Search

The southern Murray–Darling Basin of Australia has the world’s largest and most sophisticated water markets. However, there has been little study on the drivers of permanent and temporary water market movements within local areas, or the substitution effects between groundwater and surface‐water extraction over time. This topic is important as it is often claimed that water market trade patterns (especially selling large amounts of permanent water) are associated with rural decline. This study uses random‐effects tobit panel models to investigate the association of regional and spatial socio‐economic characteristics with temporary and permanent southern Murray–Darling Basin water market trade, using a broker panel database at postcode level from 2010/11 to 2013/14. Overall, results suggest there is no statistical significant evidence that more disadvantaged communities sold larger amounts of permanent water. Permanent water selling was statistically more likely to be associated with other spatial and land productivity characteristics, while temporary water market trade volumes were more related to water scarcity factors. In addition, there was evidence to suggest a substitution effect between rural areas selling higher volumes of permanent water and using higher volumes of groundwater.

Absolute farm numbers all over the world have been decreasing over time, and in many countries, this is a source of concern for rural communities. In particular, the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) in Australia has faced considerable change in the form of increased temperatures and drought severity, reduced irrigation water diversions, declining real agricultural commodity prices, and declining rural community services. This study applies spatial regression modelling at the regional level to assess the impact of weather, economic, and water factors on net farmer number changes over a 20-year period from 1991 to 2011, with climate risk measured using data from 1961 onwards. Our analysis suggests that the direct drivers of farmer exit in local areas were climatic (e.g. increases in maximum temperature and increased drought risk (through decreased long-term precipitation skewness and increased long-term precipitation kurtosis)) and socio-economic (e.g. decreases in commodity output prices, increased urbanisation and higher unemployment). Contrary to the current narrative, changes in irrigation water diversions and water trade movements had no significant impact on MDB farmer exit.

This chapter introduces water resource allocation and regulation in the Yellow River Basin. The water resources, problems, and their evolution in the river basin are presented. The water resource allocation and changes to the basin plan are analyzed. The water resource regulations at different levels are discussed. At the same time, the water trade, from agricultural savings to industry in the middle reach of the basin, is investigated. The water resource allocation and regulation in the Yellow River Basin is the first modern and most important case of a water rights system in water resources management in China. The allocation target in the Yellow River has changed several times to improve management, from runoff to both surface and groundwater resources, from mainstream to all river basin, and from usage to consumption. At the same time, there have been several technical and managerial linkage issues in the implementation.

Water disputes have been observed to be almost commonplace in developed as well as developing/underdeveloped nations. The history of such problems is in many cases centuries old. Thus, the ...

Banking water in aquifers during wet years for long-term storage then recovering it in drought is an application of managed aquifer recharge (MAR) that minimises evaporation losses. This requires a suitable aquifer for long-term storage of banked water and occasional periods when entitlements to surface water are available and affordable. This has been widely practised in Arizona and California but thus far not in Australia, in spite of severe impacts on agriculture, society, and the environment during recent droughts in the Murray&ndash, Darling Basin. This preliminary study based on a simple area exclusion analysis using six variables, some on a 30 m grid, over the 1 million km2 basin produced a first estimate of the order of 2&ndash, 4 &times, 109 m3 of additional aquifer storage potential in surficial aquifers close to rivers. For 6 of the 23 catchments evaluated, banking capacity exceeded an average water depth of 0.3 m for the irrigated area. At one prospective site in the Macquarie River catchment in New South Wales, water banking operations at various scales were simulated using 55 years of historical monthly hydrologic data, with recharge and recovery triggered by dam storage levels. This showed that the estimated 300 &times, 106 m3 additional local aquifer capacity could be fully utilised with a recharge and recovery capacity of 6 &times, 106 m3/month, and recharge occurred in 67% of months and recovery in 7% of months. A novel simulation of water banking with recharge and recovery triggered by water trading prices using 11 years of data gave a benefit cost ratio of &asymp, 2 Data showed that water availability for recharge was a tighter constraint on water banking than aquifer storage capacity at this location. The analysis reveals that water banking merits further consideration in the Murray&ndash, Darling Basin. Firstly, management across hydrologically connected systems requires accounting for surface water and groundwater entitlements and allocations at the appropriate scale, as well as developing equitable economic and regulatory arrangements. Of course, site-specific assessment of water availability and hydrogeological suitability would be needed prior to construction of demonstration projects to support full-scale implementation.

International audience; According to French Civil Code, groundwater is considered as a private property. However, after this resource started to be intensively exploited by industries in the 1850's, the State increasingly regulated its use. In 1935, a system of individual access and withdrawal rights, managed by the State, was established to protect deep confined aquifers which were showing signs of overexploitation. This system of use right was later on extended to unconfined shallow aquifers with the 1992 water law, mainly to protect the environment. A new management approach, based on individual volumetric entitlements, was then developed and tested in several French groundwater basins, subsequently obtaining a legal basis in the early 2000's. The 2006 water law constitutes a clear break in French water policy. The system of individual volumetric entitlements managed by the State was cancelled and users asked to form Water Users' Associations at the catchment level. Associations became the recipients of pooled water use entitlements, which they lust, share among their members using rules agreed collectively. Although this reform only applies to the agricultural sector, its represents a clear shift from a private to a common property regime.

