(Groundwater Policies and Governance in Arid and Semi-arid Regions, (Reviewing Current Policies in Developed Countries

آب و توسعه پایدار

Article 13, Volume 5, Issue 2 - Serial Number 11, March 2019, Pages 129-140   

Document Type: review paper

DOI: 10.22067/jwsd.v5i2.67197

Authors

taghi mahdavi¹; Seyyed abbas Hoseyni^{* 2}

¹College of Civil Engineering, Tehran Science and Research Branch

²College of Civil Tehran Science and Research branch, Islamic Azad University

Abstract

Groundwater plays an important role in water supply for domestic, industrial, and agricultural demands. In many countries, the irresponsible and excessive use of groundwater has led to serious problems and depletion and destructions of aquifers. In some regions, as a result of pollution, groundwater resources are gradually becoming unusable. Due to climate change and the changing patterns of rainfall, river flows have decreased, therefore decreasing the groundwater recharge rate. This ultimately leads to increased pressure on groundwater resources. Inefficiency and non-effectiveness of current unsustainable practices are often the biggest challenges in water management in arid and semi-arid regions. Ground water governance is essential to tackle the identified challenges. Governance has been adopted to control the sudden rise of groundwater withdrawals. “Water governance” means rules and practices for decision-making about water policy and their implementation, i.e. the range of political, institutional, and administrative processes through which stakeholders articulate their interests. Therefore, concerns are considered, decisions are taken and implemented, and decision-makers are held accountable in the development and management of water resources and delivery of water services. Governance should be seen as a context where integrated water resources management can be implemented.

Keywords

Key words: governance; Groundwater; policies; challenges

References

Agrawal A. 2002. Common resources and institutional sustainability. The drama of the commons, 41-85, National Academy Press, Washington.

Allan J.A. 2001. The Middle East water question, Hydro politics and the global economy, London.

Anderson T.L. and Snyder P. 1997. Water markets: Priming the invisible pump, Cato Institute, Washington.

Bardhan P. and Dayton-Johnson J. 2002. Unequal irrigators: heterogeneity and commons management in large-scale multivariate research. The drama of the commons, 87-112, National Academy Press, Washington.

Biswas A.K. 2007. Water as a human right in the MENA region: challenges and opportunities. International Journal of Water Resources Development, 23(2): 209-225.

Bryner G.C. and Purcell E. 2003. Groundwater law sourcebook of the western United States (p. 1). Boulder, Colorado: Natural Resources Law Center, University of Colorado School of Law.

COHRE, AAAS, SDC. and UN-HABITAT. 2007. Manual on the right to water and sanitation. Geneva: Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions.

Dietz T., Dolsak N., Ostrom, E.and Stern P. C. 2002. The drama of the commons. The drama of the commons, 3-35, National Academy Press, Washington.

Feitelson E. 2006. Impediments to the management of shared aquifers, A political economy perspective, Hydrogeology Journal, 14(3): 319–329.

Gleick P.H. 2007. The human right to water (5 pp), Pacific Institute, Oakland. http://smtp.wecalc.org/reports/human_right_may_07.pdf

Glennon R.J. 2002. Water follies: Groundwater pumping and the fate of America’s fresh waters, Island Press, Washington DC.

Hardberger A. 2005. Life, liberty and the pursuit of water: Evaluating water as a human right and the duties and obligations it creates, Northwestern Journal of International Human Rights, 4(2): 331–362.

Hardin G. 1968. The tragedy of the commons. science, 162(3859): 1243-1248.

Jacobs K.L. and Holway J.M. 2004. Managing for sustainability in an arid climate Lessons learned from 20 years of groundwater management in Arizona, USA. Hydrogeology Journal, 12(1): 52–65.

Johnson N., Revenga C. and Echeverria J. 2001.Managing water for people and nature. Science, 292: 1071–1072.

Keough N., Smirat S., Benjamin S. 2010. Lessons from a participatory approach to household greywater use in Jordan. S, McIlwaine., & M, Redwood (Eds.), Greywater use in the Middle East. Technical, social, economic and policy issues, 113-138, Replika press India.

