Integrated Water Resources Management: Definitions and Conceptual Musings

Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) is widely endorsed over the alternative, yet a deeper look at what the term means and what it implies has merits This paper derives a working defi nition that emphasizes a unifi ed process directed toward achievement of a common goal. An analysis of U.S. Federal policy, specifi cally that of the Army Corps of Engineers’ Civil Works program, suggests that the common goal for Federal water resources management is sustainable development. We present a framework, using the axes of time, space, institutions, and objectives, for examining the nature and degree of management integration. Finally, we compare this simple derivation to defi nitions of IWRM from various institutions, and touch upon the relationship of the term “watershed approach” to IWRM as used in U. S. Federal agencies. Increasing demands on water resources from growing populations, increased concern for environmental quality, and greater recognition of the interrelationships of competing water resource demands prompted the call for a more comprehensive, coordinated, unifi ed and integrated approach to water resource problem-solving. This approach requires consideration of the interactions among different natural resource elements, such as ecology, hydrology, and geomorphology. among different disciplines, such as economics, engineering, and biology, and among different institutions, including federal, state, and nongovernmental. In the most recent U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Civil Works Strategic Plan, this approach is called Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM). It draws on a long history of conceptual development. Water resources are often public resources in the U.S. where government agencies have long dominated their management. Laws authorizing and regulating water use and management have proliferated due to growing demands on existing supplies. Agency compliance inevitably forces more interaction with other agencies and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), if not more integration of action. Many obstacles impede more effective interaction. Increasing appreciation for the complexity of water resource management systems has been accompanied by increased recognition of inter-organizational collaboration, beyond the minimum required by law, as the key to more effective management, which is increasingly defi ned by a sustainable development goal. With a broadly acceptable goal held in common, this thesis argues that more integrated, collaborative approaches to water resources management will result in more sustainable water resources development because they more completely refl ect societal values and scientifi c knowledge, and focus them on solving complex management problems in a more comprehensively satisfying way. Because future progress depends in part on common understanding of the concept, we revisit different defi nitions of IWRM and propose a simple conceptual framework for consideration.