The aim of the current study is to investigate the environmental impact of hawking along the Outer Northern Expressway (ONEX), Federal Capital Territory Abuja, Nigeria. The area is located within the FCT Abuja between latitude 8° 25” and 9° 25” North of the Equator and longitude 6° 45” and 7° 45” East of the Greenwich meridian .Data were collected through the use of structured questionnaire and complemented with interview and direct observations.This study also sought information from secondary information including, relevant books, existing literature, and government records etc. data were analyzed using descriptive statistics representing tables, and pie charts. The. Results of findings revealed that 43.75 % of the respondents were male and 56.25% of the respondents were females, and within age bracket of 10 to 40 years with few falling above 40 years old. Most of the hawkers are adjudge as youth, which validates the conclusion of that majority of the people who hawk are illiterates and without any skill. Furthermore, the result revealed that hawking leads to landscape defacement, and environmental pollution as most of the traders indiscriminately disposed of their refuse by burning and dumping in the drainage there by blocking the drainage channels causing flood during rainy season. The study revealed that hawking is part of informal economic sector and has over the years contributed to employment provision and improvement in the livelihood of many, as well as the local economy through social, political, and economic life of Nigerians. Unfortunately, the indiscriminate littering problem and non-biodegradable nature of the refuse resulting from the most items being sold after use are issues of great environmental concern. Concerted efforts are therefore needed by all relevant authorities and stakeholders to regulate and ensure proper application of technology to manage waste from sachet water trade.

This paper estimates the cost of a policy to restrict water trades to mining firms in northern Chile in order to protect riparian ecosystems and indigenous agriculture. In response to the policy, mining firms have developed high-cost desalination and pumping facilities to secure adequate water supplies. We develop a methodology and estimate the cost of market transactions that fail to occur due to the policy. Lost trade surplus is estimated at US$52 million per year. Without trade restrictions, around 86 per cent of the remaining agricultural water in the region would be transferred to mining.

When freshwater resources become scarce there is a trade-off between human resource demands and environmental sustainability. The cost of conserving freshwater ecosystems can potentially be reduced by implementing institutional reforms that endow environmental water managers with a permanent water entitlement and the capacity to store, trade and release water. Australia's Murray Darling Basin Plan (MDBP) includes one of the world's most ambitious programs to recover water for the environment, supported by institutional reforms that allow environmental water managers to operate in water markets. One of the anticipated benefits of the Plan is to improve the health of flood-dependent forests, which are among the most endangered ecosystems globally because of river regulation and land clearance. However, periodic flooding to conserve floodplain ecosystems in the MDB creates losses to riparian landowners such as damage to fencing and temporary loss of access to flooded land. To reduce these losses reservoir operators restrict daily water release volumes. Using a model of optimal water management in Australia's southern MDB we estimate that current reservoir operating restrictions will substantially reduce the ecological benefits of investments made to recover water for the environment. The reduction in benefits is largest if floodplain forests decline rapidly without periodic inundation. In the latter circumstances, ecological losses cannot significantly be reduced by allowing environmental water managers to operate in water markets. Our findings demonstrate that the recovery of large volumes of water for environmental purposes and water market reforms are insufficient for conserving flood-dependent ecosystems without coordination and cooperation among multiple stakeholders responsible for water and land management.

This paper presents an ex-ante policy analysis of the implementation of a publicly run active water bank operating at the basin level designed to temporarily reallocate water resources between farmers considering different scenarios of reduced water availability (cyclical scarcity due to droughts). For this purpose, the Guadalquivir River Basin, located in southern Spain, is used as a case study. Fifteen representative farm types were considered to simulate water trading through public tender for purchasing and selling temporary water rights. The model is built at the basin level to estimate the aggregate demand and supply curves to establish expected exchange prices, volumes of water traded, enhancement in economic efficiency and improvement in rural development as measured by employment generation. The simulation results show that the proposed water bank encourages water transfers from 19% of the total water used in the case of a moderate drought to almost 40% in the case of an extreme drought, significantly reducing the economic and labor demand losses due to water shortages. The public water agency can recover all of the incurred water bank operation costs by implementing a €0.01/m 3 price differential between purchase and sale prices without meaningfully affecting the performance of the water bank. Thus, we conclude that the implementation of this kind of water bank during droughts would be useful in mitigating negative effects of droughts. Thus, policymakers are encouraged to create water banks as an effective instrument to cope with droughts.

The Segura basin in south-eastern Spain is one of the most water-scarce regions in Europe. Its water economy has characteristics that constitute very favourable conditions for water market activity, and there are significant trading opportunities. However, the traded volumes have been rather small even though most of the water market activity in continental Spain is concentrated there. This paper describes the few formal water market experiences in the Segura basin since water trading was legislated on and regulated in 1999. As a result of this analysis, some hypotheses are made regarding the causes of the limited operation of this economic instrument.

Water trading is aimed at allocating abstracted water more fairly amongst stakeholders, however the direct effect this has on the natural flow regime and consequently on freshwater ecosystems has not been investigated in depth. This paper proposes a novel modelling methodology bringing together habitat and water trading numerical models with statistical models to show how water trading may affect three freshwater species: Fish (Salmo Trutta), Macrophytes (Ranunculus Fluitans) and Benthic macroinvertebrates (Ephemeroptera Beraeidae). Results indicated that trading regimes with environmental constraints to protect the environment had little effect on habitat availability however; trading without such requirements had an impact. Lower habitat suitability scores were apparent under the trading scenarios with lower levels of suitable habitat occurring. However putting these results within the context of natural variability, whilst there was a change in habitat availability, this change is within the natural flow/habitat variance and therefore water trading in the studied catchment is unlikely to impact the overall habitat availability.

Farmers as well as rural and urban consumers in India are facing water shortages. There is a need to increase efficiency in the supply and use of water. In this context, we consider the potential of a market in water, for improving water management in a small river basin wherein sixteen villages are the primary beneficiaries of a reservoir on the Varaha River. Using secondary data and observations from a household survey, we estimate the financial implications to farmers of shifting from traditional methods of cultivation, in four different scenarios (shifting to a better technology for cultivation, shifting to a dry land crop, shifting to short term cash crops, or leaving the land fallow). Our model suggests investing in better technology and less water intensive crops would not only benefit the farmers, adding to their income by selling the “saved” water, but also provide a cost efficient alternative water supply option to the government. Given that informal water markets already exist in the study area, formal transactions in water within the ambit of markets will not require a completely new institution and would be a ‘win-win’ situation for both the Government and the participating farmers.

