Guidelines For Conducting Water Resources Assessment

The growing need for a sustainable supply of clean water for domestic use, agriculture and industry calls for a wider prospective view of the quantity, quality and availability of water resources, and thus for improved methodologies. This publication serves as a methodological guide for undertaking water resources assessment studies in a wide range of hydrological conditions.

The growing need for a sustainable supply of clean water for domestic use, agriculture and industry calls for a wider prospective view of the quantity, quality and availability of water resources, and thus for improved methodologies. This publication serves as a methodological guide for undertaking water resources assessment studies in a wide range of hydrological conditions.

The Second Edition of the Price of Water expands on the coverage of the first edition and ambitiously develops the theme of the proper management of river basins, both with respect to the control of rivers’ water quality and the defence of their quantitative flows from source to sea. Using the hydrosocial balance concept of the first edition, and the grand theory of catchment water deficits, a remarkable breakthrough is made in understanding how river flows are destroyed by human society. Drawing on extensive empirical research into the Kafue River Basin and the Thames River Basin, it is shown that the exhaustion of river flows that we see on a world-wide scale can be explained by just five measurable ‘drivers’ to basin surplus and basin deficit. Moreover, by specifying the key drivers and measuring their value, the basis is provided for economic, engineering and land management strategies that will reverse river basin destruction. Bringing together 20 papers previously published in refereed journals, The Price of Water provides information that many readers would not otherwise have been able to access to through their professional and academic libraries. The scope of the book is broad, dealing with a diverse range of subjects such as regional and catchment planning and integrated water resources management. Topics considered include: both water quantities and qualities drought management the "virtual water" controversy farmers water-rights the economic demand for water the design of abstraction charges the cost and use of irrigation water the design of effluent charges the "willingness-to-pay" methodology catchment water deficits water resource impacts of new property construction water leakage impact on river basins managing water quality within EC directives.

Setting the scene with a thorough introduction to water resource issues, Water Privatisation critically examines the new role played by Trans-National Corporations in managing and distributing water worldwide.Written from an organisational and institutional perspective, the authors propose new structures of water management at local, national and i

Limited access to water is a key reason why millions of poor farmers struggle to grow enough food and marketable crops to improve their lives. Public sector agencies, civil society organizations and donors seeking to improve small-scale farmers’ access to water resources face limited data on the location and accessibility of water resources. This paper addresses this gap by providing a tested method to assess water resources that small-scale farmers can access affordably and sustainably. This paper also supports the selection of appropriate water access and application technologies for available water resources. The method described is rapid and relatively inexpensive; it uses a phased approach to assess a broad-scale area (e.g., a country or region); and then gathers more information in locations that have higher potential for affordable water access by small-scale farmers.

A preliminary field test was made of the Water Resources Assessment Methodology (WRAM). Intended for use by an interdisciplinary team, WRAM is a systematic approach to assessment of impacts and evaluation of alternatives for water resource programs and projects. This pilot field application of WRAM to the Tensas River Project in eastern Louisiana primarily used existing data. Background of the Tensas River Project is presented as well as a description of the study area and the flood-control alternatives under consideration by the U.S. Army Engineer District, Vicksburg. An interdisciplinary team was formed to conduct the field test. Assessment variables were selected and weighted relative to their importance in assessment and evaluation within each of the four accounts delineated by Principles and Standards: national economic development (NED), environmental quality (EQ), social well-being (SWB), and regional development (RD). The projected effects on each variable were then scaled across alternatives and the without-project condition.