Solution Exchange discussion - Material for Integrated Water Resources Management Course - Referrals, Examples

From M. S. Vaidyanathan, TN-IAMWARM Project, Chennai

Posted 25 February 2010

I work in an Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) project in Tamil Nadu. The project is titled Tamil Nadu Irrigated Agriculture Modernisation and Waterbodies Restoration and Management Project. It operates in 63 sub-basins across the state covering 6,00,000 hectares. Eight organisations of the State Government – water resources, agriculture, agricultural engineering, horticulture, agricultural university, agricultural marketing, animal husbandry and fisheries – have converged to provide effective service delivery with each of their components.

As part of the project, we are planning to provide one online course on “Irrigation Water Management” to water users associations and field functionaries of the water departments, including irrigation and water supply. The purpose of the course is to

• Create awareness on the need to conserve water and manage it judiciously to get more crop per drop,
• Build the capacity of water users associations (WUAs) to manage water on their own both in times of surplus and scarcity
• Make them understand their roles and responsibilities in building the WUAs.

The course will have four modules:

1. Water Resources management
2. Participatory Irrigation Management
3. Best Agriculture/Horticulture Crop husbandry with focus on Water Conservation/Water Productivity
4. Agricultural Marketing & Agri Business (covering Post Harvest Processing Value Chains)

This will be a web-based course. We are planning to incorporate a lot of audio-visual content so that learning becomes easy. I request Water Community members to please share with us the following:

• Course materials manuals, audio-visual films videos, etc.,
• Are there examples that show a clear impact of training on the WUAs and departments on Water Conservation and Management on participatory irrigation management, improved water efficiency in agriculture and agri-business?

Your inputs will help us develop the course. We will acknowledge all material that members share. Though this specific initiative is for the project, it will benefit the entire farming community as the course will be available on the web. The best efforts of the scientific and professional community that strives to conserve water and improve its productivity should be made widely available.

Responses were received, with thanks, from

1.      Jayati Chourey, SaciWATERs, Secunderabad

2.      Nitya Jacob, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), New Delhi

3.      David Foster, Administrative Staff College of India , Hyderabad

4.      Ramakrishna Nallathiga, Centre for Good Governance, Hyderabad (Response 1) (Response 2 *)

5.      Kashinath Vajpai, Prakriti, A Mountain Environment Group, Uttarakhand

6.      Pratyush Das, Jaipur Urban Project, World Vision India , Jaipur

7.      T. Prasad, Integrated Hydro development Forum, Patna

8.      Nupur Bose, A.N. College , Patna *

*Offline Contribution

Further contributions are welcome!

Summary of Responses

Related Resources

Responses in Full

Summary of Responses

Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) is, as the name implies, a multi-pronged approach to water management. It goes beyond the conventional management paradigm that is driven by engineers and hydrologists to incorporate social and financial approaches. The attempt is to develop a management system that is holistic and acceptable to a cross-section of people working on water issues.

It can be defined as a process, which aims at ensuring the coordinated development and management of water, land and related resources for maximizing economic and social welfare without compromising the sustainability of vital environmental systems.

IWRM works on a principle of water rights. Here, every person in a given unit of management – basin, sub-basin or watershed – has a clearly defined right to water both in terms of quantity and quality. It rests on several pillars – technical, economical, social and geomorphological-climatic.

Globally, IWRM has been accepted as the approach of choice for managing water resources in a transparent and participatory way. However, in India its uptake has been slow owing largely to a lack of courses, trainers and overall awareness. Also, technocrats dominate the existing water governance structure with little space for those working on social or economic aspects. This is despite the recommendation of the Government of India working group on Water for the 10^th Five Year Plan, that advocated an IWRM approach for water management.

In India, where agriculture is the biggest user of water and sustains 75 per cent of the population, there is a pressing need for locally-developed training programmes on IWRM to address poverty reduction while increasing food security and fostering economic growth. This is particularly important since most farmers in India have small land-holdings, and a large percentage of farm workers do not own any land.

