DEVELOPING CONCEPTUAL MODELS FOR IMPLEMENTING INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT (IWRM)

1. DEVELOPING CONCEPTUAL MODELS FOR IMPLEMENTING INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT (IWRM) Gerald Sehlke, PhD Idaho Falls, Idaho, USA

2. Definition of IWRM (GWP 2000) A processwhich 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.

3. AWRA Board Policy - IWRM The American Water Resources Association recommends that water management goals, policies, programs, and plans be organized around the concept of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), the coordinated planning, development, protection, and management of water, land and related resources in a manner that fosters sustainable economic activity, improves or sustains environmental quality, ensures public health and safety, and provides for the sustainability of communities and ecosystems. The American Water Resources Association calls on policy makers, planners and managers at national, tribal, interstate, state and local levels to encourage collaborations, policies, programs and plans that embrace Integrated Water Resources Management.

4. Critiques of IWRM • While many people and organizations are proponents of IWRM, others have been rather skeptical about the practicality of implementing IWRM (e.g., Biswas, 2008, 2004, and 2001). • One of his major criticisms is that IWRM concepts and goals are overly broad and the most commonly used definition of IWRM (GWP 2000) is too vague.

5. AWRA Case Studies • In 2012, AWRA’s Policy Committee published: “Case Studies in Integrated Water Resources Management: From Local Stewardship to National Vision.” • This study reviewed seven water resources projects in the U.S., at the statewide (e.g., California and Oregon), large river basin (e.g., Delaware River and Minnesota River Basins) and smaller river basin (e.g., Rio Grande River, St. Johns, and Yakama River Basins) to show how IWRM or IWRM-like principles and theories may translate into on-the-ground implementation.

6. Map of Case Studies

7. Case Study Results • Each of these studies showed some aspects of IWRM, but none implemented all aspects I would expect in a comprehensive IWRM project • The study stated in part that: • Implementation of IWRM has been hindered by the lack of a consistent definition that can be made operational with measurable criteria; • Real-life political, social, and physical factors also make IWRM difficult to achieve in practice; • More focus is needed to refine IWRM concepts through research and quantifying the results of IWRM projects.

8. How Can We Better Design IWRM? • Rather than developing a new/different definitions, we need to develop a better conceptual model of IWRM • We need to develop a conceptual model of what a baseline IWRM program should contain and what it should look like on the ground. • We need conceptual models that are flexible enough to recognize and incorporate different local, regional and national needs, opportunities and constraints, and to be implementable at different scales (e.g., watersheds versus basins).

9. Conceptual Models • Conceptual models are needed to help us better visualize, plan, monitor, and manage hydrologically interconnected waters, related resources and their associated data/information. • Conceptual models should be designed to: • Help stimulate decision makers, managers, researchers, and water users to better understand, manage and govern our water resources in a more holistic, systematic, and integrated manner. • Include all pertinent basin-specific hydrologic cycle information, the factors that can impact the cycle, the full suite of human and environmental needs, activities and impacts, and their interrelationships… to the extent we can and to the extent it is needed to meet our goals

10. Generalized Conceptual Models Review Available Data/Information Assess Area of Interest Note Data/ Information Gaps Developing a Conceptual Model Collect New Data/Information Formulate Questions Compile Anthropogenic/ Environmental Needs Learn from Stakeholders Evaluate Water User Competition/Cooperation

11. Integrated Water Resources Management Conceptual Models • IWRM conceptual models are developed in a similar manner, except they should: • Be broader in nature and more integrative • Integrate our knowledge of the hydrologic, physical, social, economic, legal, and environmental aspects and issues within the area of interest more fully than historical management approaches • Be designed and implemented within “competent hydrologic units” (e.g., a basin)

12. Competent Hydrologic Units • Agenda 21 states: • “Integrated water resources management, including the integration of land- and water-related aspects, should be carried out at the level of the catchment, basin or sub-basin” (18.9) • Ideally, IWRM should be conducted in “competent hydrologic units,” defined here as: • “The full geographic extent of a hydrologically-distinct surface water unit and its hydrologically-distinct and interconnected groundwater unit, within a specified geographic area of interest”

13. Competent Hydrologic Units - Upper Snake River Basin, Idaho

14. Integrate Pertinent Information – Recognize Related Information

15. IWRM Conceptual Model

16. Basin Inputs and Outputs

17. Generalized Storage and Flow Through Competent Hydrologic Units

18. Physical Constraints

19. Physical Constraints • Depending on the seasonal and annual precipitation and surface-water and groundwater flow patterns, water may not be available in where it is needed in sufficient quantities to meet the needs of all needs. • Poor water quality should also be considered a physical constraint. • These factors may make large quantities of water naturally available in some areas and scarce in other areas within a hydrologic unit.

20. Socioeconomic, Legal and Environmental Constraints

21. Socioeconomic Constraints • Social issues such as community preferences, historical practices and norms, and community and political issues can greatly affect whether a given region will be predominately pro-development or protective of the environment. • Public acceptance and the buy-in of the appropriate stakeholders are and should be vitally important to shaping the development and management of water resources.

22. Legal Constraints • Many legal instruments have been developed over time including state and federal water quality and water appropriation policies and laws such as international treaties, interstate compacts, environmental laws, and Indian treaties. • Generally, these legal instruments have been developed with the intent of providing some semblance of predictability and control of water and water-related resources.

23. Environmental Constraints • What constitutes an “environmental constraint” can be interpreted in several ways. For example: • Environmental constraints may be thought of as the physical limitations of environment to provide resources for development (e.g., limited ecosystem services); • They can be thought of as a point at which they threaten a cherished ecosystem or population; or • They can be thought of as a point at which the environmental impacts associated with water resources development exceed regulatory or other standards; hence, development may be limited or curtailed.

24. Water Acquisition and Use

25. IWRM Conceptual Model

26. Conjunctive Administration, Eastern Snake River Plain

27. Source Water and Flood Assessments, Big Lost River, Idaho

28. Bear River Basin Systems Dynamic Conceptual Model Sehlke, G. and J.J. Jacobson, (2005). System Dynamics Modeling of Transboundary Systems: the Bear River Basin Model. Ground Water: Theme Issue, Transboundary Ground Water; Volume 43, Number 5, pp 645 - 764. National Ground Water Association, Westerville, OH

29. Water Availability, Use and Cost in the Western United States Tidwell, et al, 2014. Mapping Water Availability, Projected Use and Cost in the Western United States, Environmental Research Letters, Vol. 9, No. 6, June 2014.

30. Summary • The overall goal of IWRM is to improve our understanding, management and governance of water resources by implementing a more holistic, systematic, and integrated system than historical management approaches • We need to design conceptual models that help us better visualize, plan, and monitor our resources and those issues/activities that affect them or are affected by them • We need to capture, display and link all the significant “pieces and parts” of a water-management puzzle together in one place to ground a shared understanding of hydrologically interconnected water resources, and other resources of interest (e.g., land, ecosystems) • By doing so we can better frame our knowledge, better contemplate the whole integrated picture, and thereby improve management and governance within “competent hydrologic units” of interest

31. Thanks for Your Time and Attention!