domestic disputes fl are up over the equitable use of water resources.
BY FRANK FRICK
in Bonn. year. Most of this wastewater comes from with the treated water, especially for crop
0 to 500 501 to 1000 1001 to 1700 1701 to 5000 5001 to 10 000 10 001 to 50 000 50 001 to 100 000 100 001 to 1 000 000 1 000 001 to 5 000 000
> 5 000 001
Quantity of water available in cubic meters per capita and year
Product of the Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database, Department of Geosciences, Oregon State University
Everyone
wants their share
growing. Experts estimate that it takes approximately 1,000 cubic meters of water a year to produce the food required to sustain just one person. But the Palestin-ians have far less than that at their dis-posal: Their per capita consumption including drinking water and water for household use is currently in the region of just 100 cubic meters a year.
In theory there are various ways in which the wastewater could be treated.
The task of choosing the best method brought Dombrowsky back into contact with the Kidron Valley many years after her fi rst visit to Israel. Working with a German-Israeli-Palestinian team, she drew up a comprehensive cost-benefi t analysis which evaluated three potential treatment plant sites, the construction of either one or two wastewater treatment plants, and the various options for dividing the waste-water between two plants.
The results of this analysis showed that the most sensible approach would be to build a single treatment plant close to the town of al-Ubeidiya in the Wadi Nar – but there was one catch: “Because
that town is situated in Zone B – an area that is run by the Palestinian Authority but under Israeli military control – the construction of the plant would have to be approved by both the Palestinians and the Israelis. Cooperation between the Pal-estinians and the Israelis would therefore be advisable as part of solving the wa-ter problems in the Kidron Valley,” says Dombrowsky.
THE POLITICAL CLIMATE MATTERS The economic effects of this plant would be twice as benefi cial as the alternative that the researchers consider to be the most realistic option given the political situation – a variant that envisages
sep-arate treatment of the wastewater from Jerusalem and from the Palestinian local-ities. “If the political situation between the Palestinians and the Israelis improves, then these cost-benefi t analyses offer a good basis for a joint project that would benefi t both sides,” says Dombrowsky.
The researchers published the results of their analyses in 2010 in the journal Environmental Management in an article entitled “How widely applicable is river basin management?” The title implies an element of doubt – and indeed the scien-tists’ results undercut a key tenet of mod-ern water management. The river basin scale has been promoted universally as the optimal management unit on the basis that it is the best way of protecting eco-systems and making the best use of water resources. Yet in the case of the Kidron Valley it would be more effi cient to have just one treatment plant that would also treat Jerusalem wastewater that would naturally fl ow into a different basin.
Research has shown that certain ide-als enshrined in the approach known as Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) should be adapted to refl ect ac-tual conditions on site. According to the globally accepted standards of IWRM, users should develop water resources in a way that maximizes social and eco-nomic benefi ts without posing a threat to ecosystems or limiting their potential for future generations. A team of social scientists led by Timothy Moss at the Leibniz Institute for Regional Develop-ment and Structural Planning (IRS) inErkner has analyzed comprehensive that it is the best way of protecting eco-systems and making the best use of water resources. Yet in the case of the Kidron Valley it would be more effi cient to have just one treatment plant that would also treat Jerusalem wastewater that would naturally fl ow into a different basin.
Research has shown that certain ide-als enshrined in the approach known as Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) should be adapted to refl ect ac-tual conditions on site. According to the globally accepted standards of IWRM, users should develop water resources in a way that maximizes social and eco-nomic benefi ts without posing a threat to ecosystems or limiting their potential for future generations. A team of social scientists led by Timothy Moss at the Leibniz Institute for Regional Develop-ment and Structural Planning (IRS) inErkner has analyzed comprehensive that it is the best way of protecting eco-systems and making the best use of water resources. Yet in the case of the Kidron Valley it would be more effi cient to have just one treatment plant that would also treat Jerusalem wastewater that would naturally fl ow into a different basin.
Research has shown that certain ide-als enshrined in the approach known as Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) should be adapted to refl ect ac-tual conditions on site. According to the globally accepted standards of IWRM, users should develop water resources in a way that maximizes social and eco-nomic benefi ts without posing a threat to ecosystems or limiting their potential for future generations. A team of social scientists led by Timothy Moss at the Leibniz Institute for Regional Develop-ment and Structural Planning (IRS) inErkner has analyzed comprehensive The colored areas are not countries –
they are the transboundary basins of major rivers. Brown and yellow indicate water stress between neighboring coun-tries, for example on the River Jordan.
