Integrated Water Resources Management

Term Work Assignment 1
Detail report on Components and approaches of IWRP&M
Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) is a process which promotes the

coordinated development and management of water, land and related resources in order to
maximise economic and social welfare in an equitable manner without compromising the
sustainability of vital ecosystems and the environment.
IWRM helps to protect the world’s environment, foster economic growth and
sustainable agricultural development, promote democratic participation in governance, and
improve human health. Worldwide, water policy and management are beginning to reflect the
fundamentally interconnected nature of hydrological resources, and IWRM is emerging as an
accepted alternative to the sector-by-sector, top-down management style that has dominated in
the past.
The basis of IWRM is that the many different uses of finite water resources are
interdependent. High irrigation demands and polluted drainage flows from agriculture mean
less freshwater for drinking or industrial use, while contaminated municipal and industrial
wastewater pollutes rivers and threatens ecosystems. If water has to be left in a river to protect
fisheries and ecosystems, less can be diverted to grow crops. There are many more examples
of the basic theme that unregulated use of scarce water resources is wasteful and inherently
unsustainable.
The Dublin Principles that were formulated at the United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, provide guidelines for the
implantation of IWRM.
The Dublin Principles
1. Fresh water is a finite and vulnerable resource, essential to sustain life, development
and the environment.
2. Water development and management should be based on a participatory approach,
involving users, planners and policy makers at all levels.
3. Women play a central part in the provision, management and safeguarding of water.
4. Water has an economic value in all its competing uses and should be recognised as an
economic good.
Principal Components of IWRM

The key components of the IWRM process can be further described as follows:
 Managing water resources at the lowest possible level

 Optimising supply
 Managing demand
 Providing equitable access to water resources through participatory and transparent
governance and management
 Establishing improved and integrated policy, regulatory and institutional frameworks
 Utilising an inter-sectoral approach to decision making
 Integrating management means that we receive multiple benefits from a single
intervention.
WATER MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES
A meeting in Dublin in 1992 gave rise to four principles that have been the basis for
much of the subsequent water sector reform.
Principle 1. Fresh water is a finite and vulnerable resource, essential to sustain life,
development and the environment.
The notion that freshwater is a finite resource arises as the hydrological cycle on
average yields a fixed quantity of water per time period. This overall quantity cannot yet be
altered significantly by human actions, though it can be, and frequently is, depleted by man-
made pollution. The freshwater resource is a natural asset that needs to be maintained to ensure
that the desired services it provides are sustained. This principle recognises that water is
required for many different purposes, functions and services; management therefore, has to be
holistic (integrated) and involve consideration of the demands placed on the resource and the
threats to it.
The integrated approach to management of water resources necessitates co-ordination
of the range of human activities which create the demands for water, determine land uses and
generate waterborne waste products. The principle also recognises the catchment area or river
basin as the logical unit for water resources management.
Principle 2. Water development and management should be based on a participatory approach,

involving users, planners and policymakers at all levels.
Water is a subject in which everyone is a stakeholder. Real participation only takes
place when stakeholders are part of the decision-making process. The type of participation will
depend upon the spatial scale relevant to particular water management and investment
decisions. It will be affected too by the nature of the political environment in which such
decisions take place. A participatory approach is the best means for achieving long-lasting
consensus and common agreement.
Participation is about taking responsibility, recognizing the effect of sectoral actions on
other water users and aquatic ecosystems and accepting the need for change to improve the
efficiency of water use and allow the sustainable development of the resource. Participation
does not always achieve consensus, arbitration processes or other conflict resolution
mechanisms also need to be put in place.
Governments have to help create the opportunity and capacity to participate,
particularly among women and other marginalised social groups. It has to be recognised that
simply creating participatory opportunities will do nothing for currently disadvantaged groups
unless their capacity to participate is enhanced. Decentralising decision making to the lowest
appropriate level is one strategy for increasing participation.
Principle 3. Women play a central part in the provision, management and safeguarding of
water.
The pivotal role of women as providers and users of water and guardians of the living
environment has seldom been reflected in institutional arrangements for the development and
management of water resources. It is widely acknowledged that women play a key role in the
collection and safeguarding of water for domestic and – in many cases – agricultural use, but
that they have a much less influential role than men in management, problem analysis and the
decision-making processes related to water resources.
IWRM requires gender awareness. In developing the full and effective participation of
women at all levels of decision-making, consideration has to be given to the way different
societies assign particular social, economic and cultural roles to men and women. There is an
important synergy between gender equity and sustainable water management. Involving men
and women in influential roles at all levels of water management can speed up the achievement
of sustainability; and managing water in an integrated and sustainable way contributes
significantly to gender equity by improving the access of women and men to water and water-
related services to meet their essential needs
Principle 4. Water has an economic value in all its competing uses and should be recognised
as an economic good as well as a social good.
Within this principle, it is vital to recognise first the basic right of all human beings to
have access to clean water and sanitation at an affordable price. Managing water as an
economic good is an important way of achieving social objectives such as efficient and
equitable use, and of encouraging conservation and protection of water resources.
Water has a value as an economic good as well as a social good. Many past failures in water
resources management are attributable to the fact that the full value of water has not been
recognised.
Value and charges are two different things and we have to distinguish clearly between
them. The value of water in alternative uses is important for the rational allocation of water as
a scarce resource, whether by regulatory or economic means.
Charging (or not charging) for water is applying an economic instrument to support
disadvantaged groups, affect behaviour towards conservation and efficient water usage,
provide incentives for demand management, ensure cost recovery and signal consumers’
willingness to pay for additional investments in water services.
Treating water as an economic good is an important means for decision making on the
allocation of water between different water use sectors and between different uses within a
sector. This is particularly important when extending supply is no longer a feasible option.

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Term Work Assignment 1

Detail report on Components and approaches of IWRP&M

Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) is a process which promotes the

Principal Components of IWRM

 Managing water resources at the lowest possible level

WATER MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES

Principle 2. Water development and management should be based on a participatory approach,

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