Two-Stage Interval-Parameter Stochastic Programming Model Based on Adaptive Water Resource Management

Water resource planning is often associated with system complexities and uncertainties, such as issues of precipitation randomness and complex the complexity of human social activities. In this study, a two-stage interval-parameter stochastic programming (TISP) model in conjunction with an adaptive water resource management (AWRM) model was applied. Compared to other optimization models, AWRM can address interactions between different water users and account for regional water exchange processes, and TISP models overcome the uncertainties of a water resource system by introducing interval-parameter and probability distribution methods. Reasonable solutions obtained by applying these models to a multi-water-resource, multi-region case show that in AWRM models, water can flow from a region of low efficiency to a region of high efficiency, improving water use efficiency. Under conditions of extreme scarcity, water can flow in the opposite direction thus ensuring regional minimum water requirements, enhancing system stability and reducing the probability of system paralysis. In policy making, optimistic water policies correspond to higher incomes but may be subject to higher risks of system failure. Alternatively, conservative policies are associated with a lower risk of system failure but easily waste water resources.     

Citizens’ Perceptions on Water Conservation Policies and the Role of Social Capital

Planning and implementing environmental policies for the sustainable management of water resources is a challenging task. In order to improve the effectiveness of these policies it is essential to explore their social implications. The present article aims to investigate environmental policies focusing on domestic water conservation and their interconnection with social capital elements. In particular, by means of an empirical study conducted in an insular community of Greece, citizens’ perceptions are explored concerning the restrictions imposed from different environmental policy instruments for water consumption and their perceived level of effectiveness. Furthermore, the influence of social capital parameters on these perceptions is investigated. Aggregated indicators of social capital are estimated with Confirmatory Factor Analysis measuring social and institutional trust, participation in social networks and compliance with social norms. Through the results of ordinal regression models it is evident that significant connections exist between elements of social capital and perceptions of citizens towards water consumption policies.     

Unravelling Stakeholder Perceptions to Enable Adaptive Water Governance in Dryland Systems

Adaptive water governance seeks to increase a social-ecological system’s adaptive capacity in the face of uncertainty and change. This is especially important in non-linear dryland systems that are already exposed to water scarcity and increasing degradation. Conservation of water ecosystem services is key for increasing adaptive capacity in drylands, however, how stakeholders perceive water ecosystem services greatly affects how they are managed, as well as the potential for adaptive water governance. This paper focuses on identifying the system’s potential for enabling adaptive water governance by analysing different stakeholder perceptions on water ecosystem services. It takes the Rio del Carmen watershed as a case study, offering important insights for an increasing number of water-scarce regions. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with key stakeholders in the watershed in order to unravel their perceptions and understand the governance context. We found disparities in how stakeholders perceive water ecosystem services have led to water overexploitation and several conflicts over water access. Our results indicate that stakeholder perceptions have a major influence on the system’s adaptability, as they shape the acquisition of water ecosystem services. Divergent stakeholder perceptions act as an important barrier to collaboration. Generating and sharing knowledge could facilitate the development of a common vision, allowing all actors to co-create information about water ecosystem services and the system state, engaging them in a participatory process, suitable for their context, and that will better support adaptive water governance.     

长江流域水资源监测实践及认识

为了落实最严格的水资源管理制度,加快国家水资源监控能力建设项目的建设,提高对水资源监测管理工作的服务能力,长江水利委员会水文局通过采取一系列的措施,夯实了长江流域水资源监测工作的基础,大大提高了水资源监测方面的能力。以长江流域水资源监测管理为例,分析了长江流域水资源监测现状及存在的问题。面对实行最严格水资源管理制度要求下的水资源监测管理,通过实施技术装备、基础设施的建设管理,省界等重要控制断面的监测管理,取水户的监督管理,水资源监测信息发布等信息管理,制度、规范等技术文件的管理,建立了长江流域水资源监测一体化管理体系,从而加强了水资源监测管理工作,满足了长江流域实施最严格水资源管理的需要。同时还总结了利用管理体系对水资源实施有效管理所取得的成效,这些对我国水资源监测管理而言,可谓是一个成功的范例。     

基于水权理论的河北省农用水资源管理

针对河北省的水资源短缺现状以及我省农用水资源管理存在的主要问题,提出了几项应对的策略：改革水的管理体制;明晰水权,确定水资源的指标体系;建立水权市场;成立农民用水者协会,推行参与式管理模式。     

Water Management in the Mediterranean Region: Concepts and Policies

The Mediterranean Region exhibits significant contrasts in its demographic and hydrologic features that have shaped the water management policies of the Mediterranean countries. Although awareness is raising with respect to sustainable water management, the extent to which it is applied in practice is debatable. Use conflicts and non-renewable water extraction in water scarce part of the region like the Southern and Eastern rim countries are exposed as overriding management issues. Furthermore climatic variations are superimposed on natural hydro-stress and water dependency on external resources in most of the cases. Decision-making process needs measurable, comparable and reliable tools in order to be able to make trade-offs when facing conflicting issues. Indicators are valuable tools for understanding the trends and challenges encountered in water resources management. The Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention adopted, in November 2005, the Mediterranean Strategy for Sustainable Development (MSSD). Integrated water resources and demand management constitute the first priority among the range of actions of the adopted strategy. Increasing efficiency by reducing losses and wasteful use is expected to help stabilise water demand in the Southern and Eastern part of the Mediterranean countries. In this paper, an assessment of the existing water management concepts and policies in Mediterranean countries will be presented based on sustainable development indicators related to water management.     

