48871 Paper number 117 E N V I R O N M E N T D E P A R T M E N T P A P E R S Natural Resource Management Series Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects Case Studies Rafik Hirji and Richard Davis April 2009 Sustainable Development Vice Presidency TheWorld Bank environmenT deparTmenT Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects Case Studies Rafik Hirji and Richard Davis April 2009 Papers in this series are not formal publications of the World Bank. They are circulated to encourage thought and discussion. The use and citation of this paper should take this into account. The views expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the World Bank. Copies are available from the Environment Department of the World Bank by calling 202-473-3641. Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 1 4/9/09 12:44:47 PM © The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/THE WORLD BANK 1818 H Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20433, U.S.A. Manufactured in the United States of America First printing April 2009 Design: Jim Cantrell Cover images: left: Chinese fisher, Shutterbox Images LLC right: The Lower Kihansi Hydropower Plant and bypass release valve, Tanzania; Dr. Fadhila H A Khatibu, National Environment Management Council Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 2 4/9/09 12:44:47 PM Contents Foreword v Acknowledgments vii Acronyms ix Summary xiii I Case Study Criteria 1 Selection of Case Studies 3 Case Study Characteristics 3 Case Study Assessment 5 II Policy Case Studies 9 Australian Water Reform 11 European Union Water Framework Directive 21 South Africa National Water Policy and Legislation 31 Tanzania National Water Policy 41 Florida Water Management Policy 51 III Basin/Catchment Plan Case Studies 59 Kruger National park and Catchments 61 Mekong River Basin 71 Pangani Basin Environmental Flow Assessment 81 Pioneer Catchment 87 IV Project Case Studies 93 Restoration of the Northern Aral Sea 95 Berg Water Project 101 Bridge River Water Use Plan 111 Restoration of Chilika Lagoon 121 Lesotho Highlands Water Project 129 Lower Kihansi Gorge Restoration Project 137 Senegal River Basin 145 Tarim Basin 153 Institutions and Governance Series iii Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 3 4/9/09 12:44:48 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations Tables A.1 Characteristics of Case Studies 4 11.1 Condition Ratings for the Berg River 102 11.2 The Yield, Cost, and other Implications of Environmental Release Scenarios 108 16.1 Value of Floodplain Production under Pre-dam Conditions 147 Figures A.1 Location of Case Studies 4 2.1 Status options for water bodies in the WFD 22 13.1 Total Fish, Prawn, and Crab Landings in Chilika Lagoon, 1995­2005 122 Boxes A.1 Assessment Criteria for In-Stream Flow Programs in the United States 5 A.2 Drivers for Environmental Flows 7 A.3 Drivers for Water Resource Policy Reform and Inclusion of Environmental Flows 8 1.1 ARMCANZ/ANZECC National Principles for the Provision of Water for Ecosystems 12 1.2 Interpreting Environmentally Sustainable Levels of Extraction 15 2.1 Wetlands and Environmental Flows in Spain 27 3.1. Development of Environmental Flow Methods in South Africa 34 4.1 Tanzania Water Management Conflicts 42 5.1 Minimum Flows and Levels 52 6.1 Transboundary Water Management 61 6.2 Instream flow Requirements and the Building Block Methodology 63 7.1 The Tonle Sap Ecosystem 71 8.1 Water Use Conflicts in the Pangani Basin 81 11.1 The Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority (TCTA) 104 12.1 The Stl'atl'imx First Nation 116 iv Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 4 4/9/09 12:44:48 PM Foreword I nvestments in infrastructure provide opportunities The World Bank's 2003 Water Resources Sector for economic growth and poverty alleviation. Many Strategy calls for investing in "high risk" infrastructure developing nations face the major development projects (such as dams) in an environmentally and challenge of providing the infrastructure to meet the socially responsible manner. It calls for a new business growing demand for water for domestic consumption, model for developing high risk water infrastructure that agriculture, energy and industry and to buffer against takes full account of both upstream and downstream the vulnerabilities to floods and droughts. Climate environmental and social impacts of the infrastructure change is likely to heavily impact water supply and in a timely, predictable, and cost effective manner. demand and worsen extreme events. Adaptation to Apart from reducing uncertainties associated with climate variability and climate change may require project decision making and financing, this socially a suite of solutions including investments in water and environmentally responsible approach will help resources management policies, plans and institutions, sustain ecosystem services on which many poor people demand management, conservation and protection in developing countries rely. The formation of the of watersheds, lakes, wetlands and aquifers as well as Sustainable Development Network in 2007 has further rehabilitation, upgrading and construction of new elevated