Suchergebnisse

In the past two decades Australia has shifted from an administrative grants regime for allocating water to a statutory planning regime that shares water between consumptive and environmental use. This was to address problems of overuse of water primarily in the Murray‐Darling Basin. A suite of measures were introduced including institutional reform to set out the roles and responsibilities of those involved in the water industry; commitment to provide cost‐based pricing; trading to allow for transfer of water from low‐value crops to high value uses and water for the environment. The National Water Initiative, 2004 (NWI) is the current blueprint for reform. An independent statutory authority has audited national water reforms finding that measures have been successful in areas such as the introduction of tradable water entitlements. Environmental benefits will take many more years to be gauged, while the effects of climate change have not been consistently reflected in decision‐making. A developmental paradigm continues to dominate policy development for Northern Australia.

Chapter 1. Physical settings and water challenges -- Chapter 2. Water resources management framework -- Chapter 3. Water resources management institutions -- Chapter 4. River basin management -- Chapter 5. Water resources allocation and regulation -- Chapter 6. Water rights system -- Chapter 7. Water pricing -- Chapter 8. Groundwater management -- Chapter 9 Water quality management -- Chapter 10. Recycled water use management -- Chapter 11. The strictest water resources management strategy and three redlines -- Chapter 12 River and lake leadership system -- Chapter 13. Water resources asset management -- Chapter 14. Water resources allocation and regulation in Yellow River basin -- Chapter 15. Agricultural water management in northern China -- Chapter 16 Integrated urban and rural water affair management reform: Shanghai and Beijing -- Chapter 17 -- Environmental flow definition and management: a case study of Jiaojiang River -- Chapter 18. Climate change and water resources -- Chapter 19 Conclusions and outlook.

ABSTRACTAlthough wetlands are referred to in the statement of purpose of the Water Framework Directive and in the objectives for groundwater status. there are few further references to Member States'obligations towards them in the body of the Directive or its annexes. This paper (a) describes wetlands and their functions, and argues that they play an essential role in aquatic systems, (b) explains the place of wetlands within the Directive, and (c) advocates approaches to implementation in the UK which will ensure maximum human and ecological benefit.

Environmental Science and Engineering; Water Policy/Water Governance/Water Management; Geoecology/Natural Processes

Collaborative water governance in Indigenous territories requires the building of a nation-to-nation relationship where different water worldviews and knowledges are acknowledged, valued, and included in water governance. This article presents the Mistawasis Nêhiyawak Honour the Water Governance Framework, an alternative collaborative water governance approach in Saskatchewan, Canada. The Nêhiyawak principles, identity, knowledge, and self-determination are its foundation. Equitable dialogue is the central axis. The framework represents an alternative water governance structure to the current Canadian system that may more effectively respond to the water challenges of this First Nation. This framework supports the appeal from Mistawasis First Nation and other Nations, for the de-construction of hegemonic colonial water governance systems towards the co-construction of shared processes of water participation, decision-making, and responsibility.

This framework describes a potential format for a Guideline (or tool) to help ensure water demand management principles and practice are encapsulated in water resource management and development projects. The starting-point for the guidelines would be the emergence of the growing consensus that Water Demand Management (WDM)is an essential component of sustainable development and environmental protection. The Guidelines would accept the pre-existence of a consensus around the core principles to be applied in water policy and practice and provide users with a strong understanding of the rationale for these. Building on the WDM principles, a checklist approach would be presented under the various principle categories that would alert users to key issues and potential responses when formulating or reviewing project proposals. The final part of the Guideline would provide support information and references to further information. Included as part of this framework are examples of what may be included in the various chapters. It is not intended to be a comprehensive nor final document but merely a skeletal draft to prompt discussion. The work was led by HR Wallingford as part of a Knowledge and Research project(Contract KaR R7135) funded by the British Government's Department for International Development (DFID).

Water markets are increasingly proposed as a demand-management strategy to deal with water scarcity. Water trading arrangements, on their own, are not about setting bio-physical limits to water-use. Nevertheless, water trading that mitigates scarcity constraints can assist regulators of water resources to keep water-use within limits at the lowest possible cost, and may reduce the cost of restoring water system health. While theoretically attractive, many practitioners have, at best, only a limited understanding of the practical usefulness of markets and how they might be most appropriately deployed. Using lessons learned from jurisdictions around the world where water markets have been implemented, this study attempts to fill the existing water market development gap and provide an initial framework (the water market readiness assessment (WMRA)) to describe the policy and administrative conditions/ reforms necessary to enable governments/jurisdictions to develop water trading arrangements that are efficient, equitable and within sustainable limits. Our proposed framework consists of three key steps: 1) an assessment of hydrological and institutional needs; 2) a market evaluation, including assessment of development and implementation issues; and 3) the monitoring, continuous/review and assessment of future needs; with a variety of questions needing assessment at each stage. We apply the framework to three examples: regions in Australia, the United States and Spain. These applications indicate that WMRA can provide key information for water planners to consider on the usefulness of water trading processes to better manage water scarcity; but further practical applications and tests of the framework are required to fully evaluate its effectiveness. ; Sarah Ann Wheeler, Adam Loch, Lin Crase, Mike Young, R. Quentin Grafton