Like other scientists, hydrologists encode mathematical formulations that simulate various hydrologic processes as computer programs so that problems with water resource management that would otherwise be manually intractable can be solved efficiently. These computer models are typically developed to answer specific questions within a specific study domain. For example, one computer model may be developed to solve for magnitudes of water flow and water levels in an aquifer while another may be developed to solve for magnitudes of water flow through a water distribution network of pipes and reservoirs. Interactions between different processes are often ignored or are approximated using overly simplistic assumptions. The increasing complexity of the water resources challenges society faces, including stresses from variable climate and land use change, means that some of these models need to be stitched together so that these challenges are not evaluated myopically from the perspective of a single research discipline or study domain. The research in this dissertation presents an investigation of the various approaches and technologies that can be used to support model integration. The research delves into some of the computational challenges associated with model integration and suggests approaches for dealing with these challenges. Finally, it advances new software that provides data structures that water resources modelers are more accustomed to and allows them to take advantage of advanced computing resources for efficient simulations.

<p>Management of water bodies according to their river basinsis becoming increasingly common, as the concept of IntegratedWater Resources Management (IWRM) is getting more and moreacknowl-edged. In Europe, a large portion of these“new”management units will probably be internationalor transboundary. Decisions and policies consideringtransboundary water issues need to be based on reliable andcomprehendible information. In this thesis, a review of variousexisting models that may be used for understanding the role anduse of information in (transboundary) water management ispresented. Further, the thesis reports on an assessment of theinformation management of three transboundary water regimes inEurope, namely the international water commissions for LakeNeusiedl, Lake Constance and Elbe River. Besides examining theinformation management of the regimes as such, the managementwas also related to information needs implied by the IWRMcon-cept and by the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). Thereviewed models and approaches were grouped into threecategories: information management models, information cyclemodels and communication between actors. The first categorycomprised models that may be used for managing and assessingdifferent types of information. The second group dealt withmodels explaining the production and communication ofinformation predominately from an information producer/senderperspective. The third group focused on ideas concerninginteractions and communication of information between differentkinds of actors. The studies on information management intransboundary water regimes showed that the information needsand strategies often were defined primarily with watercommissions’own needs in mind. The data collected by thecommissions were predominated by monitoring data, describingthe status of the environment and the impact caused by humanactivities. Furthermore, any communication of information toother groups of actors was mainly done through passivechannels. The information management in these transboundarywater regimes was not fully in accordance with informationneeds implied by the IWRM concept and the EU WFD.</p><p><b>Keywords:</b>Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM);transboundary water management; information; EU Water FrameworkDirective (WFD); regimes; policy and decision making; LakeNeusiedl; Lake Constance; Elbe River.</p>

The availability and management of water resources is a global issue, this is particularly true in countries with limited water resources, such as Palestine, which falls under the Water Stress Line (1000 m3/person/year)1. Palestine has operated under an -unstable political, economic and social conditions for more than six decades. This uncertainty has resulted in mismanagement, inefficient institutions and the over-xploitation of water resources. The main aim of this study was to produce socioeconomic indicators based on the water tariff structure in order to be pro-poor and to enable water utilities to cope with uncertainties. The study s recommendation is for a flexible, pro-poor and socially acceptable tariff structure have been based on empirical work and socio-economic data which has been collected by rigorous research and reinforced with case studies. Initial results based on a pilot survey showed that there was a 33% increase in the revenue of the water supplier equivalent to 13% of the total water costs and an increase in the number of beneficiaries that paid their bills ranging from 10.5% to 38.6%. If applied at national level, the model application based on current socioeconomic data would have a wide positive socio-economic impact in reducing poverty, financial equality, social security and reduction of the effect of uncertainties. The reform of the existing legal and institution framework are a prerequisite for the application of this kind of model. Institutional and legal reforms coupled with the application of this model, would produce a dynamic water pricing policy as part of the efforts to have an integrated water management and would serve as a tool for the national goal of poverty alleviation and food security.