environmental responsibility as a core element on-stream and off-stream abstractions, small and large of the World Bank's work. dams, and interbasin transfers as well as conjunctive use of surface and ground water. The global food crisis has The World Bank's own analysis and the far-reaching refocused attention on improving agriculture, including report of the World Commission of Dams have investment in irrigation infrastructure among other both shown that dam developments have not always actions in developing nations, while the global energy been planned, designed or operated satisfactorily. crisis has drawn attention to accelerating investments in Even though dams generate considerable benefits in energy production, including hydropower development. aggregate, these benefits have not always been shared The current global financial and economic crisis equitably. Dams have often been developed without is adding weight to the argument for increasing adequate consideration for either the environment or investments in infrastructure in the water, transport, the people downstream of the dam who rely on local and energy and other sectors in both developed and ecosystem based services. developing nations both as a solution to and buffer against the uncertainties associated with the economic The World Bank's knowledge and experience in downturn. In all cases, SDN's challenge will be how addressing impacts upstream of dams has advanced and at what pace to increase infrastructure investments considerably over recent decades. However, its experience while maintaining the necessary measures required for in addressing the downstream impacts of water resources economic, social and environmental sustainability. infrastructure, although growing, remains limited. Institutions and Governance Series v Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 5 4/9/09 12:44:48 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations Environmental flow work within the Bank has been development. It focuses on the integration of shaped by the evolving global knowledge, practice and environmental water allocation into integrated water implementation of environmental flows. The Bank resources management (IWRM) and so fills a major has also contributed to this growing international gap in knowledge on IWRM. It also contributes to experience particularly through its support for the broadening our understanding of benefit sharing Lesotho Highland Water Project, the restoration of from risky infrastructure development. This report is the downstream parts of the Tarim River, and the an output of an important collaboration between the restoration of the Northern Aral Sea and the Senegal Bank's Environment Department and Energy, Transport River basin. It has also supported environmental and Water Department to promote and mainstream flow initiatives in Central Asia, China, Ecuador, sustainable development. India, Mexico, Mekong River, Moldova and Ukraine, Tajikistan, and Tanzania, and has produced knowledge products and support material including a series of technical notes on environmental flows. James Warren Evans This report further contributes to international Director knowledge about environmental flows and sustainable Environment Department vi Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 6 4/9/09 12:44:49 PM Acknowledgments T his report titled, "Environmental Flows in Water (NHI), Kisa Mfalila (WWF, UNDP, UNEP), and Mike Resources Policies, Plans and Projects: Case Acreman (IUCN, IWMI). studies" was prepared by Rafik Hirji (ETWWA) and Richard Davis (consultant). It is based on The authors wish to acknowledge the following staff the economic and sector analysis--Mainstreaming and colleagues who commented on the seventeen Environmental Flow Requirements into Water case studies and provided information and materials: Resources Investments and Policy Reforms--that was Masood Ahmad, Greg Browder, Ousmane Dione, jointly supported by the Environment Department Jane Kibbassa, Andrew Macoun, Doug Olson, Geoff and Energy, Transport and Water Department and Spencer, and Mei Xie of the World Bank; and Mike completed in June 2008. The authors are grateful for Acreman, Fadhila Ahmed (National Environment the support they received from all individuals within Management Council, Tanzania), Harry Biggs and outside the Bank. Editorial support was provided (SANParks, RSA), Cate Brown (Southern Waters, by Robert Livernash. The cover was designed by James RSA), Satish Choy (Queensland Department of Cantrell. The preparation of this report was funded Natural Resources and Water, Australia), Kevin by the Bank Netherlands Water Partnership Program Conlin (BC Hydro, Canada), Mark Dent (University (BNWPP) Trust Fund. of KwaZulu-Natal, University, RSA), Saidi Faraji (Ministry of Water and Irrigation, Tanzania), A.J.D. The economic and sector work (ESW) team comprised Ferguson (consultant, UK), Sue Foster (BC Hydro, of Rafik Hirji (Task Team Leader, ETWWA), Richard Canada), Dana Grobler (Blue Science Consulting, Davis (consultant), Kisa Mfalila (consultant), and RSA), Larry Haas (consultant, UK), Thomas Gyedu- Marcus Wishart (YP, AFTU1). The team received Ababio (SANParks, RSA), Robin