This is the first book to authoritatively assess how water management will be shaped by 2020 due to forces within and outside the water sector. It offers a pragmatic assessment arrived at by experts from different parts of the world and different fields.

Although accounting for about 20% of the global population, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is endowed with only 7% of the world’s water resources. The country faces severe water scarcity, high levels of urbanization and population growth, and climate change. For the PRC’s continuing development, it must protect and develop its freshwater resources. This publication provides recommended policy initiatives to ensure the PRC’s 13th Five-Year Plan (2016–2020) contributes to significant improvements in national water security, particularly in extreme water-scarce provinces. Some actions proposed for increased water security are better water resources management, more cross-sector planning, deeper reform of the water pricing system, and creation of water markets.

The aim of this book is to document for the first time the dimensions and requirements of effective integrated groundwater management (IGM). Groundwater management is a formidable challenge, one that remains one of humanity’s foremost priorities. It has become a largely non-renewable resource that is overexploited in many parts of the world. In the 21st century, the issue moves from how to simply obtain the water we need to how we manage it sustainably for future generations, future economies, and future ecosystems. The focus then becomes one of understanding the drivers and current state of the groundwater resource, and restoring equilibrium to at-risk aquifers. Many interrelated dimensions, however, come to bear when trying to manage groundwater effectively. An integrated approach to groundwater necessarily involves many factors beyond the aquifer itself, such as surface water, water use, water quality, and ecohydrology. Moreover, the science by itself can only define the fundamental bounds of what is possible; effective IGM must also engage the wider community of stakeholders to develop and support policy and other socioeconomic tools needed to realize effective IGM. In order to demonstrate IGM, this book covers theory and principles, embracing: 1) an overview of the dimensions and requirements of groundwater management from an international perspective; 2) the scale of groundwater issues internationally and its links with other sectors, principally energy and climate change; 3) groundwater governance with regard to principles, instruments and institutions available for IGM; 4) biophysical constraints and the capacity and role of hydroecological and hydrogeological science including water quality concerns; and 5) necessary tools including models, data infrastructures, decision support systems and the management of uncertainty. Examples of effective, and failed, IGM are given. Throughout, the importance of the socioeconomic context that connects all effective IGM is emphasized. Taken as a whole, this work relates the many facets of effective IGM, from the catchment to global perspective.

Water issues in the American West share many similarities with those seen elsewhere in the world as population growth exacerbates longstanding problems of inappropriate water use and management. The contributors to this timely volume examine the universal challenge of sustainable water management to improve the use of water resources already developed and find ways to moderate our growing collective thirst. The volume begins with an exploration of the opportunities, arguments, and mechanisms for transferring lessons between the American West and foreign nations. Succeeding chapters cover individual issues such as: water allocation and the relationship between market mechanisms and government-based approaches, the challenge of environmental protection, the protection of cultural values with a focus on indigenous water rights, the significance of international and interstate rivers in promoting regional conflict and cooperation, and the role of water management in sustainable development. A comprehensive look at one of our most pressing issues, In Search of Sustainable Water Management will be of great interest to scholars and practitioners in the areas of water management, law, policy studies, economics, planning and public administration.

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.