CIVE 5315/5316: Water Resources Management

Introduction to
Integrated Water Resources Management
Dr Mark Trigg
University Academic Fellow
Water Related Risk

Office: 4.10 Civil Engineering

Tel: 0113 343 2265
e-mail: m.trigg@leeds.ac.uk

Lecture Overview

• Water as a resource and key water concepts

• Pressures affecting water resources
• Why is IWRM needed?
• What is IWRM?
• History and Future of IWRM
• IWRM Context for this week’s lectures

• Water cycle basics

Supporting Material

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Supporting Material - WWDR

The United Nations, World Water

Development Reports (WWDR)
An annual and thematic report that focuses on
different strategic water issues each year and aims
to provide decision-makers with the tools to
implement sustainable use of our water resources
Download them here:
http://www.unwater.org/publications/world-water-
development-report/en/

Supporting Material

The United Nations World

Water Development Report 3:
Water in a changing world
Download here:
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0
018/001819/181993e.pdf
Also on VLE

Supporting Material

IWRM specific
Download here:
http://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade
/iwrm.shtml

On VLE is
05_2010_reader_iwrm_eng.pdf
Summarises some of UN Water
reports that are specific to IWRM

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Supporting Material

Global Water Partnership

Access here:
http://www.gwp.org/en/The-
Challenge/What-is-IWRM/
Summarises some of UN Water
reports that are specific to IWRM

GWP was founded in 1996 to foster

integrated water resources
management (IWRM)

Supporting Material

Reading list on Minerva

Water as a Resource and

key water concepts

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Global Water

• 97.4% of the
water on Earth is
saltwater/saline.
• Of the remaining
2.5%, over half
is frozen.
• A mere 0.5% of
the total water is
fresh and easily
accessible for
human and
environmental
needs.

Global Surface Water Distribution

Huge differences in availability in different parts of the world and wide variations in
seasonal and annual precipitation in many places. Freshwater is distributed very
unevenly over the world. Fewer than 10 countries possess 60% of the world’s
available freshwater supply: Brazil, Russia, China, Canada, Indonesia, U.S., India,
Columbia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Global Groundwater Distribution

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Water as a renewable
resource: The Water Cycle

What colour is your water?

• Blue water is liquid water moving above and below the ground and
includes surface water and groundwater. As blue water moves through the
landscape, it can be reused until it reaches the sea.
• Green water is soil moisture generated from rainfall that infiltrates the soil
and is available for uptake by plants and evapotranspiration. Green water is non-
productive if evaporated from soil and open water.
• White water (sometimes considered the non-productive part of green
water) is water that evaporates directly into the atmosphere without having
been used productively and includes losses from open water and soil surfaces.

• Grey water, usually wastewater, may be poor in quality, but usable for
some purposes.
• Black water is so heavily polluted (usually with microbes) as to be harmful
(to humans and ecosystems) or at least economically unusable.

Quality and Quantity are both Important

Three things make water special

1. Fresh water is vital for life.

2. Water is finite, but renewable. Therefore its uses are
subtractable – if you use it for one purpose you
can’t always use it for another.
3. Water is a fugitive resource. It is difficult to work out
where the boundaries are for a stocks and flow
analysis. It is always on the move – “escaping”.

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Uses of water

• Agriculture
• Domestic use in urban centres and in rural areas
• Industrial, institutional and commercial use
• Waste and wastewater disposal
• Energy generation (Cooling, hydropower)
• Fisheries
• The environment (wildlife, nature conservation, etc.)
• Navigation
• Recreation

Uses of water by percent

Uses of water

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Uses from different sources

Water footprint

Your water footprint is the amount of water you

use in and around your home, school or office
throughout the day.

It includes the water you use directly (e.g., from a

tap). It also includes the water it took to produce
the food you eat, the products you buy, the
energy you consume and even the water you save
when you recycle.

You may not drink, feel or see

this virtual (embodied) water,
but it actually makes up the
majority of your water footprint.

Value of water

What do you think water is worth?

