What is Integrated River Basin Management?
River basins are complex systems, where water flows through a catchment from lakes, rivers and groundwaters towards estuaries and finally the sea. There are many interdependent components in river basins. Any activities in the basin can have adverse effects on the status of water and its ecology, as well as having potential regional, social, environmental, and economic implications. Management practices that respond only to a single water use, a single population segment, or a single sector may disturb other uses, populations, and sectors. (Lee & Dinar, 1996). Therefore, all critical components need to be included into the planning process for the watercourses and their catchments. This approach can be called Integrated River Basin Management (IRBM).
Definition of IRBM
The Integrated River Basin Management can be defined as a "process of coordinating conservation, management and development of water, land and related resources across sectors within a given river basin, in order to maximise the economic and social benefits derived from water resources in an equitable manner while preserving and, where necessary, restoring freshwater ecosystems." (Global Water Partnership, 2000).
Main objective of IRBM
The main objective of the Integrated River Basin Management is to establish a balance between the existing natural functions of the river system and the developed aspects of the system. The management actions should fulfil the expectations of the society for industrial use, recreation, nature management, and agricultural purposes.
IRBM - Main aim of the Water Framework Directive
The Integrated River Basin Management is the main aim promoted by the European Water Framework Directive (WFD) (Council of the European Communities, 2000), which came into force in December 2000. It is a holistic approach addressing, in addition to quality of rivers, lakes, transitional waters, coastal waters and groundwaters, pressures within the catchment that may cause deterioration or provide risk to water and its ecology (Griffiths, 2002). The sustainable management of both terrestrial and aquatic habitats is an integral part of the WFD. It requires better understanding of pressures and their impacts on waters and the response of aquatic systems.
IRBM - Collaborative planning and decision-making process
Effective, reliable, and transparent management requires a collaborative planning and decision-making process in cooperation with all stakeholders in the river basin. It is an iterative process, where decisions are to be made throughout. The planning process required by the Water Framework Directive can be described as a cycle (European Commission, 2003), where stakeholders play a substantial role.
Why should we apply the principles of the IRBM ?
Integrated drainage basin approach in river basin management is based on the fact that the soil and river channel within a basin form an unity. During the last decades general river ecology has pointed out that the biotic networks in a river ecosystem are strongly dependent on the organic matter produced in the soil ecosystems of the drainage basin (detritus). Most of the rivers in the world have been characterised as heterotrophic in terms of their energy balance. On the other hand, the river systems are also characterised by continuous material transport from the drainage basin into the river channel, and finally to the sea. This transport has multiple impacts on the river biota. Knowledge of river systems at this general level should increase the general motivation to approach river basins as entities.
References
Council of the European Communities. 2000. Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2000 establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy. Official Journal L 327, 22/12/2000, pp. 0001-0073.
European Commission. 2003. Common Implementation Strategy for the Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC). Guidance Document No. 11. Planning process. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.
Global Water Partnership. 2000. Integrated Water Resources Management. Technical Advisory Committee (TAC). TAC Background Papers no. 4.
Griffiths, M. 2002. The European Water Framework Directive: An Approach to Integrated River Basin Management. E-Water. Official publication of the European Water Association (EWA).
Lee, D.J. & Dinar, A. 1996. Integrated Models of River Basin Planning, Development, and Management. Water International 21 (4): 213-222.
