGWO model is adopted to simulate allocation of available water quantity in Songhua River basin in 2018, 2020, and 2030. The simulation results show water quantity which could be allocated in all controls demonstrates an overall increasing trend with reasonable and equal exploitation and utilization of water resources in the Songhua River basin in future. In addition, this study has a certain reference value and application meaning to comprehensive management and water resources allocation in other transboundary river basins.

Supporting better decisions across the nexus of water, energy and food through earth observation data: case of the Zambezi basin

Abstract. The water–energy–food (WEF) nexus has been promoted in recent years as an intersectional concept designed to improve planning and regulatory decision-making across the three sectors. The production and consumption of water, energy and food resources are inextricably linked across multiple spatial scales (from the global to the local), but a common feature is competition for land which through different land management practices mediates provisioning ecosystem services. The nexus perspective seeks to understand the interlinkages and use systems-based thinking to frame management options for the present and the future. It aims to highlight advantage and minimise damaging and unsustainable outcomes through informed decisions regarding trade-offs inclusive of economic, ecological and equity considerations. Operationalizing the WEF approach is difficult because of the lack of complete data, knowledge and observability – and the nature of the challenge also depends on the scale of the investigation. Transboundary river basins are particularly challenging because whilst the basin unit defines the hydrological system this is not necessarily coincident with flows of food and energy. There are multiple national jurisdictions and geopolitical relations to consider. Land use changes have a profound influence on hydrological, agricultural, energy provisioning and regulating ecosystem services. Future policy decisions in the water, energy and food sectors could have profound effects, with different demands for land and water resources, intensifying competition for these resources in the future. In this study, we used Google Earth Engine (GEE) to analyse the land cover changes in the Zambezi river basin (1.4 million km2) from 1992 to 2015 using the European Space Agency annual global land cover dataset. Early results indicate transformative processes are underway with significant shifts from tree cover to cropland, with a 4.6 % loss in tree cover and a 16 % gain in cropland during the study period. The changes were found to be occurring mainly in the eastern (Malawi and Mozambique) and southern (Zimbabwe and southern Zambia) parts of the basin. The area under urban land uses was found to have more than doubled during the study period gearing urban centres increasingly as the foci for resource consumption. These preliminary findings are the first step in understanding the spatial and temporal interlinkages of water, energy and food by providing reliable and consistent evidence spanning the local, regional, national and whole transboundary basin scale.

Mapping Monthly Water Scarcity in Global Transboundary Basins at Country-Basin Mesh Based Spatial Resolution

Currently fresh water scarcity is an issue with huge socio-economic and environmental impacts. Transboundary river and lake basins are among the sources of fresh water facing this challenge. Previous studies measured blue water scarcity at different spatial and temporal resolutions. But there is no global water availability and footprint assessment done at country-basin mesh based spatial and monthly temporal resolutions. In this study we assessed water scarcity at these spatial and temporal resolutions. Our results showed that around 1.6 billion people living within the 328 country-basin units out of the 560 we assessed in this study endures severe water scarcity at least for a month within the year. In addition, 175 country-basin units goes through severe water scarcity for 3–12 months in the year. These sub-basins include nearly a billion people. Generally, the results of this study provide insights regarding the number of people and country-basin units experiencing low, moderate, significant and severe water scarcity at a monthly temporal resolution. These insights might help these basins’ sharing countries to design and implement sustainable water management and sharing schemes.

Critical Success Factors in Transboundary Water Management: a US-EU Comparison

In light of the increasing pressure on freshwater resources, good governance of rivers is key in meeting the challenges ahead. Integrated river basin management has been advocated both in the European Union and the United States. This paper will adopt a comparative approach to the analysis of river basin management by scrutinizing the legal regimes governing the Scheldt River in the EU and the Delaware River in the US. Based on these case studies, in combination with literature review, the article will set forth Critical Success Factors for integrated transboundary river basin management.

