Geoscience Reference
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has undoubtedly declined, and the variety of
threats to rivers has increased, as populations
grow, and demands for water use increase. This
chapter will not catalogue the threats to rivers,
which are reviewed comprehensively elsewhere.
Instead, it concentrates on the direction that river
conservation has taken over the past 20 years, and
in particular examines the issue of environmental
flows for rivers - the water required to maintain the
ecosystem components, processes and functions on
which people depend - using this as a successful
example of the application of IWRM.
developing an effective and practicable legislative
framework.
Clear and effective institutional
roles and
capacity,
including
informed
stakeholder
participation.
Developing a sound understanding and
monitoring system of the components, processes
and functions of natural water systems, so as to be
able to manage them within sustainable limits.
Lenton and Muller (2009) make two important
points in their introductory chapter: successful
IWRM projects adopt an integrated approach in
order to address specific development problems;
they never have an integrated approach as
their principal objective. The process of water
management does not have an endpoint; it has
to respond continually to new challenges and
opportunities.
The central theme of Lenton and Muller (2009)
is a series of case studies from around the world,
which they consider in order to demonstrate the
success of IWRM. On closer examination, the case
studies reveal a very mixed bag of results. One
successful example is the case of the Sukhomajri
village in north-west India (Lenton and Walkuski,
2009). The village is situated in a small-scale sub-
basin in the Shiwalik foothills of the Himalayas,
with streams feeding into the Sukha Lake which
feeds the Haryana State capital of Chandigarh.
A limited number of stakeholders have been
able to negotiate win-wins for economic growth,
agriculture, equitable water allocation and the
environment over the past 30 years. Improved
access to water for all stakeholders provided an
increase in livelihoods and profits from irrigated
agriculture, and provided a series of incentives
to protect environmental resources by improving
soil and water conservation. A consensus emerged
among villagers to graze animals outside the
catchment. Members of the water user's association
agreed to sign a legally binding document which
formalized water allocation and grazing rights,
providing a clear framework which has prevented
conflict over the long term. Attempting to build
on this success at the larger scale, by extending
the process to other basins, has not been
so straightforward, at least in part (according
to Lenton and Walkuski, 2009) because the
The development and
application of IWRM
Formally, the concept of Integrated Water Resource
Management (IWRM) emerged as part of a package
of approaches designed to achieve sustainable
development that was adopted by the 1992
United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development (UNCED) (Lenton and Muller, 2009).
Best articulated in Chapter 18 of Agenda 21
at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, it
promotes the use of resources to support social
equity, economic development and environmental
sustainability. IWRM is a framework for holistic
water management, integrating all the uses with
the long-term protection of the resource in
a manner that recognizes the unitary nature
and interconnectedness of the hydrological cycle,
and the effect that different land-uses have on
that cycle. It is clear that IWRM is not a
uniform blueprint for water management, and is
viewed in relation to the social and economic
challenges, the water resource endowments,
levels of infrastructure and the legal and policy
institutions of different countries. There are,
however, some general principles of good practice
that are common to all (modified from Lenton and
Muller, 2009):
Sound investment in infrastructure, to store,
abstract, convey, and protect surface water and
groundwater.
A strong enabling environment - setting
integrated goals for water use and protection,
