INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT: PRINCIPLES AND APPLICATIONS

What Is Integrated Water Resource Management?

Approaches to IWRM

The Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) approach goes back to the establishment
of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in the year 1933, which integrated the functions of
navigation, flood control and power production (Biswas 2004).

Further issues, such as erosion control, recreation and public health, were also addressed by
the TVA (Mitchell 1990).

The Secretary-General of the United Nations Organization (UNO) addressed the topic of IWRM
in 1957.

The UNO’s understanding of integration refers to supporting services needed to develop

irrigated agriculture, but the coordination of different water-related functions was not part of
this IWRM concept.

This deficit was remedied at the Water Conference in Mar del Plata in 1977 where the
necessity of coordination within the water sector was explicitly addressed.

However, issues associated with high water demand and negative environmental impacts of
irrigated agriculture were not approached sufficiently (Snellen and Schrevel 2004).

At the beginning of the 1990s, there were some observable shortcomings in traditional water
management, like quality issues, overexploitation, ecosystem degradation or social concerns.

Water problems also had become multidimensional, multi-sectoral, and multiregional and
filled with multi-interests, multi-agendas, and multi-causes (Biswas 2004).

To overcome these issues, four important guiding principles were determined during the
International Conference on Environment and Water in Dublin in the year 1992 (Xie 2006).

These principles (ecological, institutional, gender, economic) became well known as the
“Dublin-Principles”.

The Dublin Guiding Principles represented an important input for the Agenda 21, which was
agreed upon the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de
Janeiro in 1992.

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 Emphasize on the need for an integrated approach to manage water resources by connecting
different water services and providing good governance, appropriate infrastructure, and
sustainable financing.

The present understanding of IWRM with its holistic approach is strongly based on the Dublin-
Principles as well as on the Agenda 21 .

There are many definitions of IWRM, for instance, in the Agenda 21. A well-cited definition of
IWRM is the one made by GWP (2000):

“IWRM is a process which promotes the coordinated development and management of

water, land and related resources in order to maximize the resultant economic and social
welfare in an equitable manner without compromising the sustainability of vital ecosystems”.

IWRM cannot be seen as a blueprint or product for good water management, but rather as a
paradigm with a broad set of principles, tools, and guidelines that must be tailored to the
specific context of a country, region, or river basin in order to implement an efficient and
effective water resource management. A basic set of principles is outlined below;

IWRM principles
 Integrate water and environmental management.
 Follow a systems approach.
 Full participation by all stakeholders, including workers and the community.
 Attention to the social dimensions.
 Capacity building.
 Availability of information and the capacity to use it to anticipate developments.
 Full-cost pricing complemented by targeted subsidies.
 Central government support through the creation and maintenance of an enabling
environment.
 Adoption of the best existing technologies and practices.
 Reliable and sustained financing.
 Equitable allocation of water resources.
 Recognition of water as an economic good.
 Strengthening the role of women in water management.

Source: IWA/UNEP (2002)

The IWRM Paradigm

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 The IWRM paradigm contains important key concepts of integration, decentralization,
participation, and sustainability (Xie 2006).

Due to the holistic view of the IWRM paradigm, there is a necessity for the integrated
management of horizontal sectors that use or affect water resources, e.g., water supply,
sanitation, agricultural use, energy generation, industrial use, or environmental protection.

In addition to horizontal integration, vertical integration is also required to coordinate efforts

between local, regional, national, and international water user groups and institutions
(Xie 2006).

The main aspects regarding natural system integration and human system integration are
listed in detail in the chapter annex Sect. 3.13.2 (GWP 2000).

Besides the necessity of integration, there is also a need for decentralized decision-making and
responsibility at the lowest effective management level, to increase awareness for local and
regional problems.

Hence, IWRM seeks to strike a balance between top-down and bottom-up management.
IWRM also wants to strengthen community-based organizations and water user associations.

The consideration of sustainability, as a main part of IWRM, is not only restricted to ecological
sustainability for protecting the natural system, but it also covers aspects of financial and
economic sustainability.

This means, for instance, that resource allocation decisions have to be based on the economic
value of water. Therefore, water must be priced at its full costs (Xie 2006).