Along side, the country is facing unprecedented challenges of water scarcity and pollution. IWRM courses in India have to account for the eco-system functions of water by clearly laying down procedures to determine ecological flows in water systems, as well as ways to maintain them.

Given that a large percentage of the country is subject to periodic floods and droughts that effect large populations, IWRM courses can also bring in mitigation measures for these two disasters. The other challenges the course can address is expanding access to water and sanitation and the increasing competition for water resources from industry and energy.

There is already a considerably body of information on IWRM, training material and courses. The challenge is to synthesise this into a course that addresses peculiarly Indian concepts mentioned above, including caste and gender issues. This will help develop a generation of people who take a broader view of water management.

Related Resources 

Recommended Documentation

Gender and IWRM Resource Guide (from Kashinath Vajpai, Prakriti, A Mountain Environment Group, Uttarakhand)

Resource Guide; by Gender and Water Alliance; The Netherlands;

Available at http://www.genderandwater.org/page/2414

A reference document to assist water and gender practitioners and professionals as well as persons responsible for gender mainstreaming in water resource management

From Ramakrishna Nallathiga, Centre for Good Governance, Hyderabad ; response 2

Urban water supply sector in India: Setting the reform agenda for improving service delivery

Paper; by Ramakrishna Nallathiga; Centre for Good Governance; Indian Water Works Association; Nagpur; December 2008;

Available at http://solutionexchange-un.net.in/environment/cr/res-25021001.pdf (PDF; Size: 153 KB)

Provides an overview of water resource status and that of urban water with reference to the need for reforming the sector in terms of improving service level and delivery

Water Resource Accounting as a Tool for Urban Water Management: An Illustration in NCT-Delhi

Paper; by N. Ramakrishna; Centre for Good Governance; Journal of Indian Water Works Association; 2006;

Available at http://solutionexchange-un.net.in/environment/cr/res-25021002.pdf (PDF; Size: 100KB)

This paper argues for using water accounting as an appropriate tool for decision-making in water resource management through an illustrative case study of NCT-Delhi

Economic Valuation of the Functional Uses of Yamuna River Water using Contingent Valuation Method

Paper; by R. Nallathiga and R.B. Paravastu; IWA International Conference on Water Economics, Statistics and Finance; Rethymno, Greece; July 2005;

Available at http://solutionexchange-un.net.in/environment/cr/res-25021003.pdf (PDF; Size: 89.2KB)

Describes a contingent valuation (CV) survey conducted to elicit the economic values of functional uses of river water in the Yamuna river sub-basin

Resource Accounting as a Tool for Urban Water Management: An Illustration in NCT-Delhi

Paper; by Ramakrishna Nallathiga, M. Srinivas Rao and P. Ram Babu; XII World Water Congress; New Delhi; November 2005;

Available at http://solutionexchange-un.net.in/environment/cr/res-25021004.pdf (PDF; Size: 203KB)

This paper argues for using water accounting as an appropriate tool for decision-making in water resource management through an illustrative case study of NCT-Delhi

Recommended Organizations and Programmes

From Nitya Jacob, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), New Delhi

Ramboll, Denmark

Ramboll Group A/S, Head office Teknikerbyen 1, 2^nd floor, DK-2830 Virum, Denmark; Tel: 45-45986000; Fax: 45-45986990; info@ramboll.com;

http://www.ramboll.com/services/environment%20and%20nature/waterresourcesmanagement.aspx

Conducts a course on IWRM, that ensures that the management, development and utilisation of water resources take socioeconomic and environmental factors into account

Stockholm International Water Institute, Sweden

Drottninggatan 33, SE - 11151 Stockholm , Sweden ; Tel: 46-8-52213960; Fax: 46-8-52213961; siwi@siwi.org;http://www.siwi.org/trainingprogrammes

Provides interactive and cross- disciplinary International Training Programmes in IWRM and Transboundary Water Management (TWM) that focus on local and global challenges

