Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Preface
- List of abbreviations
- Conversions of selected units of hydrologic measurement
- 1 Water and Life
- 2 Challenge and opportunity
- 3 Unfolding recognition of ecosystem change
- 4 Natural waters
- 5 Plant–soil–water–ecosystem relationships
- 6 Groundwater
- 7 Lakes and wetlands
- 8 River channels and floodplains
- 9 Impounded rivers and reservoirs
- 10 Domestic and industrial water management
- 11 Decision processes
- 12 Integrative approaches
- Appendix: Guide to Internet resources on water and environment
- References
- Index
Preface
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 October 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Preface
- List of abbreviations
- Conversions of selected units of hydrologic measurement
- 1 Water and Life
- 2 Challenge and opportunity
- 3 Unfolding recognition of ecosystem change
- 4 Natural waters
- 5 Plant–soil–water–ecosystem relationships
- 6 Groundwater
- 7 Lakes and wetlands
- 8 River channels and floodplains
- 9 Impounded rivers and reservoirs
- 10 Domestic and industrial water management
- 11 Decision processes
- 12 Integrative approaches
- Appendix: Guide to Internet resources on water and environment
- References
- Index
Summary
To arrive at truly integrated water management no aspect has been more difficult than the joint evaluation of social and environmental consequences. For example, not until 2000 was there a systematic examination of methods to evaluate the social benefits of flood protection projects along with the social costs of altering the floodplain environment through such management.
This book reflects our attempt to canvass the need and suitable methods for carefully combining the two. It seeks to appraise the range of problems and the available methods of addressing them in the broader context of integrated management. It does not attempt to describe all relevant efforts from around the world but it does seek to evaluate some representative examples of problems and of constructive methods of addressing them.
The idea for this book initially emerged in the mid 1980s after a period of intense conflict between proponents of continued water development and activists for environmental protection. Although considerable progress had occurred in water resource systems modeling and environmental science and policy, they seemed to develop to a significant degree along separate lines. One of the more extreme cases was the parallel development of water laws related to supply and of environmental laws that dealt with water quality: in some countries and states these integrally related topics are administered by different agencies in different ministries and with different bodies of law.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Water for LifeWater Management and Environmental Policy, pp. xv - xviiPublisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2003