As much as transboundary river basins can be niches for regional cooperation, they could also be causes for interstate water disputes. The risk of water conflict in these river basins is much higher during water scarcity. As a result, establishing a fair and efficient water allocation mechanism is key for the sustainable sharing of these river basins’ water. In this paper, the authors propose a monotonic water allocation mechanism for transboundary river basins under water scarcity by coupling the bankruptcy theory with the Asymmetric Kalai-Smorodinsky bargaining solution concept. The allocation framework takes into account the aspiration water claims of the sharing countries. Additionally, as a case study, the allocation solution was used to allot the contested water of the Nile among the basin countries. For the medium term water demands the framework allocated 61.67%, 89.80%,91.82% and 61.67% of their water claims to Ethiopia, Sudan, Egypt and to the assumed coalition countries on the White Nile referred in this paper as equatorial states (Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, and Democratic Republic of Congo) respectively. On the other hand, for the long term demands, the allocation scheme allocated 63.65%, 69.36%, 71.42% and 60.41% of their water demands to the riparian countries in the same order. In general, the authors hope that the water allocation scheme applied in this article can contribute to the ongoing efforts to design river sharing solutions to river sharing problems in transboundary river basins by understanding the strategic interaction among riparian countries.

In many arid and semiarid areas, as is the case of south-eastern Spain and the Canary Islands, water is scarce but highly demanded for irrigation of cash crop and for supply to urban and tourist areas. Generally, water quantity dominates over water quality issues. Surface water resources are scarce. So, in south-eastern Spain, out of the area of influence of the permanent Segura River, and in the Canary Islands, groundwater is often the main or the only reliable natural water resource. As a consequence, aquifers are often intensively exploited and some of them subjected to continuous depletion of their reserves (groundwater mining). In south-eastern Spain, the cumulative groundwater reserve depletion is about 15 km3. In Gran Canaria and Tenerife Islands it is about 2 km3. The current rate of depletion is 0.3 to 0.4 km3/year. Although obtaining groundwater is expensive, in most cases it is still cheaper than desalinated and/or reclaimed waste water made available at the place of use when full costs are considered. Environmental damage is not evaluated. Groundwater intensive use and mining have been and still are the drivers of economic and social development. According to European and Spanish legal regulations, the current situation is not acceptable. To address problems, good governance and a change in the water use paradigm are needed. Solutions depend largely on controlling water use and on demand management. As this is administratively difficult and politically unpalatable, most action is currently directed to increase the public offer of water through import from outside—if it is possible—seawater desalination and wastewater reuse, but at subsidized prices (tariffs). This is economically, politically and environmentally questionable, and an economic distortion which delays the change, deters private investment in groundwater, and needs continuous public funding. In the case of the Canary Islands, this also disturbs groundwater markets. What is presented also happens in other world areas. It is not new and does not involve research but summarizes a long and documented experience and solution attempts that are of relevance to evaluate and address problems elsewhere.

This article studies how urbanization processes and associated rural-urban water transfers in the Lima region (Peru) create water control hierarchies that align the municipal drinking water company, hydropower plants and rural communities on unequal positions. By scrutinizing the history of water transfers and hydropower development in the Lima region, the paper shows how imaginaries about the superiority of engineering, the need to generate electricity for national development, the backwardness of the ‘land of lagoons’ where water is diverted from, and about wished-for water abundance in Lima, all became manifested in hydraulic megaprojects. More than technical means to supply water to Lima City, these hydraulic grids, supported by legal, institutional and financial governance techniques; produce diverging material, social-symbolic and political effects for rural and urban water users. While the established system means water control and access for hydropower and drinking water companies, it implies dependence and/or exclusion from the benefits for rural communities. More specifically and beyond questions of outright water grabbing, perceived injustices involve the distribution of water-related benefits, loss of autonomy, and the socio-environmental impacts of territorial transformations.

We analyse coalition stability in a game with a spatial structure. We consider a set of agents located along a river who abstract scarce water for their own benefit. Agents may enter an agreement to mutually acknowledge property rights in river water as a prerequisite for water trade. We find that the potential benefits of water trade may not be sufficient to make all agents in the river cooperate and sign an agreement. Specifically, a complete market for river water may not emerge if there are four or more agents along the river. This result is driven by the spatial structure of our game, in which water that is to be delivered to a downstream coalition member via the territory of an intermediate singleton can be seized.

South Australia is the driest state in the driest inhabited country in the world, Australia. Consequently, water is one of South Australia's highest priorities. Focus on water research and sources of water in the state became more critical during the Millenium drought that occurred between 1997 and 2011. In response to increased concern about water sources the South Australian government established The Goyder Institute for Water Research – a partnership between the South Australian State Government, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Flinders University, University of Adelaide and University of South Australia. The Goyder Institute undertakes cutting-edge science to inform the development of innovative integrated water management strategies to ensure South Australia's ongoing water security and enhance the South Australian Government's capacity to develop and deliver science-based policy solutions in water management. This paper focuses on the integrated water resource assessment of the northern Adelaide region, including the key research investments in water and climate, and how this information is being utilised by decision makers in the region.

