Conflict Resolution in Water Resources and Environmental Management

The Mekong/Lancang River Basin is undergoing a period of rapid hydropower development, with plans to construct over 100 dams in the next several decades. These dams may alter the river’s natural flow and sediment regimes, which could significantly degrade the exceptional biodiversity and productivity of the basin’s ecosystems. Sediment that is trapped in reservoirs will be unavailable to support the basin’s geomorphology and habitats, and by reducing reservoir water storage capacity may decrease hydropower output and reliability. This paper illustrates how alternative dam location, design and operation may have the potential to reduce reservoir sediment trapping. This paper describes the simulation model used to identify alternative siting, design and operating options for two planned dams in Cambodia: Sambor on the Mekong River and Lower Se San 2 on a tributary of the River. Lower Se San 2 Dam is particularly important with respect to biodiversity and ecological productivity. Sambor Dam could prevent significant quantities of sediment from reaching Tonle Sap Lake and the Vietnam Delta, two critically important features of the river basin. Results from daily simulations of water and sediment flows show the extent to which sediment management practices could reduce the adverse impacts of reservoir sediment trapping if conducted in an environmentally friendly manner, as well as the loss in hydropower production resulting from those practices.

Management measures addressing water scarcity are often pointed out as resolution alternatives for first-order conflicts; however, failures in introducing such measures or their unforeseen consequences can transform them into sources for second-order conflicts caused by social resource scarcity. Hence, implications of their adoption should be analyzed. Considering unsustainable groundwater use in the Paraíba River Basin—the most important basin in the state of Paraíba, Northeastern Brazil—and focusing on water quality guidelines, water permits, and bulk water charges, this paper analyzes thirteen criteria for applying these management instruments with regard to their potential for inducing second-order conflicts, and identifies the possible consequences of their adoption. Then, utilizing the Graph Model for Conflict Resolution (GMCR), these consequences are introduced as management outcomes to model the conflict over groundwater residential supply in João Pessoa, the state’s capital. The analysis/modeling results can support decision-making on options to avoid/minimize second-order conflicts over groundwater management.

Human beings depend on the integrity of watersheds to provide ecosystem services (e.g., water) that they need for their survival. The current watershed degradation represents the most serious threat to the provision of watershed services. The worldwide demand for integrated approaches to provide solutions to water flow reduction represents a significant shift towards management focussed on the sustained use of water catchment areas. This paper reports the findings of a study that was carried out to explore the potential for paying for the management of watershed areas in the Pangani River Basin in Tanzania. Site visits enabled the collection of hydrological data, and documented reviews and structured questionnaires were used to collect socioeconomic data. MS Excel was applied in drawing figures. We found that the minimum and maximum quantities of water discharge were 11,300,365 and 15,839,833 m³ and 7,787,600 and 8,602,361 m³ in Arusha and Moshi, respectively. Similarly, the minimum and maximum revenue collections from water users were €987,766, 60 and €1,659,160, 71; and €920,916, 40 and €1,456,075, 49 as projections and actual revenue collection, respectively. We conclude that water supply problems are caused by watershed degradation and obsolete water infrastructures. We recommend the integration of payment for watershed conservation approaches into watershed management to enhance sustainable water flow.

The purpose of this paper is to carry out an economic analysis of the required investments for the protection of natural water sources for the drinking water supply of the city of Quito, Ecuador. Although “producing” water or minerals has no cost since they naturally exist on the environment, the values of ecosystems’ services and functions can be estimated based on applications of a series of environmental economics methods. The Contingent Valuation Method is especially relevant, since it estimates the use and non-use values, which can correspond to the total economic value or benefits to society derived from protected water sources. This method is applied to a case involving the Water and Sanitation Company of the City of Quito (EPMAPS), which has made important investments for protection of the main water sources for the city of Quito. The results of the economic analysis demonstrate the economic feasibility of the required investments for the protection of water sources taking into account the costs involved and the total economic value or benefits calculated by means of the Contingent Valuation Method. This will allow its dissemination and training at all levels in order to internalize the environmental economic values on related individual and institutional decision making.

It is a widely spread assertion that water is a scarce resource. Most experts agree that for many inhabitants of less developed countries it is difficult to obtain a sufficient amount of clean water. We add to this argument by saying that it is the case not so much because there is not sufficient drinkable water on this planet but rather because not all consumers have sufficient purchasing power. This chapter suggests to use the revenue from scarce resource rents in order to enable even the poorest to have access to clean water. An integrated global economic policy systematically ensuring sufficient financial means for everyone, including the poor, for purchasing at least the drinkable water to survive, and incentivizing global entrepreneurship as well the application of the latest, environmentally-friendly technology in this field.

