Water Resources Management Problems Research Articles

Linking GIS and water resources management models: an object-oriented method

Many challenges are associated with the integration of geographic information systems (GISs) with models in specific applications. One of them is adapting models to the environment of GISs. Unique aspects of water resource management problems require a special approach to development of GIS data structures. Expanded development of GIS applications for handling water resources management analysis can be assisted by use of an object oriented approach. In this paper, we model a river basin water allocation problem as a collection of spatial and thematic objects. A conceptual GIS data model is formulated to integrate the physical and logical components of the modeling problem into an operational framework, based on which, extended GIS functions are developed to implement a tight linkage between the GIS and the water resources management model. Through the object-oriented approach, data, models and users interfaces are integrated in the GIS environment, creating great flexibility for modeling and analysis. The concept and methodology described in this paper is also applicable to connecting GIS with models in other fields that have a spatial dimension and hence to which GIS can provide a powerful additional component of the modeler’s tool kit.

Inter-states water disputes in India: an analysis of the settlement process

India is facing major challenges in its water resources management sector. The upsurge in population is ensuing in a steady decline in per capita water availability. Urbanization and industrialization are putting more pressure on water use. The spatial and seasonal variations, resulting in droughts and floods, are compounding water resources management problems. Moreover, the major rivers in India are shared by two or more states. With the increasing demand for water which largely falls under the authority of the states, and with the states increasingly asserting their legal and political power, inter-states water disputes are in the rise and are getting more complex and contentious. The article reviews and analyzes the process for resolving such water disputes.

Modeling urban growth effects on surface runoff with the integration of remote sensing and GIS.

A methodology is developed to relate urban growth studies to distributed hydrological modeling using an integrated approach of remote sensing and GIS. This linkage is possible because both studies share land-use and land-cover data. Landsat Thematic Mapper data are utilized to detect urban land-cover changes. GIS analyses are then conducted to examine the changing spatial patterns of urban growth. The integration of remote sensing and GIS is applied to automate the estimation of surface runoff based on the Soil Conservation Service model. Impacts of urban growth on surface runoff and the rainfall-runoff relationship are examined by linking the two modeling results with spatial analysis techniques. This methodology is applied to the Zhujiang Delta of southern China, where dramatic urban growth has occurred over the past two decades, and the rampant urban growth has created severe problems in water resources management. The results revealed a notably uneven spatial pattern of urban growth and an increase of 8.10 mm in annual runoff depth during the 1989-1997 period. An area that experienced more urban growth had a greater potential for increasing annual surface runoff. Highly urbanized areas were more prone to flooding. Urbanization lowered potential maximum storage, and thus increased runoff coefficient values.

Facing the challenge: barriers to sustainable water resources development in China

This paper addresses the water resources management problems in China. Considering the pressure of increasing population, present barriers to alleviation of floods, droughts and water environmental problems have been carefully analysed from the Chinese practical background. The discussions involve water resources and problems in managing water supply and demand in China. Due to very uneven distribution of precipitation in space and time, China frequently suffers from floods and droughts. But the coincidence of the rainy season with the warm season is favourable to crop production and thus results in high population density in the eastern part of China. In order to avert disastrous consequences of hydrological extremes—floods and droughts now and in the future—studying sustainable development of water resources in China is an imperative. Based on results of such studies, existing barriers to sustainable development of water resources have to be removed. A number of feasible measures adaptable to the specific conditions of China are proposed. A step-by-step strategy is suggested to keep abreast of the changes of the objective circumstances, and to provide for public consensus.

Quantifying the effects of uncertainty on optimal groundwater bioremediation policies

This paper describes a method for quantifying the economic and environmental effects of uncertainty in biological parameter values on optimal in situ bioremediation design. The range of uncertainty in model results associated with a range of input parameter values is quantified for both individual parameter errors and errors in combinations of parameters. Three measures of sensitivity are presented that quantify different aspects of the effects of model error on an implemented optimal policy. Numerical results are presented for an example site contaminated with phenol, with parameter ranges derived from values reported in the literature. For the example site, Ks (the substrate half‐velocity coefficient in the Monod kinetic equation for biodegradation) was found to be the most sensitive biological parameter and this sensitivity was asymmetric; i.e., reductions in the value of Ks have a much greater effect than increases in the value of Ks. The methodology applied in this paper could also be applied to other water resource management problems, allowing the user to quantify the effects of wide ranges of possible parameter values on model results. The method is particularly useful for computationally intensive optimization models, as it requires a manageable number of model runs, and for the many situations where insufficient data are available to permit accurate estimation of probability distributions.