Johnston (Murray overall guidance from Michelle De Nevers, Abel Mejia, Darling Basin Commission, Australia), Sylvand Laura Tlaiye, James Warren Evans and Jamal Saghir. Kamugisha (IUCN, Tanzania), David Keyser (Trans- Daryl Fields provided detailed comments and Stephen Caledon Tunnel Authority, RSA), Jackie King Lintner provided extensive critique and comments on (University of Cape Town, RSA), Josephine Lemoyane earlier drafts of the ESW. (IUCN, Tanzania), Delana Louw (Water for Africa consultants, RSA), John Metzger (consultant, MRC), Case studies 2 and 16 were drafted by Mike Acreman Willie Mwaruvanda (Rufiji Basin Water Office, (consultant, UK); case study 12 by Denise Dalmer Ministry of Water and Irrigation, Tanzania), Bill (consultant, Canada); case study 11 by Marcus Wishart; Newmark (Utah Museum of Natural History, Salt and case study 7 by Kisa Mfalila. Summaries of agency Lake City, United States), Tally Palmer (University and nongovernmental organization practices were of Technology Sydney, Australia), Sharon Pollard provided by Karin Krchnak (TNC), Gregory Thomas (Association for Water and Rural Development, RSA), Institutions and Governance Series vii Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 7 4/9/09 12:44:49 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations Donal O'leary (Transparency International, US), and Barbara Weston (Department of Water Affairs Geordie Ratcliffe (Freshwater Consulting Group, and Forestry, RSA) for facilitating reviews of three RSA), Paul Roberts (formerly with the Department case studies from Tanzania and three case studies of Water Affairs and Forestry, RSA), Kevin Rogers from South Africa by various staff and professional (University of Witwatersrand, RSA), Nigel Rossouw colleagues from their respective countries, and to Steve (Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority, RSA), Hamza Sadiki Mitchell (Water Research Commission, RSA) for his (Pagani Basin Water Office, Ministry of Water and encouragement and for providing access to research Irrigation, Tanzania), Charles Sellick (Charles Sellick reports from South Africa. & Associates, RSA), Doug Shaw (TNC, Florida), Tente Tente (Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority, RSA), World Bank peer reviewers were Claudia Sadoff, Malcolm Thompson (Department of Environment, Salman Salman, and Juan D. Quintero. External peer Water, Heritage and the Arts, Australia), Pierre de reviewers were Brian Richter (The Nature Conservancy) Villiers (Blue Science Consulting, RSA), Niel van Wyk and John Scanlon (UNEP). Comments were also (Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, RSA), received from Vahid Alavian, Julia Bucknall, Usaid Bill Young (CSIRO, Australia), and Bertram van Ziel El-Hanbali, Christine Little, Stephen Lintner, Glenn (Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, RSA). Morgan, Grant Milne, Abel Mejia, Doug Olson, Stefano Pagiola, Salman Salman, Geoff Spencer, and The authors are especially indebted to Washington Peter Watson (former director of infrastructure in the Mutayoba (Ministry of Water and Irrigation, Tanzania) Africa Region). viii Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 8 4/9/09 12:44:49 PM Acronyms ANC African National Congress (South Africa) ASBP Aral Sea Basin Program BC British Columbia (Canada) BBM Building block methodology BWP Berg Water Project (South Africa) CC Consultative committee (Canada) CDA Chilika Development Authority (Orissa, India) CCT City of Cape Town (South Africa) CIS Common implementation strategy (EU) CMAs Catchment management agencies (South Africa) COAG Council of Australian Governments CSIRO Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (Australia) DANIDA Danish International Development Agency DWAF Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (South Africa) IWMI International Water Management Institute DEP Department of Environmental Protection (Florida, U.S.A.) DFO Department of Fisheries and Oceans (Canada) DRIFT Downstream Response to Imposed Flow Transformation EA Environmental assessment EF Environmental flows EFA Environmental flow assessment EFI European Fish Index EIA Environmental impact assessment EMC Environmental monitoring committee EMP Environmental management plan ESW Economic and Sector Work (World Bank) EU European Union FAME Fish-based assessment for European rivers GEF Global Environment Facility GEP Good ecological potential (EU) GES Good ecological status (EU) HES High ecological status (EU) HMWB Heavily modified water bodies (EU) IBFM Integrated basin flow management ICWC Interstate Commission for Water Coordination Institutions and Governance Series ix Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 9 4/9/09 12:44:49 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations IFR Instream flow requirements IWRM Integrated water resources management ISP Internal strategic perspective (South Africa) KNP Kruger National Park (South Africa) KNPRRP Kruger National Park Rivers Research Programme (South Africa) KST Kihansi spray toad (Tanzania) LAS Large Aral Sea LHWP Lesotho Highlands Water Project LHDA Lesotho Highlands Development Authority LKEMP Lower Kihansi Environmental Management