Introduction and Basic

Components
(i) System Components, Planning and
Management
 Objectives

 To identify the purpose and need for water resources planning and
management

 To study the system components

 Approaches and aspects of planning and management

 Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM)

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 Introduction
 Sources of water supply: Surface and ground water
 Purposes: Drinking, irrigation, hydroelectric energy, transport, recreation etc.
 Human activities are based on the ‘usual or normal’ range of river flow
conditions
 Flows and storage vary spatially and temporally; finite (limited) in nature
 Rare or ‘extreme’ flows or water quality conditions outside the normal
ranges will result in losses to river-dependent, human activities.
 Planning is needed to increase the benefits from the available water sources

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 Introduction…
 Purpose of water resources planning and management

activities is to

 How can the renewable yet finite resources best be managed and used?

 How can this be accomplished in an environment of uncertain supplies

and uncertain and increasing demands/ increasing conflicts among

individuals having different interests in the management of a river and

its basin?

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 Need for Planning and Management
 Severity of the adverse consequences of droughts, floods and excessive

pollution
 Too little water due to growing urbanization, additional water requirements, instream flow

requirements etc. Measures should be taken to reduce the demand during scarcity times

 Too much water due to increased flood frequencies and increase in water requirements due to

increased economic development on river floodplains

 Polluted water due to both industrial and household discharges

 Degradation of aquatic and riparian systems due to river training and

reclamation of floodplains for urban and industrial development, poor water

quality due to discharges of pesticides, fertilizers and wastewater effluents etc.

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 Need for Planning and Management…

 Port development requires deeper rivers; narrowing the river for shipping

purposes will increase the flood level

 River bank erosion and degradation of river bed upstream of the resevoirs

may increase the flooding risks

 Sediment accumulation in the reservoir due to poor water quality

 Goal is to identify and evaluate alternative measures that may increase the

quantitative and qualitative system performance is the primary goal of

planning and management policies.

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 System Components
 Water resources management involves the interaction of three interdependent

subsystems:
1. Natural river subsystem : Physical, chemical and biological processes takes place

2. Socio-economic subsystem: Human activities related to the use of the natural river
system

3. Administrative and institutional subsystem: Administration, legislation and

regulation, where the decision, planning and management processes take place

 Inadequate attention to one subsystem can reduce the effect of any work done to

improve the performance of the others

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Planning and Management - Approaches
 Two approaches which lead to an integrated plan and management policy are

1. From the top down or the command and control approach

2. From the bottom up or the grass-roots approach

Top down approach:

 Water resources professionals prepare integrated, multipurpose ‘master’ development
plans with alternative structural and non-structural management options
 Dominance of professionals; Little participation of stakeholders

 One or more institutions have the ability and authority to develop and implement the
plan
 However, nowadays, since public have active participation in planning and management
activities , top-down approaches are becoming less desirable or acceptable
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Planning and Management – Approaches…
Bottom up approach:
 Active participation of interested stakeholders – those affected by the management of

the water and land resources

 Plans are being created from the bottom up rather than top down

 Top down approach plans do not take into consideration the concerns of affected local

stakeholders

 Bottom up approach ensures cooperation and commitment from stakeholders

 Common goals and priorities among all stakeholders by taking care of laws and

regulations and by identifying multiple alternatives and performance criteria

 Tradeoffs between conflicting goals or measures of performance

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 Integrated Water Resources Management
(IWRM)
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 the vital ecosystems –
Global Water Partnership, 2000.

 An integrated water management model develop solutions by involving all the

essential components into an optimization scheme

 Use of resources in relation to social and economic activities and functions

 Need for laws and regulations for the sustainable use of the water resources

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 Integrated Water Resources Management…
 Dublin principles for a good water resources management as described by the
United Nations Water Conference in 1977 are:

1. “Ecological principle” – To treat water as a unitary resource within river

basins, with particular attention to ecosystems.
2. “Institutional principle” – To respect the principle of subsidiarity through the
involvement of government, civil society and the private sector
3. “Instrument principle” – To recognize water as a scarce economic commodity
by imposing various penalties for excessive usage

 Management policy must be developed only after considering the factors such
as cost effectiveness, economic efficiency, environmental impact, ecological
and health considerations etc.

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 Planning and Management Aspects
Technical aspects
 Identify the characteristics of resources in the basin, including land, rainfall,

runoff, stream and river flows and groundwater

 Technical aspects of planning involves

 Predicting changes in land use/covers and economic activities at watershed and river

basin levels

 Estimation of costs and benefits of any measures being and to be taken to manage the

basin’s water resource including engineering structures, canals, diversion structures

etc.

 Identification and evaluation of alternative management strategies; alternative time

schedules for implementing those measures

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 Planning and Management Aspects…
Economic and Financial aspects
 Water should be treated as an economic commodity to extract the maximum
benefits as well as to generate funds to recover the costs of the investments and
of the operation and maintenance of the system
 Water treated for long as a free commodity

 Revenues recovered are far below the capital cost incurred

 Financial component of any planning process is needed to recover construction

costs, maintenance, repair and operation costs
 In management policies, financial viability is viewed as a constraint that must
be satisfied; not as an objective whose maximization could result in a reduction
 in economic efficiency, equity or other non-monetary objectives

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 Planning and Management Aspects…
Institutional aspects
 Successful project implementation needs an enabling environment

 National, provincial and local policies, legislation and institutions are crucial for

implementation of the decisions

 The role of the government is crucial since water is

 Not a property right

 A resource that often requires large investment to develop

 A medium that can impulse external effects

 Main causes of failure of water resources development project: Insufficient

institutional setting; Lack of a sound economic evaluation and implementation

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 Challenges in Water Sector
The major challenges in water sector as per World Water Forum and are listed below:

 Meeting basic needs

 Protecting ecosystems

 Securing the food supply

 Sharing water resources

 Dealing with hazards

 Valuing water

 Governing water wisely

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 Challenges in Water Sector…
Main actions to be taken to solve problems in water sector are:

 Integrated management of river basins

 Participation of community in the management

 Improved agricultural practices

 Extensive and reliable database of information dissemination

 Proper valuation of water

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY/ FURTHER READING:
 Global Water Partnership (GWP), Integrated Water Resources Management,
Background Papers No. 4, Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), 2000.
 Jain, S.K. and V.P. Singh, Water Resources Systems Planning and Management, Vol.
51, Elsevier Science, 2003.
 Haimes, Hierarchical Analyses of Water Resources Systems: Modeling and
Optimization of Largescale systems, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1977.
 Loucks D.P. and van Beek E., ‘Water Resources Systems Planning and Management’,
UNESCO Publishing, The Netherlands, 2005.
 Loucks, D.P., J.R. Stedinger, and D.A. Haith, Water Resources Systems Planning and
Analysis, Prentice-Hall, N.J., 1981.
 Mays, L.W. and K. Tung, Hydrosystems Engineering and Management, McGraw-Hill Inc.,
New York, 1992.

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