Watershed management in Thailand: concepts, problems and implementation

Problems of water resource management are becoming increasingly severe in most countries of the developing world. Already from early in this century it was recognised, wherever water resource management problems began to manifest themselves, that the most appropriate level upon which to study and confront these problems was the river basin. This paper reviews various approaches that have been taken to river basin management and the way in which these have surfaced from the particular range of problems and the political context from which they emerged. Since the end of the 1970s, the rapid development of Thailand has brought into focus the need for integrated resource management as a basis for overcoming increasingly severe problems of drought and flood. Deforestation is seen as a major cause of these problems and so it is in watershed management that the first initiatives are being taken. The paper describes in some detail the system which has been adopted and finally discusses the political and administrative problems facing implementation of the system. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Social choice procedures in water-resource management

Social choice procedures are introduced and applied to solve a special water-resources management problem of Northern Arizona. The methods include plurality voting, the Borda count, the Hare system, pairwise voting and dictatorship. These procedures are applicable in all cases when several alternatives are simultaneously ranked by different decision makers, or decision making groups or with respect to conflicting criteria. Since no quantification of the criteria is needed, these methods have special importance if criteria cannot be easily quantified, objective function values are hard to get or they are very uncertain.

Proposed Amendment to Kenya's Water Legislation: Some Missing Sustainable Water Resources Management Principles

Kenya's water law is a legacy of colonialism. It falls short of coping with today's water resources management problems. There is currently a proposed amendment to Kenya's Water Act. This article e...

Water resources management in Greece: current status and prospective outlook

The basic aim of this paper is to present the existing conditions and problems of water resources management in Greece. Water demand has increased tremendously over the past 30 years. Despite adequate precipitation, water imbalance is often experienced, due to temporal and regional variations of the precipitation, the increased water demand during the summer months and the difficulty of transporting water due to the mountainous terrain. Integration of reclaimed wastewater originating from the wastewater treatment plant effluents into the water resources management is proposed. This plan exhibits the potential for reducing the pollution loads entering sea or inland waters, while at the same time providing water for irrigation.

Flood Reduction through Wetland Restoration: The Upper Mississippi River Basin as a Case History

AbstractDespite this nation's massive effort during the past 90 years to build levees throughout the upper Mississippi Basin, mean annual flood damage in the region has increased 140% during that time. These levees exacerbate the flood damage problem by increasing river stage and velocity. Thus, rather than continuing to rely on structural solutions for flood control, it is time to develop a comprehensive flood management strategy that includes using wetlands to intercept and hold precipitation where it falls and store flood waters where they occur. History testifies to the truth of this premise: it was the rampant drainage of wetlands in the nineteenth century that gave rise to many of today's water resources management problems. The 1993 flood verifies the need for additional wetlands: the amount of excess water that passed St. Louis during the 1993 flood would have covered a little more than 13 million acres —half of the wetland acreage drained since 1780 in the upper Mississippi Basin. By strategically placing at least 13 million acres of wetlands on hydric soils in the basin, we can solve the basin's flooding problems in an ecologically sound manner.

Water resources management in Greece: Current status and prospective outlook

The basic aim of this paper is to present the existing conditions and problems of water resources management in Greece. Water demand has increased tremendously over the past 30 years. Despite adequate precipitation, water imbalance is often experienced, due to temporal and regional variations of the precipitation, the increased water demand during the summer months and the difficulty of transporting water due to the mountainous terrain. Integration of reclaimed wastewater originating from the wastewater treatment plant effluents into the water resources management is proposed. This plan exhibits the potential for reducing the pollution loads entering sea or inland waters, while at the same time providing water for irrigation.

German perspectives of the environmental impact of water resource developments

A short description of the historical development of existing ecological problems in water resources management in Germany is given. The existing legislative framework of ecological requirements for water management is shown. Two problems are discussed in greater detail, the naturalization of anthropogenic influenced rivers with the aim to improve their ecological function within the landscape and the ecological problems which are caused by reservoir management. The unresolved problems in evaluations of environmental impacts which are limiting the judgement of technical measures are discussed. In the conclusions an improvement of the scientific foundations of environmental impact assessment is demanded.

Water resources management on the small Island of Mauritius

Abstract Small island states have particular hydrological and water resources management problems which distinguish them from large islands and continental areas. Understanding and implementing strategies for sustainable development as seen from a water perspective become critical issues for islanders. The island of Mauritius, situated in the Indian Ocean about 800 km east of Madagascar, has one of the highest population densities in the world and this factor, together with the country's rapid economic development during the last decade, has led to an ever increasing demand for water. As such, water rationing is a recurrent problem during dry periods which causes many economic and sanitary risks. It is now clear among policy makers in Mauritius that water will increasingly become a constraint on economic and social development. This paper summarizes the basic hydrological features of the island and highlights the various management strategies needed when looking at long‐term development options.

