Your search found 75 records
1 Birendra, K. C.; McIndoe, I.; Schultz, B.; Prasad, K.; Bright, J.; Dark, A.; Pandey, Vishnu Prasad; Chaudhary, A.; Thapa, P. M.; Perera, R.; Dangi, D. R. 2021. Integrated water resource management to address the growing demand for food and water in South Asia. Irrigation and Drainage, 70(4):924-935. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/ird.2590]
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H050375)
(4.15 MB)
With the increasing population and accelerated urbanization, demands for water are rising for different sectors around the world, including in South Asia. Integrated water resource management (IWRM) offers a promising potential to address multifaceted water demands. This study therefore aimed to address this issue by (i) reviewing key issues related to water, land, and food in South Asian countries, (ii) exploring the prevalent irrigation management strategies in those countries, and (iii) examining the IWRM situation based on a Nepalese case study, and it proposes some options to support effective implementation of IWRM.
South Asia, the home to 24% of the world's population with only 15% and 7% of the world's arable and permanent crop land and water resources, respectively, is the worst-affected region in the world from undernourishment. Surface irrigation is the dominant irrigation application method in the region, which incurs high water losses due to the lack of flexible water control structures in canal networks. The Nepalese case study revealed a lack of clear institutional arrangements to implement IWRM and disparate and conflicting views about IWRM. Creation and strengthening of basin-level water user organizations, technological improvements, and awareness-raising activities are some potential ways forward to implement IWRM.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H050376)
(0.54 MB) (554 KB)
Sri Lanka has no water scarcity within the country, and per capita, water availability is adequate to cater for the country’s estimated peak population. Nevertheless, the frequent variability of spatial and temporal water availability and extreme events have built up a water scarcity in Sri Lanka, which has been observed during the last two to three decades. Therefore, effective and efficient water governance is most important in today’s context, and regular review and amendment of policies, laws, and regulations are crucial to mitigate water scarcity. Although a few attempts were initiated, none of them succeeded. In this study, historical and present water governance mechanisms, including coordinating mechanisms and implementing water management agencies in Sri Lanka, were comprehensively reviewed. Further, the previously proposed water policies, their status and reasons for the failures of policies were discussed. Finally, the formulation of a novel institutional arrangement or altering the existing institutional arrangement with shared data and allocating non-shared responsibilities to each institution is suggested for better water governance in Sri Lanka.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H050497)
(10.20 MB) (10.2 MB)
Wastewater reuse is identified as strategic to help ameliorate scarcity in water-stressed regions around the world. However, to develop it, there is a need to better understand the social, institutional and technological contexts in which it takes place. This article develops a novel socio-technical framework to inform such an analysis and applies it to current wastewater reuse in Egypt. Our analysis highlights the different actors, management activities and practices that shape wastewater collection, transfer, treatment, discharge and/or reuse in different social, technological and environmental contexts in Egypt. It points out bottlenecks of current wastewater reuse policies and programmes.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H050482)
(1.14 MB)
Water resource management may restrict economic development, and a preference for economic development may weaken the effect of water resource management. The Water Eco-Civilization City (WEC) is a significant pilot policy in China, and is designed to achieve both effective water resource management and economic development. This study assessed possible win-win outcomes of this policy by applying a water eco-efficiency (WEE) perspective. First, a slacks-based measure (SBM) was used to calculate WEE. Then, a difference-in-differences (DID) strategy and mediating effect model were applied to examine whether and how the WEC policies improved WEE and achieved desired policy outcomes in cities. The panel dataset used for the study covered 275 prefecture-level cities from 2008 to 2017. The major findings were as follows: (1) The WEC policies achieved win-win outcomes in pilot cities, meaning it achieved both positive water resource management and economic outcomes; specifically, it contributed 48.63% of the total increase in WEE. (2) Three effective WEC policies realized win-win outcomes: upgrading the industrial structure; scaling up drainage infrastructure; and encouraging centralized wastewater treatment. Upgrading the industrial structure was the most effective policy. (3) WEC policy outcomes were heterogeneous under different city conditions. In cities with more abundant water resources, scaling up drainage infrastructures and encouraging centralized wastewater treatment were more effective. In cities with a larger industrial scale, the WEC policies could not achieve win-win outcomes, because it was not possible to upgrade the industrial structure or encourage centralized wastewater treatment. In cities with more intense wastewater regulations, upgrading the industrial structure and encouraging centralized wastewater treatment were more effective. These findings exemplify the policies that achieve win-win outcomes, and highlight the fact that governments should consider water resource abundance, industrial scale, and the current intensity of wastewater regulations before designing new policies.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H050516)
Gender-based inequality has long been recognized as a challenge in water governance and urban development. Women do most of the water collection-related tasks in the majority of low-income country’s urban areas, as they do in rural areas for drinking, household consumption, kitchen gardening, and farming. However, their voice is rarely heard in water governance. When climate change exacerbates water scarcity, it becomes harder for people to secure water with more pronounced effects on women. Drawing on the narratives of men and women involved in water management practices and also the views of the stakeholders who are part of water resource management in two towns in Nepal, this paper demonstrates emerging forms of gender inequality concerning access to and control over water resources, as well as associated services such as sanitation. We found that women’s voice in water governance is systematically excluded, and such gender-based disadvantage intersects with economic disadvantage as women in low-income poor urban settlements are experiencing additional difficulty in accessing water and sanitation services. Gender inequity persists in the urban water sector, and of course the wider social structures, despite some progressive policy changes in recent years, such as the 30% quota reserved for women in local-level water management bodies in Nepal. The paper concludes that tackling gender inequity in water management requires a transformative approach that seriously takes into account women’s voice, critical awareness, and open deliberation over the causes and consequences of the current approaches and practices. Moreover, gender-inclusive outcomes on water management are linked to changes in areas outside of the water sector, such as property ownership structures that constrain or enable women’s access to water and related services.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H050553)