Project (Tanzania) LKHP Lower Kihansi Hydropower Project (Tanzania) MDBC Murray Darling Basin Commission (Australia) MFLs Minimum flows and levels (Florida, U.S.A.) MRC Mekong River Commission MTAC Multisectoral Technical Advisory Committee (Tanzania) NAS Northern Aral Sea NAWAPO National Water Policy (Tanzania) NCC National Competition Council (Australia) NGO Nongovernmental organization NSW New South Wales (Australia) NWA National Water Act (Republic of South Africa) NWC National Water Commission (Australia) NWI National Water Initiative (Australia) NWRCS National Water Resources Classification System (South Africa) NYM Nyumba ya Mungu regulating reservoir (Tanzania) OMVS L'Organisation pour la Mise en Valeur du Fleuve Sénégal (Senegal) OWRCP Orissa Water Resources Consolidation Project (Orissa, India) PAD Project Appraisal Document (World Bank) PASIE Plan d'Atténuation et de suivi des Impacts sur l'Environnement (Senegal) RBWO Rufiji Basin Water Office (Tanzania) RFOs River flow objectives ROP Resource operations plan (Australia) RSA Republic of South Africa RWRA Rapid water resources assessment SANParks South Africa National Parks SDN Sustainable Development Network (World Bank) SEA Strategic environmental assessment SFN Stl'atl'imx First Nation (Canada) STAR Stream and River Typologies Project (EU) TANESCO Tanzania National Electricity Supply Company TAP Technical advisory panel TBMB Tarim Basin Management Bureau (China) x Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 10 4/9/09 12:44:50 PM Acronyms and Abbreviations TBWRC Tarim Basin Water Resources Commission (China) TCTA Trans Caledon Tunnel Authority (South Africa) TNC The Nature Conservancy TRC Tarim River Committee (China) TRMB Tarim River Management Bureau (China) TTL Task team leader (World Bank) UNEP United Nations Environment Programme UK United Kingdom UNDP United Nations Development Programme WCD World Commission on Dams WCWSS Western Cape Water Supply System (South Africa) WCSA Western Cape Systems Analysis (South Africa) WFD Water Framework Directive (EU) WMA Water management area (South Africa) WMDs Water management districts (Florida, U.S.A.) WRB Water resources bureau (China) WRP Water resources plan (Australia) WRVs Water resource values (Florida, U.S.A.) WSP Water sharing plans (Australia) WUA Water user association WUP Water Utilization Project WUP Water use plan (Canada) WWF Worldwide Fund for Nature XUAR Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (China) YRBC Yellow River Basin Commission(China) Note: All dollars are U.S. dollars; all tons are metric tons. Institutions and Governance Series xi Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 11 4/9/09 12:44:50 PM Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 12 4/9/09 12:44:50 PM Summary E nvironmental flows are really about the equitable Climate change is projected to affect the supply of and distribution of and access to water and services demand for water resources; in turn, these changes provided by aquatic ecosystems. They refer to will have an impact on water for the environment. the quality, quantity, and timing of water flows Sea-level rise will cause saltwater intrusion and required to maintain the components, functions, affect estuarine processes that rely on freshwater processes, and resilience of aquatic ecosystems that environmental flows. In some nations, adaptation to provide goods and services to people. climate change is likely to involve more investment in dams and reservoirs to buffer against increased Environmental flows are central to supporting variability in rainfall and runoff. This will further sustainable development, sharing benefits, and affect downstream ecosystems, unless the impacts are addressing poverty alleviation. Yet allocating water for properly assessed and managed. environmental uses remains a highly contested process. Investments in water resources infrastructure, especially The overall goal of this report and the accompanying dams for storage, flood control, or regulation, have report summarizing the findings and recommendations, been essential for economic development (including both based on the economic and sector work (ESW), hydropower generation, food security and irrigation, is to advance the understanding and integration in industrial and urban water supply, and flood and operational terms of environmental water allocation into drought mitigation), but, when they are improperly integrated water resources management. The specific planned, designed, or operated, they can cause objectives of the two reports are the following: problems for downstream ecosystems and communities because of their impact on the volume, pattern, and · Document the changing understanding of quality of flow. While aquatic life depends on both environmental flows, both by water resources the quantity and quality of water, changes in flows are practitioners and by environmental experts within of particular concern because they govern so many the Bank and in borrowing countries ecosystem processes. Consequently, changes in flow · Draw lessons from experience in implementing have led to a diminution of the downstream ecosystem environmental flows by the Bank, other services