<p>The questions posed in this study address the different processes that were involved in the decision-making and establishment of the water management organisations, the extent of public participation, as well as features of evident governance in implementing the policies. A critical analysis of the role of stakeholders and the various influences they may have in water management will also be examined. The methodology follows a historical study approach. A thorough document review will be done of the policies and related materials around BMCs, where events will be constructed from the findings. Interviews will be conducted for verification purposes, to verify the desktop findings and to assimilate any conflicts of opinion that might have not been documented.</p>

<p>The questions posed in this study address the different processes that were involved in the decision-making and establishment of the water management organisations, the extent of public participation, as well as features of evident governance in implementing the policies. A critical analysis of the role of stakeholders and the various influences they may have in water management will also be examined. The methodology follows a historical study approach. A thorough document review will be done of the policies and related materials around BMCs, where events will be constructed from the findings. Interviews will be conducted for verification purposes, to verify the desktop findings and to assimilate any conflicts of opinion that might have not been documented.</p>

The Bow River Basin in Southern Alberta is a semi-arid catchment, with surface water provided from the Rocky Mountains. Water resources in this basin, primarily surface water, are allocated to a variety of users- industry, municipalities, agriculture, energy and needs for the environment. The largest consumptive use is by agriculture (80%), and several large dams at the headwaters provide for over 800,000 MWhrs of hydropower. This water is managed by the 1990 Water Act, distributing water via licenses following the “first in time first in right” principle. Currently, the basin is over-allocated, and closed to any new licenses. Conflicts between different water users have consequences for the economy and the environment. By using an integrated water resources model, these conflicts can be further examined and solutions can be investigated and proposed. In this research an integrated water resources model, referred to as Sustainability-oriented Water Allocation Management and Planning Model applied to the Bow Basin (SWAMPB), is developed to emulate Alberta’s Water Resources Management Model (WRMM). While having the same allocation structure as WRMM, SWAMPB instead provides a simulation environment, linking allocation with dynamic irrigation and economic sub-models. SWAMPB is part of a much larger framework, SWAMP, to simulate the water resources systems for the entire South Saskatchewan River Basin (SSRB). SWAMPB integrates economics with a water resources allocation model as well as an irrigation model- all developed using the system dynamics approach. Water is allocated following the allocation structure provided in WRMM, through operation rules of reservoirs and diversions to water users. The irrigation component calculates the water balance of farms, determining the crop water demand and crop yields. An economic valuation is provided for both crops and hydropower generation through the economic component. The structure of SWAMPB is verified through several phases. First, the operation of reservoirs with fixed (known) inflows, and modeled releases, are compared against WRMM for a historical simulation period (1928-2001). Further verifications compare the operation of SWAMPB as a whole without any fixed flows but fixed demands to identify errors in the system water allocation. A final verification then compares both models against historical flows and reservoir levels to assess the validity of each model. SWAMPB, although found to have some minor differences in model structure due to the system dynamics modeling environment, is to be evaluated as an acceptable emulator. SWAMPB is applied to assess a variety of management and policy solutions to mitigating environmental flow deficit. Solutions include increasing irrigation efficiency (S1), requiring more summer release from hydropower reservoirs at the headwaters (S2), a combination of the previous two (S3), implementing the In-Stream Flow Needs (S4) and implementing Water Conservation Objectives (S5). The solutions are not only examined by their ability to restore river flows, but also with respect to the economic consequences and effect on hydropower, irrigation, and municipalities. It is found that the three technical solutions (S1, S2, and S3) provide economic gains and allow more efficient water use, but do little to restore streamflows. Conversely, the two policy solutions (S4 and S5) are more effective at restoring river flow, but have severe consequences on the economy and water availability for irrigation and municipal uses. This analysis does not recommend a particular solution, but provides a quantification of the tradeoffs that can be used by stakeholders to make decisions. Further work on the SWAMP methodology is foreseen, to link SWAMPB with other models, enabling a comprehensive analysis across the entire SSRB.

