WATER RESOURCES Water Resources

Water Resources

Introduction

The emergence of resource management as an important theme in geography during the 1970s has been particularly opportune in the case of water. Especially, following the establishment of the International Hydrological Decade in 1965, hydrology has become recognized as a scientific discipline in its own right, and the current activity of the International Hydrological Programme has continued to place water resource studies on a more secure environmental foundation. Indeed, many national publications marking the end of the IHD, such as that of the Australian National Commission for UNESCO, specifically included a resource dimension. This improved understanding of hydrological processes has led certain writers, like Riha and Russell, to anticipate the ecological limits of global freshwater, at least in terms of existing western standards of use and nutrition. Whilst such considerations may well provide the ultimate motivation for a more rational approach to water resource management, the present reappraisal has been greatly stimulated by the occurrence of two more immediate shortages during the 1970s.

First, a series of droughts has emphasized the underlying physical constraints, although few water agencies still seem prepared to question the steady-state climatic assumptions on which long-term planning depends. For example, a recent report of the us National Research Council was almost entirely restricted to the possible effects arising from lower rainfall and higher temperature combinations and concluded that '... there is small probability of a change in regional climate so abrupt, widespread, severe and statistically unambiguous that current water-resource design practices need or should be radically altered'. Even if design procedures remain constant, it must surely be hoped that better operational strategies will result from these droughts; although it may well be that the real long-term benefit will be the promise of wiser management supported by the increased public awareness already detected in California by Gilbert (1978).

Secondly, the worldwide economic recession has produced a slackening in the growth of demand for water and, in turn, has prompted a critical review of associated public expenditure. In the early part of this decade the demand for water in the USA and the UK was still growing by 2.3 per cent and 2.5 per cent per annum respectively. It was believed that, in Britain, the demand for piped water would double by the year 2001, but the estimated increase is now only 40-50 per cent due largely to lower population forecasts and reduced industrial consumption. More significantly, the present shortage of capital investment funds means that many large water projects under active investigation a few years ago are now likely to be deferred until well into the next century (Saxton, 1978). It seems possible that, in the mean- time, water managers will be encouraged to engage in a closer scrutiny of alternative practices.

Project Introduction

Anglian Water provides water and wastewater services over an area of 27,500 km2 in the East of England, from the River Humber in the north to the River Thames in the ...