International Water Management Institute, New Delhi

2nd Floor, Office Block B NASC Complex, DPS Marg, Pusa, New Delhi 110012; Tel: 91-11-25840811; Fax: 91-11-25842075; b.sharma@cgiar.org;

http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/About_IWMI/Strategic_Documents/Annual_Reports/2006_2007/theme1.html; Contact Hilmy Sally; H.Sally@cgiar.org

The technical collaborator on a course on IWRM, has also used this approach and has extensive experience in this field in different parts of the world

From Ramakrishna Nallathiga, Centre for Good Governance, Hyderabad ; response 1

Water and Land Management Institute, Maharashtra

Kanchanwadi, Post Box 504, Paithan road, Aurangabad 431005, Maharashtra ; Tel: 91-240-2376159; Fax: 91-240-2376836; admn@walmi.org; http://www.walmi.org/index.htm

Has a Watershed Development and Management Faculty which provides training on IWRM, rainwater recharge, watershed management, etc

Indian Council for Agricultural Research, New Delhi

Krishi Bhavan, New Delhi 110114; Tel: 91-11-23382629; Fax: 91-11-23384773; dg.icar@nic.in; http://www.icar.org.in/aboutus.htm

Conducts research in the area of natural resource management and may be a good resource centre for material related to IWRM

International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), New Delhi

NASC Complex, CG Block, Dev Prakash Shastri Road (Opposite Todapur), Pusa, New Delhi 110012; Tel: 91-11-25846565; Fax: 91-11-25848008; ifpri-NewDelhi@cgiar.org;

http://www.ifpri.org/book-46/ourwork/program/water-resource-allocation

IFPRI’s water research aims to reduce poverty by improving overall water use efficiency in developing countries, while improving water quality, and improving access to water

International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, Andhra Pradesh

Patancheru 502324, Andhra Pradesh; Tel: 91-40-30713071; Fax: 91-40-30713074 icrisat@cgiar.org;http://www.icrisat.org/Icrisat-researchthemes.htm

ICRISAT seeks to reduce poverty, increase agricultural productivity, enhance food and nutritional security and protect the environment of the dry tropics

International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage, New Delhi

48 Nyaya Marg, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi 110021; Tel: 91-11-26116837; Fax: 91-11-26115962; icid@icid.org; http://www.icid.org/index_e.html

Works on improving water management of irrigated land through appropriate management of water, and application of irrigation and flood management techniques

Central Board for Irrigation and Power, New Delhi

Malcha Marg, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi 110021; Tel: 91-11-26115984; Fax: 91-11-26115984;

cbip@cbip.org; http://www.cbip.org/activities_services.html

Conducts research and development activities on power and water resources sector in the country

Gender and Water Alliance , The Netherlands(from Kashinath Vajpai, Prakriti, A Mountain Environment Group, Uttarakhand)

P.O. Box 114 , 6950 AC Dieren, The Netherlands; Tel: 31-313-427230; Fax: 31-313-427230; secretariat@gwalliance.org;http://www.genderandwater.org/page/2414

Produced a Resource Guide on Gender and IWRM which was launched during the world water forum in Mexico, March 2006

United States Agency for International Development, New Delhi(from Pratyush Das, Jaipur Urban Project, World Vision India , Jaipur)

American Embassy, New Delhi 110021; Tel: 91-11-24198000; Fax: 91-11-24198612;

pinquiries@usaid.gov; http://www.usaid.gov/in/

Funds the Global Water for Sustainability Programme, a consortium working to increase social, economic and environmental benefits to people

Recommended Portals and Information Bases

Capacity Building for Integrated Water Resources Management (Cap-NET), South Africa (from Jayati Chourey, SaciWATERs, Secunderabad)

http://www.cap-net.org/databases/training-materials; Contact Tel: 27-12-3309077; info@cap-net.org

Contains training manuals and materials for use by capacity builders covering various aspects of integrated water resources management

Global Water for Sustainability (GLOWS), USA (from Pratyush Das, Jaipur Urban Project, World Vision India , Jaipur)

http://globalwaters.net/; Contact Michael McClain; Director; Tel: 1-305-3486826; michael.mcclain@fiu.edu

