This book is a printed edition of the Special Issue "Water Governance, Stakeholder Engagement, and Sustainable Water Resources Management" that was published in Water

The science–policy interface is critical to the design and implementation of water policies. In theory, scientists provide policy makers with robust facts and data that can help guide decision making, and lessons from the political economy of reforms can push scientific boundaries further to trigger further research for wise solutions. While evidence-based policy is obviously desirable, in practice such a connection is not always straightforward. Another assumption behind the science–policy gap is the discrepancy between scientists and policy makers in terms of culture, process, timing, language and expected outcome. This book tries to reconcile this discrepancy through a multi-stakeholder approach to authoring its different articles. This joint initiative between the OECD – particularly its Water Governance Initiative – and the International Water Resources Association seeks to provide a canvas for grounding water policy in science, and vice versa. The objective of this book, devoted to the OECD Principles on Water Governance, is to use the OECD Principles as a common thread across the articles to draw lessons from theoretical work and practical experiences in water governance reforms; but also to only feature papers authored by groups of diverse stakeholders from different institutional backgrounds. This book was originally published as a special issue of Water International.

This book highlights the need for effective water governance in India given the fact that the country has been facing serious water stress in recent years. The water management in the country needs a serious scientific understanding coupled with the cooperative approach rather than a competitive one. It looks at current water regulations and underlines the need for overhaul of some laws to ensure that high water usage efficiency is attained, groundwater depletion is arrested and management of available resources is carried out in a disciplined manner. It also looks at the role of stakeholder engagement and pricing as a mechanism to manage demand in the wake of rapid population growth and industrialization.

The objective of this book is to broadly illustrate the key aspects of water governance, mapping the spectrum of decision-making from techno-centric and eco-centric approaches, to hybrid concepts and people-centric approaches. Topics covered include the challenges for water-governance models, the polycentric model, the integration challenge, water in the decision-making hierarchy, and the rise of water-sensitive design, while also taking into account interdependencies between stakeholders, as well as the issue of scale. The book’s content is presented in an integrated and comprehensive format, building on detailed case studies from around the world and the authors’ working experiences in the water sector. Combining essential insights with accessible, non-technical language, it offers a valuable resource for academics, technicians and policy-makers alike.

The main focus of this book is sustainable management of water resources in a changing climate. The book also addresses the question of how to define and measure the sustainability of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM). The sustainability of IWRM is an important issue when planning and/or developing policies that consider the impact of climate change, water governance and ecohydrology in the context of a more holistic approach to ensure sustainable management of water resources. Sustainable IWRM is more about processes, and relatively little systematic or rigorous work has been done to articulate what components are the most essential to ensure the ongoing sustainability of IWRM efforts. The chapters cover topics including global prospective of IWRM; allocation of environmental flows in IWRM; echohydrology, water resources and environmental sustainability; climate change and IWRM; IWRM and water governance including social, economic, public health and cultural aspects; climate change resiliency actions related to water resources management sustainability and tools in support of sustainability for IWRM. This book will be of interest to researchers, practitioners, water resources mangers, policy and decision makers, donors, international institutions, governmental and non-governmental organizations, educators, as well as graduate and undergraduate students. It is a useful reference for Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), ecohydrology, climate change impact and adaptations, water governance, environmental flows, geographic information system and modeling tools, water and energy nexus and related topics.

The book is the first of its kind to deal with almost the entire swath of water resources assessment, development and sustainable management. The idea of the book crystallized during the long journey of the Editors on various facets of water issues in India and abroad during their extended association, at all levels with the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, as well as International Organizations dealing with water. Currently water-stressed, India is likely to become water scarce in not too distant a future. The global freshwater supply and its sustainable use for human consumption, and conservation of the ecosystem have never come under such a rigorous scrutiny before. The unplanned and reckless exploitation of this precious resource have led to a crisis situation, compounded by a real threat of climate change. This book is, therefore, timely and of particular relevance not only to India but the entire world. The book contains 20 chapters, beside the lead article by the Editors. The chapters are contributed by the eminent professionals, researchers, academicians and civil society representatives having an in-depth understanding of the issues. The contents of the chapters have been chosen to represent all aspects of water. The assessment of water resources using satellite data and in-depth analyses of groundwater sector like, the Aquifer Mapping Programme initiated by Government of India, application of gravity satellite data to assess the resource build up, artificial recharge of aquifers and its contamination, are dealt with by eminent experts. The articles on sustainable management of water through good governance by community participation and involvement of civil society are placed. Flood management both through a basin level approach as well as by building resilience in vulnerable areas is discussed. Other critical issues like water bodies management, constitutional provisions, water governance and financial issues, hydro-power and need of research and development in this sector are also dealt with aptly. In view of emerging crisis and complexities in this sector the future pathways and the paradigm shift that is required in administrative and policy level is also discussed.