• Price of water supply in an urban area?
• Seasonal variation – value variation?
• Is Rainfall free?
• Economic value?

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 Pressures affecting water
resources

Primary ‘drivers’ of the pressures

affecting water systems

• Demographic drivers
• Economic drivers
• Climate change
• Social drivers
• Technological innovation
• Policies and laws
• International conflicts
• Evolution of water use
• Impacts of water use

Demographic drivers

Population growth: The

world’s population is growing
by about 80 million people a
year, implying increased
freshwater demand of about
64 billion cubic metres a year.

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Demographic drivers

Urbanisation:
An estimated 90% of the 3
billion people who are
expected to be added to the
population by 2050 will be in
developing countries, many in
regions where the current
population does not have
sustainable access to safe
drinking water and adequate
sanitation. Many of these
extra people will also live in
urban areas with complex
water management
challenges.

Economic drivers

Developed / Developing countries

Migration: Estimates of potentially

environmentally displaced people
range from 24 million to almost 700
million who could be displaced by
water-related factors, including
development projects designed to
relieve future water availability
stresses. People rely indirectly or
directly on the environment for their
livelihoods.

Economic drivers: Wealth v.

Water consumption

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Economic drivers
Challenges:
Challenges: Globalization is bringing
increasing economic opportunities to
many, while leaving behind some who
need them most: the world’s poorest
people living in the least developed
countries.
1. The first challenge is to shift this
balance so that the less fortunate can
have access to basic products and
services, including sustainable access to
safe drinking water and adequate
sanitation services.
2. A second major challenge is to ensure
that the cumulative action of economic
activities and all other water drivers does
not overwhelm nature’s ability to provide
for human needs.

Water-Food-Energy Nexus

Water-Food-Energy Nexus
Biofuel v. food production

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Global food supply chain and
virtual water

Natural Variability

Natural variability in water supplies. Example, river flow can

vary naturally by 5 or more orders of magnitude. And varies by
season as well as between years. This is why Flow duration
curves use a logarithmic scale.

e.g. Droughts and Floods

Climate Change

There is evidence that the global climate is

changing and that some of the change is
human-induced. The main impacts of
climate change on humans and the
environment occur through water.

Climate change is a fundamental driver of

changes in water resources and an
additional stressor through its effects on
external drivers. Policies and practices for
mitigating climate change or adapting to it
can have impacts on water resources, and
the way we manage water can affect the
climate.

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Cape Town - February 2018

Cape Town
was in the
midst of a
years-long
drought.

Cape Town – February 2018

"Day Zero", the day the city

will turn off the taps is April 16.

Rainy season begins in May

From Feb. 1, Cape Town has

told residents they can use no
more than 60 litres of water a
day in an effort to avoid "Day
Zero“.

To put that in perspective, the

average UK citizen uses an
150 litres of water a day.
If "Day Zero" does arrive, many people
would have to go to collection points
guarded by security forces for a daily
ration of 25 litres.

Cape Town – February 2018

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What about Now?

Summary

While most of the old challenges of water supply, sanitation and

environmental sustainability remain, new challenges such as
adaptation to climate change, rising food and energy prices, and
ageing infrastructure are increasing the complexity and financial
burden of water management. Population growth and rapid
economic development have led to accelerated freshwater
withdrawals.

Why IWRM?

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Why IWRM?

• Fresh water resources are limited;

• Pollution is rendering more of these
resources unfit;
• Competing needs and demands in
society;
• Many citizens do not have access to
sufficient, safe water;
• Demand for more food;
• Control structures can adversely affect
the environment
• Water sources are closely related:
• Groundwater – Surface Water
• Coastal Water – Fresh Water

Water Management

We need to consider many aspects:

• Engineering
• Economic
• Social
• Ecological
• Legal

As with infrastructure management we must consider:

• Planning
• Monitoring
• Operation
• Maintenance

What is IWRM

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IWRM

Integrated management means

that all the different uses of water
resources are considered together
because they are interconnected.

