Preparing National Regulations For Water Resources Management

As the pressure on finite resources of freshwater resources increases, government-administered legislation is taking a more dominant role in water resources management and protection. This manual is intended to bridge the gap between the policy and principles of the resultant primary legislation and implementation through secondary legislation. It covers a variety of legislative approaches cvoering all aspects of water resource management from water rights & permits, pollution prevention & control; conservation; flood control; irrigation; drainage and charging. It is an update of of the earlier FAO Legislative Study No. 52 (1994). Like its predecessor, it provides conceptual material for use in the preparation of national regulations for the management, development, use and protection of freshwater resources.

"The integrated approach used in this book will be beneficial to water industry professionals who need to understand the complex details of today's water resource systems and to deal with the numerous economic, legal, and regulatory factors of importance to both the public and private sectors."--Cover.

This title examines how regulatory frameworks have addressed the various basic issues related to water resources management, and provides a comparative analysis of those issues. It elicits and discusses what it considers are the essential elements for a regulatory framework for water resources management, and identifies some emerging trends.

This book, which was first published in 1992 and then updated in 2007, provides a tool for dealing with the legal and institutional aspects of water resources management within national contexts and at the level of transboundary water resources. Like its two previous editions, it seeks to cover all aspects that need to be known in order to attain good water governance, but it provides updates concerning developments since 2007. These relate, inter alia, to the following: - the “greening” of water law, which calls for the progressive integration of environmental law principles into domestic and international water law; - the adoption, by the International Law Commission in 2008, of the Draft Articles on the Law of Transboundary Aquifers, and subsequent developments; - the emergence of the right to water as a self-standing human right; - the adoption of domestic water laws supporting integrated water resources management (IWRM) and enhanced public participation in planning and decision making; - the integration into these laws of tools facilitating adaptive water management as a response to climate variability and change; - progress in the implementation of EU law; - recent international agreements and judicial decisions; - efforts of regional organizations other than the EU to steer cooperation in the management of transboundary water resources and the harmonization of national laws; - institutional mechanisms for the management of transboundary water resources (surface and underground). Unique in its scope and nature, the book identifies the legal and institutional issues arising in connection with water resources management and provides guidelines for possible solutions in a manner accessible to a wide range of readers. Thus, it is a useful reference for lawyers and non-lawyers — engineers, hydrologists, hydrogeologists, economists, sociologists — dealing with water resources within government institutions, river basin commissions, international organizations, financing institutions and academic institutions, among other things, and also for students of disciplines related to water resources.

Water Resources Management is a component of Encyclopedia of Water Sciences, Engineering and Technology Resources in the global Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), which is an integrated compendium of twenty one Encyclopedias. This 2-volume set contains several chapters, each of size 5000-30000 words, with perspectives, applications and extensive illustrations. It carries state-of-the-art knowledge in the fields of Water Resources Management and presents an integrated water resources management, water and sustainable development, water scarcity, and the more technical aspects of water resources planning. Important issues related to international rivers, the economics of water, and the legal and institutional aspects of water are addressed. And new approaches to water conservation, non-waterborne sanitation, and economic valuation are presented. These two volumes are aimed at the following five major target audiences: University and College Students Educators, Professional Practitioners, Research Personnel and Policy Analysts, Managers, and Decision Makers, NGOs and GOs.

This analysis of the evolution of water politics examines such areas as: water management in the Middle Ages in Europe and its evolution in the USA; the elaboration of the European Water Framework Directive; the British experience of water management; the over-exploitation of African aquifers, and more.

This book provides an insightful and critical assessment of the state of Canadian water governance and policy. It adopts a multidisciplinary variety of perspectives and considers local, basin, provincial and national scales. Canada’s leading authorities from the social sciences, life and natural sciences address pressing water issues in a non-technical language, making them accessible to a wide audience. Even though Canada is seen as a water-rich country, with 7% of the world’s reliable flow of freshwater and many of the world’s largest rivers, the country nevertheless faces a number of significant water-related challenges, stemming in part from supply-demand imbalances but also a range of water quality issues. Against the backdrop of a water policy landscape that has changed significantly in recent years, this book therefore seeks to examine water-related issues that are not only important for the future of Canadian water management but also provide insights into transboundary management, non-market valuation of water, decentralized governance methods, the growing importance of the role of First Nations peoples, and other topics in water management that are vital to many jurisdictions globally. The book also presents forward-looking approaches such as resilience theory and geomatics to shed light on emerging water issues. Researchers, students and those directly involved in the management of Canadian waters will find this book a valuable source of insight. In addition, this book will appeal to policy analysts, people concerned about Canadian water resources specifically as well as global water issues.