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CL946 Global Water Policy, Report 2
Gordon Best 201109204, MEng Civil Engineering
Brief
Target 6.5 of the recently adopted Sustainable Development Goals reads “By 2030, implement
integrated water resources management at all levels, including through transboundary
cooperation as appropriate.”
Critically assess the target above and use at least one case study (transboundary river or
transboundary aquifer) in which transboundary cooperation can be of assistance to IWRM.
Contents
1.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................................2
2.1 What Is Integrated Water Resource Management?.........................................................................2
3.1 Feasibility Of Integrated Water Resource Management Application..............................................3
1. Link To Appropriate Key Development Issues ............................................................................4
2. Clearly Communicating Strategy to All Stakeholders .................................................................4
3. Changing The Community’s Thought Process to Water .............................................................6
4. Effectively Monitoring the Progress Of the Implementation .....................................................7
5. Handling Encountered Challenges Comprehensively and As Early As Possible..........................7
6. Understanding That The Implementation Process Takes Time and Compromises....................8
7. Management Structure...............................................................................................................9
4.1 Conclusion.........................................................................................................................................9
5.1 References ......................................................................................................................................10
3000 words

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1.1 Introduction
The 2012 Millennium Development Goals Report revealed that over 783 million people continued to
live without access to safe, reliable sources of drinking water. This statistic relates to 11% of
humanity being deprived of a basic human right, according to the United Nations General Assembly
(UN, 2013).
Many factors have led to a desperate situation for many, some of which are financial, others are
geographical problems concerning reaching isolated, rural communities, or simply relate to the
sheer demand for water.
However, all the factors affecting the level of water accessibility are shaped by the ability of water
management in the area. When the quantity, quality and accessibility of a water source is carefully
protected and controlled, the population will, consequently, see improving life and health standards.
Conversely, when a water source is poorly managed, and the population cannot rely on the supply, it
is likely that adverse health conditions and a significant drop in life quality will be observed.
To ensure all water sources are managed effectively, increasing the quality of life and access to
water for the population, the concept of Integrated Water Resources Management (hereafter
IWRM) was established. By using this system, a more comprehensive understanding of how the
water resource affects the area could be developed, establishing the factors which lead to problems
with supply, resulting in the development of a strategy to solve these problems and create a
sustainable water resource.
The newly updated version of the Millennium Development Goals, the Sustainable Development
Goals 2015 (SDG) outlines steps which UN member states are expected to implement into their
policies and agendas. The SDGs set a target that all levels of water use will implement the IWRM
strategy by 2030, including water resources within a country, and transboundary resources between
two or more. This report will investigate this target, determining how it will be implemented,
investigating the benefits which it may lead to, and analysing the target’s overall feasibility.
2.1 What is Integrated Water Resource Management?
The concept of IWRM was developed in 1992, where ministers at the International Conference on
Water and the Environment in Dublin proposed changes to the global practices of water resource
management. They proposed four main principles which were fundamental to the water resources
management process, and if followed correctly would lead to a sustainable and effective framework
for water management. These principles became known as the Dublin Principles:
 Principle 1: Fresh water is a finite and vulnerable resource, essential to sustain life,
development and the environment
 Principle 2: Water development and management should be based on a participatory
approach, involving users, planners and policy-makers at all levels
 Principle 3: Women play a central part in the provision, management and safeguarding of
water
 Principle 4: Water has an economic value in all its competing uses and should be recognized
as an economic good
The Dublin Principle, Guiding Statements (2015)