GLOWS works on-the-ground to implement water supply, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services, improve water management practices, and build local capacity

Responses in Full 

Jayati Chourey, SaciWATERs, Secunderabad

SaciWATERs in collaboration with Sage publications is producing a series of readers called Water in South Asia (WISA). The WISA series provides material for new-style professional education programmes on Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM). Two readers titled ‘Integrated Water Resources Management: Global Theory, Emerging Practice and Local Needs’ and Droughts and Integrated Water Resource Management in South Asia ’ have already been published. Please contact info@saciwaters.org for further details.

Cap-Net (an international network for capacity building in IWRM) has also developed training materials on IWRM that can be accessed online (http://www.cap-net.org/databases/training-materials). The CDs/ printed copies of theses material can be requested via email (info@cap-net.org). Cap-Net’s website also contains reading material developed by other organizations.

Nitya Jacob, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), New Delhi

I had attended a short but intensive international course on Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) by Ramboll ( Sweden ) and the Stockholm International Water Institute. Over about 2 months of classes, we were taken through the concepts of IWRM and its practical applications in Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia . We also had to prepare a project for the practical application of IWRM in our home countries.

We have not been able to get IWRM into the social, political and economic discourses on water in India maybe because of a lack of awareness among water practitioners or the engineering-heavy water sector.

What the course showed me, in a nutshell, was that engineering aspects are important, but they are a subset of water management. Unlike in the power sector, where engineering is the be-all and end-all, water has an equally important (if not more important) social component. That said, it is important not to get carried away with the social engineering aspects at the expense of technical engineering.

IWRM can provide a modern approach to water management that is palatable to communities, engineers and the government. It can integrate seemingly diverse concepts like stakeholder identification with water quality (what sort of water quality does each type of stakeholder need) through a logical process. Properly applied, it can help us manage our water resources better.

Ramboll has created a rich and intensive course that can be adapted for use in India . It has material in the form of PowerPoints, films and books.  You can get in touch with Sara Hyllman, (Sara.Hyllman@ramboll.se) the course coordinator, or Claus Pedersen (Claus.Pedersen@ramboll.se), the manager, for the material and permission to use it.

The International Water Management Institute (IWMI), the technical collaborator in the course, has also used this approach and has extensive experience in different parts of the world. You can contact Hilmi Sally (H.Sally@cgiar.org) from their South Africa office for more information.

David Foster, Administrative Staff College of India , Hyderabad

We have long felt that effective water management rests on three equal pillars; technical, financial, and social (where social means not just a top-down determination of what tariffs to charge but a real dialog among all stake holders leading to efficient access for all).  To neglect any of these pillars is to court failure.  There are plenty of examples where failure along any dimension has led to the collapse of the system and increasingly there are examples even in such countries as Cambodia , Nepal and even in Nigeria where proper attention to all three has led to safe, sustainable and affordable water supply.

Ramakrishna Nallathiga, Centre for Good Governance, Hyderabad (response 1)

Water and Land Management Institute, Pune and Water and Land Management Training Research Institute, Hyderabad offer training programmes of similar kind to the officers of government departments. The courseware can be requested from the directors of respective institutes.

There are other such institutes under the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) in India , which may also part the information, apart from the international agencies like IFPRI, ICRISAT, IWMI, ICID, etc. Central Board for Irrigation & Power (CBIP) also conducts similar kind of programmes and would have ample material to share with you.

Kashinath Vajpai, Prakriti, A Mountain Environment Group, Uttarakhand

In an effort to encourage a move towards more sustainable approaches to water development and management, the World Summit on Sustainable Development-WSSD in 2002 called for all countries to draft IWRM and water efficiency strategies by the end of 2005.

The recommendation of Government of India’s 10^th working group on drinking water (Five Year Plan 2002-2007), suggested the integrated water management through water harvesting, conservation measures in a natural physiographic unit with the emphasis on direct or indirect artificial recharge of aquifers by utilizing surplus runoff. The committee also put forth the need to restructure the implementing machinery at center and state level, working together with NGOs and CBOs in planning, development and management through micro-watershed planning, to ensure the sustainability of water sources.

