The conservation of water resources together with environment protection will be a challenge for the European Union within the 21st century. Water management nowadays involves the cooperation of farmers, societies, industry and public administration. The solution based model of water protection in this book describes the creation of local water partnerships by local actors and stakeholders for the management of local water resources. These local water partnerships will enable the integration of the local community to comprehensively solve problems related to water security, while also cooperating with neighbouring partnerships. The local water strategy is based on local needs and priorities with reference to regional, national and global objectives. This strategy also provides for environment and species protection, as envisioned by the New Green Deal and the current EU actions to make the key economic sectors more resistant to climate change. The model for water protection can also be used to reduce the carbon footprint and environmental transformation within Europe.

Better water management will be crucial if we are to meet many of the key challenges of this century - feeding the worlds growing population and reducing poverty, meeting water and sanitation needs, protecting vital ecosystems, all while adapting to climate change. The approach known as Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) is widely recognized as the best way forward, but is poorly understood, even within the water sector. Since a core IWRM principle is that good water management must involve the water users, the understanding and involvement of other sectors is critical for success. There is thus an urgent need for practical guidance, for both water and development professionals, based on real world examples, rather than theoretical constructs. That is what this book provides. Using case studies, the book illustrates how better water management, guided by the IWRM approach, has helped to meet a wide range of sustainable development goals. It does this by considering practical examples, looking at how IWRM has contributed, at different scales, from very local, village-level experiences to reforms at national level and beyond to cases involving trans-boundary river basins. Using these on-the-ground experiences, from both developed and developing countries in five continents, the book provides candid and practical lessons for policy-makers, donors, and water and development practitioners worldwide, looking at how IWRM principles were applied, what worked, and, equally important, what didn‘t work, and why. Published with the Global Water Partnership

If water resources are to be distributed efficiently, equitably and cost-effectively in this rapidly changing world, then it is clear that current water management practices are no longer feasible. Innovative approaches are required to meet the increasing water demands of a growing world population and economy and the needs of the ecosystems supporting them. New approaches have to be employed at global, national and local levels. In Rethinking Water Management, a new generation of water experts from around the world examine the critical challenges confronting the water profession, including rainwater and groundwater management, recycling and reuse, water rights, transboundary access to water and financing of water. They offer important new perspectives on the use, management and conservation of fresh water, in terms of both quantity and quality, for the domestic, agricultural and industrial sectors, and show how a new set of paradigms can be applied to successfully manage water for the future. Caroline Figueres is Head of the Urban Infrastructure Department at UNESCO-IHE Water Education Institute in The Netherlands.Cecilia Tortajada is Vice President of the Third World Centre for Water Management in Mexico and Vice President-elect of the International Water Resources Association. Johan Rockstr'm is Water Resources Expert at UNESCO-IHE.

Access to water in many parts of the world is increasingly challenging due to scarcity, quality issues and lack of access to adequate supply infrastructure. Currently, over 2 billion people around the world experience high water stress, and about 4 billion people experience severe water scarcity for at least one month on an annual basis. Rainwater harvesting (RWH) is increasingly seen as both an excellent alternative source of water and a valuable climate change adaptation measure. However, large-scale adoption remains challenging in many parts of the globe. This book, Rainwater Harvesting for the 21st Century, serves as a rigorous yet practical guide for a broad audience interested in the many opportunities that RWH systems can provide, including water and food security, flood management and climate change adaptation. It comprehensively covers the state of the art in RWH with practical examples of cutting-edge research and innovation in the design, operation and maintenance of RHW systems from both academics and practitioners. Highlights include: A comprehensive, transdisciplinary perspective of the latest advances in RWH techniques. Examples and case studies from around the world.

Minnesota has a unique role in U.S. water policy. Hydrologically, it is a state with more than 12,000 lakes, an inland sea, and the headwaters of three major river systems: the St Lawrence, the Red River of the North, and the Mississippi. Institutionally, Minnesota is also unique. All U.S. states use Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) approaches to addressing impaired waters. Every TMDL requires a substantial investment of resources, including data collection, modeling, stakeholder input and analysis, a watershed management plan, as well as process and impact monitoring. Minnesota is the only state in the union that has passed legislation (the 2007 Clean Water Legacy Act) providing significant resources to support the TMDL process. The book will be an excellent guide for policymakers and decision makers who are interested in learning about alternative approaches to water management. Non-governmental organizations interested in stimulating effective water quality policy will also find this a helpful resource. Finally, there are similarities between the lessons learned in Minnesota and the goals of water policy in several other states and nations, where there are competing uses of water for households, agriculture, recreation, and navigation.

This monograph comprehensively examines water law regulations and reform in the present decade, going beyond a simple analysis of existing water law and regulations to encompass environmental, social, economic, and human rights aspects of water as a natural resource. Using the specific case of India and on the related international law and policy framework that directly influences water regulatory developments in India, this book offers what will be the first and only analysis of water law reforms taking place at the national level in many developing countries in their domestic and international context. On the one hand, international freshwater law remains under-developed and existing legal instruments such as the 1997 UN Convention only address a limited set of relevant issues. Yet, the international law and policy framework concerning freshwater is increasingly important in shaping up law reforms taking place at the national level, in particular in developing countries. Indeed, non-binding resolutions such as the Dublin Statement on Water and Sustainable Development (1992) have had an immense influence on water law reforms in most developing countries. This book seeks to conceive of and analyse freshwater regulation in a broader context, and go beyond a literature that either lauds or criticises ongoing water sector reforms to provide an analytical basis for the reforms which all countries will have to adopt in the near or medium-term future.

How is water scarcity becoming a serious problem worldwide—including in the United States? This book provides a broad overview of water, sanitation, and hygiene problems faced by both developing and developed nations around the globe and suggests how these problems can be solved by imaginative and innovative thinking. Human society depends on sufficient clean water. In many parts of the world, however, this most basic commodity is in very short supply. Even in developed, first-world nations, climate change and other factors have begun to create alarming water supply issues. The Global Water Crisis: A Reference Handbook provides a detailed overview of this important topic, enabling readers to understand the nature of the world's water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) problems and to know what resources are best for conducting their own research on the topic. The first chapter of the book provides the historical background information pertaining to the world's water and sanitation problems; the second chapter documents the problems, explores the issues, and presents potential solutions for understanding the nature of WASH issues. The other sections provide the needed resources for readers to study the issue of the global water crisis further: perspective essays, primary documents, biographical profiles, data and documents, an extended annotated bibliography, a chronology, and a glossary.