(5.12 MB) (5.12 MB)
7 von Gnechten, Rachel; Uhlenbrook, Stefan; van der Bliek, Julie; Yu, Winston. 2021. Can water productivity improvements save us from global water scarcity?. Report of the workshop organized by the WASAG (Global Framework on Water Scarcity in Agriculture) Working Group on Sustainable Agricultural Water Use, Valenzano, Italy, 25-27 February 2020. Rome, Italy: FAO. 35p.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H050554)
(2.20 MB) (2.20 MB)
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H050669)
(0.50 MB)
Water markets are a potential approach for reallocating and improving the efficiency of water use in river basins in which water resources are under stress as a consequence of demographic and economic pressures. However, establishing water markets is not easy and to be successful a wide range of context specific criteria, relating to the legal and institutional framework as well as political and economic conditions, must be met. We applied the Water Market Readiness Assessment framework proposed by Wheeler et al. (2017) to investigate whether adequate policy and governance arrangements were in place to enable water markets to effectively operate in the countries of the Lower Mekong River Basin. We identify a number of key gaps and conclude that more conventional regulatory approaches, along with integrated basin planning and management, will likely better serve the communities and environments of the region.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: IWMI Record No: H050677)
(5.08 MB)
10 Gonzalez, J. M.; Matrosov, E. S.; Obuobie, E.; Mul, M.; Pettinotti, L.; Gebrechorkos, S. H.; Sheffield, J.; Bottacin-Busolin, A.; Dalton, J.; Smith, D. Mark; Harou, J. J. 2021. Quantifying cooperation benefits for new dams in transboundary water systems without formal operating rules. Frontiers in Environmental Science, 9:596612. [doi: https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2021.596612]
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H050729)
(9.16 MB) (9.16 MB)
New dams impact downstream ecosystems and water infrastructure; without cooperative and adaptive management, negative impacts can manifest. In large complex transboundary river basins without well codified operating rules and extensive historical data, it can be difficult to assess the benefits of cooperating, in particular in relation to new dams. This constitutes a barrier to harmonious development of river basins and could contribute to water conflict. This study proposes a generalised framework to assess the benefits of cooperation on the management of new dams in water resource systems that do not have formal sharing arrangements. Benefits are estimated via multi-criteria comparison of historical reservoir operations (usually relatively uncooperative) vs. adopting new cooperative rules which would achieve the best results for riparian countries as evaluated by a water resources simulator and its performance metrics. The approach is applied to the Pwalugu Multipurpose Dam (PMD), which is being built in Ghana in the Volta river basin. The PMD could impact downstream ecosystems and infrastructure in Ghana and could itself be impacted by how the existing upstream Bagre Dam is managed in Burkina Faso. Results show that with cooperation Ghana and Burkina Faso could both increase energy production although some ecosystem services loss would need to be mitigated. The study confirms that cooperative rules achieve higher overall benefits compared to seeking benefits only for individual dams or countries.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: IWMI Record No: H050737)
(7.75 MB)
This paper assesses how the Huruluwewa tank (HWT) irrigation system in the North Central Province of Sri Lanka adapts to climate variability. The lessons learned in the HWT will be helpful for many water-scarce irrigation systems in the country, which bear high climate risks. Recurrent droughts are the bane of agriculture in the Dry Zone, comprising three-fourths of the land area spread over the Northern, North Central and Eastern provinces. In the HWT, the fifteenth largest canal irrigation system in the country, adaptation to climate variability happens on several fronts: changes made by the irrigation management to the water release regime; changes in the cropping patterns practiced by farmers in the command area; and the use of groundwater, which is recharged from rainfall, reservoir storage and canal irrigation, as supplemental irrigation. Such adaptation measures ensure that the available water supply in the reservoir is adequate for 100% cropping intensity over two cropping seasons, even in drought years, and enhances economic water productivity in terms of value per unit of consumptive water use. Moreover, irrigation management should consider groundwater recharge through canal irrigation as a resource, which brings substantial agricultural and economic benefits not only for the command area but also outside the command area. The adaptation patterns implemented in HWT demonstrate how water-scarce irrigation systems can achieve higher economic water productivity, i.e., generate ‘more income per drop’ to enhance climate resilience for people in and outside the canal command areas.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H050830)
(3.60 MB)
Data exchange in transboundary waters is fundamental to advance cooperation in water management. Nonetheless, the degree to which data are actually shared is falling short of basin-level and international targets. A global assessment revealed that a reasonable proportion of river basins exchange some data, but the breadth of such exchange is often limited and not regular. More in-depth examination of African basins nonetheless suggests that a real need for, and use of, water data appears to motivate exchange. Indeed, evidence suggests that data exchange needs which are more directly felt enhance exchange, e.g., the direct need to minimize flood impacts or manage transboundary infrastructure. As such, data sharing is much more likely to be considered as being successful if it responds to a palpable need and serves practical uses. Also, in developing data exchange programs, it may be prudent to adopt a focused and sequential approach to data exchange that starts with a short-list of most needed parameters.