Water resources management has to deal with complex real life problems under uncertain framework conditions. One possibility for encountering such challenges is integrated water resources management (IWRM). However, IWRM is often understood as prescriptive manual, not acknowledging the need for adaptive solutions and capacity development (CD). These challenges demonstrate that sustainable water resources management requires transdisciplinarity, i.e. the integration of several scientific disciplines, as well as the collaboration between science and local actors. Transdisciplinarity is inherently related to CD since it facilitates collaboration and provides mutual learning and knowledge on complex interrelationships. This correlates with the evidence that CD can be seen as a key factor for water resources management (Alaerts et al. 1991, Alaerts 2009). Consequently, the objective of this thesis is to strengthen water resources management by connecting processes of IWRM and CD in a transdisciplinary sense, i.e. (i) interrelating disciplinary research within an interdisciplinary research team that collaborates with local actors, and (ii) conducting a political process for knowledge and capacity development. Based on general insights, an embedded case study in the Western Bug River Basin, Ukraine, was conducted to evaluate the concept. It is shown that CD is essential for shifting from IWRM theories towards implementation and accordingly advantages of harmonizing CD into the IWRM process are presented (Leidel et al. 2012). Next to capacity issues, also other coordination gaps were assessed. River Basin Organisations are frequently proposed as a response to the administrative gap; however, coordination efforts cannot be simply reduced by transferring tasks from jurisdictional institutions to a river basin authority, because they will always need to coordinate with organizations from within or outside the water sector (von Keitz and Kessler 2008). Thus, coordination mechanisms across the boundaries of relevant policy fields are essential. Therefore, a management framework is established linking technical development and capacity development that describes interrelations between environmental pressures and capacity and information gaps for different levels of water management (Leidel et al. 2014). The developed model-based and capacity-based IWRM framework combines model-based systems analysis and capacity analysis for developing management options that support water management actors. This is aligned with a political process for capacity development. It constitutes a boundary object for approaching cross-scale challenges that converges analyses, assessments and participation into one strategy. As concluded by Mollinga (2008), this can improve the performance of sustainable resources management by approaching transdisciplinarity. Within the model and capacity-based IWRM framework, the results of the integrated analysis are made explicit and transparent by introducing a matrix approach. Technical issues, institutional challenges, organizational and human resources development, and information needs are jointly assessed and interrelated by confronting pressures and coordination gaps on a subsystem basis. Accordingly, the concept supports a transparent decision making process by identifying knowledge and capacities required for the implementation of technical intervention options and vice versa. The method is applied in the International Water Research Alliance Saxony (IWAS) model region ‘Ukraine’. It could be shown that the approach delivers management options that are scientifically credible and also accepted by and relevant for the actors. The case study revealed that technical intervention measures for the urban and rural water management have to be jointly implemented with appropriate CD measures and an accompanying political process on (i) strengthening the institutional framework and interministerial collaboration, (ii) fitting RBM into the existing institutional framework, (iii) setting up prerequisites for realistic RBM (Monitoring, information management, legal enforcement), (iv) a revision of effluent standards and a differentiated levy system, (v) cost covering tariffs, (vi) association work. For the Western Bug River Basin (WBRB), the strengthening of the collaboration between actors on all levels has to be continued. For increasing the usability, the approach needs to be institutionalized and become more practice relevant, e.g. by extending it to a water knowledge management system. Developing a roadmap for establishing transboundary water management is a subsequent step. For strengthening future water management actors, IWRM curricula development at uni-versities in Ukraine was supported. And we developed the e-learning module IWRM-education that links interactively different aspects of water management to comprehend the complexity of IWRM (Leidel et al. 2013). The evaluation showed that participants under-stand the content, appreciate this way of learning, and will use this module for further activities. The case study showed that technical cooperation can be a facilitator for political processes and that it can support decision making in a transparent way. Yet, it also showed that IWRM is highly political process and that the developed approach cannot cover all obstacles. In summary, exploring and reducing simultaneously environmental pressures and capacity and information gaps is essential for water sector evolution worldwide. Accordingly, transdisciplinarity as a means for capacity development can support the implementation of real integrated water resources management.

