Article read&write

Homework 4

Due 5/10

For our the 5/17 class we will learn about Integrated Water Management, the currently dominant paradigm in the United States and United Nations that guides the efforts of government water professionals to foster more sustainable, resilient, inclusive, and equitable water resource management.  The following articles and web site will give you a good sense of the principles and methods of integrated water management:

1. Grigg, N (2008). Integrated Water Resources Management: Balancing Views and Improving Practice. Water International, 33(3): 279-292.   http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02508060802272820 (Links to an external site.)  or Grigg_IWRM.pdf

2. Flint, RW (2004). Sustainable Development of Water Resources. Water Resources Update, 127: 41-51.   http://www.ucowr.siu.edu/updates/127/Flint.pdf (Links to an external site.) or Flint Sustainable Development of Water Resources.pdf  [Focus on pages 45-49]

3. United Nations Development Programme (2014). Integrated Water Resources Management. http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/ourwork/environmentandenergy/focus_areas/water_and_ocean_governance/integrated-water-resources-management/ (Links to an external site.) [Take note of the various initiatives and links associated with the UNDPs commitment to integrated water resource management. What speaks to you? For example, what is there to learn if you click the link: Gender and Water (Links to an external site.) ?]

Instead of simply reading these articles, which frankly are not the most exciting of the course, dig into them with the intent to learn what should go into a sustainable water management planning process.  This is recommended as you will be asked to outline such a process in class with a small group and what you produce will be submitted for a grade. So come prepared.

Flint recommends six steps for evaluating the sustainability of water management decisions based on a systems approach, but he doesn’t call it an integrated water management framework.  Here are some questions to ponder in preparation for the class… 

1. How are Flint's six steps and conceptual framework different than the integrated water management concepts and practices outlined in the Grigg article?

2. In what ways are they the same?

3. What do both authors mean by stakeholders and why do they feature so prominently in both planning frameworks?

4. How do you differentiate between goals, criteria, and indicators in sustainable water management?