Conjunctive management of surface and groundwater in transboundary watercourses: a first assessment

Abstract Cooperative management of transboundary river basins is widely recognized as important. Emphasis on joint management of shared aquifers has also grown in recent years. Perhaps surprisingly, despite abundant focus on transboundary surface water and growing focus on shared groundwater, there is scant focus on their intersection. To address this knowledge limitation, this article reviews experiences in transboundary water treaties oriented toward different water sources, in order to: (i) understand how transboundary water institutions vary according to the water source to which they are oriented, (ii) gauge the nature and strength of conjunctive transboundary water management treaties, and (iii) identify ways to enhance conjunctive water management in transboundary contexts. The results reveal the existence of more than 50 treaties that make mention of both water sources. Nonetheless, only eight treaties devote ‘substantive’ focus to both surface and groundwater. Review of treaty contents reveals that their focus is on ‘softer’ issues related to institutional development. Moving forward, the reality that the evolution of conjunctive treaties is relatively nascent, and that scope of such treaties is still limited to institutional issues, may indicate large untapped potential – it may be time to outline pathways toward practical implementation of conjunctive water management in transboundary contexts.

Tran boundary Pool of the Irtysh River: Problems’ Solutions of Municipal Facilities and Urban Development

The relevance of the study, due to the water difficult environmental situation increasing in the transboundary river basin (TRB) of Irtysh is related to the failure to address the issues of coordinated water use in the certain national segments: the Irtysh basin and its large left tributaries, the rivers Ishim and Tobol within the borders of Kazakhstan, China and Russia. The purpose of the study is to assess current processes of the water management system in the TRB formation and functioning, to identify current and potential problems of water use and to find ways to eliminate neutralize and prevent them in the future. The leading methods of research are system-dialectical, which provides for the water management systems study of the basin in question at the stage of formation, functioning and future development; as well as a comparative geographic method aimed at identifying and analyzing individual water management systems of the Irtysh TRB. Results of the study: The main water management problems in the Irtysh TBD were identified, their evaluation was determined and the their manifestation features in each of the identified national natural and economic subsystems were determined, the directions of their coordinated decision by all basin countries based on the methodology of strategic management adopted and widely implemented by the international scientific community. The significance of the study showed the severity of water management problems and the asymmetry of their solutions in different national segments of the Irtysh TRB, mainly due to incompleteness of the institutional environment for water resources management and inconsistency of the countries interests within its borders.

Simulating Water Resource Disputes of Transboundary River: A Case Study of the Zhanghe River Basin, China

Water resource disputes within transboundary river basin has been hindering the sustainable use of water resources and efficient management of environment. The problem is characterized by a complex information feedback loop that involves socio-economic and environmental systems. This paper presents a system dynamics based model that can simulate the dynamics of water demand, water supply, water adequacy and water allocation instability within a river basin. It was used for a case study in the Zhanghe River basin of China. The base scenario has been investigated for the time period between 2000 and 2050. The result shows that the Chinese national government should change the water allocation scheme of downstream Zhanghe River established in 1989, more water need to be allocated to the downstream cities and the actual allocation should be adjusted to reflect the need associated with the socio-economic and environmental changes within the region, and system dynamics improves the understanding of concepts and system interactions by offering a comprehensive and integrated view of the physical, social, economic, environmental, and political systems.

Benefit-sharing framework in transboundary river basins: the case of the Eastern Kabul River Basin-Afghanistan