The role of East, South and Central Asia in the world development is shown. The current per capita availability of water resources is calculated for the countries of the region. It is found that on the whole for the territory under investigation the availability of water resources is more than twice as small as the world’s average indicator and that more than 1.5 billion people live in conditions of water stress and deficit. It is pointed out that by the year 2010 more than 70% of the population lived in conditions of high pressure on water resources, and 225 million people lived under very high and critical water stress conditions. The current pattern of water use in the countries of Asia is calculated, the dominant role of the agrarian sector is identified. An analysis is made of the measures for increasing the water availability level of the population and the economy: an increase in agricultural productivity of water resources, waste water reuse, use of saline waters, and the construction of reservoirs. Attention is given to an active construction of dams by China in the upper reaches of the Mekong which is causing distrust and tension in downstream countries. Statistical data on cooperation and conflicts in international basins of Asia is reported. It is shown that in the 20 th century the basins of the Indus and Ganges rivers experienced the largest number of water conflicts as compared to all the international basins of the world; information regarding an acute struggle for water resources in Central Asia is also provided. It is concluded that in view of an ever increasing deficit of water resources, cooperation is the only alternative for Asian countries.

Intensive exploitation and continuous consumption of groundwater reserves (groundwater mining) have been real facts for decades in arid and semiarid areas. A summary of experience in the hydrogeological, economic, social and ethical consequences of groundwater intensive and mining exploitation in Gran Canaria and Tenerife Islands, in the Canarian Archipelago, is presented. Groundwater abstraction is less than recharge, but a significant outflow of groundwater to the sea cannot be avoided, especially in Tenerife, due to its younger volcanic coastal formations. Consequently, the intensive aquifer groundwater development by means of wells and water galleries (tunnels) has produced a groundwater reserve depletion of about 2km(3). Should current groundwater abstraction cease, the recovery time to close-to-natural conditions is from decades to one century, except in the mid and high elevations of Tenerife, where this recovery is not possible as aquifer formations will remain permanently drained by the numerous long water galleries. The socio-economic circumstances are complex due to a long standing history of water resources exploitation, successive social changes on each island, and well-established groundwater water trading, with complex relationships that affect water governance and the resulting ethical concerns. Gran Canaria and Tenerife are in an advanced groundwater exploitation stage and have a large water demand. They are good examples that allow drawing guidelines to evaluate groundwater development on other small high islands. After presenting the hydrogeological background, the socio-economic results are discussed to derive general knowledge to guide on water governance.

In this paper a multiregional input–output model is proposed and used to estimate time series trends for water use, water footprint and water trade balance. By using data provided by the World Input–Output Database, the water used in production, consumption and trade is quantified for 41 world regions between 1995 and 2008. Results show that global water use grew by 37.3%, with China, India and Brazil contributing most to that increase. China and India, together with the EU-27, were also responsible for the largest water footprint variations. In terms of trade, the EU-27 was the largest water importer and China and India the main water exporters. The results provided in this paper offer an overview of the main countries’ responsibility for the use of water resources. They provide a good starting point for international debates and policies on sustainable water use.

Most of the transboundary river basins are contested due to the overlapping water demands of their riparian countries. Hence, these border crossing river basins are under immense pressure from the rising water demand. Thus, most of these essential fresh water resources could face water bankruptcy scenario in the future. The Nile river basin is one of these contested river basins. The demand for the river’s water is rising rapidly. Research studies indicated that the river basin could become water bankrupt in the near future. In this article the authors applied the classical bankruptcy water allocation rules for allocating the predicted available water of the river basin. In addition, the authors proposed an innovative way of accounting the water contribution of riparian states and also a mechanism for weighing the water deficit allotted to them. Generally, the authors hope that this article shades some light on allocation of water under water scarcity in the Nile river basin and in other border crossing river basins which could help for avoiding water conflicts and ensuring the sustainability of these crucial freshwater resources.

Water is the most important issue drawing the attention of governments and the public in the World today. Historically, 4500 years back, the first war over water was between the public of Lagas and Ulma towns on the banks of river Tigris in Iraq. As per United Nations 180 disputes are reported from 1950 till now at International levels. Many experts have voiced their opinion saying that the next World War will be on the issue of water. Today, in India, a war is raging at the inter -state and district levels on the issue of water. Hence water has become the most important issue of the Indian States, Districts, Taluk and villages as well. Sahyadri hill range, where all the west and east flowing rivers originate is a water blessed region of Peninsular India with almost guaranteed onset of southwest monsoon on the 7th June, with the highest precipitation in 4 months, but still water is the biggest issue in the southern states. During the rainy season all the rivers almost overflow and carry the water and fertile silt to the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal. However, the tributaries to the main rivers of these states will not have even the base flow during summer season and are dry. Reporting of the data base of all basins, sub-basins and microbasins and restoration of water flow in the east and west flowing rivers to enhance water quality, manage riparian zones, improve in-stream habitat ensuring fish passage and bank stabilization are necessary for total water management. Inter river basin management requires co-ordination of water associations within the river basins to undertake inter river basin planning concerning the good ecological and chemical status of west and east flowing rivers of Sahyadri. The thrust on Samse and Sharavathi rivers in Karnataka for generation of power was considered by Sir M. Visveshwaraiah as water was available in abundance at that point of time during the early nineties. In view of lar ge water resources, 80% of hydroelectric power is generated in Kerala and is considered as power surplus state. With the raising of public opinion on sharing of Mahadai, Cauvery and Yettinahole water between coastal and upland regions, river restoration is emer ging as an important approach for addressing water resources issues across the Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Telangana, A.P., Tamil nadu and Kerala which are now considered as part of the ecosystem. The thrust should be, to improve the relationship between rivers and human beings within the larger frame work of biodiversity and human environment. With the growing population there are raising human and animal conflicts, apart from biodiveristy. The potentials and problems of the rivers of Sahyadri in the backdrop of geomorphology of Konkan, Canara and Malbar coast with special reference to total water resources of Peninsular India are presented in this note.