Four dimensions to IWRM

Dimension 1
The water resources, taking the entire hydrological
cycle into account, including stock and flows, as well as
water quantity and water quality; distinguishing, for
example, rainfall, soil moisture, water in rivers, lakes, and
aquifers, in wetlands and estuaries, considering also return
flows etc.

Four dimensions to IWRM

Dimension 2

The water users, all sectoral interests and

stakeholders

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Four dimensions to IWRM
Dimension 3
The spatial dimension, including;

• the spatial distribution of water

resources and uses (e.g. well-
watered upstream watersheds and
arid plains downstream)
• the various spatial scales at which
water is being managed, i.e.
individual user, user groups (e.g.
user boards), watershed,
catchment, (international) basin;
and the institutional arrangements
that exist at these various scales.

Four dimensions to IWRM

Dimension 4

The temporal dimension;

taking into account the
temporal variation in availability
of and demand for water
resources, but also the physical
structures that have been built
to even out fluctuations and to
better match the supply with
demand.

IWRM Summary

Integrated Water Resources Management

seeks to manage water resources in a
comprehensive and holistic way, taking
account of the entire water cycle and the
interests of all water users, while
acknowledging the temporal and spatial
variability in availability and the interactions
with water quality and ecology.

Managing water resources then requires

transparent and participatory decision-
making procedures that carefully weigh
societal objectives and constraints,
integrate these where possible and set
priorities where necessary.

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Principles for water policy

• Equity
• Ecological integrity
• Efficiency
(infrastructure and
institutions)
• This is usually
encapsulated in a
vision for each
country.

Sustainability

Sustainability has different facets:

• Physical sustainability
• Economic sustainability
• Institutional sustainability

Criticisms of IWRM

• IWRM as a concept is ill-defined, and means different things to different

people and audiences. It therefore lacks analytical clarity. People are
therefore tempted to (ab-) use it, and re-frame the things that they used to do
in new ways, but without fundamental change.
• IWRM is the embodiment of a trend for the water sector to claim
uniqueness, and therefore a special institutional space. This has created a
problem of “institutional fit” with other sectors and institutions, and may have
enhanced competition over scarce institutional resources. Overall this may
have decreased the capacity for an integrated approach to water.
• Many developing countries point at the fact that what they need is water
resources development before they can focus on water resources
management – without hardware there is no way that water resources can
be adequately managed.
• The IWRM concept encompasses both hardware and software, but many
donors tend to favour support for soft measures (e.g. institutional
development) compared to hard measures (e.g. infrastructure development).

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 History and future of IWRM

History: from WRD to IWRM

1. Water resources development (1960s-1970s)

• Dominant paradigm: water is a resource to be exploited
• The engineering approach of “predict and provide”
• Emphasis on infrastructure & individual projects
2. Water resources management (1980s-1990s)
• Recognition that water can be ‘overexploited’
• Accounting for ecological and social constraints
• Regional and national planning instead of a project approach
• Demand-side measures come into focus
3. Integrated water resources management (1990s-present)
• Water management embedded in an overall policy for socio-economic
development, physical planning and environmental protection
• Public participation
• Focus on sustainability

Dublin Conference 1992

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UN Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs) 2000-2015
Established in 2000 to put development
at the heart of the global agenda.

Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower
women
Goal 4: Reduce child mortality
Goal 5: Improve maternal health
Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other
diseases
Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability

Target 7.C: Halve, by 2015, the proportion of the population

without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic
sanitation

Sustainable Development Goals

(SDGs) 2015-2030

“By defining our goal more clearly, by making it seem more manageable and less
remote, we can help all people to see it, to draw hope from it and to move
irresistibly towards it.” Kennedy

MDG to SDG and water

In contrast to MDG 7 which focused on improved water supply

and sanitation, the SDGs includes a dedicated goal on water
and sanitation (SDG 6) that sets out to “ensure availability and
sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.”