that many of the poorest communities rely on international development organizations with for their livelihoods. In order to achieve sustainable experience in this area, and a small number of development, downstream impacts will require more developed and developing countries attention by all parties, as countries--through both · Develop an analytical framework to support public and private sector investments--expand their more effective integration of environmental flow infrastructure in many sectors, especially dams for considerations for informing and guiding (a) various purposes. the planning, design, and operations decision Institutions and Governance Series xiii Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 13 4/9/09 12:44:50 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations making of water resources infrastructure projects; decisions should be informed by scientific information (b) the legal, policy, institutional, and capacity and analysis. The causes of changes in river flow can development related to environmental flows; and also be broader than just the abstraction or storage (c) restoration programs of water and the regulation of flow by infrastructure; · Provide recommendations for improvements upstream land use changes due to forestry, agriculture, in technical guidance to better incorporate and urbanization can also significantly affect flows. environmental flow considerations into the The impacts of environmental flow can extend beyond preparation and implementation of lending rivers to groundwater, estuaries, and even coastal operations. areas. Many methods, from the very simple to the very Environmental Flows: Science, Decision complex, exist for estimating environmental flow Making, and Development Assistance requirements. The process for estimating environmental The provision of flows, including volumes and timings, flow requirements is also referred to as environmental to maintain downstream aquatic ecosystems and flow assessment (EFA). There is an extensive body of provide services to dependent communities has been experience for the main EFA techniques. recognized in developed countries for more than two decades and is increasingly being adopted in developing The Entry Points for Bank Involvement countries. These services include the following: The Bank has four entry points through which to · Clean drinking water support countries seeking to integrate environmental · Groundwater recharge flows into their decision making: (1) water resources · Food sources such as fish and invertebrates policy, legislation, and institutional reforms;1 (2) river · Opportunities for harvesting fuelwood, grazing, basin and watershed planning and management;2 and cropping on riverine corridors and floodplains (3) investments in new infrastructure; and (4) · Biodiversity conservation (including protection rehabilitation or reoperation of existing infrastructure. of natural habitats, protected areas, and national Consistent with its commitment to sustainable parks) development, the Bank should support measures to · Flood protection promote the integration of environmental flows at an · Navigation routes early stage in the decision-making process through · Removal of wastes through biogeochemical dialogue on water resources policy, river basin planning, processes and programs that entail major changes in land use. · Recreational opportunities The World Bank already has supported some projects · Cultural, aesthetic, and religious benefits. with successful environmental flow components and outcomes. But the impacts of development on communities downstream are often diffuse, long term, poorly understood, and inadequately addressed. 1The word "policy" is used throughout much of the report to include legislation supporting the policy. Assigning water between environmental flows and 2Different countries use different terminology: river basins, consumptive and nonconsumptive purposes is a catchments, and watersheds. Generally river basins are larger than social, not just a technical, decision. However, to catchments and watersheds. In this report we use the term basin to refer to basins, catchments, and watersheds generically unless a achieve equitable and sustainable outcomes, these particular catchment or watershed is being discussed. xiv Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 14 4/9/09 12:44:51 PM Summary Environmental Flows, Integrated Water Resources project and basin levels, conducting training courses, Management, and Environmental Assessment and providing information and support material. The Bank has partnered with some of these organizations EFAs are an intrinsic part of integrated water resources to produce analytical material on the incorporation of management. Although it is desirable for EFAs to be environmental flows into infrastructure development integrated into strategic environmental assessments and reoperations. (SEAs) for policy, plan, program, or sectorwide lending, and into environmental impact assessments (EIAs) for project-level investments, the practice of SEA and EIA Environmental Flow Implementation has yet to mature to the point at which it can effectively Case Studies integrate