Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
8 Comparativeassessment
This chapter builds on what has been presented about good water resource
planning processes in the previous chapters. The situational analysis (Chapter
5) establishes the basic hydrologic, ecosystem and socio-economic infor-
mation and identifies risks and opportunities. Objectives are then formulated,
together with a logic frame outlining a hierarchy of outcomes that links
water resource management to broader benefits and beneficiaries (Chapter 6).
Possible actions that could be used to achieve the outcomes are then identified
(Chapter 7), which are grouped in management options and evaluated using
methods and tools described in this chapter so that a set of actions can be
selected.
In accordance with the logic frame for water resource planning (Chapter
3), Chapter 8 therefore demonstrates how to investigate and assess options
for actions, using criteria for evaluating options based on principles for good
water governance (Chapter 2) and agreed outputs and objectives (Chapter
6). It should be acknowledged that an assessment of options may lead to a
re-evaluation of management options and even outputs and objectives, if the
range of options do not, after assessment, appear feasible or are unlikely to
deliver desired results.
The chapter begins with a brief overview of management option devel-
opment, which is a frequently used tool in water resource planning to
establish a range of options based on varying conditions in an uncertain
future.
Water resource models can be used to test how altering management
actions changes the water regime characteristics. The bridge between model
outputs of water regime changes and the effect on ecosystems and commu-
nities of these changes is ecological and socio-economic impact assessment.
Techniques and guidelines for impact assessment are presented. These
techniques should inform trade-offs with transparency and fairness, mitigate
negative impacts (identifying structural adjustment), and minimise conflict.
This relies on adequate ecological, economic and social assessment as well as
solid stakeholder analysis in the beginning of the process.
Tools and techniques for innovative problem solving and making trade-
offs are presented, with a brief discussion on multi-criteria analysis (MCA),
