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Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM): Beyond the Surface

Explore the concept of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) and its implications for groundwater and surface water resources. This article challenges the notion that IWRM is the sole solution, highlighting the importance of considering nonrenewable groundwater sources and the need for sustainable water management practices. Discover a critical analysis of IWRM and its limitations, along with recommendations for incorporating nonrenewable groundwater into water resource management strategies. Embrace a holistic approach to water management that goes beyond traditional surface water considerations. Learn from experts' insights on navigating the complexities of water resource governance in a changing world.

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Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM): Beyond the Surface

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  1. Groundwater, Surface Water, and IWRM: The Emperor’s New Clothes? Michael E. CampanaPast President, AWRAProfessor of Hydrogeology & Water Resources Management Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, USA Zayandeh-Rud River Basin Roundtable 10-11 Jan 2015 – Isfahan, I.R. of Iran

  2. The Water King’s (Emperor’s • Evil Twin) 3 Commandments! • “A fool and water will go • go the way they are diverted.” • – African proverb • 2) “Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn’t have to do it himself.” • 3) Bottled water = $2 600 • per cubic meter • (see #1)

  3. What is IWRM? Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) is a process which promotes the coordinated development and management of water, land and related resources in order to maximise economic and social welfare in an equitable manner without compromising the sustainability of vital ecosystems and the environment. – Global Water Partnership [http://is.gd/7l3kZD]

  4. The Water King’s (Emperor’s • Evil Twin) New Clothes • Lesson (http://is.gd/REYQQG): • Don’t believe something simply because everyone else does. • ‘To thine own self be true.’

  5. Application to Water Management? -Surface water is not the only ‘game’ in town. Recall – about 95% to 98% of all liquid fresh surface water is below the ground! Groundwater contributes 30-40% of USA perennial streamflow (baseflow) - Groundwater and surface water management must be integrated - IWRM is a useful process but it is not the only ‘game’ in town (Giordano & Shah, 2014) - IWRM might not be the only or best way to manage groundwater (heresy!)

  6. Juggernaut? 'From IWRM Back to Integrated Water Resources Management’ paper by Mark Giordano & Tushaar Shah (2014) (http://is.gd/CpBt1h) An IWRM juggernaut? “IWRM has now become an end in itself, in some cases undermining functioning water management systems, in others setting back needed water reform agendas, and in yet others becoming a tool to mask other agendas.”

  7. IWRM and Groundwater • IWRM – key aspects: • Sustainability • Watershed is often used as the ‘management unit’ • Groundwater: • Sustainably pumped? Water budget myth? • Boundaries? • Nonrenewability – an issue

  8. Groundwatershed and Surface Watershed BoundariesOften Do Not Correspond(thanks to Todd Jarvis)

  9. Nonrenewable Groundwater • Limited replenishment (recharge) • Limited replenishment, large • storage (stocks v. flows) • Replenished, but over long time • scales • Water is mined (abstraction > R) • Polluted • ‘Decoupled’ from hydrologic cycle • (‘fossil water’)

  10. My Take - Groundwater • Use of the watershed scale and sustainability requirement could preclude inclusion of nonrenewable groundwater in IWRM. • As water resources become further stressed by climate change, population growth, etc., nonrenewable groundwater will become more important as a water source, if only as a buffer or temporary supply. • Recommendation:Need to consider NR GW as a component of IWRM and devise ways to manage it, perhaps in conjunction with Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR).

  11. My Take - IWRM You can certainly (and should) support and practice integrated water resources management without buying into the IWRM juggernaut. If you want to call what you do IWRM, I don't have a problem with that. To me, IWRM is an abbreviation describing a process.   I like how Giordano and Shah conclude their paper: "As Elinor Ostrom and her colleagues concluded a decade ago: (1) there is no one best system for governing water resources; and (2) many more viable options exist for resource management than envisioned in much of the policy literature (Ostrom, Stern, & Dietz, 2003). We need to put the problems first and then work to find pragmatic solutions, whether they use IWRM principles or not." - Mark Giordano and Tushaar Shah

  12. Thank You!aquadoc@oregonstate.edu WaterWired blog: http://www.waterwired.org Twitter: http://twitter.com/waterwired “No policy without a calamity.”– Dutch saying “We learn nothing from history except that we learn nothing from history.”– Cicero “We do learn from history, but we forget.”- Unknown “The road to help is paved with good intentions.” - Tracy Baker Thank you, Mary Frances!

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