Drought and Water‐Supply Management: Roles and Responsibilities

Managing drought during the 1980s taught that it is essential to define the roles of local, state, and federal governments. Roles are still being worked out, especially in the cross‐cutting areas of planning and coordination. Local government, on the firing line, faces questions about levels of risk and drought response plans. State government has five roles: planning, coordination, data and technical assistance, emergency aid, and regulatory actions (mainly restricting water use). The federal government has roles in operation of federal reservoirs, in coordination, and in data management. Gaining appreciation for the complexity of drought and for the need for coordinated action requires further improvement. The solution to drought problems in better water resources management through a continuing process, not a prescription to be abandoned when a drought is over. The nation is still looking for the correct allocation of roles in this process. Lessons learned from recent droughts can improve the process.

Management of Water Resources and Eutrophication in the Federal District of Brazil

The water resources management and eutrophication control problem in the Federal District of Brazil including the capital, Brasilia is outlined. Procedure and criteria of the assessment are discussed together with model developments (static and dynamic models for total phosphorus as well as a three-compartment P-cycle model for estimating future algae biomass levels). Population scenarios, sewage treatment options and alternatives of the future Sao Bartolomeu Reservoir for fulfilling drinking water demands for the coming 25 years are summarized. As the best compromise solution the medium size reservoir upstream to the confluence of the River Paranoá and River Sao Bartolomeu is selected. Future sewage treatment conditions are defined in order to keep trophic state at the desired level.

MULTIPLE OBJECTIVE DECISION MAKING IN WATER RESOURCES1

ABSTRACT: Recent developments in multiple objective decision making methods presented in the upcoming sequence of research papers are evaluated and compared with respect to their usefulness in addressing challenging problems in water resources management. Because many of the decision making techniques originated in the field of operational research, the historical evolution of this field is outlined and the current need for developing a wide range of techniques for employment in strategic decision making is pointed out. Informative attributes for classifying decision making techniques are given to allow a practitioner to select decision aids that can best model the key characteristics of the particular problems under study. By systematically applying a wide variety of multiple objective decision making techniques to many different kinds of water resources problems, the authors of the papers clearly demonstrate the effectiveness of utilizing these methods for assisting in making both tactical and strategic decisions in water resources management.

COMPUTER ASSISTED NEGOTIATION OF MULTIOBJECTIVE WATER RESOURCES CONFLICTS1

ABSTRACT: Since the early 1970s, a large volume of literature has accumulated related to multiobjective water resources management problems. A relatively small portion of this specifically addresses the negotiation process required when there are multiple decision makers with conflicting objectives. This paper focuses on that process and describes a computer program designed to assist such negotiation processes. This interactive computer assisted negotiation support system is called ICANS.ICANS is designed for dynamic, multi‐issue, multi‐party negotiation problems. Based on information provided in confidence by each party via an interactive graphical interface, the program can help determine if there exist any possible alternatives that are equivalent or even preferred to each party's decision in the absence of a negotiated agreement. If such alternatives exist, through a series of iterations in which each party's input data, assumptions, and preferences may change, ICANS can assist the parties in their search for a mutually acceptable and preferred agreement.A simple example illustrates the data requirements and the use of ICANS in negotiation experiments.

Problems of water resources management in Umuahia and environs, Imo state, Nigeria

Problems of water resources management in Umuahia and environs, Imo state, Nigeria

Bayesian Inferencing Applied to Real‐Time Reservoir Operations

A significant amount of research during the past few years has focused on the application of expert systems technology to problems of water resources management. While these investigations have led to speculation as to the benefits of intelligent reasoning applied to real‐time reservoir operation, working systems are nonexistent or in the preliminary stages of development and testing. This research presents a novel perspective on the use of knowledge‐based inferencing techniques applied to real‐time reservoir operation. A hybrid reasoning structure using both Bayesian and rules‐based inferencing is presented. Rules are used to achieve a real‐time simulation that is comparable to other rule‐based systems reflecting expert operations as proposed in the literature. The Bayesian mechanism then provides a judgment about the quality of recommended releases based on prior information and present conditions. An additional feature of this system is its learning capabilities that can be used for further refinement ...

The Computer as Negotiator

Gaming‐simulation methods have been successfully applied to problems of water resources management. In addition, computer‐aided negotiation exercises are increasingly being used to help address the complex political and institutional issues that surround the allocation of scarce water during crises. Methods used by the authors and their experiences are discussed.