The three key policy goals of IWRM are Equity, Ecological integrity and Efficiency, which are
known as the three’E’s (Postel 1992):

 Equity: Water is a basic need and hence there is the basic right for everybody to have access to
water of adequate quantity and quality.

 Ecological integrity: Water in sufficient quantities with sufficient quality should persist in the
environment. Water should be used in a sustainable way, so that the future generation will be
able to use it in a similar way as the present generation.

 Efficiency: Water must be used with maximum possible efficiency, because of its finite and
vulnerable nature. Cost recovery of the water service should be attained. Water should be
priced according to its economic value.

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 For supporting the application of IWRM principles in practice, the Global Water Partnership
(GWP) has created a toolbox whose three main categories are an enabling environment,
institutional roles, and management instruments (GWP 2000, 2004):

 Enabling environment refers to securing the rights and assets of all stakeholders and protecting
public assets. This category involves the general framework of national policies, legislation, and
regulation.

 The institutional roles involve the consideration of a whole range of formal rules and
regulations, customs and practices, ideas and information, and interest and community group
networks, which together provide the institutional framework or context within which decision-
makers operate.

 The management instruments, include operational instruments for effective regulation,

monitoring, and supporting decision-makers.

Integration in IWRM

It is important to bridge components of the natural systems, like availability and quality of
resources, as well as characteristics of human systems, which are fundamentally determined by
resource use, waste production, and resource pollution. The main aspects regarding natural
system integration and human system integration are listed in detail below (GWP 2000):

Natural system integration

 Integration of freshwater management and coastal zone management: Requirements of

coastal zones have to be considered in upstream freshwater management

 Integration of land and water management: Land use influences the distribution and quality of
water. Furthermore, water is a key determinant of the character of ecosystems.

 Distinction between “green water” and “blue water”: Water that is directly used for biomass
production and “lost” in evaporation is termed “green water”, while “blue water” is the flowing
water in surface and subsurface water bodies.

 Integration of surface water and groundwater management: An infiltration of water from

groundwater bodies to surface water bodies and vice versa can occur.

 Integration of quantity and quality in water resources management: Aspects of generating,

abating, and disposing of waste products have to be addressed.

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 Integration of upstream and downstream water-related interests: Conflicts, interests, and
trade-offs between upstream and downstream stakeholders using water resources have to be
identified and balanced out

Human system integration

 Mainstreaming of water resources: The analysis of human activities have to involve the
understanding of natural systems, its capacity, vulnerability, and limits.

 Cross-sectoral integration in national policy development: Water policy must be integrated

with economic policy. The economic and social policy needs to take into account water
resource implications.

 Macroeconomic effects of water developments: Water resource projects can have

macroeconomic impacts (e.g., employment).

 Basic principles for integrated policy-making: Assess macroeconomic conditions of effects

before realizing investment; weight expected (external) costs with (external) benefits of a
policy; awareness of trade-offs in short-term and long-term.

 Influencing economic sector decisions: Decisions impact water demands, availability, and
quality.

 Integration of all stakeholders in the planning and decision process: Involvement of the
stakeholders in the management and planning of water resources to deal with conflicting
interests between stakeholders.

 Integrating water and wastewater management: Water is a reusable resource, hence

wastewater flows can be a useful additional resource.

Implementation of IWRM

Based on the GWP, the three main pillars for implementing IWRM in practice are an enabling
environment, institutional roles, and management instruments (GWP (2004)):

 The enabling environment

Policies—setting goals for water use, protection, and conservation.

Legislative framework—the rules to follow to achieve policies and goals.

Financing and incentive structures—allocating financial resources to meet water needs.

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 Institutional roles

Creating an organizational framework—forms and functions.

Institutional capacity building—developing human resources.

 Management instruments

Water resources assessment—understanding resources and needs.

Plans for IWRM—combining development options, resource use, and human interaction.

Demand management—using water more efficiently.

Social change instruments—encouraging a water-oriented civil society.

Conflict resolution—managing disputes, ensuring sharing of water.

Regulatory instruments—allocation and water use limits.

Economic instruments—using value and prices for efficiency and equity.

Information management and exchange—improving knowledge for better water management.