Water is an environmental, political, cultural, historical, and economic natural resource that is of vital importance for human life. As many water resources are shared by more than one country and since there is no substitute for water, water has become a security issue. In this paper, we provide an overview of the factors that may potentially increase conflict among riparian countries and affect the success or failure of international agreements in addressing trans-boundary water management issues. Additional insight into these factors can assist in designing resilient water treaties, decrease the likelihood of the collapse of international water agreements, and consequently decrease the potential for conflicts among riparian countries.

An adequate and secure drinking water supply is one of the key components of infrastructure in developed countries. This infrastructure has been developed over a number of decades and will continue to evolve. For those who provide this vital service, it is important to think about what things may look like several decades from now, to facilitate intelligent planning and development. A glance at the past tells us that it is impossible to predict specific technological developments that may occur several decades from now. However the basic paradigm that describes public water supply (choose the best possible source, design and operate adequate treatment, provide secure distribution, conduct adequate monitoring, and respond appropriately to an adverse monitoring result) will still be relevant. Each of these five elements has technical, institutional and human aspects that are all important for the development and maintenance of robust systems. Using this paradigm, this article discusses important trends that can guide us in developing and improving water supplies over the next several decades.

A strategic investigation is carried out for the conflict arising over the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline to transfer unrefined bitumen from the Alberta oil sands in Canada to refineries located in the Southern part of the United States. Through categorizing the different aspects of this conflict into environmental (e.g. threats to water resources such as Ogallala Aquifer), political, and economic dimensions, this crucial real-world conflict can be better understood and more realistically investigated. In this study, decision makers are divided (based on their authority to decide over the destiny of the project) into two groups, main and influential. Then, based on real world events, occasions, and relationships, their current situations, future options, and preferences are identified. Using the knowledge developed in this process and through the use of the Graph Model for Conflict Resolution technique, the aforementioned pipeline conflict is formally modeled and analyzed to gain strategic insights into its resolution.

The deterioration of aging sanitary sewer pipes poses a potentially significant environmental and economic threat. While accurate information on sewer condition required for proactive management can be obtained through closed-circuit television (CCTV) inspections, these inspections are expensive and hence frequently limited to relatively small portions of the sewer system. Hence, there is real value in alternatives to assist in determining sewer integrity. Data mining is demonstrated as a means of extracting information from limited inspection records, allowing sewer pipe condition to be predicted for pipes that have not yet been inspected. The paper describes a classification tree algorithm capable of providing insight into a pipe condition dataset obtained after inspecting a portion of the sanitary sewers in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. The model is developed with minimal data pre-processing effort and illustrates the influence of pipe-specific attributes (e.g. year of construction, diameter and length) on pipe condition in a format that can be easily shared with those unfamiliar with the data mining process. The predictive capability of the classification tree is validated using a stratified test set representative of the distribution of pipe condition existing in the sewer system. CCTV inspection datasets are often imbalanced—with significantly more pipes in one condition class than another and this is problematic as data mining algorithms tend to be most effective when observations available for model development are balanced across classes. An optimally tuned classification tree predicts binary pipe condition (good vs. poor condition) with an overall accuracy of 76 % (282 out of 364 instances of pipe condition correctly predicted in the stratified test set). The model achieved an acceptable test set area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of 0.77 and can effectively identify individual pipes for future rounds of inspection. The data mining approach presented herein is found capable of unlocking information contained within inspection records and enhances existing management practices used in the wastewater industry.

This chapter develops a method for analyzing bargaining problems in which the bargainers are uncertain about the performance of alternative bargaining outcomes. Monte-Carlo selection is combined with fallback bargaining (FB) in order to map the stochastic bargaining problem into many deterministic bargaining problems which can be analyzed using various fallback bargaining methods, namely unanimity FB, q-approval FB, and FB with impasse. The proposed method is applied to the California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta benchmark problem. In this problem the stakeholders need to reach an agreement over a water export strategy to address the current crisis in the Delta. This problem is modeled here as a bargaining game in which the environmentalists and water exporters develop a resolution through a bargaining process while the performances of different water export alternatives are uncertain. The analysis results are consistent with the findings of other studies using different decision analysis methods to analyze this multi-decision maker problem. Construction of a peripheral canal or a dual conveyance is expected if the parties change their cooperation attitudes, trying to benefit from a low level of cooperation in solving the Delta problems.

A new decision support system based on matrix representation for conflict resolution under three-degree preference is designed for analyzing and solving conflict in practice. Because decision and negotiation are common but important human activity, there is a great need for a flexible decision support system that can systematically investigate a wide range of real-world strategic conflicts. The decision support system GMCR II, based on logical representations, is capable of handling two-degree preference only. However, the two-degree structure is limited in its ability to depict the intensity of relative preference. The proposed decision support system may deal with more complex strategic conflicts such as conflict with three-degree preference. The new system is illustrated in this paper using an international environmental dispute that was resulted from the environmental pollution among US, Canada, and International Joint Commission. To irrigate land in the northeastern section of North Dakota, an irrigation project was proposed by the United States Support (USS) regarding construction of a canal and holding reservoir to transfer water from the Missouri River Basin to the Hudson Bay Basin. Due to different goals, the Garrison Diversion Unit (GDU) conflict arose among US, Canada, and International Joint Commission. The resolution to solve this conflict is suggested by the new decision support system.