The group further suggested the rainwater harvesting measures, development of traditional water sources, restoration of existing water infrastructure, checks and balances in water intensive crops, restricting the deepening of agriculture bore wells, recycling of waste water in productive ways with strengthening and capacity building of user communities.

Therefore, in our view the focus of any IWRM course should be to support people in various developmental goals of

1. Reducing poverty, increasing food security, fostering economic growth, protecting ecosystems
2. Tackling specific water challenges of-controlling flooding, mitigating the effects of drought
3. Expanding access to water and sanitation
4. Addressing increasing competition for water and water scarcity.

The course should also incorporate the elements of IWRM approach that talks about translating policy effectively into practice through a systematic process of internalization of reforms across different levels. As implementing IWRM approach needs clear strategies and guidelines which should encompasses through the ecosystem approach and here, the agencies need time to understand and internalize the common concern. The approach may have major potential of focusing upon livelihood options for poorer and the danger of excluding poorest from access. The importance of IWRM in poverty reduction is undoubtedly high, but because the benefits are rarely examined in detail, their full potential is unlikely to be realized.

A detailed resource guide on IWRM has been developed by Gender and Water Alliance for practitioners and professionals in water sector. The link is

http://www.genderandwater.org/page/2414.

Pratyush Das, Jaipur Urban Project, World Vision India , Jaipur

I would also like to share few facts of the IWRM project that I was involved in implementing at Udaipur in collaboration with Global Water For Sustainability (GLOWS) funded by USAID.

First of all, IWRM is a very useful and fruitful tool/concept that can bring about tremendous changes in the present paradigm of water and natural resources management.  Secondly, as Nitya Jacob mentioned, it needs to rope in all quarters of management right from political, administrative, to the grassroots.  Thirdly, the basics of IWRM, if incorporated during planning of any water-related project, could do wonders.

I would urge the Water Community to visit the website of GLOWS (http://globalwaters.net/) and study some of the projects implemented across the world.  I would like to inform the Community that the GLOWS project implemented in Udaipur has been able to develop three levels of manuals in the context of IWRM in India and has also successfully completed study/assessments of IWRM conditions in Udaipur (which could also be related to India in the broader context).  The Water Community , I believe can use these materials to the best for their use.

T. Prasad, Integrated Hydro development Forum, Patna

I have been a student, a teacher and a researcher in water resources for over four decades and as such I have had an opportunity to closely experience the emergence, growth as well as universal recognition and acceptance of the rationality of Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM), both as a concept as well as a strategy of water resource management, development and utilization. As such, I would like to share this experience of mine with members of this group.     

Water can be looked at in various ways and in each way it stands unique. First of all, water as a natural substance, is essential as the source and sustenance of all forms of life on this planet. In order that water may play this critical role, nature has invested it with most unique physical and chemical properties. For example, it is a rare substance which exists naturally in all three material states – liquid, solid and gas; it has the highest specific heat; in its liquid state it attains a maximum density at 4 C - remaining liquid at both above and below this; it is a universal solvent; and several others. Secondly, water as a natural resource, is universally required for all productions – agricultural, industrial as well as energy. These requirements are quite substantial, such as it takes 3,300 litres of water to produce 1 kg of rice, 6,500 litres to produce one kg of chicken meat, 150,000 litres of water to manufacture one car and 1,500 litres to manufacture a one cotton shirt (You can refer to an earlier discussion on the Virtual Water Footprint at http://www.solutionexchange-un.net.in/environment/cr/cr-se-wes-food-11110801.pdf, PDF, 350 KB). All types of conventional energy production, such as from fossil fuels, hydro and nuclear require large amounts of water. Thirdly, water is a vital component of our environment and ecology, liable to disturb their equilibrium to the detriment of mankind.

