scholarly journals Integrated Water Quality Governance and Sectoral Responsibility: The EU Water Framework Directive’s Impact on Agricultural Sector Policies in Norway

Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 2215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sissel Hovik
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Ecological Status ◽  
Management Plan ◽  
Economic Incentives ◽  
Goal Structure ◽  
Agriculture Sector ◽  
The Eu

In accordance with the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD), Norway has made the river basin the basis for coordination of sectoral policies. New units of River Basin Districts and Sub-Districts have been introduced. In each district, the joint water management plan and program of measures is formulated by cross-sector and multi-level networks. This network structure is added to and clearly subordinated to the primary structure following the sectoral principle and hierarchical steering. Therefore, the WFD objectives of good environmental status of all waters must be integrated into the goal structure and policy priorities of different sector authorities and levels of government. This paper examines whether and, if so, how the activities within the secondary structure of water governance influence the policies and practices of the agricultural sector regarding diffuse water pollution mitigation. The analyses of sector policy documents and water management plans reveal that even though the WFD’s aim of good ecological status of water is integrated into the objectives of the agricultural environmental program, only minor changes have been made in instrument targets and settings. Economic incentives and voluntary measures still dominate. This leads to the conclusion that the corporatist governance mode of the agriculture sector dominates the sector’s choice of policy objectives and instruments.

from the plot to the river basin - agrisatwebgis®: a tool for efficient water management

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andres Cuesta ◽  
Carmen Plaza ◽  
María Calera ◽  
Vicente Bodas ◽  
Anna Osann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Continuous Innovation ◽  
La Mancha ◽  
Resolution Level

<p>The rigorous management of water in agriculture must be seen from the point of view of all its actors, covering the information and knowledge needs of each one of them: from supporting the farmer in making irrigation decisions at the foot of the plot, until the collection and management of objective information at the basin level, through planning and control at the level of user communities. Today it is not conceived to address this enormous task without resorting to the available technological arsenal, but to speak of complex technologies is to speak of a high degree of specialization that escapes individual capacities. In this context, successful solutions arise from cooperation between entities of different nature. An example of this is the collaboration between the Remote Sensing Section and GIS of the University of Castilla La Mancha and the company AgriSat Iberia SL, which have created a dynamic of continuous innovation work to, firstly, transfer complex knowledge in format to the farmer of simple services of direct application, later, with the information generated at the intraparcel level, to scale to the level required by the entities or authorities involved in water governance, and finally, to redirect efforts and resources in research, development and innovation from of a better knowledge of their perception, degree of adoption and suggestions for improvement in this regard.</p><p>The last result of this fruitful collaboration has been the development of an application that integrates information on the state of the crops, from satellite images, to predict reliably and at an intraparcel scale (with a resolution level of 100 m<sup>2</sup>) your needs water a week seen. This allows quantifying, at any moment of the crop cycle, its accumulated demand for water, and adding it spatially to the exploitation level, of the irrigation community or of the river basin. From the estimation of the relative photosynthetic activity obtained from the images, it is possible to know the evolution of the crops throughout their growth and development cycle, as well as their spatial variability, in a simple and intuitive way.</p><p>There are three technologies that jointly facilitate this important leap in water management: remote sensing, geographic information systems (GIS), and information and communication technologies (ICT).</p><p>Its online character makes it a service accessible from anywhere with data connection, and in turn makes it a “live” system not only for its capacity for functional expansion but for the possibility of increasing the quantity and quality of the sources of information, allowing access to each new improvement immediately.</p>

scholarly journals Water governance assessment at different scales: a reservoir case study in the Brazilian semiarid region

RBRH ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aline Pessoa Bezerra ◽  
Zédna Mara de Castro Lucena Vieira ◽  
Márcia Maria Rios Ribeiro
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Evaluation Criteria ◽  
Semiarid Region ◽  
Severe Drought ◽  
National Agency ◽  
Brazilian Semiarid ◽  
Oecd Principles ◽  
Policy Alignment

ABSTRACT This article analyses the application of OECD water governance principles to the semiarid region of Brazil. Between 2012 and 2017, the Paraíba River basin (macroscale) and its Epitácio Pessoa reservoir – EPR (microscale) suffered a severe drought. The reservoir came close to collapse in 2017, which led to water use conflicts that were aggravated due to water mismanagement. Four evaluation criteria were considered: policy alignment to the OECD principles, its implementation, on-ground results, and policy impacts. The outcomes indicate water management fragilities, even after 24 years of the Brazilian National Water Resources Policy enactment, and the need for a better water management integration at different scales: National, State, and River Basin. By considering a smaller scale (a basin and its main reservoir), it was possible to observe water governance failures that lead to water crises since the best practices performed by the national agency, at the national scale, have not been verified at the local scale.