北京市实施最严格水资源管理制度的探讨

水资源短缺是北京市经济社会可持续发展的瓶颈,最严格水资源管理制度是缓解水资源短缺严峻形势的必由之路。在缺水形势深化的现实情况下,亟需对北京市现有水资源管理制度进行分析和讨论。通过梳理北京市水资源管理体制、总量管理、节约用水管理、水环境管理等制度现状,总结出当前在管理机制、政策法规及管理能力方面存在的不足,进一步提出了加强水资源统一管理、完善水资源管理法规体系、健全规划水资源论证及加强水资源信息化建设等改进建议。     

Managing Water as a Critical Component of a Changing World

It once seemed that all water managers had to do was to develop and manage infrastructure necessary to convert the natural spatial and temporal distributions of water and its quality to that desired by we humans at acceptable levels of reliability and cost. We are increasingly learning there are limits to achieving such goals, and the consequences can impact just about every component in our economy and society. We’re having to conserve, treat, reuse, find alternatives for and generally get smarter about how we develop and manage our natural resources. Furthermore, we must do it in a political environment of conflicting stakeholder expectations and in ways that minimize the damage to our natural environment as well. No one wants their behavior or life style to contribute to an environment of climatic extremes and regional conflicts that are outside the ranges we and our ecosystems can thrive, or even survive. If we who are in the business of developing and applying models for identifying and evaluating ways of improving how we plan, design, and operate water resources infrastructure systems do not address these broader global environmental and social issues, even partially, and in ways that lead to beneficial impacts, and reduced risks to health and economic security risks, what’s our value? Our literature, including this journal, is full of novel and often useful modeling approaches for identifying and evaluating alternative environmental resource systems designs, plans and policies. Is this enough? This paper addresses ways we might, and in my opinion should, as a discipline, extend our planning and management modeling expertise to address a wider range of societal concerns that stem from the impact water has on almost all human activities. How can we better provide and manage water to better serve society? In short how can we water systems analysts, planners and managers better serve humankind as we manage a critical resource everyone and every economy needs?     

Agent-Based Socio-Hydrological Hybrid Modeling for Water Resource Management

Hybrid socio-hydrological modeling has become indispensable for managing water resources in an increasingly unstable ecology caused by human activity. Most work on the subject has been focused on either qualitative socio-political recommendations with an unbounded list of vague factors or complex sociological and hydrological models with many assumptions and specialized usability. In this paper, we propose a simple agent-based socio-hydrological decision modeling framework for coupling dynamics associated with social behavior and groundwater contamination. The study shows that using social health risk, instead of contaminant concentration, as an optimization variable improves water management decisions aimed at maximizing social wellbeing. The social models and computational framework are designed with enough flexibility and simplicity to encourage extensions to more general socio-hydrological dynamics without compromising either computability or complexity for better data-/model-driven environmental management.     

Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Water Management Policies in Bangladesh

Water resources development and management policies initiatives in Bangladesh are primarily driven by the need for sufficient food grain production for the country's teeming population and curtailing the perennial flooding problems. It is therefore necessary to investigate whether or not these objectives are being met. The aim of this study is to evaluate the impacts of past water resources development and management strategies on agriculture, food security, flood management and socio-economic development in Bangladesh. The research is based on the historical data of the relevant parameters of the water resources management over the period 1947–2005. The outcomes of the study demonstrate that past policies and strategies of water development have resulted in significant irrigation expansion, especially through intensified groundwater utilization, which has helped to achieve the country's primary objective of self-sufficiency in food production. However, the provision of safe drinking water and sanitation facilities still remains a challenge in the country. Similarly, the impact of the flood control policies was diverse with success mostly apparent with regard to protection against modest events, while catastrophic, extreme events still effectively defying answer.     

A Comparison of Modelling Systems for the Development and Revision of Water Resources Management Plans

In this paper, two modelling systems used for the simulation of water resources management are compared. These modelling systems can be used in the implementation of the European Water Framework Directive or to perform any other kind of integrated assessment with regard to water resources management. In such investigations the use of models is inevitable, as integrated water resources management demands the survey of large areas as well as the inclusion of the different functions of the water cycle and water utilisation processes. Water quantity data provides important input for hydro-chemical, hydro-ecological or hydro-economic models. If no significant water resources management activities are realised in the basin under study, these data can be provided by simple rainfall-runoff models. If significant water resources management activities are realised or planned, the effects of these water resources management activities must be taken into consideration. Then, however, the use of water resources management models becomes necessary. Two such modelling systems, WRAP and WBalMo, are compared. Both have been designed for the development and revision of water resources management plans. Due to different approaches regarding the modelling routines the models lead to different results in the calculation of water quantities. By tracking the simulation algorithms, an understanding of the detected differences becomes possible. By adapting the spatial configuration of the modelled system, equivalent results can be obtained.     