13 Reddy, V. R.; Pavelic, Paul; Reddy, M. S. 2021. Participatory management and sustainable use of groundwater: a review of the Andhra Pradesh Farmer-Managed Groundwater Systems project in India. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). 21p. (Groundwater Solutions Initiative for Policy and Practice (GRIPP) Case Profile Series 05) [doi: https://doi.org/10.5337/2021.224]
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H050839)
(3.32 MB)
This GRIPP Case Profile assesses whether the proactive involvement of rural communities in the management of groundwater positively contributes towards sustainable resource use. The assessment uses the long-term (2003-2013) Andhra Pradesh Farmer-Managed Groundwater Systems (APFAMGS) project in India as a case study. Implemented across seven districts, the assessment is based on a critical review and synthesis of existing literature and complementary field visits conducted five years after project closure. APFAMGS worked towards creating awareness and bringing about behavioral change to achieve sustainable groundwater use, primarily for irrigation. The approach focused on knowledge transfer and capacity building to set up participatory processes conducive to informal management measures, and technologies supporting participatory hydrological monitoring and crop water budgeting. In addition, awareness creation in relation to demand as well as supply side management options was critical. The analysis suggests that APFAMGS has helped in filling the knowledge and information gaps on groundwater resources among local farming communities. Some degree of long-term reduction in groundwater pumping was observed, but the attribution to the project is not clear, and effects on reducing groundwater level declines may be limited and localized. The APFAMGS approach of participatory groundwater management (PGM) fell short in terms of equity considerations, with implications for the institutional sustainability of the approach. The study provides policy guidance for adopting more inclusive PGM-based institutions on a wider scale.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H050651)
(4.51 MB) (4.51 MB)
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy SF Record No: H050696)
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H050758)
(0.58 MB) (590 KB)
The Indus River System is a major source of life in Pakistan. A vast array of Pakistan's agricultural and domestic consumption needs are critically dependent on the Indus River System. The Indus River contributes towards 25% of the country's gross domestic product, providing water for almost 90% of the food production in Pakistan. Linked to the water security issues, Pakistan is potentially at risk of facing a severe food shortage in the near future. The World Bank report of 2020–2021 estimates that the water shortage will increase to 32% by 2025, which will result in a food shortage of almost 70 million tons. Water shortage could also result in confrontation between the provinces as river sharing has always been a source of problem for Pakistan. According to recent estimates, siltation and climate change will reduce the water storage capacity by 2025 to almost 30%. As for the per capita water storage capacity in Pakistan, it is about 150 m3, which is quite meagre in comparison with that in other countries. Irrigated agriculture will soon be adversely affected due to the reduced surface water supplies and the consequent increase in groundwater abstraction. To make matters worse, over the past decades, a great deal of distrust has developed among the provinces of Pakistan regarding the water distribution issue, and the successive federal governments have failed to formulate a cohesive inter-provincial National Water Policy. Along with the shortages and increasing demand for water, administrative corruption also plagues the water sector and is quite common. The beneficiaries of this water reallocation system are not only the rural elite, for example the large and politically influential landlords, but also the small and medium capitalist farmers. If not properly addressed, these complications of decreasing water resources could result in serious political and economic hostility among the provinces. If it wants to harness its potential to increase storage capacity, Pakistan must improve its water-use efficiency and manage its groundwater and surface water resources in a sustainable way. Strengthening the institutions and removing mistrust among the provinces are the key elements for maintaining a sustainable irrigated agriculture in the Indus Basin.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H050813)
(1.26 MB) (1.26 MB)
Sustainable access to improved water services is a human right recognized by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) agenda and the constitution of South Africa. In recognition of this, South Africa implemented the Free Basic Water (FBW) policy outlining six recommended service level standards (e.g. distance, reliability and cost) to guide improved water services provision, especially in rural municipalities. However, despite implementing the rights-based approach policy, a significant proportion of the rural population is reported to have limited/poor access to improved water services. For this reason, the study adopted the FBW standards as indicators to assess inequalities in sustainable access to improved water services in Makhudutamaga Local Municipality (MLM) in South Africa. The findings indicate inequalities in access to improved water services based on FBW standards. Overall, the improved water services complied with the FBW standard for distance but not with the other standards. The non-compliance with the other standards indicated limited/poor access to improved water services and improper implementation of the FBW policy. This work provides water managers with an understanding of levels of water services provided based on FBW standards for planning and management to improve access to improved water services and enforce proper implementation of the FBW policy.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H050827)