Complement or competition in water governance? Analysing two collaborative water management arrangements in one river basin

Water Policy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irina Mancheva
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Collaborative Governance ◽  
Regional Level ◽  
Social Value ◽  
Fish Migration ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Policy Documents ◽  
Feasible Solutions

Abstract This study aims at advancing collaborative governance theory by investigating the interaction between two different collaborative arrangements within the same forested area of high ecological and social value in the Vindel River basin. Semi-structured interviews, policy documents and observations of board meetings were analysed based on analytical typologies of collaborative arrangements to answer the following questions: which factors can explain why a new collaborative arrangement was established within an area where one already existed? In what way do the two arrangements compete with or complement each other? And, to what extent do they address the effects of forestry on water? The analysis shows that a new collaborative arrangement was formed because the existing arrangement did not materialise certain stakeholders' expectations. Moreover, the two collaborative arrangements do not compete but rather complement each other. The newly established organisational/action collaborative arrangement presented those stakeholders most interested in on-the-ground action with the appropriate venue while freeing them from the organisational/policy arrangement that did not match their aims. However, both arrangements experienced power misbalances as certain stakeholders were perceived as having more influence on their agenda. Collaboration at this local-regional level was found to focus on limited problems with concrete and feasible solutions, such as fish migration, rather than on the complex problems with solutions marked by ecological uncertainty and power asymmetries, e.g. diffuse pollution from forestry.

Delineation of groundwater bodies and design of a monitoring network in the Danube Prut and Black Sea River Basin District in Moldova under EUWI+

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Boris Iurciuc ◽  
Andreas Scheidleder ◽  
Franko Humer
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
Black Sea ◽  
Monitoring Network ◽  
River Basin Management ◽  
Management Plan ◽  
Monitoring Design ◽  
Republic Of Moldova ◽  
Management Plans ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Eu

<p>The EU-funded program European Water Initiative Plus for Eastern Partnership Countries (EUWI+), which is the biggest commitment of the EU to the water sector in the EaP countries, helps Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine to bring their legislation closer to EU policy in the field of water management, as identified by the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD), with a main focus on the management of transboundary river basins. It supports the development and implementation of pilot river basin management plans, building on the improved policy framework and ensuring a strong participation of local stakeholders.</p><p>Project funding is provided by the European Commission (DG NEAR), the EU support program for improved cooperation in the eastern EU neighborhood region and the EU Water Initiative Plus (EUWI+). On a national level, financial support comes from the Austrian Development Agency, the Austrian Federal Ministry for Sustainability and Tourism as well as from the French Office International de l’Eau. Up to 2020, management plans for selected river basins and transboundary rivers will be implemented under the leadership of a European project consortium headed by the Environment Agency Austria.</p><p>In the Republic of Moldova the River Basin Management Plan for the Moldovan part of the Danube-Prut and Black Sea River Basin District was elaborated by the Institute of Ecology and Geography in accordance with the WFD and the Water Law of the Republic of Moldova no. 272 of 23.11.2011. This management plan needed a review and update for approval and its implementation into practice.</p><p>The presented study comprises a review and an update of the existing delineation and characterization of groundwater bodies (GWBs) in the Danube-Prut and Black Sea River Basin (DPBSRB) of the Republic of Moldova as well as a review of the current groundwater monitoring design. The GWBs are the management units under the WFD and all further implementation steps (risk and status assessment, programs of measures)which regard to groundwater are linked to these GWBs.</p><p>Extensive information, e.g. on the geological structure, the hydrogeological conditions, lithology, flow directions and the human pressures on the aquifers in the DPBSRB, has been collected, generalized and analyzed. Within the area of the DPBSRB in total eleven GWBs were identified, covering all aquifers which are relevant for all current and future legitimate uses and functions and relevant for groundwater associated or dependent aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems.</p><p>The groundwater monitoring design both for quantity and quality was reviewed including the monitoring network, frequency, parameters, use of monitoring data, responsibilities and data management. Based on that results, concrete improvements of the monitoring network within the EUWI+ project are planned.</p>

