Guide to Hydrological Practices, 6th edition, Volume II - Hydrology.nl

II.3-6GUIDE TO HYDROLOGICAL PRACTICESWithout coordination and collaboration, there is areal danger of losing effectiveness and efficiency.For example, as a ministry of agriculture carries outits mandate to increase lower-cost food production,it may seek to drain wetlands to put more land intofarming, or it may encourage the use of fertilizers orother chemicals to boost crop production. Incontrast, a ministry of natural resources may introduceprogrammes aimed at protecting or expandingwetlands in order to enhance wildlife habitat andcapacity, and delay runoff during storms, therebyreducing downstream flooding. Such programmescan also serve to discourage the use of agrochemicalsin order to reduce pollution of waterways usedby fish, birds and other species. The activities of theaforementioned ministries might not result in a netchange in the amount or type of wetlands in a jurisdiction,while expending significant funds to drainwetlands in some areas and enlarge them inothers.As mentioned above, horizontal fragmentationrefers to the division of responsibility within onelevel or layer of government. Vertical fragmentationoccurs when agencies at different levels ofgovernment – national, state or local – share aninterest in or responsibility for a resource, such aswater. For example, a State agency might design,build and operate a dam and reservoir, one purposeof which is to provide water for nearby communities.At the same time, a local government agencymight be responsible for distributing the waterfrom a reservoir to households, industry and farmirrigation systems. When this occurs, there is a realneed for mechanisms or processes to coordinatemandates and activities among the levels ofgovernment. Vertical and horizontal fragmentationcan create obstacles to integrated waterresources management; therefore, integration isessential.One way to overcome such fragmentation has beento do away with specific resource-oriented agenciesand create more broadly based ones, such as ministriesof the environment or of sustainabledevelopment. This was done by the CanadianFederal Government, which eliminated its InlandsWater Directorate and re-distributed the professionalstaff among various divisions withinEnvironment Canada. The aim was to ensure thatwater was considered along with other resourceissues in order to achieve sustainable development.The theory was logical. However, it soon becameapparent that other federal staff or clients had greatdifficulty finding the water specialists with whomto raise their concerns. Furthermore, it became clearthat most farmers or other water users thought ofthemselves as having a water or waste problem,rather than a sustainable development problem.The concepts of vertical and horizontal fragmentationillustrate that water and other resourcemanagers face their greatest difficulties in handlingso-called edge or boundary problems – thosebetween the mandates and responsibilities of twoor more agencies, and thus must be dealt with in ashared or partnership manner. Agencies usually doa very competent job dealing with problems ortasks that are clearly within their mandates andauthority. In contrast, those with edge or boundarycharacteristics offer serious challenges, and thuscall for an integrated approach, despite the practicaladministrative problems to be overcome.3.3.7 Collaboration, coordination andcoherenceWhich criteria should be used to evaluate thesuccess of a given management approach? It iscommon for the following criteria to be applied:effectiveness, in terms of achieving desired outputsor outcomes; efficiency, with regard to producingthe desired effects without wasting time and energy;and equity, ensuring a fair distribution of benefitsand costs of the desired results. The discussion inthe previous subsections indicates that manyaspects can hinder effectiveness, efficiency andequity.Integrated water resources management is a toolthat can help managers meet such criteria. Thefollowing factors are essential to achieve integration:collaboration, or the act of working together;coordination, that is, harmonious adjustments orworking together, or, arranging in proper order; andrelationships and coherence, that is, logical connectionor consistency, harmonious connection of theparts of a whole.Integration is a means to an end, not an end initself. As a result, the use of integration in watermanagement should be preceded by a shared visionabout a desired future condition or state. Withoutsuch direction, it is difficult to determine whichparts need to made into a whole, who should beworking together to establish a proper order andrelationships and what logical connections need tobe made.The rationale for integration as one tool to help inachieving a vision is to allow a desired future conditionto be achieved effectively, efficiently andequitably. Integration is usually advocated becauseof its potential contribution to all three criteria. It