Submitted by Dilene Paulo (dilene.fatima@ufcg.edu.br) on 2018-03-06T14:54:52Z No. of bitstreams: 1 SUÊNIO ANDERSON FELICIANO DA SILVA – DISSERTAÇÃO PPGECA 2016.pdf: 3921966 bytes, checksum: 53c3555eef829b588ba9d5d3ac4ca044 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-03-06T14:54:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 SUÊNIO ANDERSON FELICIANO DA SILVA – DISSERTAÇÃO PPGECA 2016.pdf: 3921966 bytes, checksum: 53c3555eef829b588ba9d5d3ac4ca044 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-12-07 / No semiárido brasileiro, a situação de escassez hídrica compromete o desenvolvimento econômico e social da região. Assim, torna-se necessário desenvolver ferramentas adequadas para apoiar a tomada de decisão quanto ao uso dos recursos hídricos, de maneira a encontrar alternativas de adaptação da agricultura, principalmente, em perímetros irrigados, às alterações climáticas enfrentadas. Particularmente nos perímetros irrigados criados pelo Departamento Nacional de Obras Contra Seca (DNOCS), torna-se um desafio o uso dos recursos hídricos, em decorrência do descompasso da oferta e demanda de água nestes locais, agravado pela falta de planejamento quanto ao uso destes recursos. Nesse sentido, este trabalho tem como objetivo a utilização do (Processo de Análise Hierárquica) AHP em (Sistema de Informações Geográficas) SIG como ferramenta para auxiliar a tomada de decisão quanto ao uso dos recursos hídricos no perímetro irrigado de Sumé-PB. O diagnóstico qualiquantitativo demonstrou que dos recursos hídricos, o que possui melhor qualidade química e microbiológica corresponde à água superficial, e que, para viabilização integral da irrigação no perímetro são necessárias, no mínimo, duas fontes hídricas como água superficial e subterrânea. A modelagem espacial multicritério demonstrou que dentre os critérios utilizados, o mais restritivo corresponde à qualidade da água, isto é comprovado mediante as faixas de adequação e inadequação obtidas nas alternativas concebidas pelo modelo espacial. A água residuária por revelar uma qualidade inferior em comparação às águas subterrânea e superficial apresentou uma maior faixa de inadequação nas alternativas geradas, considerando pesos semelhantes no processo hierárquico para os critérios técnicos, econômicos e ambientais dentro do modelo para os recursos hídricos estudados. Com base nas alternativas geradas pelo modelo para água superficial e subterrânea, gerou-se um cenário para o gerenciamento integrado dos recursos para uma área irrigável de aproximadamente 118 hectares com água superficial, 112 hectares com água subterrânea e 58 hectares ditos inadequados para o uso de tais recursos. / Water Scarcity disrupts an economic and social development for the whole Brazilian semi-arid region. In order to minimize this problem, suitable decision-making tools can be used for helping on agriculture and climate change adaptations in irrigated crop areas. In the National Department of Works Against Drought (DNOCS) irrigated areas, it becomes a challenge the water management by the irregular proportionality among offer and demand, compounded by a bad water use planning. In this sense, this dissertation proposes an integrated use of (Analytic Hierarchy Process) AHP and (Geographic Information System) GIS tools for helping an integrated water management in Sumé-PB area. Through a qualitative and quantitative analysis, it shows that the surface water source has a better water quality (microbiological and chemical). It also shows for irrigating the whole area it will be necessary at least two different water sources (as surface water and groundwater as well). The spatial multicriteria modeling comes up the water quality as the most restrictive criteria. It can be proofed by the suitability ranges obtained by the alternatives suggested on the spatial modeling. The waste water revealed a low quality comparing with the groundwater and surface water. Using similar weights for hierarchical analysis of all criterion (technical, economic and environmental), the model shows a wide “no suitability” range for waste water sources (reuse). Based on the generated alternatives for surface and groundwater, a scenario was simulated to an integrated water resources management of the crops areas. Results are approximately 118 hectares recommended by the model to be irrigated by surface water, 112 hectares by groundwater and 58 hectares are not appropriate to use any water resources.

Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-10T17:44:34Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Neimar_Afonso_Sornberger.pdf: 2465528 bytes, checksum: a6b61d82b21e105c35d728512b55b37e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-02-25 / Fundação Araucária / This paper aims at discussing about water management in Paraná Basin 3 - BP3, whose focus is on the role of the BP3 Committee, management and conservation of water resources. The interdisciplinary dialogues presented here are guided in the environmental crisis on the perspective of modernity risks and the Science role; the right to an ecologically balanced environment and drinking water and; water management based on the Integrated Management of Water Resources, concerning the nowadays legal framework in Brazil and Paraná State. The overall purpose of this research is to study water resources management within the BP3, from the National Water Resources Policy of 1997 and the BP3 Committee. This is an exploratory study according to its goals, which is also classified as a case study. Data were obtained from questionnaires or semi-structured interviews with members of the BP3 Committee and the representative of the Basin Management BP3 (integrated into the Institute of Paraná waters), in 2014. Its results are analyzed and presented in accordance with the theoretical and methodological assumptions according to Bardin's content analysis (1995) and aim at contributing to further discussions regarding water resources management. In addition, this trial has instigated some reflections recommended by the Post-Graduation Program in Sustainable Rural Development (PPGDRS) at the Western Paraná State University (Unioeste), structured at the Concentration Area of Sustainable Rural Development / Este trabalho discorre sobre a gestão da água no território da Bacia Hidrográfica do Paraná 3 BP3, com enfoque no papel do Comitê da BP3, na gestão e conservação dos recursos hídricos. Os diálogos interdisciplinares aqui apresentados pautam-se na crise ambiental sobre a ótica dos riscos da modernidade e o papel da Ciência; o direito ao meio ambiente ecologicamente equilibrado e à água potável e; a gestão das águas pautada na Gestão Integrada dos Recursos Hídricos, sobre as perspectivas legais em vigor no Brasil e no Estado do Paraná. O objetivo geral desta pesquisa é estudar a gestão dos recursos hídricos no território da BP3, a partir da Política Nacional de Recursos Hídricos de 1997 e do Comitê da BP3. Este é um estudo exploratório de acordo com seus objetivos, classificado como um estudo de caso. Os dados foram obtidos a partir de questionários ou entrevistas semiestruturadas aos integrantes do Comitê da BP3 e ao representante da Gerência de Bacia da BP3 (integrado ao Instituto das Águas do Paraná), no ano de 2014. Os resultados deste trabalho são analisados e apresentados segundo os pressupostos teóricos e metodológicos da análise de conteúdo de Bardin (1995) e buscam contribuir para novas discussões sobre a gestão dos recursos hídricos. Além de instigar reflexões preconizadas pelo Programa de Pós-Graduação em Desenvolvimento Rural Sustentável (PPGDRS) da Universidade Estadual do Oeste do Paraná (Unioeste), enquadrado na Área de Concentração de Desenvolvimento Rural Sustentável

Magister Scientiae (Integrated Water Resource Management) / The questions posed in this study address the different processes that were involved in the decision-making and establishment of the water management organisations, the extent of public participation, as well as features of evident governance in implementing the policies. A critical analysis of the role of stakeholders and the various influences they may have in water management will also be examined. The methodology follows a historical study approach. A thorough document review will be done of the policies and related materials around BMCs, where events will be constructed from the findings. Interviews will be conducted for verification purposes, to verify the desktop findings and to assimilate any conflicts of opinion that might have not been documented. / South Africa