Who has to pay for measures in the field of water management? A proposal for applying the polluter pays principle

2009 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 359-365 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Grünebaum ◽  
Heinrich Schweder ◽  
Michael Weyand
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Ecological Status ◽  
Integrative Approach ◽  
Vested Interests ◽  
Financial Expenditure ◽  
Polluter Pays Principle ◽  
Good Ecological Status ◽  
Special Algorithm ◽  
Small Tributary

There is no doubt about the fact that the implementation of the European Water Framework Directive (WFD) and the pursuit of its goal of good ecological status will give rise to measures in different fields of water management. However, a conclusive and transparent method of financing these measures is still missing up to now. Measures in the water management sector are no mere end in themselves; instead, they serve specific ends directed at human activities or they serve general environment objectives. Following the integrative approach of the WFD on looking upon river basins as a whole and its requirement to observe the polluter pays principle, all different groups within a river basin should contribute to the costs according to their cost-bearer roles as polluters, stakeholders with vested interests or beneficiaries via relevant yardsticks. In order to quantify the financial expenditure of each cost bearer, a special algorithm was developed and tested in the river basin of a small tributary of the Ruhr River. It was proved to be generally practicable with regard to its handling and the comprehension of the results. Therefore, the application of a cost bearer system based on the polluter-pays principle and thus in correspondence with the WFD's requirements should appear possible in order to finance future measures.

Benefits of Coordinated Water Resource System Planning in the Cauca-Magdalena River Basin

2018 ◽  
Vol 04 (01) ◽  
pp. 1650034
Author(s):  
Livia Rasche ◽  
Uwe A. Schneider ◽  
Martha Bolívar Lobato ◽  
Ruth Sos Del Diego ◽  
Tobias Stacke
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Water Resource ◽  
Water Availability ◽  
Water Resource Management ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Water Resource System ◽  
Water Shortages ◽  
Magdalena River ◽  
Coordinated Water

The Magdalena watershed in Colombia is the most densely populated and economically important region in the country. While Colombia is generally classified as a water-rich country, it is expected that water shortages will occur in the future without adequate planning and investments in water management infrastructures. Currently, even though all instruments required for an integrated water resource management are present in Colombia, they are employed independently from each other and thus not very efficient. To estimate the potential benefits of a more coordinated water management planning, especially in consideration of projected changes in water availability and demand in the near future, we developed a constrained welfare maximization model of the watershed (CAMARI). We ran the model with three different scenarios of future water availability, based on RCPs 2.6, 4.5 and 6.0, and with two planning modes: coordinated and uncoordinated. The results show that a coordinated planning of investments in water management infrastructures increases welfare by 2–18% over the next century in the Magdalena river basin, which corresponds to average annual savings from US$ 610 million to US$ 6.4 billion. Benefits increase as water availability decreases. Our results also show that water demand from the agricultural sector is projected to rise in future, which further underlines the necessity for robust governance mechanisms to keep conflicts between sectors to a minimum.

Water framework directive implementation in Greece: Introducing participation in water governance - the Case of the Evrotas River Basin management plan

2010 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 336-349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leeda Demetropoulou ◽  
Nikolaos Nikolaidis ◽  
Vasilis Papadoulakis ◽  
Kostas Tsakiris ◽  
Theodore Koussouris ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Framework Directive ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
River Basin Management ◽  
Management Plan ◽  
Basin Management ◽  
River Basin Management Plan

scholarly journals River Restoration and the EU Water Framework Directive

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Water Framework Directive ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Coastal Waters ◽  
River Restoration ◽  
Wild Animal ◽  
Eu Water Framework Directive ◽  
Ecological State ◽  
Ecological Functions ◽  
The Eu

River restoration contributes to overall improvement of the river basin ecological state. Ecologically sound river restoration strives for rehabilitation of the lost ecological functions, contribution to biodiversity, support of the species recovery through wild animal habitats development and improvement of inner and coastal waters quality due to retention of sediments, nutrients and pollutants during the flood periods. Issues of river restoration in Europe, objectives of European Center for River Restoration as well as EU Framework Water Directive influence on water management in Europe has been discussed.

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