对新世纪治水方略的几点认识

我国可以说是世界上治水难度最大的国家,因此治水方略,治水科技需要比外国更高一筹,应当有我们更加独特的手段。研究新世纪治水方略,应当用资源水利的观念,把水多和水少的问题结合起来一起研究,充分利用洪水资源和“云水”资源。新世纪的治水方略一是要从建立一个立体的防洪工程体系,二是要从建立防洪减灾的社会保障体系入手。     

Urban lakes in a developing nation: Drivers,states and impacts of water quality and quantity in Dhaka,Bangladesh

This study examined pollution and shrinkage of urban lakes in the rapidly urbanizing city of Dhaka, Bangladesh. A mixed‐method approach was employed, nested within the European Environmental Agency Drivers, Pressure, States, Impacts, Responses Framework and Environmental Systems Analysis tools (as stakeholder and functions analysis methodologies). A variety of stakeholders and policymakers were first interviewed, being asked to participate in an exercise identifying their perceptions of the greatest challenges facing urban lakes in Dhaka. The current quantity and quality of lakes in Dhaka was subsequently assessed through a combination of field work, government reports and satellite imagery analysis. The results indicated that past management strategies have failed to prevent the infill and pollution of lakes and wetlands. Many key indicators of poor water quality have exhibited sharp increases over the past decade. Urban encroachment into lakes has been curtailed in only four of Dhaka’s 14 districts, with ten districts losing water land cover over the past 66 years. Policymaker and stakeholder opinions on the drivers of lake pollution were highly variable in this study, creating additional roadblocks in implementing and enforcing effective management strategies. It is concluded that the regulatory policies must be implemented to prevent furthermore environmental degradation, while also observing that such policies will be very difficult to enforce under current conditions.     

浅谈水资源管理中的资源配置

从水资源在可持续发展中的基础性地位和至关重要的作用出发，在介绍世界水资源管理的几种主要模式的特点的基础上，强调了水资源统一管理对提高水的利用效率的重要作用，指出水资源优化配置是实现水资源可持续利用的重要手段，从分析水资源的自然、经济、生态等基本特征，提出水资源科学配置的必要性和紧迫性，重点探讨了充分发挥政府配置和市场配置双重作用，实现以两级政府为主，市场调节的水资源配置机制。     

The Use of System Dynamics Simulation in Water Resources Management

In this paper we discuss the use of system dynamics as a methodology with which to address dynamically complex problems in water resources management. Problems in regional planning and river basin management, urban water management, flooding and irrigation exhibit important short-term and long-term effects, and are often contentious issues with high potential for conflict. We argue that system dynamics combined with stakeholder involvement provides an appropriate methodology to address these issues effectively. We trace the theoretical and practical evolution of system dynamics in these areas over the past 50 years. From this review of the literature and selected case studies we identify and discuss a number of best practices and common pitfalls in applications of system dynamics simulation.     

农村供水工程可持续运行管理模式研究

2005年以来全国开展了大规模的农村饮水安全工程建设,新建了大批供水工程。但由于存在产权不清、管护主体不明、水价政策不完善等问题,影响工程持续运行与安全供水。通过深入调研农村供水工程管理体制机制,梳理国家有关部门政策要求,总结分析国内外供水工程管理模式,研究提出了现阶段农村供水工程可持续运行管理模式,为建立健全农村供水工程管理体制机制提供参考。     

A Decision Support System to Improve Water Resources Management in the Conchos Basin

The Conchos basin is the largest tributary to the lower part of the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo basin. During recent years a severe drought has affected México’s ability to deliver water from the Conchos basin as required by the 1944 Treaty. In addition, it has generated not only economic problems in the USA and México but also political frictions between these two countries. The Mexican Conchos river has historically contributed with the highest amount of water to USA as established on the water treaty. A Decision Support System (DSS) was developed for the Conchos basin in order to gain a better understanding of the water resources management process in the basin, and to identify the alternatives to improve the cited process. The DSS is a semi-distributed model, based on System Dynamics, and developed using Powersim software. The DSS has been used to evaluate 25 long and short tem water resources allocation alternatives for the two main basin’s users: Irrigation Districts and Water Treaty. Some of the most important factors being tested on the 25 water management alternatives include National Commission of Water’s yearly water allocation policy, reservoir operation rules, improvement on water distribution efficiencies, etc. The DSS model shows that the historic water resources allocation implemented by the Federal government produces adequate results as compared with the other tested water management alternatives. However, for short term drought scenarios, it is showed that there could be other management alternatives that could perform better than the current water management allocation. In general, the DSS shows what we already expect of dynamic models of systems to provide that understanding the effects of multiple interacting variables in necessary to develop good natural resource management policies.     

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 examines that amendment in the light of sustainable water resources management principles and finds it short of incorporating some of these principles. It gives reasons for this omission and suggests ways of improving the Bill. The article's views differs from those of the Attorney General of Kenya regarding the proposed amendment.