Watershed management

Watershed managementis the study of the relevant characteristics of awatershedaimed at thesustainable distributionof its resources and the process of creating and implementing plans, programs and projects to sustain and enhancewatershedfunctions that affect theplant,animal,andhumancommunities within the watershed boundary.Features of a watershed that agencies seek to manage to includewater supply,water quality,drainage,stormwater runoff,water rightsand the overall planning and utilization of watersheds.Landowners,land useagencies, stormwater management experts, environmental specialists, water use surveyors and communities all play an integral part in watershed management.

Controlling pollution

In agricultural systems, common practices include the use ofbuffer strips,grassed waterways, the re-establishment ofwetlands,and forms ofsustainable agriculturepractices such asconservation tillage,crop rotationandinter-cropping.After certain practices are installed, it is important to continuously monitor these systems to ensure that they are working properly in terms of improving environmental quality.

In urban settings, managing areas to prevent soil loss and control stormwater flow are a few of the areas that receive attention. A few practices that are used to manage stormwater before it reaches a channel areretention ponds,filtering systems and wetlands. It is important that storm-water is given an opportunity toinfiltrateso that the soil and vegetation can act as a "filter" before the water reaches nearby streams or lakes. In the case of soil erosion prevention, a few common practices include the use of silt fences,landscape fabricwith grass seed andhydroseeding.The main objective in all cases is to slow water movement to prevent soil transport.

Governance

The 2ndWorld Water Forumheld inThe Haguein March 2000 raised some controversies that exposed themultilateralnature and imbalance the demand and supply management offreshwater.While donor organizations, private andgovernmentinstitutions backed by theWorld Bank,believe thatfreshwatershould be governed as an economic good by appropriate pricing,NGOshowever, held that freshwater resources should be seen as asocial good.The concept ofnetwork governancewhere all stakeholders form partnerships and voluntarily share ideas towards forging a common vision can be used to resolve this clash of opinion in freshwater management. Also, the implementation of any common vision presents a new role forNGOsbecause of their unique capabilities in local community coordination, thus making them a valuable partner innetwork governance.

Watershedsreplicate thismultilateralterrain with private industries and local communities interconnected by a common watershed. Although these groups share a commonecologicalspace that could transcend state borders, their interests, knowledge and use of resources within the watershed are mostly disproportionate and divergent, resulting to the activities of a specific group adversely impacting on other groups. Examples being theMinamata Bay poisoningthat occurred from 1932 to 1968, killing over 1,784 individuals and theWabigoon River incidenceof 1962. Furthermore, while some knowledgeable groups are shifting from efficient waterresource exploitationto efficient utilization, net gain for the watershedecologycould be lost when other groups seize the opportunity to exploit moreresources.

Moreover, the need to create partnerships between donor organizations, private and government institutions and community representatives likeNGOsin watersheds is to enhance an "organizational society" among stakeholders.

Severalriparianstates have adopted this concept in managing the increasingly scarce resources of watersheds. These include the nineRhinestates, with a common vision ofpollution control,theLake Chadandriver NileBasins, whose common vision is to ensureenvironmental sustainability.As a partner in the commonly shared vision, NGOs has adopted a new role in operationalizing the implementation of regional watershed management policies at the local level. For instance, essential local coordination and education are areas where the services of NGOs have been effective.This makes NGOs the "nuclei" for successful watershed management.Recently,artificial Intelligencetechniques such asneural networkshave been utilized to address the problem of watershed management.

Environmental law

Main article:Environmental law

Environmental laws often dictate the planning and actions that agencies take to manage watersheds. Some laws require that planning be done, others can be used to make a plan legally enforceable and others set out the ground rules for what can and cannot be done in development and planning. Most countries and states have their own laws regarding watershed management.

Those concerned aboutaquatic habitatprotection have a right to participate in the laws and planning processes that affect aquatic habitats. By having a clear understanding of whom to speak to and how to present the case for keeping our waterways clean a member of the public can become an effective watershed protection advocate.

See also

• Biomanipulation
• Integrated landscape management
• Integrated water resources management
• Source water protection

Further reading

• Erickson, J.D.,Messner, F. and I. Ring, eds. (2007).Economics of Sustainable Watershed Management.Elsevier, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
• Sabatier, P. A. (2005).Swimming Upstream: Collaborative Approaches to Watershed Management.The MIT Press.
• Wagner, W., Gawel, J., Furumai, H., De Souza, M. P., Teixeira, D., Rios, L., et al. (2002). Sustainable watershed management: an international multi-watershed case study.Ambio,2–13.