Integrated Water Management: Practical Experiences and Case Studies

It is widely stipulated that the world’s water supply will come to symbolize the blue gold of the 21st century. As such, it is essential that further efforts be invested in developing practical means for managing this natural wealth, in order to avoid any possible threat of depletion, contamination or adverse side effects for the societies who depend on it. Water is a limited resource, and human beings and their subsequent anth- pogenic processes can cause subtle but drastic variations in its quantity and quality, which can in turn result in changes to the source’s related ecosystem. The EC directive 2000/60 introduced a whole range of specific definitions, objectives and constraints regarding the various aspects of water management, including water quality management, policies, economic aspects, ecology, price, and sustainable development. These issues all require the formulation of common, integrated, sustainable approaches for managing the water system from a multidisciplinary perspective, and the definition of new professional skills, requirements which become even more evident where transboundary areas are concerned. In order to take decisions in an equitable, sustainable, and ethical fashion, water resource management does in fact call for extensive knowledge of the complex relationships between citizens and their water system. The book represents a practical contribution made possible thanks to the efforts of scientists from NATO countries and partners, along with Belgium and Italy’s collaboration on Integrated Water Management and its possible risk factors, including problems related to targeted terrorist acts.