Integrated Water Resources Management: Challenges and

Opportunities• Frank A. Ward, Professor

• NMSU College of Agriculture, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences• Querétaro, Mexico

• March 31-April 1, 2011

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Water Policy Challenges• International

– Water conservation to promote food security for growing population

– Eliminating water poverty. • Drinking water • Sanitation

– Peaceful sharing of transboundary waters– Resilient institutions to allocate water under

• Growing population• Drought• Climate change 2

Water Policy Challenges

• New Mexico, USA– Affordable safe water supply for rural areas.– Meet water deliveries to TX and MX– Raise economic benefits from scarce water (about

1 MAF/year in RG Basin)– Affordable water conservation (B > C)– Efficient transfers from farms to growing cities– Water rights adjudication

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Water Policy Challenges

• Querétaro MX– Growing aquifer overexploitation– More than 100,000 rural people not connected to

safe drinking water system – Low cost measures for safe and reliable supplies in

rural areas. (e.g., solar pumps, standpipes)– Reducing groundwater depletions while supplying

drinking water to rural areas affordably• New aqueduct• Cost recovery

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Informing policy with science• Integrated Water Resources Management

– Hydrology– Agronomy– Economics– Institutions and Policies

• River Basins in Queretaro– Panuco: to Gulf of MX– Lerma-Santiago: to Pacific.

• Begin with a schematic of sources/uses5

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Hypothetical BasinWatershed runoff

Reservoir

Irrigated crops

Flooding

Urban water supply

Groundwater

Fish and wildlife

Treaty obligation

Hydropower

Compact Obligation

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Egypt: Nile Basin

Basin Schematic Uses• Engages stakeholders• Promote stakeholder consensus• Promote stakeholder debate• Summarizes sources, uses, and values• Tool for policy analysis / experiments

– Hydrologic– Economic– Agronomic– Institutions

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Informing policy with science• Water Data

– Supplies (precipitation, runoff)• Past (gauged flows, period of record)• Future (climate change)

– Demands• Past (cities, agriculture, environment)• Future (growing cities, changing agriculture)

– Technology• Past (old)• Future (new)

– Population, Demographics (past, future)– Value of water in alternative uses

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Informing policy with science• Policy choices

– Promoting conservation • Agriculture • Urban

– Stream adjudications– Establishing water markets to cope with shortages– Pricing

• Social justice• Revenue sustainability• Economic efficiency

– Regulating groundwater pumping 10

Informing policy with science• Policy choices (infrastructure: benefit - cost)

– Urban supply networks– In home water filtration – Facilities

• Treatment • Recycling

– Private groundwater development– Solar panels for pumping where power/fuel is scarce– Build, expand reservoirs– Rehab ditches

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Recent NMSU Research findings• Rio Grande Basin, US-MX

– Subsidizing drip irrigation can increase water use– Two-tiered pricing can conserve water while

promoting social justice– Switch to renewable supplies reduces gw

pumping, but costs about 6% of benefits per year. • Nile Basin, Egypt

– Water trading can increase income by 5-7%• Balkh Basin, Afghanistan

– Formal drought sharing institutions: raise farm income and food security 12

Afghan Irrigation

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Planned Research/Teaching• Rio Grande Basin, US-MX

– Cost of sustainable water use?– Benefits of water rights adjudication?– Cost effective ways to reduce irrigation water use

• Nile Basin, Egypt– Best ways to cope with climate change, upstream water

right claims. – Fair ways to share water.

• Euphrates (Turkey, Syria, Iraq)– Promote development in Iraq with falling supplies (drought,

dams, climate change, poor water rights)

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Planned Research/Teaching• Balkh Basin, Afghanistan

– Demonstrate decision support spreadsheets to water stakeholders

– Search for better water sharing institutions

• Amu Darya (5 countries)– Power production in Tajikistan– Afghan irrigation– Irrigation in Uzbekistan– Environmental Recovery, Aral Sea

• Euphrates Basin (Iraq)– Decision support systems for drought water sharing

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Getting more from water

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Comments?

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