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Principle one reflects the need to view water as an exhaustible resource if neglected, where aquifers
and surface water sources may take considerably longer to refill through groundwater movement
than the time taken to extract.
The second principle explores the necessity for water management to be a universal process, where
all levels of the community can input opinions, leading to some level of accountability and
responsibility for the entire population.
Principle three focuses on a deeply important societal factor, particularly in developing countries. In
Africa, over 90% of work involving water gathering, for cooking and cleaning, is done by women.
(UN, 2015) Despite this tremendously high level female responsibility, the management of the water
resources is primarily done by men. To improve gender equality, and give the decision making power
to those with the most experience and knowledge of the matter, emphasis must be placed on
ensuring women are also involved in the management process.
The final principle recognises the importance of effectively regulating water, using economic
incentives to reward efficiency, and fines to counteract neglect or abuse of the water resource. With
these practices in place, vulnerable groups can be supported, and water resources are evenly
distributed to all community members.
By implementing these key principles into the policy and managerial framework used by
governments and communities, a sustainable and successful IWRM strategy can be developed.
3.1 Feasibility of Integrated Water Resource Management Application
This section of the report will review the implementation strategy of IWRM, and the challenges
which may be encountered during the development of this strategy. By referencing the 2009 United
Nations World Water Assessment Programme’s paper on IWRM in Action, the key aspects and issues
observed in global IWRM implementation strategies can be analysed, allowing assessment of the
SDG target’s feasibility.
The UN paper suggests there are seven main aspects to consider during the practical application of
all IWRM strategies. They will refer to different challenges, solutions, and stakeholders for each
strategy, but to ensure a universal plan where solutions and ideas can be shared, there must be
common ground.
The general aspects which make up the IWRM implementation process are as follows:
1. Link to Appropriate Key Development Issues
2. Clearly Communicating Strategy to All Stakeholders
3. Changing The Community’s Thought Process To Water
4. Effectively Monitoring The Progress Of the Implementation
5. Handling Encountered Challenges Comprehensively and As Early As Possible
6. Understanding That the Implementation Process Takes Time and Compromises
7. Management Structure
These steps will be further analysed, alongside case studies, to demonstrate the measures taken to
ensure their completion. By communicating their experience and strategies in these steps, countries
can cooperate to solve problems they may have in common.

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1. Link to Appropriate Key Development Issues
In order to focus the strategy on the correct problems, the factors which have prevented an
effective IWRM thus far must be evaluated. When all factors have been identified, the correct
solution can be developed, resulting in a sustainable strategy.
For many of the countries studied by the UN, the key development issue which IWRM was required
for related to planning transboundary collaborations between countries. Without a comprehensive
strategy, there was little either country could do to monitor and manage its water resource. The
IWRM would therefore help by examining the catchment area, regardless of whether this was within
or between countries, and creating an effective management plan for the region’s water. An
effective example of this kind of cooperation is in the West African Regional Action Plan, where use
of IWRM helped to develop a plan for the Niger, Volta and Senegal rivers in 2000.
In other parts of the world, a key development issue may relate to ensuring the existing water
infrastructure is sustainable, in terms of social and environmental impacts. This issue can be caused
by a general lack of coordination between developments, leading to difficulties in integrating
management systems. For example, the failure of an infrastructure project to identify the
environmental regulations, or capacity requirements, will lead to significant and costly problems
during construction and operation, hindering development. With an effective IWRM process
adopted, the key principles of construction are highlighted and prioritised through existing
legislation and building standards to prevent or mitigate problems.
The feasibility of the SDG target depends on how many issues are currently affecting or preventing
the IWRM process. However, as more countries adopt the IWRM system, solutions will become
more available, allowing less developed countries to more quickly adopt these solutions, potentially
in time to achieve the 2030 target.
2. Clearly Communicating Strategy to All Stakeholders
A vital part of the IWRM concept is providing a common language for all projects and governments
to share and communicate their ideas and solutions. With this platform for universal
communication; cooperation is much more possible.
As previously mentioned, the importance of such cooperation is vital between countries, but also
between developments and stakeholders to ensure the management can integrate fully.
For example, the failure of a dam development to consult with the stakeholders of the river where
the construction is proposed, i.e. the local fishing industry, could lead to costly objections and
impacts. By adopting the IWRM, the development would be able to gain a more comprehensive
view of the relevant stakeholders, leading to better levels of cooperation.

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Figure 1- Priorities for Water Use in Low, Medium and High HDI Scoring Countries (fjls.org)
Figure 2- Global Distribution of Transboundary Groundwater Flows (whymap.org)
The feasibility of such a step is difficult to predict, since cooperation and communication between
communities and countries are based on such a vast variety of factors. In order to fully integrate
effective management within a country, all relevant stakeholders must be willing to open a dialogue
to communicate their priorities (as seen by Fig.1, comparing priorities of water use with Human
Development Index (HDI) scores) and preferred solutions if an acceptable system is to be
implemented.
This challenge becomes even more significant when the cooperation is required between countries
(as seen in Fig.2), who may have completely different cultural, financial and environmental priorities.

