Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-04T09:23:34.065Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

20 - Irreversibility and sustainability in water resources systems

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 January 2010

Janos J. Bogardi
Affiliation:
Division of Water Sciences, UNESCO, Paris
Zbigniew W. Kundzewicz
Affiliation:
Research Centre of Agricultural and Forest Environment, Polish Academy of Sciences
Get access

Summary

ABSTRACT

One of the main characteristics of the sustainability concept is in the long-term evaluation of the possible set of outputs from any decision. Due to the fact that water resources projects have an extremely long physical lifetime and quite broad and diverse impacts, ranging from social, to environmental and economic outputs, the impact evaluation procedure is subjected to a substantial degree of uncertainty. Another approach is seen in the identification of actions that are as far as possible reversible to be able to cope with unexpected and disadvantageous outputs. It is the objective of this chapter to analyze the usefulness of measures such as reversibility to characterize sustainability. Two examples are investigated from which one is based on utilities that are time dependent, while in the other example a physically based approach is emphasized. Both examples refer to water and environmental management.

INTRODUCTION

Water management structures are designed for a long life time. Several reservoirs in the Middle East have been continuously operated for centuries and irrigation schemes date back over millennia (Garbrecht 1985; Garbrecht and Vogel 1991; Hartung and Kuros 1991; Glick 1970; Schnitter 1994; Petts, Möller, and Roux 1989). Similarly, navigation channels in Europe are being utilized since the medieval age, first for shipping purposes and now for recreation and tourism. On the other hand, many examples are known where reservoir capacity has been quickly decreased due to sedimentation processes, and large irrigation schemes are referenced which quickly lead to salinization of soils to such an extent that the irrigated area had to be abandoned (Goldsmith and Hildyard 1984).

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2002

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×