Water, environment and energy conflicts are particularly complex—easy to distort and difficult to resolve. The Cape Wind conflict, which began in 2001 over plans to develop the first offshore wind farm in the United States (US), has been complicated by the incompatible interests and power dynamics of multiple parties, scientific uncertainty, and the requirements of national, state and local government jurisdictions. This paper analyses the first phase of the protracted negotiations. It draws lessons from the author’s book project on the Cape Wind conflict (upcoming 2015). The research objective is to develop user-friendly techniques and tools for mapping not only the power dynamics of environmental negotiations over time but also the “turning point” influences of high power stakeholders and external factors, such as environmental catastrophes, political outcomes and technical innovations.

A quantitative evaluation method called Valmorph (eVALuation of MORPHology) was developed by the German Federal Institute of Hydrology (BfG). It was used to identify hydromorphological changes based on representative hydromorphological indicator-parameters. Information on reference conditions representing the basis for any hydromorphological assessment was derived from historical data analysis. By comparing recent and historical data, an evaluation is possible, in which historical data are assumed to represent natural or near-natural conditions. Outputs of this procedure are critical river sections in terms of hydromorphological attributes. BfG evaluated changes in hydromorphological characteristics for the German part of the inland Elbe River (from the Czech border to the tidal weir at Geesthacht—586 km). This work was done on the request of the Elbe River Basin Association and contributes to the Sediment Management Plan for the Elbe River. For the Elbe River an example is presented using the parameter “structure of the riparian zone”, which is of particular interest because it has a natural function as a source and sink for sediments. Changes in the riparian zone (e.g., bank fixation and groyne fields) have a large effect on river morphology and could also have considerable effects on habitat development and distribution. The evaluation results were summarized in their entirety for the six investigated hydromorphological parameters used as indicators for river sections in a poor hydromorphological condition. This serves as a basis for making well-reasoned decisions on measures and management options to improve hydromorphological characteristics and support the prioritisation of measures in decision-making processes.

The agricultural sector of Maku city in West Azerbaijan province of Iran heavily depends on the natural potential and capacities of water resources. The main purpose of this paper is to study water resources limitations and their effect on the socioeconomic status of wheat farmers in the studied area. In this survey, required data have been collected via a questionnaire from 150 wheat farmers. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed through Cronbach Alpha (α > 0.82) and the data was analyzed using the factor analysis technique by SPSS software. Based on the results of this study, the limitations of water resources are summarized into four factors: atmospheric and natural conditions (23.33 %), pattern of water resources utilization (17.85 %), challenges of water resources management (14.74 %) and pattern of land utilization (11.88 %). Altogether, these four factors account for 67.53 % of the total variance of water resources limitations in Maku city. The effects of water resources limitations on the socioeconomic status of wheat farmers in this city are also summarized into three factors: economic effects (31.13 %), social effects (22.19 %) and environmental effects (14.89 %), accounting for 68.20 % of the total variance of the effects of water resources limitations on the conditions of the studied local wheat farmers.

Climate change poses tremendous uncertainties to the supply and management of water resources. Given the importance of groundwater in agriculture and domestic water supply for numerous rural communities in South India, this paper seeks to address the impact of climate change on groundwater supplies and possible policy interventions to mitigate the problem. The study site is the Tamil Nadu state in South India where groundwater aquifers are already under severe stress due to poor management caused by perverse incentives such as fully subsidized electricity for groundwater pumping and absence of regulatory policy and/or institutions. This study attempts to quantify the impact of climate change and other man-made factors such as electricity pricing regime and well density on groundwater levels and groundwater irrigated area. Using panel data econometric approaches, the factors affecting depth to water table and area irrigated by wells were identified and quantified. The fixed effects panel data model and panel corrected standard errors methods were employed for analysis. Both current rainfall and lagged rainfall were found to have positive impact on groundwater table and area irrigated by wells, while the increase in number of wells (well density) and shift in electricity pricing from a pro-rata regime to a fully subsidized pricing regime lead to significant negative impact on water table and area irrigated per well. The study concludes that climate change and other anthropogenic factors such as increased exploitation of groundwater and ineffective pricing of electricity will clearly lead to unsustainable groundwater levels. Therefore, appropriate policies such as pro-rata pricing of electricity and regulation of well drilling will help to mitigate the twin-problems of declining water table and increasing externalities in groundwater irrigation.