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African Water Development Report 2006 - United Nations Economic ...

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The present day call for integrated water resourcesmanagement (IWRM) is based on the furtherrealization that water is both an economic anda social good and its development and managementmust be carried out in harmony with theenvironment. Integrated <strong>Water</strong> Resources Management(IWRM) therefore calls for a holisticapproach and has initiated. a process whichaims to ensure the coordinated development andmanagement of water, land and related resourcesto optimize economic and social welfare withoutcompromising the sustainability of environmentalsystems.Up-to-date knowledge bases and modern technologiesare needed for:(a) The development of an integrated perceptionof the interconnected processes involvedin the hydrological cycle;(b) The quantification of the elements of thehydrological cycle at all scales and their interrelations,much needed for the planning,design and operation of water resourcesprojects and for various applications in agriculturaland environmental activities;(c) Hydrometeorological data collection, managementand network design, and also forthe monitoring of processes such as climatechange, desertification, freshwater availability,environmental degradation and naturaldisaster prevention;(d) Information communication aimed at enhancingthe growing role of the public inwater decision making.The multidisciplinary nature of water resourcesmakes it highly dependent on the developmentof other branches of science and technologysuch as: Mathematics, Physics, Biology, Chemistry,Geography, Fluid Mechanics, Electronics,Hydraulics, Hydrology, Computer Science andother social sciences. The invention of computersand their subsequent developments havecontributed immensely to the development andadvancement of science and technology in thefield of water resources development and management.Many hitherto unresolved theoreticalformulations in hydraulics and hydrology havenow found cheaper and faster solutions. Specifically,water resources technologies needed for aneffective integrated water resources managementshould include the following:Data Collection and ManagementAn effective water resources development andmanagement depends on the sufficiency, qualityand management of data on the various componentsof the hydrological cycle and the environment.Boxes 16.3 and 16.4 give some informationon water-related databases in Ethiopiaand Mauritius. Technologies are still needed toovercome the differences between the temporaland spatial scales of such physical phenomena asrainfall and discharge as well as the mode of theirmeasurement. For example, rainfall is a spatialprocess while its measurement is at a point, andit is still difficult and expensive to have a continuousmeasurement of discharge in the formof time series, which is mostly needed. Eventhough there are software technologies to effectthe necessary conversions, further developmentof the radar and satellite technologies (thoughexpensive) is expected to augment data resolutionand coverage. The more innovative moderntechnologies include:Remote SensingIn contemporary scientific circles, it is recognizedthat remote sensing can help provide a better understandingof the space-time behaviour of suchconditions as potential evaporation, rainfall, nebulosity,surface temperatures in oceans and continents,land surface conditions and vegetativeconditions. In the hydrology and water resourcessector in particular, many positive results of researchhave been achieved to date in the area ofremote sensing of various hydrological variables,and some of these are already in operational use.This technology in hydrology and water resourcescan be potentially used particularly in: pre-ENSURING THE KNOWLEDGE BASE305

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