(0.62 MB) (632 KB)
Integrated river basin management (IRBM) has been proposed as a means to achieve water security (WS), maximizing economic and social well-being in an equitable manner and maintaining ecosystem sustainability. IRBM is regulated by a governance process that benefits the participation of different actors and institutions; however, it has been difficult to reach a consensus on what good governance means and which governance perspective is better for achieving it. In this paper, we explore the concept of “good water governance” through the analysis of different governance approaches: experimental (EG), corporate (CG), polycentric (PG), metagovernance (MG) and adaptive (AG) governances. We used the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) water governance dimensions (effectiveness, efficiency and trust and engagement) as a “good enough water governance” that regards water governance as a process rather than an end in itself. Results indicate that each of the five governance theories presents challenges and opportunities to achieve a good governance process that can be operationalized through IRBM, and we found that these approaches can be adequately integrated if they are combined to overcome the challenges that their exclusive application implies. Our analysis suggests that a combination of AG and MG encompasses the OECD water governance dimensions, in terms of understanding “good enough water governance” as a process and a means to perform IRBM. In order to advance towards WS, the integration of different governance approaches must consider the context-specific nature of the river basin, in relation to its ecologic responses and socioeconomic characteristics.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H050853)
(5.03 MB) (5.03 MB)
Accurate information on irrigated areas’ spatial distribution and extent are crucial in enhancing agricultural water productivity, water resources management, and formulating strategic policies that enhance water and food security and ecologically sustainable development. However, data are typically limited for smallholder irrigated areas, which is key to achieving social equity and equal distribution of financial resources. This study addressed this gap by delineating disaggregated smallholder and commercial irrigated areas through the random forest algorithm, a non-parametric machine learning classifier. Location within or outside former apartheid “homelands” was taken as a proxy for smallholder, and commercial irrigation. Being in a medium rainfall area, the huge irrigation potential of the Inkomati-Usuthu Water Management Area (UWMA) is already well developed for commercial crop production outside former homelands. However, information about the spatial distribution and extent of irrigated areas within former homelands, which is largely informal, was missing. Therefore, we first classified cultivated lands in 2019 and 2020 as a baseline, from where the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) was used to distinguish irrigated from rainfed, focusing on the dry winter period when crops are predominately irrigated. The mapping accuracy of 84.9% improved the efficacy in defining the actual spatial extent of current irrigated areas at both smallholder and commercial spatial scales. The proportion of irrigated areas was high for both commercial (92.5%) and smallholder (96.2%) irrigation. Moreover, smallholder irrigation increased by over 19% between 2019 and 2020, compared to slightly over 7% in the commercial sector. Such information is critical for policy formulation regarding equitable and inclusive water allocation, irrigation expansion, land reform, and food and water security in smallholder farming systems.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H050861)
(1.11 MB) (1.11 MB)
Establishing cooperation in transboundary rivers is challenging especially with the weak or non-existent river basin institutions. A nexus-based approach is developed to explore cooperation opportunities in transboundary river basins while considering system operation and coordination under uncertain hydrologic river regimes. The proposed approach is applied to the Nile river basin with a special focus on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), assuming two possible governance positions: with or without cooperation. A cooperation mechanism is developed to allocate additional releases from the GERD when necessary, while a unilateral position assumes that the GERD is operated to maximize hydropower generation regardless of downstream users' needs. The GERD operation modes were analysed considering operation of downstream reservoirs and varying demands in Egypt. Results show that average basin-wide hydropower generation is likely to increase by about 547 GWh/year (1%) if cooperation is adopted when compared to the unilateral position. In Sudan, hydropower generation and water supply are expected to enhance in the unilateral position and would improve further with cooperation. Furthermore, elevated low flows by the GERD are likely to improve the WFE nexus outcomes in Egypt under full cooperation governance scenario with a small reduction in GERD hydropower generation (2,000 GWh/year (19%)).
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