EFA. As a consequence, most EFAs have been undertaken separately either in conjunction with or Seventeen case studies were selected for an in-depth after the EIAs have been completed. analysis to identify the lessons from incorporating environmental flows into water resources policy, basin and catchment plans, new infrastructure projects, Bank Adoption of Environmental Flows and the rehabilitation and reoperation of existing infrastructure. The analysis included eight case studies An analysis of select dam projects found that, until the that were supported by the World Bank. mid-1990s, Bank support for environmental and social work was heavily focused on evaluating and addressing The assessment criteria included factors that influenced the upstream impacts of dams. By the mid-1990s, the case study's success, as well as the institutional these assessments had expanded to include downstream drivers that initiated and supported the introduction of environmental and social issues with about equal environmental flows. frequency, underscoring the evolving concern about downstream impacts. An analysis of country water resources assistance strategies, however, showed mixed Inclusion of Environmental Flows in results concerning the inclusion of environmental flows, Water Resources Policies with only some countries incorporating them into their An analysis of five policy case studies found that the planning. There is a limited perception of the need to inclusion of environmental flows in policy should include environmental flows within the water policies provide for the following: of developing countries, but a good understanding of the importance of environmental flows in catchment- · Legal standing for environmental water allocations scale water resources planning. The Bank-Netherlands · Inclusion of environmental water provisions in Water Partnership Program has catalyzed some notable basin water resources plans achievements in introducing environmental flows into · Assessment of all relevant parts of the water cycle infrastructure planning, design, and operations in dam when undertaking EFAs rehabilitation and reoperation projects. · A method or methods for setting environmental objectives in basin plans International Development Organizations · Attention to both recovery of overallocated systems and NGOs and protection of unstressed systems · Clear requirements for stakeholder involvement Various international development organizations and · An independent authority to audit implementation nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have been · A mechanism for turning value-laden terms into supporting environmental flow assessments at both the operational procedures. Institutions and Governance Series xv Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 15 4/9/09 12:44:51 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations Inclusion of Environmental Flows in Basin and · Active monitoring is needed to enforce flow Catchment Plans allocation decisions and undertake adaptive management. Several lessons emerged from the analysis of four basin · It is important to present information in terms that and catchment water resources plans: are comprehensible to decision makers. · Recognition of environmental flows in water · Economic studies can support arguments for resources policy and legislation provides important downstream water allocations. backing for including environmental flows in basin · EFAs are yet to be fully mainstreamed into EIAs. or catchment plans. · The cost of conducting EFAs constitutes a small · There is a need to demonstrate the benefits from fraction of project costs. environmental water allocations after plans are · EIAs have not always or adequately identified implemented. issues associated with downstream water · The term "environmental flows" can be provisions. counterproductive if not explained at an early stage. Mainstreaming Implications · Participatory methods need to be tailored to suit stakeholder capacity. The science underpinning EFAs has advanced · A range of EFA techniques are needed to suit considerably. There are now many more methods for different circumstances. estimating environmental flow requirements, and more · Ecological monitoring is essential to provide information is available on the ecological response to information for adaptive management. different flow regimes. There is also growing experience in integrating information from across a range of Inclusion of Environmental Flows in physical, ecological, and socioeconomic disciplines. Infrastructure Projects In addition, a wide variety of EFA methods have been Four new dams and four restoration projects were developed, backed by considerable field experience, reviewed for lessons in assessing and implementing to suit a variety of levels of environmental risk, time environmental flows: and budget constraints, and levels of data and skills. The Bank's support for the Lesotho Highlands Water · Engineering improvements usually have to be Project has contributed to the development of a combined with reoperations to provide the volume method known as Downstream Response to Imposed of water needed for major ecosystem restoration. Flow