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Figure 3- Implementation of IWRM Functions (UN IWRM in Action, 2009 Paper)
3. Changing The Community’s Thought Process to Water
There has been progress in the amount of water management based legislation currently in
operation since the 1992 Dublin Principles, where over 74% of ninety- five UN surveyed countries
now have some form of IWRM strategy in operation or development (IWRM in Action, 2015).
Although not an indication that these measures are effective, it demonstrates the changed mind-set
in recent years towards the importance of water management. A survey was completed by fifty-
eight countries to demonstrate the effect the newly created legislation was having on the actual
functions of water management. The results showed that, on average, countries’ ability to draft and
develop legislation is approaching reasonable levels. However, there are significant gaps in the
ability of this legislation to actually lead to effective management of the water resources, as
demonstrated by the score of just over one out of three on figure 3.
Such results should not lead to assumptions that IWRM is not working. As will be discussed later, the
implementation of these systems take time, and the first stage of implementation is often in
establishing the correct legislation, and then building upon these in practical terms.
Changing the public’s way of thinking is, therefore, an entirely feasible notion, since great strides are
being made globally to introduce new policies due to increased demand for effective water
management systems. The history of IWRM suggests that restructuring the management of the
water sector is most successfully done when policy reform is the first step taken. From these new
laws, institutions and management instruments are developed, leading to practical application of
the legislation, and a comprehensively managed sector.

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Figure 4- Key Principles of Global Water Laws (UN IWRM in Action, 2009 Paper)
4. Effectively Monitoring the Progress of the Implementation
To ensure the IWRM system is successful, there must be a strategy to monitor the effects of
management structure changes. The first step is to ensure that the conditions allow these
observations to be made, through establishing various assessment instruments to record the starting
levels of water quantity, quality and accessibility. The next step focusses on creating the framework
to ensure the process can continue to be monitored, through allocating long term budgets and
designating realistic responsibilities for the monitoring process. By designating the responsibilities
early, more stakeholders can be involved in the monitoring process, enabling more accurate and
widespread data collection.
An example of this monitoring process can be found with the Liaoning Cleaner Water Project in
China, where water shortages were common, and water was very inefficiently used. Through
implementing an effective IWRM system which adjusted the water prices for various stakeholders,
they were able to manage the use of the water resource, recording significant improvements in
water efficiency, and overall water availability.
The effective monitoring of the IWRM should be feasible for most countries and communities
implementing new management systems, where assessments and stakeholder involvement
strategies have been previously completed.
5. Handling Encountered Challenges Comprehensively and As Early As Possible
The most important aspect in the feasibility of the SDG target is whether the systems can
successfully resolve the challenges associated with developing a suitable managerial framework.
Similarly to factors which have previously prevented IWRM implementation, the challenges will be
different for each country. To combat these challenges, solutions will be proposed, and
implemented into the laws of the country. As seen in Fig.4, many countries addressed the problem
by ensuring maximum participation by relevant stakeholders. Other countries chose to prioritise the
efficiency of water use, and determine the responsibility for any pollutants in the water source.

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Figure 5-IWRM Implementation Progress (FJLS Paper, 2015)
Reaching the 2030 SDG target may simply be too ambitious for many countries. Certainly the
legislation is taking shape, but whether this will lead to fully functional IWRM systems by 2030, with
challenges resolved and all stakeholders satisfied, remains to be seen.
An example of a conflict arising from transboundary water resources is the Mekong River, the eighth
largest river in the world in terms of discharge, which flows through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand,
Cambodia and Vietnam. In 1995, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam formed the Mekong River
Commission (MRC) which promised shared ownership of the river for mutual gain. However, in 2010,
Laos chose to proceed with plans for the Xayaburi Dam despite strong objections from Cambodia and
Vietnam, who insisted the dam violated the terms of the MRC, and would devastate agricultural
communities downstream.
The ongoing disputes have led to tensions between MRC countries, where communities have been
relocated, political agreements have been violated without penalty, and decision making systems
are failing to involve other stakeholders. Establishing a functional IWRM would require stakeholders
to put aside their past problems, make fair compromises, and attempt to create a sustainable future
for the river, and communities relying on it.
6. Understanding That the Implementation Process Takes Time And Compromises
The SDG target of 2030 would require all countries to establish IWRM systems in all levels of
management. However, looking at the timeline for previous management systems to form, suggests
this is too ambitious a deadline. The French system for basin management and general water control
began in 1968, and the Spanish equivalent process took over 80 years to reach today’s standard. In
less developed countries, where the water sector is more informally governed, and slower change is
likely, due to factors such as financial and political restrictions, the process to implement effective
IWRM systems could take many decades.
Additionally, the process of change would require compromises from a variety of stakeholders. As
the Mekong River Basin dispute showed, a long term solution would require time-consuming
negotiations to agree a fair and sustainable settlement.
The SDG target is certainly achievable in certain parts of the world, but to achieve universal
implementation by 2030 is seemingly unachievable, due to the vast complexity of conflicts involving
certain transboundary water bodies. Figure 5 demonstrates the progress being made regarding
global IWRM implementation. A number of developing countries are making significant progress, but
there is concern with how many countries are still in the initial development phase. Unless the SDGs
significantly alter the strategy and motivation of countries to implement IWRM systems, the 2030
will not be achieved.