Kenyan river basin governance underwent a pioneering reform in the Water Act of 2002, which established new community water-management institutions. This article focuses on community water projects in the Likii Water Resource Users Association in the Upper Ewaso Ng’iro River basin on Mount Kenya, and the extent to which their features are consistent with Ostrom’s design principles of natural resource management. Although the projects have developed solid institutional structures, pressures such as hydroclimatic change, population growth, and water inequality challenge their ability to manage their water resources. Institutional homogeneity across the different water projects and congruence with the design principles is not necessarily a positive factor. Strong differences in household water flows within and among the projects point to the disconnection between apparently successful institutions and their objectives, such as fair and equitable water allocation.

Water is crucial for sustaining life and development. The Nile river basin is one of the river basins supporting human life since the earliest days of human civilization. Currently, with increasing water demand the river basin is experiencing pressures and the water conflict in the region is deepening. The riparian countries are building and planning various unilateral water use schemes along the river to meet their growing water demand. This paper considering the current and predicted water demands of the riparian countries introduces a new approach that should be taken into consideration in the management of the river basin, i.e., the scenario of water bankruptcy. After a careful analysis of the predicated water availability and demand in the river basin the authors believe that water bankruptcy is inevitable in the river basin. The water allocation and water right determination efforts in the river basin should take account this scenario into consideration. Doing this will assist in avoiding water conflicts in the future and ensure the fairness and sustainability of allocation rules.

This study argues that by mobilising ‘social resources’, communities in water-scarce, semi-arid areas can not only successfully sustain a livelihood, but they can also play an important role in the water budget of their semi-arid regions. The pastoralist communities in the Darfur region of west Sudan utilise the limited volumes of green – root-zone – water in the soil to rear livestock. They have for centuries developed and adopted a very adaptive management system that has enabled them to utilise the green water of the Nile Basin. The embedded green water in livestock totals more than Sudan's annual share – 18.5 km3 – of the Nile River flow allocated to it by the 1959 Nile Waters Agreement. This study has revealed that this embedded ‘virtual water’ amounts to 37.6 km3. Results show that this silent, unrecognised, green water has been providing a solution to the water requirements of the Nile economies. It has been suggested that if Western Sudan's livestock were to be produced using fresh/blue water from the Nile, the national water balance of the Sudan would be very seriously impacted and the economy would be much less secure than it has been for the past half century.

Existing strategies for management of water scarcity in the Middle East and North Africa negotiate a complex system of trade-offs between water, energy, and food production. The effects of rural households' green water management practices on basin-level water, energy, food and carbon stocks and flows are sketched qualitatively in six basin agro-ecosystems. The case for increased strategic support for green agricultural water management practices appears stronger when weighed from the nexus perspective, rather than purely from the point of view of water balance and food production. Trade-offs under critical transitions affecting agricultural water use are explored, and the scope for quantitative monitoring is discussed.

This paper examines the increased demand placed on limited water resources by a rapidly growing tourism sector in Playa Gigante, Nicaragua. Results from field campaigns suggest that recharge of the local aquifer may not meet burgeoning tourism demands for water. This paper also points to initial conflicts over water between locals and tourism operations, which are further complicated by ineffective implementation of national water policies and the common pool nature of groundwater. The conclusion discusses the need for more extensive research and better implementation of water policy through community governance and collaboration.

Charlie Toledo and Patricia Damery discuss Charlie's involvement in the formation of the Watershed Development plan for Napa County in its seminal years, 1992–1995, and more recently, her work on a state advisory board that functions as a consumer oversight of the California Public Utilities Commission. Charlie brings the indigenous wisdom and knowledge of the Native Americans as she discusses current water legislation in California and what is needed to meet the water crisis in California and in the world, viewing water as alive and sacred.

Australia is a dry continent. Its governments initiated a visionary process of water reform in 1994, when water resource management and water supply services began to be progressively separated. The subsequent Intergovernmental Agreement on the National Water Initiative (2004) separated entitlements for water from ownership of land, allowing water to be traded. The agreement provided a nationwide framework for management of water for the environment, agriculture and urban use, including water recycling. Also included was a commitment to full cost recovery. From about 2000, Australia had entered a prolonged period of what came to be known as the “millennium drought”. This encouraged the urgent adoption of alternative water sources and the development of recycled potable water guidelines. However, rains returned to eastern Australia from 2008 and in January 2011, much of it was flooded. After their proving phases were completed, newly-built eastern states desalination plants were put on standby and the Brisbane Advanced Water Treatment Plants were closed without ever having been used for their principal purpose of potable supply. By contrast, Western Australia has remained dry, thought to be early evidence of global warming, with its desalination plants supporting Perth's base water supply. An indirect potable water recycling plant using managed aquifer recharge is being built with wide community acceptance. Nationally, following much of the major water infrastructural investment now seeing little use, attention has turned to economic regulation, the evaluation of those capital investments and their impact on prices and charges to water consumers. It has been argued that insufficient attention was paid earlier to the continuing role, economics, on-going technological resilience and in some cases public acceptance of the water recycling and desalination after the drought abated. After the end of the drought in eastern Australia, national policy priorities have turned elsewhere. Intergovernmental and statutory institutional structures have been abolished. Water policy complacency is evident and reform impetus is at risk of being lost. Water research funds are reducing. Australia must ensure that a long term policy reform commitment is maintained while dealing with immediate, short term issues. Policy-makers and the community must ensure that recycled water and desalination are seen as valuable resources within the framework of the entire hydrological cycle where economically viable – all water is ultimately recycled.