В данном исследовании рассматривается выгода сотрудничества между прибрежными странами за пределами водораспределения и совместного использования в качестве теоретической основы, которая могла бы быть полезным инструментом в целях расширения сотрудничества Афганистана и Пакистана для устойчивого улучшения и развития бассейна реки Кабул (БРК). Основная цель заключается в освещении концепции совместного использования выгод и ее основ в общем, а также в контексте БРК. Планирование в пределах бассейна и вопросы трансграничных рек могут быть значительно изменены в соответствии с теоретическими основами, что ведет от ситуации, где победу может одержать только одна сторона к беспроигрышной ситуации для обеих сторон. Кроме того, это может привести к предотвращению конфликтов и заложить основу для целенаправленного сотрудничества. Взаимное сотрудничество может принести большее количество воды для устойчивого использования в бассейне, что уменьшит эрозию почвы и засуху, а также обеспечит продовольственную безопасность. Полученные результаты данного исследования показали, что выгоды от совместного использования воды в бассейнах трансграничных рек главным образом связаны с совместными усилиями прибрежных государств по сокращению расходов и увеличению результатов. Последствия совместных вложений обоих государств могут принести целый ряд преимуществ, включая, помимо прочего, борьбу с наводнениями, сокращение седиментации, увеличение объема воды и производство гидроэнергии. Вышеупомянутые аспекты, в свою очередь, могут также обеспечить продовольственную безопасность, смягчить последствия засухи и позволить использовать возобновляемые источники энергии. В трансграничных реках все попытки и усилия должны быть направлены на выявление типологий выгод, их аспектов, сценариев и оптимизацию/максимизацию.

Impacts of Water Development Plans on Regional Water Cooperation—A Case Study of Amu River Basin

The trans-boundary Amu River Basin (ARB), which is shared among Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, is a primary source for human population and ecosystem. Future water demand in Afghanistan is likely to increase due to ambitious development plans after long-term unrest in the country. In accordance with high water abstraction in the Afghan part of ARB and its impacts on the downstream countries, water cooperation mechanisms are analyzed using the desk study approach. The results concerning regional water cooperation on the ARB show that, the level of cooperation between Afghanistan and central Asian riparian countries is reasonably weak. There are certain issues causing lack of cooperation between Afghanistan and central Asian riparian countries. Developmental and political interests of riparian states are key impediments to regional water cooperation on ARB. Technical impediments include the lack of human capacity, no application of basin approach and, lack of donor coordination at regional level. The policy analysis as a result of this study envisaged that initiatives to improve water management practices and increase productivity are highly needed in the study area to mitigate the foreseeing increase in irrigated water demand. The international framework law of UNWCC 1997 cannot be applied generally in central Asia and particularly in Afghanistan. Thirdly, Afghanistan’s participation in regional water cooperation framework i.e. ICWC is highly needed though participation as permanent member requires a “revise water demand assessment by ICWC” on the basis of reliable data, current infrastructural development and irrigation expansion plans of Afghanistan albeit donor agencies could play a mediation role in establishing agreement on water allocation between Afghanistan and other riparian countries.

ГІДРОХІМІЯ ТРАНСКОРДОННОЇ РІЧКИ ЗАХІДНИЙ БУГ НА ТЕРИТОРІЇ УКРАЇНИ

The purpose of the article is to study the hydrographic features of the transboundary Western Bug River basin in Ukraine, its hydrochemical regime and ion flow, as well as possible manifestations of anthropogenic influence on them. Methods. The methods of statistical processing of data of observation series, the method of calculating the ion flow were used. Results. The features of the hydrochemical regime and the ionic runoff of the transboundary river are estimated. Western Bug on the main ions in Ukraine. Especially noted anthropogenic influence r. Poltva, into which the wastewater of Lviv is dumped, on the quality of water of the Western Bug. Scientific novelty. The flow of chemicals with the waters of the Western Bug basin from the territory of Ukraine and Poland within the general part of the basin has been calculated. Practical significance. Noted the need to comply with hydro-environmental conditions on the river. Poltva, which introduces a significant portion of chemicals in the river. Western Bug and affects the quality of its waters.

The United Nation’s Cooperation to Transboundary River Basins and Island States in Case of Natural Disaster

The United Nation’s cooperation in case of natural disasters could be stronger and therefore effectiveness if it is organized according to the resilience levels develop by the countries around the world. Moreover governments should include in their development plans actions to become more resilient their territories to those frequently strong natural events [1], trying through international treaties under United Nations support make an integral management of their boundary river basin, including all the actors and their social and economical characteristics [2], in case of riparian countries. While to those island states which are located in specifics parts of one sea or ocean they could work together in order to be protected from common natural disasters.

