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Continued water scarcity, flooding, pollution and urbanisation, especially in developing countries, have signified the necessity of renewed exploration of the most appropriate approach to water management. This approach should aim to meet the water requirements in the changing world in a sustainable way. Reviewing the different water approaches that have emerged in the developed countries during the last decades suggests that Adaptive Water Management (AWM) could provide a sustainable route to address the existing complex problems of urban water management through the future. The purpose of this study was to determine whether AWM could be applied to Greater Tehran in order to maximise sustainability and deal with the future uncertainties. The AWM characteristics of polycentric governance, institutional flexibility, and public participation were used to assess the adaptability of the existing water management. The research findings showed that, despite the lack of adaptability in the current Greater Tehran water management, there are positive attitudes towards adaptability among water professionals and the public. The research findings emphasised that the AWM application could be promoted by more participation in various levels of institutional structure. This thesis suggests that if the concept of AWM is applied to Iran, it has the potential to have a significant influence in the current/future water management by promoting technical and institutional performances simultaneously.

The Lake Urmia positioned in a closed basin in north-west Iran, positioned at altitude 1250 m above the sea level, and has been rapidly drying since 1990. The lake water level has declined to 1271.58 m in 2008 from the last highest record 1277.80 m in 1994. The lake water volume has fluctuated during the observation period and shows a drop from of 32 to 14.5 million cubic meters, while the lake salinity has increased from 205 to 338 g/l due to the evaporation and water inflow reduction. In the Lake Urmia basin, there has been an increase in public awareness of the possible environmental threat and the unpleasant socio-economical consequences on the region’s inhabitants.  The main aim of this study is to assess the current water use pattern in the Urmia Lake basin system with emphasis on the agricultural sub-system, and to propose adaptive measures and sustainable water management scenarios. The study shows that the main cause for these changes are the diversion of rivers and streams for agricultural irrigation; agriculture is a sector with one of the highest water demands, and frequent drought in early 2000s exacerbated the situation. In addition, a growing population and the increased development of agricultural land has led to an increase in unsustainable practices which have an unpredictable impact on the Lake Urmia ecosystem. This study investigates sustainable water use strategies for Lake Urmia basin, and considers economic and environmental factors, including the loss of valuable ecosystems that highlights social and ethical issues for the current and coming generations.

Many municipalities have established stormwater user fees (SUFs), commonly known as stormwater utilities, to raise revenue for stormwater management programs, however little is known about the trends among the fees currently in existence. This research observes trends in the establishment, type and magnitude of user fees by analyzing location, population density, home value, and establishment for a comprehensive national stormwater user fee database with data for 1,490 user fees. The Equivalent Residential Unit (ERU), a SUF that charges based on impervious area, was the most prevalent fee type in all NOAA Climate regions of the U.S. except the West and West North Central. The Tier system, a SUF that charges differently for properties by defined categories, was the second most prevalent in all regions except the East North Central and West North Central. The ERU was found in larger cities with high population densities whereas flat fees, SUFs that charge a single rate for all properties, were found in smaller towns. Higher home values led to higher monthly fees for 28% of the municipalities analyzed. The Residential Equivalence Factor (REF), a SUF that charges based on runoff produced, was popular in municipalities with higher home values and the flat fee was popular in those with lower home values. The number of SUFs established increased near Phase I MS4 permit and Phase II small MS4 permit deadlines. / Master of Science

Continued water scarcity, flooding, pollution and urbanisation, especially in developing countries, have signified the necessity of renewed exploration of the most appropriate approach to water management. This approach should aim to meet the water requirements in the changing world in a sustainable way. Reviewing the different water approaches that have emerged in the developed countries during the last decades suggests that Adaptive Water Management (AWM) could provide a sustainable route to address the existing complex problems of urban water management through the future. The purpose of this study was to determine whether AWM could be applied to Greater Tehran in order to maximise sustainability and deal with the future uncertainties. The AWM characteristics of polycentric governance, institutional flexibility, and public participation were used to assess the adaptability of the existing water management. The research findings showed that, despite the lack of adaptability in the current Greater Tehran water management, there are positive attitudes towards adaptability among water professionals and the public. The research findings emphasised that the AWM application could be promoted by more participation in various levels of institutional structure. This thesis suggests that if the concept of AWM is applied to Iran, it has the potential to have a significant influence in the current/future water management by promoting technical and institutional performances simultaneously.

Draining the Everglades has been the central issue of southern Florida ever since the state was apnexed by the U.S. in .1845. Not until the twentieth century did water resource managers realize the detrimental repercussions of draining the Everglades. Now, south Florida finds itself in a state of crisis. In the aquifers and Lake Okeechobee water levels have dropped. Nutrient pollution has caused cattails to overrun the saw grass, from which the Everglades get there name. Continued development has placed more strain on the Everglades, and human water uses have often.been put under restraints due to lack of water. In order to understand the political and social priorities that guided the various water management agencies in the Everglades to this state of crisis, this research will review key events throughout the history of the Everglades, specifically analyzing what led to these events and how management reacted to them. This research will then analyze the priorities demonstrated through the various stages of water management in order to determine the presence of underlying social attitudes. Finally, this research will analyze the social attitudes as they pertain to water management in order to determine the presence of governing attitudes and paradigms, as well as implications of current attitudes on the future of the Everglades.

No description available.

Clean water and adequate sanitation are crucial for community development and a reduction of waterborne diseases. Despite this certainty, a viable process for achieving this goal has yet to be formulated. This public health and development problem is not from a lack of hydraulic or biomedical knowledge. Rather, the failure to provide community services and infrastructure is rooted in the dynamic interplay between a hyper formalized public sector bureaucracy and the informal practices of political parties and patron-client relationships. Using qualitative, semi-structured interviews and participant observation, this study undertakes a narrative analysis of three communities and their interactions with political parties and the public sector in Tijuana, Mexico. Bureaucratic incapacity prevents the effective management of water and sanitation planning, programs, and infrastructure development. A sociological analysis of organizations is applied to the policy subsystem involving the persistent prevalence of waterborne diseases. Faced with an unresponsive and inefficient public sector, community groups direct their local development efforts towards political parties and the strategic use of clientelist relationships in order to procure health care services and community infrastructure. The role of community participation, as a means toward local empowerment and political co-option is examined. This study also highlights the need for further research in the areas of public accountability, public vs. private water management, and the role of participation in community development. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

No / Adaptive Water Management (AWM) could provide a sustainable route to address the existing complex problems of urban water management such as continued water shortage and flooding through the future. The AWM application could be a new alternative path in water management especially in developing countries which suffer from common weakening features such as unreliable infrastructure and poor institutional organisations. The AWM distinguishing characteristics such as polycentric governance, organisational flexibility and public participation are considered for feasibility study of the AWM implementation. The paper investigates whether AWM could be applied to a developing-country city in order to deal with future uncertainties of water supply/demand. The required data was collected from the water professionals of Tehran Province Water and Wastewater Company (TPWW Company), which is in charge of water supply and management of 12 million people of the Province. The key elements of AWM performance are transformed to a multi criteria decision model of Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) in order to facilitate quantification of the influence of corresponding qualitative elements derived from semi-structured interviews held in the Company, and for further analysis of urban water managers' views in a structured way. The research findings show that despite the lack of structural adaptability there are positive attitudes towards inter departmental communication and linking to the external decisive actors such as the Company's consumers. As a generalising result, the AWM concept would be applicable to the similar developing-country cities particularly located in the Middle-East region while simultaneously promoting technical and institutional performances.