SDG 6 expands the MDG focus on drinking water and

sanitation to now cover the entire water cycle, including the
management of water, wastewater and ecosystem resources.
With water at the very core of sustainable development, SDG 6
does not only have strong linkages to all of the other SDGs, it
also underpins them; meeting SDG 6 would go a long way
towards achieving much of the 2030 Agenda.
The future of sustainable water
management is in your hands

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SDG Target 6.5

Target 6.5 “By 2030, implement integrated water

resources management at all levels, including through
transboundary cooperation as appropriate”

http://www.unwater.org/sdgs/indicators-and-monitoring/en/

IWRM Context for this

week’s lectures

Stages in IWRM planning and

implementation

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This week

Topics we will cover:

• Water Measurement (Hydrometry)
• Water Management & Regulation
• Urban Water Management
• Water Quality Aspects
• Social and Environment Aspects
• Water Infrastucture
• Technical water tools

Water Cycle Basics

What is Hydrology?
The water cycle

https://water.usgs.gov/edu/watercycle.html

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 Water Sciences
Different parts of water cycle

Water cycle covered by different disciplines:

1. Meteorology - focused on water in the atmosphere
2. Hydrogeology - focused on the groundwater
3. Hydrology – focused on the surface water
e.g. Hydrology is the occurrence and movement of water on,
over and under the surface of the Earth.

Basic Hydrology Concepts

The Catchment
Other names:
An area of land where • Watershed
all surface water (rain & • Drainage basin
snow) converges to a single
point at a lower elevation.
River
catchment
Upstream and Downstream
are used to refer to areas of River
the catchment above and Catchment
outlet
below this point.

http://www.catchmentguidelines.org.mw/

Basic Hydrogeology Concepts

The Aquifer

Water table Rainfall

Unconfined aquifer
Runoff
Recharge
Confined aquifer
Saturated
Unsaturated
Recharge

By © Hans Hillewaert /, Public Domain,

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2152154

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 The Water Balance
What is it?
Uses the principles of conservation of mass in a closed system
General water balance equation is:

𝜟S = + P - R - ET
change in storage = inputs - outputs
Where:
ΔS is the change in storage (in soil or bedrock / groundwater)
P is precipitation
ET is evapotranspiration
R is streamflow
## applies at different scales; catchment, reservoir, soil column etc.

Core Hydrology concepts

Hyetograph and Hydrograph
• Rainfall duration – the length of the
storm event
• Discharge (Flow) duration – the length
of the resulting flow event

• Peak rainfall – highest rainfall during

event
• Peak discharge (Flow) – highest flow
during event
• Peak delay – time between peaks

• Time of concentration – time for last bit

of rain to reach the outlet

• Onset delay (lag) – time between start

of storm event and flow event
• Rising limb – flows increasing
• Recession limb – flows decreasing
Wong & Jim, 2014. Ecological Engineering

Core Hydrology concepts

Processes – catchment shape

Catchment size, shape and

drainage density
• Bigger – more rain can
accumulate over longer
periods, but less sensitive to
localise peak rainfall
• Long & narrow - slow
Flow

accumulation of flow

Time
• Short & well connected –
faster response and higher
peak flow

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 Core Hydrology concepts
Processes – catchment steepness

Catchment steepness, elevation,

location and aspect
• Steepness of land (water runs off
quicker when steeper)
• How high a place is (more
rain/snow in mountains) – also
generally steeper
• Aspect - Facing prevailing storms
or in mountain rain shadow
• Local climate also has strong
influence – e.g. tropics v
temperate

Core Hydrology concepts

Processes – land use

Land use within catchment e.g.

• Urban areas have more paved
areas resulting in more water
running off and at a quicker
Urban
rate
• Grassland or forest - more
Flow

water infiltrates into the soil

Rural i.e. more is stored in the
catchment
Time
• Most catchments a complex
mixture of land use

Core Hydrology concepts

Processes – soils and geology

Similar to land use – the more

impervious the soil and/or
geology the more water runs
off and the quicker it runs off.
e.g. clay & granite are more
impervious than sand & chalk.

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Thank you for your attention

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