Lebanon is one of the few countries in the Middle East with adequate water. Rainfall is relatively plentiful and the country is blessed by several large rivers. But when the residents of Beirut and its surrounding suburbs turn on their water taps, most of the time, nothing trickles out. In summertime, the water supply can be as little as three hours per day for many households, Government negligence, waste water mismanagement, and sanitations are the most problems of the shortage of water in Lebanon. This paper presents a detailed study of the water situation in Lebanon, as the water shortage is a serious problem that affects the life of Lebanese citizens, presented in this paper a detailed budgeting system for the water in Lebanon by measuring incomes from rains, rivers, snow, outcomes from sanitation, waste water, and mismanagement . This paper depends on secondary data as published reports, statistics, and studies by Lebanese governmental agencies, as well as on the Lebanese water strategic planning program of 2010 of the Ministry of Water and Power that helps define different aspects of this research. This paper focuses on the generation of solutions in the near future and the long term as well, and discusses briefly the Lebanese situation using analyzed data. Moreover, the paper’s outcome is cast into a water budget which gives a future prospect for the water situation in Lebanon, and it indicates ways and means to overcome the water shortage in the country.

This paper uses the water-reallocation scheme created within the National Water Act (1998) to analyze the impacts of water policy on farm livelihoods in South Africa. Based on one of the most water stressed catchments in the country, the Olifants river basin, we provide an integrated modeling approach combining water and agricultural modules to investigate the impacts of compulsory licensing and water market on crop production and investment made to improve water use efficiency. The model maximizes net farm profits and takes into account the characteristics of the agricultural sector in the region in classifying farmers between large-scale (LSFs) and emerging (EFs) groups, according to their land acreage, irrigation efficiency and historical heritage. Compulsory licensing is analyzed through curtailment of water-use rights from large-scale to emerging farmers. The water market is investigated to provide conditions under which farms trade water to complete their irrigation schedules. Our results show that, though compulsory licensing might promote a rise in emerging farmers and a re-balance of past riparian-based water allocation schemes, care should be given to the level of that curtailment rate in order to balance equity measures with efficiency objectives. Indeed, we found that the losses associated with water curtailment for LSFs are not entirely captured by the EFs. Therefore, beyond water policy, there are other factors, which also influence farms’ profits and water use efficiency. The results also demonstrate that a water market provides a good opportunity to increase water use efficiency. The introduction of water market induces LSFs with good water storage facilities a possibility to trade their remaining water-use rights. It also offers EFs an alternative to diversify their water supply sources when they encounter shortfalls in amount of water allocated.

The paper offers analysis of a right to existential use of water resources (public waterways and water recipients) by owners of agricultural law located immediately next to these types of water resources. This right covers the right to drinkable water, livestock drinking water and basic irrigation without a use of special irrigation equipment. The right-holder of the listed types of the use of water resources is different from the right-holder of the general use of water resources. In the earlier case the right-holder is the owner of the riparian agricultural land. The holder of the general right of use may be any person, under equal terms, regardless of whether he owns agricultural or other type of land next to the waterway. The right of the riparian land owners differs from the general right of use because they enjoy priority over the right of use by other persons holding general rights of use over waterways. The water rights of riparian land owners overlaps with the general right of use in that it covers the use of water for existential needs. The rights of the riparian land owner are different from the so called special or commercial use of water resources (use of water and water power for commercial purposes, such as production of electrical power, etc.). The difference is that the rights of the riparian land owners is derived directly from the law, without the need for any action by the state organs (water resource permits) and is free of charge. On the other hand, the right to commercial use of public water resources is always based on water use permits or approvals and concession agreements and is associated with a fee payable to the owners of the public water resource.

Part 1 Implications and resolutions of water resource management issues: introduction, Manas Chatterji the water sector in the Middle-East - potential conflict resolutions, Saul Arlosoroff the hydro-political implications of the Oslo agreements - an Israeli perspective, Martin Sherman water management in the Peoples Republic of China, Weiluo Wang water resources in China's Yellow River delta, Sam Cole managing the Nile River - the role of sub-basin co-operation, Ashok Swain. Part 2 Co-operative opportunities and emerging challenges: sustainability and conflict management-towards a co-operative manual, Keith Akva Lehrer water management in the Ganges-Brahmaputra basin - emerging challenges for the 21st century, Jayanta Bandyopadhyay water resources and environmental management, Mohan Munasinghe some issues related to conflict management of water resources in Nepal, M.M. Sainju environmental and economic conflicts - lessons from Europe, Allain Sallez natural resources, diplomacy and security in east Asia, Nagaharu Hayabusa running out of water, running out of time, Arun P. Elhance changing approaches to water resource management - the case of the British Columbia Gulf Islands, David G. Banks the Narmada Project - patterns of trans-state confrontation, co-operation and conflict management, Pravin Sheth identifying management strategies of common pool regimes - groundwater resources, M. Dinseh Kumar management of water resources through Panchayati Raj institutions - a case study, Jayant Patil management of arsenic contaminated groundwater in the Bengal delta plain, P. Bhattacharya, A.B. Mukherjee water resources and mountain communities, S.K. Mattoo imperative prospects of Indo-Nepal co-operation for the optimum water resources development of the Kosi basin, T. Prasad emerging concepts in ecological humanism, Davarat N. Pathak.

This chapter considers the historical evolution of river management objectives that have led to increased interest in maintaining or restoring environmental water flows. It contrasts the differences in cultural history in the United Kingdom, India, Australia, and Southeast Asia that have led to new requirements for environmental water. In the United Kingdom, historical water demand for industry has largely declined and the priority for water is now given to ecosystem benefits for human well-being, while allowing sufficient abstraction for public supply. In India and Australia, the historical emphasis on expanding agriculture is shifting to new values and needs. Growing recognition of the major religious importance of rivers in India and the linkage of religious values to water has been a significant driver to restore water regimes. In Australia, loss of floodplain forests and bird breeding areas has led to changes of water objectives to restore these habitats. In the Mekong, there is a more immediate connection between environmental water regimes and subsistence of poor people and environmental flow assessments are considering the trade-off principally between fisheries and hydropower expansion. The chapter concludes by drawing together the common themes that define the drivers for environmental water policy.

