How Principles Of Integrated Water Resource Management Can Help The World

Water is highly precious for all living beings in this world. Mankind without the required amount of freshwater cannot have a healthy and prosperous living.

Nearly 70 per cent of freshwater is used in the agricultural sector, 20 per cent in the industrial sector and the rest 10 per cent is available for drinking and other domestic purposes. In the world, only a fraction of one per cent of water is available as fresh water and the rest is unused and salty in nature. This is present in seas and in a frozen condition in glaciers and polar regions.

Further, freshwater is unevenly distributed in the world. Many countries including India, are in a water-stressed region. At present, nearly one-third of the population on the earth does not get sufficient water for drinking and other domestic purposes.

In addition to this, a large amount of water in rivers and other wetlands gets polluted by releasing solid waste and untreated waste water of industries and urban sewage. In view of this, it is necessary to manage fresh usable water resources in an integrated manner involving all the stakeholders particularly in a water-stressed region like
India.

The definition of Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM), which is internationally accepted is a “process which promotes the coordinated development and management of water, land and related resources to maximise the resultant economic and social welfare in an equitable manner without compromising the sustainability of vital ecosystem”.

The principles regarding integrated water resource management which have been formulated in the International Conference on Water and Environment Management in Dublin in 1992, had been adopted at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. These principles are referred to as the Dublin – Rio Principles and should be the basis for IWRM.

Principle  I:  Water as a finite and vulnerable resource
Water is required for various purposes, functions and services. Therefore, its management has to involve consideration of demands placed on the resource and threats to it. The notion that freshwater is a finite resource arises as to the hydrological cycle on average yields a finite quantity of water for the time period and this can not be altered significantly by any human actions.

The freshwater resource should be regarded as a natural resource that needs to be maintained to ensure that the desired services it provides are sustained. Human beings can affect the productivity of water resources. They can also reduce the availability and quality of water by actions such as harnessing groundwater in excess, polluting surface as well as groundwater and changing land use like deforestation and urbanisation.

It has to be recognised that the value or welfare derived from water resources, will vary with the uses to which the assets come out. The effect of human activities led to the need for recognition of linkages between the off-stream and downstream users of water. For example, off-stream users must recognise the legitimate demands of downstream users and also take care that excessive consumption or pollution would deprive the downstream users of their legitimate share of the resource. Therefore, there should be an understanding between the two concerned authorities of both regions.

Holistic management of water not only involves management of natural systems but also necessities co-ordination between the range of human activities which create the demand for water, determine land uses and generate water-borne waste products. The policy-making for the management of water should be done by involving concerned organisations at all levels that are from national ministries to local government or community-based institutions. There is also a need for taking into consideration water cost and sustainability when making production and consumption choices.

Principle II: Participatory approach
Water is a resource in which every section of society, even individuals are stakeholders. Real participation is possible when stakeholders are part of the decision making process. This can occur directly when local communities come together to make water supply, management and choices for different applications. Participation also occurs if democratically elected or other similar agencies can represent stakeholder groups.

Participation requires that the stakeholders at all levels of the social structure have an impact on decisions at different levels of water management. A participatory approach is the only means for achieving long-lasting consensus and common agreement. To achieve this, stakeholders and concerned officials in water management agencies have to recognise that the sustainability of water is the major problem and all the concerned parties are going to have to sacrifice some desires for the common good.

The government at the national, state and local levels should take the responsibility for making effective participation possible. This involves the creation of a mechanism for stakeholders, consultation at all spatial scales and community levels.

For creating a participatory mechanism an example is given for clarity. The state of Guna Juato, Mexico, has created a groundwater technical committee in which different water users and government officials gather to seek solutions to the problems of water misuse and distribution. It is also a forum through which water users and authorities have direct channels of communications from top to bottom and vice versa. This has enabled the possibility of implementing several regulatory decisions by consensus.

Principle III: The role of women
In Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM), special efforts have to be made to ensure women participation at all levels and also in decision making. Women play a key role in the collection and safeguarding of water for domestic as well as agricultural purposes, which constitute about 80 per cent of the total water consumed by human beings.

It may be mentioned here that, in India, in most cases, women are taken for granted and they are least consulted for management of this vital resource. It is very essential to involve women at every level to ensure their increasing role in decision making and widening the spectrum of activities through which women can fully participate in IWRM. There is also a need for taking into consideration water cost and sustainability when making production and consumption choices.

Principle IV:  Water as an economic good
In some developing countries like India, water is still viewed as a free material.
People carelessly use water and in some cases waste more. India, being a water-stressed region, water should be considered a valuable natural resource. To extract maximum benefits, there is a need to change the perception about water values and to recognise the opportunity-cost concept. United Nations has recognised water as an economic and social resource.

To avoid confusion between value and charges, there is a need to distinguish between the two. The value of water in alternative uses is important for rational allocation of water as a scarce resource, whether by regulatory or economic means.

Charging for water is applying an economic instrument towards conservation and efficient water usage, to provide incentives for demand, management, ensure cost recovery and signal consumers’ willingness to pay for additional investments in water services.

The full value of water consists of economic value and intrinsic value. The full cost of providing water includes full economic cost and environmental externalities associated with public health and ecosystem maintenance. The full economic cost consists of the full supply cost due to resource management, operating and maintenance expenditure and capital charges,

While implementing the above programmes, it is necessary to give due importance to solving problems related to supply the required amount of freshwater to increasing population, climate change, irregularities in rainfalls, the disappearance of wetlands and forests, unscientific method of transportation of water and wasting a huge quantity of water in the present irrigation system.

Along with framing and properly implementing the IWRM, it is essential to bring awareness amongst all sections of people in the following areas:

(a) The importance of pure water for healthy living, (b) avoiding pollution of water bodies due to dumping of solid wastes and releasing untreated sewage and industrial wastewater, (c) developing more wetlands like tanks and ponds and harvesting rainwater in these instead of releasing most of it to sea through rivers, (d) recharging aquifers to increase groundwater resource (e) plantation of trees in large numbers particularly in catchment areas of rivers, (f) adopting drip and sprinkle irrigation
system instead of the present system where a lot of water is wasted, (g) industries releasing wastewater to water bodies after proper treatment, (h) drinking of freshwater after necessary treatment and (i) avoiding wastage of water at any stage.

India is in a water-stressed region of the world. The situation is getting worse in recent years due to climate change and the increasing population. The annual per capita availability of water in India was 6008 cubic meters when the country achieved independence in 1947 and it came down drastically in the next 50 years to about 2260 cubic metres in 1997 and now it is only 1800 cubic metres. If no serious efforts are made in harvesting rainwater, developing wetlands, preventing water pollution and managing the water resource scientifically, it is estimated that the availability of water per capita will fall only to 750 cum per capita by the next 50 years.

Unless appropriate measures are taken to increase freshwater resources, the country will head towards a disastrous situation.