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The difficulty with this target is simply that the SDGs are not legally binding. Missing the 2030
deadline would cause no direct financial impact, or impose any penalty, to a country. In addition to a
lack of incentive to meet the targets set, many have criticised the SDGs for lacking specifics and
using vague language such as “substantially reduce”, which may be open to interpretation.
7. Management Structure
The method in which the IWRM is managed can have significant effects on the system’s success.
Where a system is managed from the “top- down”, an overview can be made of the usage, allowing
more careful distribution of the resource, especially useful in areas of scarce water supplies. Where
bountiful supplies of water exist, the method of management becomes less important, since the
stress on the resource is minimal. This means a “bottom- up” approach may be adequate, allowing
users to utilise the resource without limit or restriction. However, this method of management may
lead to abuse of the resource, or uneven distribution, so a centralised system to monitor and
regulate the water may be required. This dilemma became apparent in 2000, where the South
African water sector was so strained by the population’s unequal access to water that reallocation of
the water supply was required. Commercial licences were withdrawn, and land ownership of water
supplies were cancelled, leading to a complete overhaul of the country’s water regulation systems.
4.1 Conclusion
Considering the overall feasibility of the implementation of IWRM at all levels, it seems the 2030
target may be too ambitious in some areas. Great strides are being made in the field of water
management in developing countries, in terms of the implementation of legislation and new water
policy. Examples like the Mekong River Basin, however, highlight the conflicted nature of
stakeholders in some developing areas.
Factors such as political instability and tension within or between communities will continue to
prevent the establishment of functional IWRM systems. Such factors will lead to prolonged
negotiations and delayed implementation of a solution between conflicting parties or communities,
potentially beyond the 2030 deadline.
To reach a solution, negotiations must be conducted to benefit the populations of the relevant
countries, instead of focussing on the financial interests of individual countries. With an assessment
of the solution’s social impact completed, a diplomatic solution to benefit the populations of all
involved countries can be planned, sharing responsibility and mitigating negative impacts. From this
plan, the seven steps of implementing the IWRM will be carefully followed, incorporating effective
cooperation and communication to reach the standards of developed countries.
Taking the Mekong River as an example, the countries of the MRC need to move on from the
existing conflict, open a dialogue in good faith, and develop the solution under the “pacta sunt
servanda” principle of the 1995 MRC Agreement. Failing a diplomatic solution, some form of
independent UN regulatory sanctions may be required to enforce the implantation of IWRM.
The target is theoretically possible if conflicting countries learn to cooperate, but given the current
levels of cooperation between states, successful implementation of the 2030 SDG target is unlikely.

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5.1 References
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Basin. [online] Available at:
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2015].
 FERNANDO GONZALEZ-VILLARREAL, (2015). The Dublin Principles for Water as Reflected in a
Comparative Assessment of Institutional and Legal Arrangements for Integrated Water
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blin%20Principles%20for%20Water%20as%20reflected%20in%20a%20Comparatice%20Asse
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[online] Available at:
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2015].
 Gwp.org, (2015). 4. Social and economic value of water - IWRM Principles - What is IWRM? -
THE CHALLENGE - Global Water Partnership. [online] Available at:
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economic-value-of-water/ [Accessed 2 Dec. 2015].
 International Rivers, (2015). The Mekong Dams Dispute: Four Trends to Watch. [online]
Available at: http://www.internationalrivers.org/blogs/267/the-mekong-dams-dispute-four-
trends-to-watch [Accessed 2 Dec. 2015].
 Jan Hassing, Niels Ipsen, Torkil Jønch Clausen, Henrik Larsen and Palle Lindgaard-Jørgensen,
(2009).Integrated Water Resources Management in Action. [online] UNESDOC.UNESCO.ORG.
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Dec. 2015].
 The Water Project, (2015). Facts and Statistics about Water and Its Effects. [online] Available
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 UN.org, (2015). Status Report on The Application of Integrated Approaches to Water
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Dec. 2015].