Summary Chile has a unique geography that provides an extraordinary variety of climatic conditions and availability of water resources. The objective of this manuscript was to describe and analyze the spatial and temporal distribution patterns, as well as the management of water resources, along a country with a narrow distance from the Andes Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. This presents challenges to water governance from data collection and analysis perspectives, and for administration of the resource. The Water Resources Directorate ( Direccion General de Aguas , DGA), is the federal government organization in charge of the water resources of the country. The DGA and other relevant public and private institutions are examined in terms of competition and conflict resolution across different scales and levels of interaction associated with water resources governance. Both monitoring stations (rainfall, streamflow, water quality, groundwater, sediment and snowfall), and the Chilean management and legislation of water resources are also analyzed. Finally, the success (or lack) of the national administration to upgrade its monitoring stations and equalize water resources distribution throughout the country is discussed including the influence of climate change on data collection, and decision making across different scales of water governance.

This paper compares the economic and environmental performance of a share versus a prior allocation system for managing water in Alberta’s South Saskatchewan River Basin. Currently, water is allocated on a priority basis, and moving to a share system would involve significant political and legal challenges. In the absence of water trading, both initial allocation systems result in poor economic outcomes, but the prior allocation performs particularly badly. Efficiency improves with water trading as licensees respond to opportunities to reallocate water to higher value uses. However, under prior allocation, water is more concentrated with senior licensees who capture more of the gains from trade. The share system does not result in improved environmental outcomes. Water trading results in improved instream flows as water is reallocated to upstream municipal uses, which have high return flows. The analysis suggests that improving institutions for trading water will provide better economic outcomes and envir...

On 20 November 2012, Minute 319 of the International Boundary and Water Commission was signed by the commissioners of Mexico and the United States. It establishes measures for binational water management until 2017.This agreement aims to combine the efforts of officials of the two countries to find cooperative mechanisms that address water shortage in the Colorado River basin. The agreement mostly refers to the storage of Mexican water by the Hoover Dam in the United States, which, under the rule of the 1944 Water Treaty, should be suitably managed by the two countries, in view of predicted climate change impacts such as extreme drought and the consequent reduction of water availability at the basin level. This article addresses some likely implications for the signing countries regarding the implementation of measures established in the minute.

Water scarcity presents an obstacle to economic development in the western United States. Water rights markets help improve water allocation, allowing states to derive the highest economic benefit from available resources, and supporting new uses and economic development. However, the implicit (marginal) prices of water rights attributes are uncertain. To address this problem, we apply econometric analysis to a unique dataset to estimate the implicit values that market participants place on the attributes of shares of ditch company water rights in Colorado's South Platte River Basin. Our analysis demonstrates that ditch company share buyers value proximity of water diversion, reliability of water deliveries, and temporal flexibility of water use. To assess reliability we introduce the use of the coefficient of variation to capture, in one variable, the randomness of supply from ditch company shares that are not a single water right, but a portfolio of rights with different appropriation dates. Finally, we test and correct for spatial autocorrelation for the first time in a study of water market prices.

Rivers flow downstream and unidirectionally. However, this fact has not yet been utilized in the institutional design for water trading. By utilizing this characteristic, we first designed a water trading system of “locational water rights.” This new system is able to mitigate the return flow-related and instream flow-related third-party effects of volumetric reliability from water transfers. We provided mathematical proof of its economic efficiency. We then applied this water trading system to the case of the Choushui River basin in Taiwan. In this area, agriculture is highly developed while domestic and industrial water demands have increased rapidly. Using an agent-based model simulation, we estimated the potential economic benefits of implementing the system of locational water rights in the Choushui River basin.

As population and water demand have grown, U.S. cities have responded by expanding their water supplies. This article traces this process over a century for ten U.S. cities. Most of the cities began by providing inexpensive local ground water. As the renewable supply capacity of local sources was exceeded, cities were forced to look further afield to obtain (or purchase) water (e.g., Marion, IL; Greensboro, NC), to access water from Federal projects (Tucson, AZ) or through international or interstate agreements (Waukesha, WI and Virginia Beach, VA), to combine with other localities in large joint projects (Greensboro, NC), or to use eminent domain to annex land for a new reservoir. This last approach has become increasingly limited by environmental statutes. The purchasing of water from other systems (Greensboro, NC) or water rights ( Tucson, AZ), aquifer storage and recovery systems (Tucson, AZ, Wichita, KS), and reclaiming wastewater for use in non-potable landscaping (Alamogordo, NM; Lubbock, TX; Tucson, AZ) are the more expensive options that cities are increasingly utilizing. Desalination represents the end of this process – expensive, but with a potential for enormous supply expansion that exceeds all likely demands. Demand management measures come into play only when the cost of securing additional water begins to exceed the cost of conservation or is induced by law. Reservoirs, well-fields, desalination plants, aquifer storage and recovery systems, and inter-basin water purchases have been abandoned because of the restrictions imposed by environmental laws or because less expensive demand-side options have been identified. The relationship between city size and its progression through these increasingly expensive water supply options is determined by local water resource endowments as determined by legal considerations and its physical geographic setting.

Politics is about access and power, and access to freshwater resources in rural China is complicated and understudied. China's massive size and diverse climate make it hard to generalize about freshwater resources in rural areas of the country. On balance, China is not water-scarce, yet geographic and temporal variations in water availability are dramatic, with China's driest areas receiving far less precipitation than the wettest areas. Rural areas are the locus of competition among freshwater users including agriculture, power companies, industry, households and ecosystems. Additionally, while peasants may hold usage rights (not title) to farmland, it is not a given that they will hold rights to water that will guarantee the productivity of that farmland in areas where precipitation is low. Finally, water quality is, unfortunately, an increasingly important factor affecting the availability of ‘fresh’ water, as is evident in the notion of quality-induced scarcity (shuizhixing queshui). This contribution...