While the requirements of water for various purposes such as drinking, agriculture, energy, industry and related productions are specified within rather narrow ranges of quantity, quality, location as well as time of requirement, natural availability of water is constrained by its dynamics. Water is constantly in circulation in the three spheres of the earth system, i.e., atmosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere as well as remains in motion over the earth’s surface through various hydrologic processes such as precipitation, infiltration, percolation, runoff, evaporation, transpiration, channel flow and storage.  Thus, the dynamics of water in nature are determined by the immutable laws governing these processes and not by the demands for its diverse uses. This incompatibility in availability of water and its demands for diverse purposes makes it imperative for mankind to intervene in the natural regime of water.

Another factor necessitating such intervention is the problems given rise to due to dynamics of water in nature such as floods, drought and water logging. In making such an intervention, it has to be ensured that while achieving the objectives of intervention, it does not give rise to adverse consequences in space and time. For this, one has to address various human and social concerns such as environmental, ecological, anthropogenic, cultural, economic and political. In order to facilitate addressing several concerns adequately, recourse may have to be taken to legal, constitutional as well as international laws and conventions. Also, all water-related management and water-based developments have to contend with developments and activities in other sectors of economy in the region. 

It may be seen that for water resources development and management, all the above-mentioned factors – hydrologic processes, uses, problems and various concerns – are inter-related and inter-dependent. Thus, in order to achieve effectiveness in management and optimality in development of the water resources in any region, all these factors have to be taken into account in an integrated rather than isolated manner. While this was realized vaguely, informally or in a piecemeal manner for quite some time and related developments, both in theory and practice, have been taking place, it was spelt out formally as a concept and strategy of water resources management in the UN Conference on Environment and Development, called Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and termed as Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM).

To promote and facilitate the practice of IWRM, a new organizational set up named as Global Water Partnership (GWP) was launched in August 1996 with membership being open to all stakeholders in water including government institutions, NGOs, UN agencies, development banks, research institutes and the private sector. With member organizations being committed to the adoption of IWRM in their activities, it is envisaged that all water-based and water-related developments will be informed by, and based on, the strategy of integrated water resources management. In order to explain and elaborate the concept of IWRM, one may start from its working definition as, “IWRM is a process, which aims at ensuring the coordinated development and management of water, land and related resources for maximizing economic and social welfare without compromising the sustainability of vital environmental systems”.

However, still a considerable ground is to be covered before the concept of IWRM is firmed up to the extent of its being included in the text books and the strategy of IWRM is elaborated to the extent of its being incorporated in the manuals to be followed by water resources professionals for development and management of water resources. Various courses developed to impart training and projects formulated to carry out research in various aspects of IWRM are need of the hour in this regard.

Nupur Bose, A.N. College , Patna *

My study group is in the process of conducting intensive study of water quality and quantity issues in my home state-Bihar. Apart from assessment of ground and river water quality, surface water availability, and watershed management issues have been taken up. Human responses to water issues strongly indicate that IWRM must have a fourth pillar- the geomorphological-climatological one. This branch would imply channel flow study, river geomorphology, soil types, rainfall regimes and catchment area geographies. Perhaps one of the major causes of failure of water management schemes, apart from socio-economic aspects, is the role of these physical parameters in refusing sustainability to cutting-edge technology and huge financial inputs. IWRM therefore must cater to “local environs” both natural and anthropogenic, by adapting modern technology with local knowledge base.

* Offline Contribution

Ramakrishna Nallathiga, Centre for Good Governance, Hyderabad (response 2) *

As the subject concerns with water management, I thought of taking some liberty in sending some documents that have a focus on urban/ regional water management and sector aspects of water. I enclose few such papers that may be used in the design of course material or manual. Please find the documents at http://solutionexchange-un.net.in/environment/cr/res-25021001.pdf; 

http://solutionexchange-un.net.in/environment/cr/res-25021002.pdf;

http://solutionexchange-un.net.in/environment/cr/res-25021003.pdf;

http://solutionexchange-un.net.in/environment/cr/res-25021004.pdf    

* Offline Contribution

Many thanks to all who contributed to this query!