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Water, which might appear as a gift from nature, actually needs huge human investment in order to serve the varied and growing global demand on this resource. Creating the investment structures and securing the funding to meet water needs is a key enabling factor to achieving good water governance.

Water is a core developmental issue; it affects almost every activity within the wider economy and society, including migration, land use and settlement growth and changes in industrial activity. Consequently, the developments that do not necessarily relate to the water sector per se – for example national energy and food policies – are yet always closely connected to water. Setting goals on water use, protection and conservation, must be based on policies that take into account these various interconnections.

Management instruments are specific methods that enable decision makers to make rational and informed choices when it comes to water management and to tailor their actions to specific situations. Good water governance, according to IWRM principles brings together perspectives and knowledge from different domains. Consequently, the instruments presented here are based on a variety of disciplines such as hydrology, hydraulics, environmental sciences, system engineering, legal sciences, sociology, and economics.

It is often said that the current water crisis is mainly a crisis of governance, much more than a crisis of water shortage or water pollution per se. In the context of IWRM, governance is defined as the range of political, social, economic and administrative institutions that are in place (or need to be in place) to develop and manage water resources in sustainable manners. This section identifies four institutional roles that must be fulfilled for water governance systems to achieve sound IWRM practices: B1 – Regulation and Enforcement; B2 – Water Supply and Sanitation Services; B3 – Coordination and Facilitation; and B4 – Capacity Building.

The Lempa River is shared by Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, making its management a good example of transboundary cooperation. To reach consensus, action was taken to develop a treaty as part of a regional process.  However, since the treaty was not accompanied by strategies designed by local actors, it is somewhat weak. Nonetheless, this case illustrates that political willingness is crucial for advancing towards IWRM in transboundary watersheds. 

To protect the Panama Canal Watershed, which was created when the Panama Canal was constructed, formal limits to its utilisation was set up, including the Panama Canal Treaty and the creation of a Panama Canal Authority.  This case study predominantly illustrates the peculiar problems that arise when a highly artificial watershed is managed by a modern, internationally oriented public corporation with a country that is still copping with the hydraulic culture and a national water policy.

The San Juan River waters have experienced deterioration due to poor management of its basin. To address the issues, action has been taken to implement IWRM to address the areas of water, soil, forests and municipal development in a cross-sectoral manner.  This case study is a good reminder of the integrated nature of IWRM, and the importance of a model that accounts for management of both water and land.

The area around Lake Moyua is experiencing severe soil degradation resulting from inappropriate agricultural practices. To reverse and control the degradation process, an IWRM Plan is implemented. By involving the communities, the aim is to restore the soil, the hydrological systems, forests and biodiversity, as well as the harmonisation of policies and implementation of management regulations. This case study consequently demonstrates the value of a bottom-up approach. 

The Maltese islands experience acute water shortage as an area. To address this, leakage control has been developed to become a strategically important component for water resource management, and has been used to reach an optimum economic balance between water supply and water demand. The key lesson is that leakage management is an effective supply side action to increase efficiency in water use leading, and can be used as a strategic tool.