Wadi Nar – a.k.a.
the Kidron Valley – is a wild, romantic yet hostile area close to the Dead Sea. Ongoing polit-ical strife prevents action from being taken to make better use of the foul-smelling rivulet that runs through the valley.
bdw artwork
I. Dombrowsky
WAT E R C O N F L I C T S
reports and feeback on projects in which IWRM was put into practice.
One of their findings was that the stub-born belief that water resources manage- ment should always be conducted at a basin-by-basin scale was not always helpful.
Their analysis of the specialist liter- ature also exposed some even more fundamental issues, as Moss explains:
“If you embark on a project in a newly industrialized or developing country with preconceived ideas on how best to implement the IWRM concept and attempt to convince the people there that it is the best approach to take, you can run into real problems.” The proj- ect can be condemned to failure for a number of reasons, including powerful interest groups, the political conditions on the ground, or value systems that have emerged in neighboring countries over extended periods of time. Due to this complexity, Moss argues that it is not enough to simply gather information on what legislation applies and which authorities are responsible for the rele- vant issues.
Instead, the scientists at the IRS recommend a 6 to 12 month pilot phase for IWRM projects in which social sci- entists ascertain the viewpoints of the various interest groups and explore the general political and social framework for managing the water resources within a region. The researchers have even de- veloped a practical fast-track program which Moss says can help foreign water researchers find their feet.
The first step is to find two or three knowledgeable locals – for example en- gineers or industry journalists – who can describe the local conditions and pro- vide an overview of the country’s water problems in the most politically neutral manner possible. They can also help to identify a group of approximately ten people who represent the broadest pos- sible range of interests, including politi- cians, environmental activists, represent- atives of farmers’ associations and other user groups. In the second step, the social scientists summarize these stake- holders’ positions in “storylines” which can then be discussed on the ground.
HANDBOOK FOR WATER MANAGERS Moss and his team will soon be publish- ing a handbook for IWRM researchers that describes the rest of the steps in the fast-track program and suggests ap- proaches for more detailed analyses.
“It’s written in a very practical, acces- sible style that will be comprehensible to all project managers, even if they don’t have a social science background,” says a confident Moss. The authors have de- liberately kept the handbook to just 50 pages, including a detailed bibliography, in order to increase the chances that peo- ple will read it.
“The fact that river basins often cut across political or administrative bound- aries makes water management a chal- lenging area,” says Moss. That’s certainly something Ines Dombrowsky would agree with. She has been gripped by this issue since writing her thesis on the conflict
zone of the Jordan Basin back in the mid-1990s. The Jordan River and its trib- utary the Jarmuk are bordered not only by Israel and the West Bank, but also by Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.
Dombrowsky has developed a typol- ogy for the 250-plus transboundary river basins in which the interests of one country upstream are pitted against the interests of a different country further downstream. “Contrary to what people often think, it’s not always about situa- tions where a country upstream causes problems for a country further down the river by extracting huge quantities of wa- ter or polluting the river,” she explains.
“There are also situations where a country upstream wants something from a coun-try further downstream, which offers a good basis for negotiations.”
A SOLUTION THAT BENEFITS EVERYONE She has applied her system to a number of real-life cases, including an analysis of the negotiations between Belgium and the Netherlands regarding the Scheldt and Meuse rivers which have been ongo- ing for almost 30 years. In 1995, the two neighbors agreed that the Netherlands would dredge the estuary of the Scheldt in the North Sea – the Western Scheldt – to improve access for large ships to the Belgian port of Antwerp. In return, the Belgian region of Flanders guaranteed a minimum flow of water to the Dutch stretch of the Meuse and expressed its willingness to negotiate over a project for a high-speed train from Antwerp to Rot- terdam. Shortly before this settlement was reached, France, the three regions of Belgium and the Netherlands had agreed on measures to improve the quality of the water in the Scheldt and Meuse.
“Often the discussion is defined in narrow terms of whether a country can extract water from the river,” says Dombrowsky. “But to scale up the nego- tiations to a point where everyone benefits it’s often better to talk about more than just how much water is being removed.” Instead, she recommends translating every form of water use into economic categories and incorporating them in the negotiation process, thereby creating a situation whereby everyone comes out a winner. n Successful negotiations: The dredging of
the Western Scheldt (marked by an arrow on the satellite image) by the Netherlands means that large ships such as the one shown above can use it to access the Bel- gian port of Antwerp. In return, the Belgians ensure there is plenty of water in the Meuse.
Planet Observer/Universal Images Group; C. Papsch/vario images