China and the Nile River Basin: The Changing Hydropolitical Status Quo

The Nile River Basin (NRB), the world’s longest river, faces a considerable challenge of population growth, degradation and depletion, and equitable water utilisation, which have become a threat to peace and environmental security in the region. Moreover, the hydropolitical landscape of the Nile has been dominated by Egypt. However, the NRB is experiencing a change in its hydropolitical status quo. China has emerged as a financier to upstream countries’ hydropower projects, thus changing the upstream–downstream hydropolitical status quo. Although the existing governing regimes were not beneficial to upstream countries, China’s role in the Nile hydropolitics is not providing an alternative and beneficial and/or win–win cooperative framework. As a result, the environmental and political landscape of the already fragile Nile region has become threatened, thus increasing the potential for conflict. The purpose of this article is to determine, through Homer-Dixon’s environmental scarcity theory, the impact and effects of environmental scarcity in contributing to a nascent conflict. This study conceptualised Homer-Dixon’s environmental scarcity theory as a theory that argues for the potential of conflict in transboundary river basins as a result of environmental scarcity. Environmental scarcity is triggered by a combination of population growth and excessive strain on dwindling renewable resources, exacerbated by unequal access to that resource.

Foundations of the participatory approach in the Mekong River basin management

Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) was acknowledged as a leading concept in the water management for the last two decades by academia, political decision-makers and experts. It strongly promotes holistic management and participatory approaches. The flexibility and adaptability of IWRM concept are especially important for large, transboundary river basins - e.g. the Mekong river basin - where natural processes and hazards, as well as, human-made “disasters” are demanding for a comprehensive approach.In the Mekong river basin, the development and especially the enforcement of one common strategy has always been a struggle. The past holds some unsuccessful experiences. In 2016 Mekong River Commission published IWRM-based Basin Development Strategy 2016–2020 and The Mekong River Commission Strategic Plan 2016–2020. They should be the main guiding document for the Mekong river development in the near future.This study analyzes how the concept of public participation resembles the original IWRM participatory approach in these documents. Therefore, IWRM criteria for public participation in international literature and official documents from the Mekong river basin are compared. As there is often a difference between “de jure” and “de facto” implementation of public participation in management concepts, the perception of local stakeholders was assessed in addition. The results of social survey give an insight if local people are aware of Mekong river basin development and present their dominant attitudes about the issue. The findings enable recommendations how to mitigate obstacles in the implementation of common development strategy.

A model-based fish bioassessment index for Eastern Mediterranean rivers: Application in a biogeographically diverse area

In ecosystems with high fish species endemicity, such as Mediterranean-type rivers, biogeographical differences among ecoregions present serious obstacles to developing broadly-applicable river bioassessment indices. This impediment has contributed to a serious time-lag in developing EU policy-relevant fish-based indices in the Eastern Mediterranean countries. Here we present the first model-based fish index for the Eastern Mediterranean (the Hellenic Fish Index, HeFI) in an effort to overcome biogeographic differences among the area's biotically heterogeneous rivers. The index is based on modelled reference conditions and employs site-specific electrofished fish samples from an extensive dataset from Greece that covers six freshwater ecoregions, including five transboundary river basins flowing through six countries. Environmental and anthropogenic pressure data were procured from 403 sampled river sites and ecologically-relevant traits were defined for 103 collected fish species. For the development of the index, we first diagnosed least degraded sites forming a calibrated reference site dataset and secondly quantified differences of fish metrics between the reference and impaired sites. Four trait-based fish metrics showed the best ability to discriminate between impaired and reference sites. The index performed well in discriminating anthropogenic pressure classes, giving a significant negative linear response to a gradient of anthropogenic degradation. HeFI successfully assessed both small and large rivers in different freshwater ecoregions. This geographically broad-scale index development shows that key trait-based reference conditions can be produced by a predictive model in remarkably heterogeneous rivers where range-restricted fishes dominate. This index promotes a screening-level bioassessment application that may be further developed and refined with relevant monitoring.