Water Governance Issues Research Articles

Research and Development Priorities in Water Security

There exists a strong link between water security and food security. Both are affected by the water–soil–climate nexus, social and political conflicts, growing energy demand with emphasis on biofuels and the virtual water trade. Sustainable development necessitates research on site‐specific and generic researchable issues on water resources and their management. In the context of food security, sustainable intensification of rainfed and irrigated croplands needs technology for an efficient conversion of blue water (rivers, lakes, ground water, and precipitation) into green water enhancing water use efficiency (WUE) and decreasing losses. The problem of excessive groundwater depletion (Ogallala in the United States, Indo‐Gangetic Plains, North China Plains) must be addressed. Improving desert farming is a high priority. Water quality, affected by agriculture and industrial runoff, can cause algal bloom and anoxia in surface water. The impact of soil degradation on water quantity needs site‐specific research. Water governance and policy issues are specifically relevant in water‐scarce regions and trans‐boundary watersheds. Growing urbanization and industrial use requires cost‐effective measures for safe use of gray water. The need for research focus on adaptation and mitigation of climate change, and managing the risks of extreme events cannot be overemphasized. Similar to soils, the finite world water resources must never be taken for granted.

Dublin Ireland: a city addressing challenging water supply, management, and governance issues

Kelly-Quinn, M., S. Blacklocke, M. Bruen, R. Earle, E. O'Neill, J. O'Sullivan, and P. Purcell. 2014. Dublin Ireland: a city addressing challenging water supply, management, and governance issues. Ecology and Society 19(4): 10. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-06921-190410

Meeting the Challenges of Transdisciplinary Knowledge Production for Sustainable Water Governance

Increasing pressure on mountain water resources is making it necessary to address water governance issues in a transdisciplinary way. This entails drawing on different disciplinary perspectives, different types of knowledge, and different interests to answer complex governance questions. This study identifies strategies for addressing specific challenges to transdisciplinary knowledge production aiming at sustainable and reflective water governance. The study draws on the experiences of 5 large transdisciplinary water governance research projects conducted in Austria and Switzerland (Alp-Water-Scarce, MontanAqua, Drought-CH, Sustainable Water Infrastructure Planning, and an integrative river management project in the Kamp Valley). Experiences were discussed and systematically analyzed in a workshop and subsequent interviews. These discussions identified 4 important challenges to interactions between scientists and stakeholders—ensuring stakeholder legitimacy, encouraging participation, managing expectations, and preventing misuse of data and research results—and explored strategies used by the projects to meet them. Strategies ranged from key points to be considered in stakeholder selection to measures that enhance trustful relationships and create commitment.

Water Managers’ Boundary Judgments and Adaptive Water Governance. An Analysis of the Dutch Haringvliet Sluices Case

In this paper, we explore how managing actors’ boundary judgments influence the adaptability of water governance. We approach this question by examining the relationship between the way water managers frame, and act in, complex water issues on the one hand and develop adaptive water governance strategies on the other. We define four categories of boundary judgments made by water managers in order to deal with the complexities in water governance issues. An in-depth case study analysis of an attempt to adjust the management of the water regime in the south-west Delta of the Netherlands is provided in order to reconstruct the water managers’ boundary judgments and their impact upon governance strategies used. We found that, most of the time, the water managers involved predominantly made tight boundary judgments. These tight boundary judgments seemed to hamper the mutual learning process among a variety of stakeholders that is needed to realize adaptive water governance. We argue that wide boundary judgments enhance the chance of realizing adaptive practices and build upon exploration, learning, and connection.

