Abstract
Participatory water resources management and planning have become a main feature of water governance processes. A review of the evolution of decision support systems for water resources planning and management through today demonstrates that stakeholder participation through science-fed collaborative planning processes is an essential factor for integrative science to be perceived as credible, relevant, transparent, and thus acceptable in the public eye to inform and guide decision making. Two case studies from the American Southwest—the Rio Grande in New Mexico and the San Pedro in Arizona—illustrate how a strong scientific contribution that includes an integrated modeling approach can form the foundation for participatory planning processes and the collaborative development of decision support tools. Based on conflict resolution concepts, this approach will not only lead to agreed-upon management solutions, but also to a well informed and educated stakeholder community in the basin, ensuring a sustainable and resilient water governance system.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
The book Limits to Growth is a good example of this, as it was based on a system dynamics simulation of the Earth’s population growth and resource use (Meadows et al. 1972).
- 2.
This approach has been formulated and described in detail by Wagener et al. (2005) and Liu et al. (2008) based on the experience of the University of Arizona-based National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center SAHRA (Sustainability of semi-Arid Hydrology and Riparian Areas) in conducting integrated multidisciplinary research addressing water management challenges in the U.S. Southwest.
- 3.
The 4th World Water Forum 2006 in Mexico “Local Action for a Global Challenge.”
- 4.
It is common in some U.S. Southwest basins that users hold more water rights than actual water resources available in the basin, which is known as over-allocation of water rights. Adjudication is a legal process to determine the extent and validity of existing water rights.
- 5.
- 6.
Motivated by the 1988 drought, the SVP method initially appeared as the Drought Preparedness Study (Werick and Whipple 1994) with the goal of finding better ways to manage water during drought. Finding that drought responses are primarily behavioral and “their success depends on people understanding their role, and knowing how their actions fit in a larger response,” it states that planning will be much more effective if it benefits from collaboration between government agencies and stakeholders. The method has been adopted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in many conflict resolution efforts in water management regional disputes.
References
Cardwell H, Langsdale S, Stephenson K (2009) The shared vision planning primer: how to incorporate computer-aided dispute resolution in water resources planning. Available in: http://www.sharedvisionplanning.us/resReference.cfm. Accessed September 2013
Chambers R (1994) Participatory rural appraisal (PRA): challenges, potentials and paradigm. World Dev, Elsevier 22(10):1437–1454
Forrester JW (1968) Principles of systems, 2nd edn. Pegasus Communications, Cambridge, MA
Gupta HV, Brookshire DS, Tidwell V et al (2012) Modeling: a basis for linking policy to adaptive water management? In: Brookshire D, Gupta HV, Matthews P (eds) Water policy in New Mexico: addressing the challenge of an uncertain future, RFF Press, Resources for the future book series: Issues in water resources policy series. ISBN 978-1-933115-99-3
Kang DS, Lansey K (2011) Development of a water management DSS for the Upper San Pedro River Basin (in press)
Le Page C, Abrami G, Barreteau O et al (2010) Des modèles pour partager des représentations? In: Etienne M (ed) La modélisation d'accompagnement. Une démarche participative en appui au développement durable, Editions Quæ, pp 71–101
Liu Y, Gupta H, Springer E et al (2008) Linking science with environmental decision making: experiences from an integrated modeling approach to supporting sustainable water resources management. Environ Model Softw 23(7):846–858
Loucks DP, Stedinger JR, Haith DA (1981) Water resource systems planning and analysis. Prentice-Hall. ISBN 0-13-945923-5
Lynam T et al (2002) Adapting science to adaptative managers: spidergrams, belief models, and multiagent systems modeling. Conserv Ecol 5(2):24. Available online: http://www.consecol.org/vol5/iss2/art24
Maass A, Hufschmidt MM, Dorfman R et al (1962) Design of water-resource systems, new techniques for relating economic objectives, engineering analysis, and government planning. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA
Meadows et al (1972) The limits to growth. Universe Books, New York. ISBN 0-87663-165-0
Passell HD, Tidwell V, Conrad SH et al (2003) Cooperative water resources modeling in the Middle Rio Grande Basin, Sandia National Laboratories Internal Report, SAND2003-3653
Pahl-Wostl et al (2007) Social learning and water resources management. Ecol Soc 12(2):5. Available online: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol12/iss2/art5/
Roach J, Tidwell V (2009) A compartmental-spatial system dynamics approach to ground water modeling. Ground Water 47(5):686–698
Serrat-Capdevila A, Valdés JB, González Pérez J et al (2007) Modeling climate change impacts—and uncertainty—on the hydrology of a riparian system: the San Pedro Basin (Arizona/Sonora). J Hydrol 347:48–66
Serrat-Capdevila A, Browning-Aiken A, Lansey K et al (2008) Increasing socio-ecological resilience by placing science at the decision table: the role of the San Pedro Basin Decision Support System Model (Arizona). Ecol Soc 14(1):37. Available in: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol14/iss1/art37/
Tidwell VC, Passell HD, Conrad SH et al (2004) System dynamics modeling for community-based water planning: application to the Middle Rio Grande. Aquat Sci 66:1–16
Wagener T, Liu Y, Gupta HV et al (2005) Multi-resolution integrated assessment modeling for water resources management in arid and semi-arid regions. In: Wagener T, Franks S, Bøgh E et al (eds) Regional hydrologic impacts of climate change impact assessment and decision making, IAHS Redbook Publ. No. 295, pp 265–272
Werick WJ, Whipple W Jr (1994) Managing water for drought. National study of water management during drought. IWR Report 94-NDS-8, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Available in: http://www.iwr.usace.army.mil/docs/iwrreports/94nds8.pdfz
Yalcin Sumer D, Lansey K (2004) Evaluation of conservation measures in the Upper San Pedro Basin. In: Critical transitions in water and environmental resources management, Pcdgs. World Water and Environmental Resources Congress 2004
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Serrat-Capdevila, A., Valdés, J.B., Gupta, H.V., Schneier-Madanes, G. (2014). Water Governance Tools: The Role of Science and Decision Support Systems in Participatory Management. In: Schneier-Madanes, G. (eds) Globalized Water. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7323-3_17
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7323-3_17
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-7322-6
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-7323-3
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)