Although the Pacific Northwest is often associated with abundant water and images of wide, salmon-filled rivers, water-related conflicts throughout the region are not uncommon as adequate supplies fall short of increasing demand. This article investigates water stakeholders’ perceptions of local waters and their water-related behaviors within the Willamette watershed of western Oregon. I conducted 25 interviews with key users of the Willamette watershed's water supply. My analyses of these data suggest that stakeholders perceive water as a scarce resource. In addition, the participants indicated strong attachments to local water bodies but demonstrated little incentive in making personal sacrifices to safeguard these “scarce” water supplies. Given that equitable water distribution is a present and growing concern, this case study contributes to a body of knowledge that legitimizes direct experience in shaping resource management, as well as illuminates the complicated relationship between place attachment...

The Arizona Water Settlements Act of 2004 ended nearly four decades of water disputes between the Gila River Indian Community and the state of Arizona. This paper explores the historical background of the Gila River Indian Community and its claim to water rights, the evolution of tribal water rights laws that culminated in the historic settlement, and the consequences of the act on water resource management in the region. It also links the findings from this case to the broader field of indigenous water rights studies from other regions of the world.

This paper examines important associations between environmental values, knowledge, concern and attitudes about water conservation policies in a desert metropolis. Specifically, we consider: (a) the combined influence of environmental value orientation, knowledge of drought conditions and concern about water use on support for water conservation policies; (b) the relative association of each individual variable on policy support; (c) factors explaining support to increase water prices and restrict water use; and (d) associations between socio-demographic factors and water policy support. Based on data from the 2009 Las Vegas Metropolitan Area Social Survey, we find that environmental value orientation, knowledge and concern are all significant predictors of water conservation, but concern stands out as the primary predictor for water policy support. Knowledge of drought conditions is the strongest predictor of support for water price increases, while concern predicts support for water use restrictions. We...

Cities around the world are struggling to access additional water supplies to support their continued growth because their freshwater sources are becoming exhausted. Half of all cities with populations greater than 100,000 are located in water-scarce basins, and in these basins agricultural water consumption accounts for more than 90% of all freshwater depletions. In this paper we review the water development histories of four major cities: Adelaide, Phoenix, San Antonio and San Diego. We identify a similar pattern of water development in these cities, which begins with the exhaustion of local surface and groundwater supplies, continues with importation of water from other basins, and then turns to recycling of wastewater or stormwater, or desalination of either seawater or brackish groundwater. Demand management through water conservation has mitigated, to varying degrees, the timing of water-system expansions and the extent to which cities rely on new sources of supply. This typical water development pattern in cities is undesirable from a sustainability perspective, as it is usually associated with serious ecological and social impacts as well as sub-optimal cost effectiveness. We highlight case examples and opportunities to invest in water conservation measures, particularly through urban–rural partnerships under which cities work with farmers to implement irrigation conservation measures, thereby freeing up water for ecological restoration and use by cities.

In much of the western United States, reducing residential water use is a major source of water conservation, especially as population growth urbanizes agricultural land. Although estimates of the potential of conservation are useful, the experience of Australia provides a realistic target for residential water conservation. Although reliability of urban water use data is often questionable, it is clear that Australians use less water than Californians, with a similar climate, economy, and culture. Per capita usage is compared, and explanations for use differences are offered. If California had the same residential water use rates as Australia, it could have reduced gross urban water use by 2,600 GL (2.1 million acre-feet) in 2009 and potentially saved 1,800 GL (1.5 million acre-feet) for consumptive use by others. DOI: 10.1061/ (ASCE)WR.1943-5452.0000225. © 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers. CE Database subject headings: Water demand; Municipal water; Water use; Pricing; Australia; California. Author keywords: Water demand; Municipal water; Water use; Pricing; Australia; California.

The Guadalupe County Groundwater Conservation District has implemented a 3-dimensional water management solution that allocates pumping rights based on actual volumes in place under a tract. This new regime treats the aquifer as a “constant level lake” where rights holders are awarded the right to a percentage of the inflow (recharge) based on the volume of saturated sands underneath their property. Three-dimensional management can improve Texas groundwater governance by strengthening property rights, promoting conservation, and unlocking economic value by promoting water trading and collateralization. It is also cost-effective and can be rapidly implemented: the Guadalupe County Groundwater Conservation District created its initial 3-dimensional ruleset in approximately 4 months at a cost of roughly $15,000. Larger districts or districts that could not benefit from an existing property parcel map created by an appraisal district would face higher costs. Creating the type of property ownership maps used by local tax appraisal districts can cost as much as $100,000. Yet the intensive property tax regime in Texas means that even the least-populous counties typically already have such information available in digital form. Quantifying the available water volume beneath each property and making pumping rights transferrable between wells profoundly transforms groundwater management and confers clear vested rights to water in place. As such, it can provide economic recourse to smaller water holders even in areas where municipalities and other large pumpers enter the district. In short, this forward-looking, conservation-oriented new ruleset provides a way for Texas groundwater stewards to move past flat surface acreage-based allocations and move into an era where a handful of large pumpers in a district do not erode the property rights of smaller holders. Quantifying water in place involves averaging and making certain approximations and generalizations because of the inevitably complex nature of geologic formations. Over time, groundwater conservation districts and their constituent members will determine how deeply to engage that complexity. The bottom line is that 3-dimensional management offers an exponential degree of improvement over existing Texas groundwater management models. The Guadalupe County Groundwater Conservation District’s ruleset embraces a philosophy of iterative learning and improvement and acknowledges that employing models as tools of governance always involves approximations. It handles this by including the capacity to rapidly update and revise its approach as the district obtains additional data points and insights through operational implementation of its rules., Texas Water Journal, Vol. 7 No. 1 (2016)