Researchers as actors in urban water governance? Perspectives on learning alliances as an innovative mechanism for change

Learning alliances (LA) are an innovative researcher-initiated intervention in urban water management. Their design implies that researchers actively engage with urban water management and governance issues. Researchers’ views and their role in LA are considered alongside views from ‘city stakeholders’. Findings from a series of interviews and observations conducted during the course of the Switch project are analysed using key elements of an effective engagement process derived from literature on cross-sectoral partnerships and strategic alliances. The narrative moves through the design and conceptualisation of the LA approach at the start of the project to the formation and operation of city LAs, in the context of decision-making relating to urban water management. The interviews indicated not only acceptance of the LA concept in the context of the need for technical innovation, but also that many actors see the potential for LA to engage with water governance issues. The contribution concludes with a summary of the challenges and lessons from the Switch experience of implementing the LA concept for more integrated urban water management.

Converging threats: assessing socio‐economic and climate impacts on water governance

PurposeIt is increasingly recognised that water will be the prime medium through which climate change impacts will be felt. But water governance issues are already deemed to be a prime cause of a global water issues. Not only will climate change affect the function and operation of existing water infrastructure and institutions but additionally, current frameworks may not be robust enough to cope with climate change impacts. Effective water governance is seen as essential to building adaptive capacity in communities to manage future climatic uncertainty and stress. The purpose of this paper is to assess socio‐economic and climate impacts on water governance.Design/methodology/approachAs a first step in assessing adaptive capacity of two river basins, this paper explores current vulnerabilities in a Swiss water governance arrangement, and then proposes the subsequent implications for water resource management within a climate change context. It presents results from a governance assessment in the specific context of integrated water resource management and suggests a means to develop the assessment to address the issue of climate change and extreme events.FindingsA low level of integration and highly segregated approach to water resources management suggests that the potential ramifications of climate change and expanding water uses may not be adequately reflected in their current governance framework.Originality/valueThe paper explores the current governance context in order to improve the understanding of how regulatory and institutional regimes may facilitate the development of adaptive capacity. It then proposes additional methodological steps to improve on such an assessment to take into better account the dynamic interplay between the human, hydrological and climate components of the system.

The role of municipal committees in the development of an integrated urban water policy in Belo Horizonte, Brazil

This paper discusses the challenges involved in adopting an integrated approach to urban water policies and management, a particularly problematic issue in Brazil due to the incomplete nature of urbanization, defined as the lack of adequate and/or universalized access to infrastructure and services, informal housing and conflicts between environmental protection and social housing needs. In the last two decades strong social movements have influenced urban environmental policies from national to local levels. In Belo Horizonte since 1993, decision-making processes have involved important mechanisms of democratic inclusion, which have contributed to fairer urban policies. A brief discussion of the concept of governance follows, introducing the municipal urban policy within which drainage and sanitation policies have been implemented. This paper presents the constitutional and institutional role of the five municipal committees dealing with water governance issues, as they are important arenas for civil society participation. The main constraints to achieving integrated urban water governance at the local level and the extent to which such policies are able to reduce social inequalities and promote social environmental justice in the use and appropriation of urban water, are discussed. This paper is part of the SWITCH-Sustainable Water Management Improves Tomorrow's Cities' Health-research network.

DOMESTIC CONSUMER PERCEPTIONS OF THE LEGITIMACY OF WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT OPTIONS: A CASE STUDY OF THE RIVER NENE CATCHMENT, UK.

ABSTRACTArticle 14 of the Water Framework Directive requires member states to demonstrate that they are enabling increased public participation in water governance issues at the river basin level. Yet little research has been conducted to understand in what regard water governance bodies are held by the public. In particular, few studies have concentrated on which water resource management issues concern consumers at the catchment and sub‐catchment scale within England and Wales. A household study was conducted in 2003 along the River Nene catchment in the east of England to understand in more detail the range of these consumer perceptions and attitudes at different spatial scales, focusing on water resource management issues such as flooding, sector performance and policy making. The results of the survey demonstrate that formulating policy at the catchment scale does not always capture the diversity of opinion or the range of legitimacy issues which concern consumers at the sub‐catchment level. The paper concludes that public participation initiatives may be improved by paying closer attention to the various legitimacy concerns at the catchment and sub‐catchment scales.