Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
States, and southern Europe. Flooding is regularly experienced in the Grand
River Canada, the southern Scottish town of Peebles (Figures 1.10 and 1.11
in colour plates), and Tisza river basin in Hungary, among many others.
Flooding impacts range from inconvenience to destruction of property and
infrastructure at great cost to individuals and governments, through to deaths
in highly populated areas such as Bangladesh, and even Beijing in July 2012.
Despite some progress, neither OECD or non-OECD countries have fully
integrated climate adaptation into domestic water policy frameworks (Gurría
2009).
The relationship between water and other sectors affects levels of uncer-
tainty and water security. Land uses including vegetation clearing affect
quality and quantity of run-off, but time frame and severity of impacts
are difficult to predict. Likewise the impact of changes in biodiversity on
ecosystem services, and then on human well-being are difficult to quantify
and predict. Using biofuels to deliver 5-6 per cent of total energy production
would double water withdrawals for agriculture (Gurría 2009). This may be
greater than can be sustained and still deliver food security and potable water.
Likewise calculations about construction parameters, capacity, and safety
of water storages are all affected by the limitations of hydrological models
(Fiedler and Doll 2007).
Risk and vulnerability need to be taken into account in any water resource
planning process, as well as exploration of possible impacts. Typical of natural resource
management challenges are uncertainties around quantification and relationship
between cause and effect. Exploring a range of future scenarios can help avoid surprises
and provide consideration of contingencies. Ongoing adaptive management is needed,
requiring effective monitoring and evaluation of the effectiveness and efficiency of
management practices as well as the changing situation.
Conflict due to inequitable distribution of costs and benefits
A key driver for a fair process for water resource planning is conflict or
potential for conflict. This may occur due to high competition for increas-
ingly scarce water resources. Conflict is often generated through perceptions
of lack of procedural fairness and distributional equity. In some cases, physical
and economic water scarcity around benefits accruing to some at the expense
of others, create a venue for winners and losers, and inequitable distribution
of costs and benefits. This can easily be the case due to the physical location
on a watershed upstream or downstream. It can also occur in cross-boundary
watersheds, where jurisdictions have a prime responsibility to service their
own population, at the expense of a neighbouring one.
Many cases have been documented where people or groups of influence or
areas of high priority to government have gained a distributional advantage,
due to the goal of promoting economic development or a sometimes poorly-
defined 'public benefit'. The legitimacy of such decisions is often supported
by governments for a number of reasons:
