Water Demand Management (WDM) is ‘getting the most of the water that we have’, while taking into account the social, political, economic and ecological context in which this process takes place. WDM strategies and tools enable water-use efficient, equitable and sustainable practices and policies. Essentially, WDM requires a change in behaviours and practices in the way in which water is used, particularly in the agricultural sector where most of the water in the region is consumed.

 

WDM promises to be as important in this century as water supply management was in the last.  Though new water supplies will continue to be developed and new water systems installed, particularly in the developing world, neither the Millennium Development Goals nor the secularly growing demands for food will be met from actions on the supply side alone.  Not just more demand management but very much more will be required to complement additional water supply.

 

In order for WDM to play the role that is needed, those involved in delivery – analysts, policy makers, utility managers and others – will have to learn more about how to ensure that it is efficient and effective.  Which measures save water and which mainly change its allocation?  When, where and by whom are selected measures adopted?  How can information best be matched with incentives?  To what extent are adverse environmental effects reduced by demand management.  In effect, we have to start treating WDM as a method of governance in addition to a set of techniques.

 

The role of applied, demonstrative and transformative research is to demonstrate what works, and what doesn’t, in the application of specific WDM strategies and tools within different contexts, with full participation of the communities involved. Effective water governance allows for an open and transparent process, with decision-making powers granted to the water-users themselves, coupled with an adequate enabling policy environment with the commitment and will to confront water scarcity issues.

WDM can contribute to poverty reduction, defined in terms of strengthening opportunity, equity, security and empowerment. But this contribution is mainly part of the restructuring of water sector operations that would accompany management reforms in the sector.

 

As with co-management of other natural resources, decentralized approaches to water resource management cannot be imposed in a top-down fashion by central governments. The experience with transfer of irrigation system management demonstrates the need for local organizational capacity-building, community development, clarification of local and state responsibilities and financial contributions, all of which need stronger communications tools and skills amongst partners. Local water user organizations have to emerge from local processes of interaction and governance. While enabling policies that recognize and support such local processes are essential pre-requisites to WDM and poverty reduction, they are by themselves not sufficient to ensure real devolution of management and local participation.

 

The organizational reforms implied by this WDM approach are significant, and will require new roles for most of the major actors: state-level water agencies, local organizations, external agencies, and water users. One of the tools which has been used successfully to foster innovation and role transformation in multi-stakeholder natural resource management is participatory action research. The approach of systematically learning-by-doing, through pilot projects, shared analysis and engagement of multiple stakeholders, has also been recommended for water sector reforms.  Water researchers need to be able to partner successfully with practitioners both at the level of implementation and of policy, in order to ensure that innovations are tested, adapted and put into practice effectively.

 

 

Most water professionals recognize that women and men have different interests in, and derive different benefits from, the availability, use and management of water, and ample global evidence supports the need to involve women in the design and management of water such as sanitation and irrigation management plans and projects. A gendered perspective in WDM is necessary to ensure both women’s and men’s participation for improved water management practices. Involving both women and men enhances the results of water management initiatives and improves the likelihood of their sustainability with an eye on environmental conservation. It also contributes to ensuring that no unintended negative effects on men or women occur. Ill-construed WDM strategies that emphasize water savings may have negative impacts on women’s health and livelihoods and could place further additional burdens on women to save on water which they already have limited access to. Therefore, it is important that in implementing WDM, all possible gender impacts of WDM tools, policies and practices are thoroughly investigated.

The fundamental first step to addressing the role of gender and women in WDM is to support research and capacity development efforts of both researchers and policy-makers to undertake social and gender analysis and to look beyond the technical aspects of water resources management toward a greater understanding of the social and gender issues and power relations and contribute to the notion of social justice. With gender analysis, planners gain a more accurate picture of communities, natural resource users, households and water users. The inequalities between women and men influence how individuals respond to changes in water resources management practices. Understanding gender roles, relations, and inequalities can help explain the choices people make and their different options.

 

The role of women in water management in MENA has been so far mostly neglected and limited information is available to fully understand the role women play in achieving water-use efficiency and sustainability in spite of the fact that women convey knowledge, attitudes, and practices that promote conservation, pollution prevention, and sustainable consumption of water.

Social science research has a long history of studying the interactions between individuals and their institutions. It is widely recognized that individuals’ values, attitudes and perspectives both shape, and are shaped by, the acquisition and use of knowledge. These elements, in turn, are influenced by interactions within international, regional, national and local institutions. For successful WDM efforts, it is necessary to adjust the choices made by institutions and shift the water-related values, norms, attitudes and behaviour. In the future, we must include not only the technical and economic aspects of water efficiency, but also the social aspects, such as the personal and political choices. 

 

Better linkages within and between institutions, along with better design of institutions would permit easier monitoring and improve water policies and activities’ implementation. Efforts are needed to encourage institutions to strengthen multi-stakeholder participation, to improve the transparency of their policy-making, and to promote dialogue with water-users, particularly women and the rural poor.

 

It is important to recognize the critical interaction between individual capability and capacity within an institution. In cases where a supply-based perspective or professional culture continues to dominate, WDM strategies may be considered merely public relations exercises or “desperation measures to try to avert or delay restrictions, increases in price, or the implementation of other administrative devices to curb demand in the short term”  (Syme et al. 2000: 540). This type of attitude, when held by the resource managers or decision-makers within an institution, can subtly determine policy and programme outcomes because individuals can be critical gate-keepers of resource management innovation.

In this way, the experts’ values and attitudes, originating in professional training and reinforced within professional structures and cultures, are manifested in the strategies they identify and the knowledge they collect and endorse. These individuals become the gate-keepers of change and further influence. Decision-makers have, in some ways, contributed to society’s inefficient use of water and resistance to conservation because of the “prevalence of old thinking among water planners and managers.

There is rapidly growing evidence about the potential impacts of climate change on water systems, reservoir operations, water quality, hydroelectric generation, navigation and other water management concerns. The fourth assessment report on climate change impacts, adaptation and vulnerability of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC-2007) states that by mid-century, annual average river runoff and water availability are projected to increase by 10-40% at high latitudes and in some wet tropical areas, and decrease by 10-30% over some dry regions at mid-latitudes and in the dry tropics, some of which are water stressed areas. Drought-affected areas will likely suffer in extent. Heavy precipitation events, which are very likely to increase in frequency, will augment flood risk.

 

By 2020, between 75 and 250 million people are projected to be exposed to an increase of water stress due to climate change. If coupled with increased demand, this will adversely affect livelihoods and exacerbate water-related problems. Agricultural production, including access to food, is projected to be severely compromised by climate variability and change. The area suitable for agriculture, the length of growing seasons and yield potential, particularly along the margins of semi-arid and arid areas, are expected to decrease. This would further adversely affect food security and exacerbate malnutrition. In some countries, yields from rain-fed agriculture could be reduced by up to 50% by 2020. The Middle East and North Africa region is highly vulnerable to climate change impacts. Climate change studies predict a rise in temperature, drop in rainfall and reduced water availability; reduced ground cover; heat-waves; and more frequent dust storms. 

Adaptation and risk management practices for the water sector are being developed in some countries and regions that have recognized projected hydrological changes with related uncertainties. In the past, water management relied on the assumption that climatic conditions would remain the same. With growing evidence to the contrary, MENA governments must begin by re-evaluating their legal, technical, and economic, policy and institutions approaches for managing water resources in light of predicted impacts of climate change.

 

WDM is a strategic and effective adaptive strategy to the current challenge of water scarcity and will become more so as climatic variability and climate change impacts intensify. WDM increases social resilience and contributes to preparedness policies, as opposed to the current responsiveness-policies to climate change in MENA. There are several difficulties to consider in this process: first, the impacts of climate change on the water sector is complicated and to a large extent unpredictable. Second, many impacts may be non-linear and chaotic, characterized by surprises and unusual events. Third, climatic change will impose additional stress on water systems. What is clear from all this is that women are particularly vulnerable to the risks posed by climate change and yet have a great deal of indigenous knowledge that could contribute to effective adaptation strategies.

 

The reuse of treated wastewater in agriculture, given proper socio-cultural and health concerns can have a significant impact on alleviating the use of conventional sources. WDM implies that wastewater be viewed as a resource, and advocates its reuse following appropriate treatment for application in myriad activities such as crop production, irrigating green spaces and golf courses, groundwater recharge, influent for industrial cooling systems, domestic cleaning, as well as toilet flushing to name a few.

 

Both treated and untreated wastewater are used directly and indirectly (i.e. as faecally contaminated surface water) for irrigation in developed and less developed countries. In places where untreated wastewater or highly contaminated surface water is used for irrigation, health and environmental problems of the same nature and magnitude as those associated with direct wastewater use in agriculture may arise. Overall, population growth will be the main driving force for a further demand on water resources. There is a growing recognition that the production of wastewater will increase as an outcome of continued urbanization and that wastewater needs to be better incorporated into the overall management of water resources.

 

Greywater reuse refers to the process of collecting domestic greywater and allowing it to pass through small-scale natural filters prior to being ‘reused’ for irrigation purposes. It is evident that the most critical success factors ensuring a greywater project’s sustainability are public acceptance and ownership. A lot of effort will need to go into gaining the trust of beneficiaries and local stakeholders as well as involving them in project planning and decision making; it is imperative that they understand and ‘see’ a number of tangible benefits that will be accrued from proper operation and maintenance of the treatment system

 

 

WDM efforts must be endorsed and owned by the men, women and children who use water. In order to address water scarcity and get the most from the water available, the communities of the MENA region must have the capacity to use the knowledge, tools, and technologies to effectively implement water demand management strategies. In this context, the role of the government is to create and facilitate the enabling environment for people to make decisions and take action to use water in a more efficient, equitable and sustainable way.

Successful local-level water management thus requires a close collaboration between communities and their government. The current challenge is to define the role of each of these players and determine the relationship and strengthen the partnership to ensure not only an appropriate balance of power, but also the appropriate authority to communicate openly with their citizens.

 

Implementation of local-level water demand management policies and practices provides evidence that when communities interact effectively with their governments, water users are able to be more involved and engaged in the decision-making process within the development efforts, thereby empowering community groups. There is also indication that traditional and indigenous practices lead to more effective local management of water, particularly when reinforced by science-based innovation, and almost always, successful applications of research and management are determined as much by social, economic, and political factors as by any choice of technology. Armed with good information and sufficient autonomy, people usually prove to be reliable conservators of their own local resources.

 

IDRC supported research has shown that the devolution of WDM to lower levels of government and community involvement improves water use efficiency, equity and sustainability. There is evidence to indicate that water management by villages, communities, municipalities, non-governmental organizations and water users’ associations may be the most appropriate way to access, allocate and use water. Specific projects have centered on water-user associations, wastewater and greywater reuse projects and public participation in watershed management and participatory irrigation management[1]. Studies have been conducted using participatory, multi-stakeholder and interdisciplinary approaches to indicate that costs are reduced and more benefits reaped when those most affected have the power and the means to solve the specific problem.

Stephen Tyler (2007) WDM Research Report Series 2: Water Demand Management, Poverty and Equity. WaDImena/IDRC, Cairo, Egypt

 

David Brooks; Hani Abu Qdais; Sarah Wolfe (2007) WDM Research Report Series 1: Institutions for Effective Water Demand Management. WaDImena/IDRC, Cairo, Egypt

Doaa Arafa; Lamia El-Fattal; Hammou Laamarani (2007) WDM Research Report Series 3: Gender and Water Demand Management in the Middle East and North Africa. WaDImena/IDRC, Cairo, Egypt

 

Brooks, D. 2006.  An Operational Definition of Water Demand Management. International Journal of Water Resources Development, Volume 22, Number 4, pp. 521-528(8), London, UK.

 

Thompson, L. 2005. Case Study: Gender and Water Demand Management in the Middle East and North Africa. Presented at a conference on Rural Women as Agents of Change and Development in the Near East and North Africa, Damascus, Syria, May 28-30.

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²All information on IDRC and supported research projects can be found at www.idrc.ca