Decision-Making in Water Resource Policy and Management: An Australian Perspective presents the latest information in developing new decision-making processes. Topics covered include key aspects of water resources planning, recent water resource policy changes in irrigation, urban, and environmental considerations, the evolution of a water market, a number of case studies that provide real examples of improved decision-making, transfer of the Australian experience overseas, and challenges for the future. Many countries are experiencing major water scarcity problems which will likely intensify with the continued impacts of climate change. In response to this challenge, there is increased worldwide focus on the development of more sustainable and integrated water resource policies. The Australian experience over the past three decades has led to major improvements in the decision-making processes in water resources policy and management, particularly in response to drought and climate change, providing a great model on which other nations can use and adapt. This information is essential to early to mid-career practitioners engaged in policy, planning and operational roles in all fields of water resource policy and management, and catchment management. Summarizes key results from three decades of changes in Australian water resource policy Illustrates how Australian knowledge is being used in other countries and how this might be expanded Provides international practitioners with real examples of where and how the Australian knowledge is assisting in other situations

This book contains 10 case studies suitable for classroom use to demonstrate engineers' use of widely available modeling software in evaluating complex environmental and water resources systems.

Water data and information are essential to support efforts to understand, manage, allocate, utilize and protect water resources. The linkages between Water Information Systems and needs of decision makers are complex, but can be encapsulated in a Driving Force (Policy Needs) – Monitoring – Data Management – Reporting framework. The rapid development in water policy reforms in many sectors and growing emphasis on demand-side policy solutions to water resources management has created an information imbalance. This imbalance can be characterised in terms of an inverted pyramid with implementation of many water policy initiatives supported by little data and information, especially related to economic and financial elements, to help guide decision makers toward more effective and efficient water resources management strategies. Additionally, as stress and demands on water systems increase and water becomes a more valued resource, this tends to increase the value of water information both for water providers and users. Nevertheless, many countries are reporting that the capacity to collect water information is being undermined by a lack of resources, while expertise to collect, analyse and interpret water data for decision makers is being lost. Finally, the impact of climate change on hydrological regimes represents a key potential stress on water systems. This issue could be the catalyst for adapting policies to provide more efficient and effective use and management of water resources and advance institutional and governance reforms in the water sector. This book is based on a special issue of the International Journal of Water Resources Development.

This book is divided into four parts. The first part, Preliminaries, begins by introducing the basic theme of the book. It provides an overview of the current status of water resources utilization, the likely scenario of future demands, and advantages and disadvantages of systems techniques. An understanding of how the hydrological data are measured and processed is important before undertaking any analysis. The discussion is extended to emerging techniques, such as Remote Sensing, GIS, Artificial Neural Networks, and Expert Systems. The statistical tools for data analysis including commonly used probability distributions, parameter estimation, regression and correlation, frequency analysis, and time-series analysis are discussed in a separate chapter. Part 2 Decision Making, is a bouquet of techniques organized in 4 chapters. After discussing optimization and simulation, the techniques of economic analysis are covered. Recently, environmental and social aspects, and rehabilitation and resettlement of project-affected people have come to occupy a central stage in water resources management and any good book is incomplete unless these topics are adequately covered. The concept of rational decision making along with risk, reliability, and uncertainty aspects form subject matter of a chapter. With these analytical tools, the practitioner is well equipped to take a rational decision for water resources utilization. Part 3 deals with Water Resources Planning and Development. This part discusses the concepts of planning, the planning process, integrated planning, public involvement, and reservoir sizing. The last part focuses on Systems Operation and Management. After a resource is developed, it is essential to manage it in the best possible way. Many dams around the world are losing some storage capacity every year due to sedimentation and therefore, the assessment and management of reservoir sedimentation is described in details. No analysis of water resources systems is complete without consideration of water quality. A river basin is the natural unit in which water occurs. The final chapter discusses various issues related to holistic management of a river basin.

During the past five decades, we have witnessed a tremendous evolution in water resource system management. Three characteristics of this evolution are of particular note: First, the application of the systems approach to complex water management problems has been established as one of the most important advances in the field of water resource management. Second, the past five decades have brought a remarkable transformation of attitude in the water resource management community towards environmental concerns and action to address these concerns. Third, applying the principles of sustainability to water resource decision-making requires major changes in the objectives on which decisions are based, and an understanding of the complicated inter-relationships between existing ecological, economic, and social factors. The Special Issue includes 15 contributions that offer insights into contemporary problems, approaches, and issues related to the management of complex water resources systems. It will be presumptuous to say that these 15 contributions characterize the success or failure of the systems approach to support water resources decision-making. However, these contributions offer interesting lessons from current experiences and highlight possible future work.

This book is open access under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license. This revised, updated textbook presents a systems approach to the planning, management, and operation of water resources infrastructure in the environment. Previously published in 2005 by UNESCO and Deltares (Delft Hydraulics at the time), this new edition, written again with contributions from Jery R. Stedinger, Jozef P. M. Dijkman, and Monique T. Villars, is aimed equally at students and professionals. It introduces readers to the concept of viewing issues involving water resources as a system of multiple interacting components and scales. It offers guidelines for initiating and carrying out water resource system planning and management projects. It introduces alternative optimization, simulation, and statistical methods useful for project identification, design, siting, operation and evaluation and for studying post-planning issues. The authors cover both basin-wide and urban water issues and present ways of identifying and evaluating alternatives for addressing multiple-purpose and multi-objective water quantity and quality management challenges. Reinforced with cases studies, exercises, and media supplements throughout, the text is ideal for upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses in water resource planning and management as well as for practicing planners and engineers in the field.