Water resources management – towards performance based approach.

Abstract

Global change that results from population growth, global warming, and land use change (especially rapid urbanization) directly affects the complexity of water resources management problems and the uncertainty they are exposed to. Both, the complexity and the uncertainty, are the result of dynamic interactions of innumerable system parts within three major systems: (i) the physical environment; (ii) the social and demographic characteristics of the region under consideration; and (iii) the pipes, roads, bridges, buildings, and other components of the constructed environment (infrastructure). Recent trends in dealing with complex water resources systems include consideration of the entire region being affected, explicit consideration of all costs and benefits, elaboration of a large number of alternative solutions, and the greater participation of all stakeholders in the decision-making. Systems approaches based on simulation, optimization, and multi-objective analyses, in deterministic, stochastic and fuzzy forms, demonstrated in the last 50 years, an excellent potential for providing appropriate support for effective water resources management. This paper explores the future opportunities based on the advances in systems theory that can, on a broader scale, majorly transform the management of water resources. The paper identifies performance-based water resources engineering as a methodological framework to improve water resources management in the face of rapid climate destabilization so that sustainability becomes the norm, not the occasional success story.