1 / 34

Water Allocation, Management and Policy in the USA: The Good, The Bad

This article discusses integrated water resources management (IWRM) in the USA, including its benefits, challenges, and future prospects. It examines real examples of IWRM implementation and highlights the governance and management focus, emerging contaminants, funding shortfalls, and infrastructure issues.

kathlyn
Download Presentation

Water Allocation, Management and Policy in the USA: The Good, The Bad

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Water Allocation, Management and Policy in the USA: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly - Part 2Ministry of Water Resources Beijing, PRC 17 September 2019 Michael E. CampanaTechnical Director, AWRA Steering Committee, Global Water Partnership Oregon State Univ, USA www.waterwired.org

  2. Talk Organization – Part 2 • Management/IWRM • Examples of IWRM • DRBC, FLWMDs • IWRM – Pros, Cons, Future • USA Water Policy • The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

  3. Water Management in the USAMoving toward Integrated Water Resources Management(IWRM)Sometimes branded as One Water or OWOW (One Water One Watershed)

  4. What is IWRM? 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. – Global Water Partnership [http://is.gd/7l3kZD] Origin: Dublin Principles in 1992 [http://bit.ly/1jRB7EO]

  5. Operational Concept Operationally, IWRM approaches* involve applying knowledge from various disciplines as well as insights from diverse stakeholders to devise and implement efficient, equitable and sustainable solutions to water and development problems (GWP 2000; http://www.gwp.org/) [*Others: One Water; One Water One Watershed (OWOW)]

  6. Some IWRM Examples (??) “In the West, when you touch water, you touch everything.” – Wayne N. Aspinall

  7. Early US Approaches to IWRM • T • Tennessee Valley Authority • J John Wesley Powell: • arid states = watersheds

  8. Extreme Powell #1- IWRM United States of Watersheds • See: http://wapo.st/1W2mfoo

  9. Extreme Powell #2- IWRM United States of Watersheds • See: http://bit.ly/1LGA19J • (paper by Jerry Kauffman)

  10. Some Real IWRM Examples “In the West, when you touch water, you touch everything.” – Wayne N. Aspinall

  11. River Basin Commissions • 95% of surface fresh water resources are interstate and governed by interstate water compacts • Created to jointly manage the water resources of a river and/or its watershed • ORSANCO – Ohio River Sanitation Commission • ICPRB – Interstate Commission for the Potomac River Basin • SRBC – Susquehanna River Basin Commission • DRBC – Delaware River Basin Commission

  12. Delaware River Basin

  13. Delaware River Basin Facts • Over 15 million people (about 5% of the U.S. population) rely on the waters of the basin for water supply • Drains 33,800 km² • Daily water withdrawal in the DRB = 8.7 BGD

  14. Delaware River Port Complex - Large Fresh Water Port (Philadelphia/Camden, NJ)

  15. Why was the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) Created? • Water supply shortages and disputes over the apportionment of the basin’s waters; • Severe pollution in the Delaware River and its major tributaries; and • Serious flooding.

  16. Delaware River Basin Commission

  17. WMDs’ Areas of Responsibility

  18. Recent Events - 1 • Central Florida Water Initiative. Three WMDs working collaboratively with each other & utilities to address problems. http://cfwiwater.com

  19. SJRWMD and SRWMD working collaboratively to address groundwater pumping from Floridan aquifer and possible springflow reduction. Recent Events - 2

  20. IWRM – Pros, Cons, Future • “We learn nothing from history except that we learn nothing from history.”– Cicero

  21. IWRM: Cons & Issues • Can get expensive and time-consuming fast • Many different disciplines often required • Sometimes can be too‘all-inclusive’ • Training programs scarce • Vague – unsure exactly what it is, acceptance not universal • Metrics, monitoring & evaluation • Funders may balk at expense and detail required • Beware! The ‘Dogs of Benefit-Cost Analysis’ bit.ly/1Ngb6qd

  22. Future • Scalability • Apply to basin-specific issues • Conducive to compartmentalization • Resilience • Applications to climate-sensitive regions • More groundwater applications • More sophisticated modeling • More training programs, including games • Develop/improve metrics, monitoring & evauation • Improve communication with funders, regulators, stakeholders, public, professionals, etc., so as to promote acceptance

  23. USA Water Policy • “The road to help is paved with good intentions.” - Tracy Baker

  24. “The policy of the USA is to have no water policy.” - Dr. Gerry Galloway

  25. The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

  26. Governance/Management FocusBottom-Up Approach • State & Local Governments • Citizen Science • Technological Advances • Students, Underrepresented Groups • Federal Employees

  27. Emerging ContaminantsFunding Shortfalls • Conflict • Lack of Trust in Science

  28. the ugly

  29. Infrastructure • States’ Lack of Water Data • Climate Change Denial Ignorance of Groundwater Federal Government • Dismantling of Regulations • Land-Water Integration

  30. Thank You! aquadoc@oregonstate.edu; aquadoc@awra.orgBlog: http://www.waterwired.orgTwitter: @WaterWiredLinkedIn

More Related