The Evolution of Water Management Paradigms - 2011 AGU Fall Meeting

Explore a comprehensive conference session from the 2011 AGU Fall Meeting focusing on the evolution of water management paradigms. Delve into seven presentations covering crucial topics in hydrology and water resources management, including the role of hydrology in decision-making, integrated research needs, social disparities in drinking water quality, water rate structures, social sustainability in small-scale water systems, watershed management, and complex adaptive systems in urban water resources management. Gain insights into the challenges facing water management, such as hydrological uncertainty, over-utilization of sources, climate change impacts, and declining water quality. Understand the importance of hydrology in analyzing and organizing uncertain data for effective decision-making in water resource management.

Intro
Water and Society Committee Objective: To promote the scientific study of water resources management To provide a 'home' for those working in this field To promote improvements in water policy Activities: AGU meeting sessions Outreach and awareness activities Dedicated research meeting (Chapman Conference) Interested?
The role of hydrology in WRM - Hydrological uncertainty includes: properties of the natural physical system through which water moves, precipitation and the way it divides into terrestrial components, recharge into sources and the availability of this water for extraction and use, water quality..... Hydrologists are charged with analyzing and organizing this uncertain world into consequences that impact decision making or are impacted by it, i.e., into forms that are usable convincing for Decision Makers
Challenges - Full and over-utilization of the sources - Large hydrological variability - Sequences of drought years - Impact of climate change; some effects already found and calculated - Declining water quality in the sources: slow rise of salinity and nitrates - Local pollution due to activities on the land
Purely Scientific/Academic Point of View • Understanding the complexity of the hydrological cycle and connections with global and regional climate is of paramount interest and central to our understanding of other planetary geological, atmospheric chemical, and physical processes.