Kopelman S., Weber J.M. and Messick D.M. 2002. Factors influencing cooperation in commons dilemma: Areview of experimental psychological research. In Ostrom E., Dietz T., Dolšak N., Stern P. C., Stonich S., and E. U. Weber (Eds.), The drama of the commons (pp.113–156), National Academy Press, Washington.

Kresic N. 2009. Groundwater resources: Sustainability, management, and restoration, McGraw-Hill, New York.

Langford M. 2005. The United Nations concept of water as a human right: A new paradigm for old problems? Water Resources Development 21(2): 273–282.

Liamas M.R. 2004. Water and ethics. Use of groundwater: UNESCO International Hydro geological Programme. 33.

Maloney F.E. 1972. A model water code: Text and commentary. Gainesville: University of Florida Press (University Water Resources Center Publication No. 8).

Maxwell S. 2009. Moving beyond the ‘‘privatization wars’’ a call for balance. Journal American Water Works Association, 101(12): 26–28.

McKean E. 2005. The new Oxford American Dictionary (2nd Ed), Oxford University Press, New York.

Office of Technology Assessment. 1983. Institutions affecting western agricultural water use, In Water related technologies for sustainable agriculture in the U.S. arid/semiarid lands (pp. 109–145). https://www.princeton.edu/~ota/disk3/1983/8331/8331.PDF

Ostrom E., Gardner R. and Walker J. 1994. Rules, games, common-pool resources. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

Ostrom E., Dietz T., Dolšak N., Stern P. C., Stonich S. and Weber E.U. 2002. The drama of the commons. Washington: National Academy Press.

Ostrom E. 2009. A General Framework for Analyzing Sustainability of Social-Ecological Systems. Science, 325(5939): 419-422.

Ott W., 2014. Access to Drinking Water and Stakeholder Action -Drinking Water Governance in Cameroon from a Political-Ecological Perspective, Master thesis, Freie Universität, Department for Geographical Development Studies, Berlin.

Pahl-Wostl C., Holtz G., Kastens B. and Knieper CH.2010. Analyzing complex water governance regimes: theManagement and Transition Framework. Environmental science & policy, (13): 571–581

Pereira L.S., Cordery I. and Iaconides I. 2002. Coping with water scarcity: UNESCO, International Hydrological Programme, IHP-VI, Technical Documents in Hydrology No.58. http://ulis2.unesco.org/images/0012/001278/127846E.pdf

Postel S. 1992. Last oasis: Facing water scarcity. New York, WW Norton, 239. http://www.scirp.org/(S(i43dyn45teexjx455qlt3d2q))/reference/ReferencesPapers.aspx?ReferenceID=1279287

Racked E. 1996. Introduction, In Racked E., Rathgeber E., Brooks D. B (Eds). Water management in Africa and the Middle East (pp. 4–8). Ottawa: Canada International Development Research Centre. https://www.idrc.ca/sites/default/files/openebooks/289-9/index.html

Revenga C. 2001. Will there be enough water? Earth Trends, Water Resources Institute, 5.

Richerson P.J., Boyd R. and Paciotti B. 2002. An evolutionary theory of commons management. The drama of the commons, 403: 442.

Rose C.M. 2002. Common property, regulatory property, and environmental protection: comparing community-based management to tradable environmental allowances. The drama of the commons, 233: 250-53.

Schlager E. 2006. Challenges of governing groundwater in U.S. Western States. Hydrogeology Journal, 14(3): 350–360.

Schlager E. 2007. Community management of groundwater. The agricultural groundwater revolution: Opportunities and threats to development, 3: 131-152.

Segerfeldt F. 2005. Water for sale. How business and the market can reduce the world’s water crisis. Cato Institute, Washington.

Toope S.J., Rainwater K. and Allan T. 2003. Managing and allocating water resources: adopting the integrated water resource management approach.

United Nations Development Programme. 2013. User’s Guide on Assessing Water Governance.Denmark.

U.S. Census Bureau. 2011. State and County Quick Facts. Lee County. Retrieved Aug 7, 2011

Ward F.A. and King J.P. 1998. Reducing institutional barriers to water conservation. Water Policy, 1: 411–420.

Winpenny J. 1994. Managing water as an economic resource. London: Rutledge.

Wright K.E. (Ed). 1990. Water rights of the fifty states and territories, American Water Works Association, Denver.

WHO .2010. The Right to Water. Fact Sheet No.35.