Transformation (DRIFT), which systematically · Inclusion of environmental flows in water addresses the downstream biophysical and resources policy simplifies the application of EFAs socioeconomic impacts. There is also a growing body at the project level. of experience in implementing environmental flows, · Environmental outcomes need to be linked closely including monitoring and adaptation of management to social and economic outcomes. procedures. · EFAs should be conducted for all components of the hydrological cycle. · Traditionally trained water resources professionals Mainstreaming Achievements can find it difficult to grasp environmental flow Developed countries, including parts of the United concepts. States, Australia, New Zealand, and the countries of · Water resources plans provide benchmarks for the European Union, together with South Africa, have water allocations during project assessments. accepted the need to develop and implement catchment xvi Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 16 4/9/09 12:44:51 PM Summary water resources plans that include environmental flows. · Applying EFAs to land use activities that intercept There is general public acceptance of the importance and exacerbate overland flows of maintaining healthy aquatic environments in these · Including climate change in the assessments countries. In these countries, where environmental · Integrating environmental flow assessments into flows have now been mainstreamed into water strategic, sectoral, and project EAs resources planning, there is an acceptance that the · Understanding the circumstances in which benefit concept of environmental flows should be extended to sharing is a viable approach. groundwater as well as to estuaries and even near-shore regions. Framework for Expanded Bank Engagement with Environmental Flows Support for Developing Countries The analysis points to a four-part framework for improving the Bank's use of environmental flows. International development organizations, NGOs, and research organizations have been active in providing First, efforts are needed to strengthen Bank capacity in support in developing countries through assistance assessing and overseeing environmental flows: with EFA and implementation, training programs, and provision of support material and Internet resources. · Promote the development of a common The Bank has collaborated with diverse development understanding across the water and environmental partners. The Bank's major contribution to global good communities about the concepts, methods, and practice has been its restoration of the degraded Tarim good practices related to environmental flows, basin and Northern Aral Sea, its assistance with the including the need to incorporate EFAs into provision of flood flows in the Senegal basin, its support environmental assessment at both project (EIAs) for the pioneering work on the Lesotho Highlands and strategic (SEAs) levels. Water Project, and its growing influence in introducing · Build the Bank's in-house capacity in EFA by environmental flows into government water policies. broadening the pool of ecologists, social scientists, In these cases, provision of environmental flows has and environmental and water specialists trained in restored (or retained) ecosystems with demonstrable EFA. benefits to downstream populations; in the Tarim basin Second, efforts are needed to strengthen environmental case, there were also significant benefits to the upstream flow assessments in lending operations through training, irrigation communities. support materials, and access to international experts: Challenges · Disseminate existing guidance material concerning the use of EFAs in program and project settings Both the Bank and environmental flows practitioners and conduct training for Bank and borrower face many challenges: country staff on this emerging issue · Identify settings, approaches, and methods for the · Overcoming the misperceptions arising from the select application of EFAs in the preparation and term "environmental flows" implementation of project-level feasibility studies · Developing methods for systematically linking and as part of the planning and supervisory process biophysical and socioeconomic impacts · Provide support for hydrological monitoring · Incorporating the whole water cycle (surface, networks and hydrological modeling to provide the groundwater, and estuaries) into the assessments basic information for undertaking EFAs Institutions and Governance Series xvii Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 17 4/9/09 12:44:52 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations · Prepare an update of the EA sourcebook the sectoral changes will lead to large-scale land use concerning the use of EFAs in SEAs and EIAs conversion · Prepare a technical note that defines a · Promote the harmonization of sectoral policies methodology for addressing downstream social with the concept of environmental flows in impacts of water resources infrastructure projects developing countries and the understanding · Test the application of EFAs to include of sectoral institutions about the importance infrastructure other than dams that can affect of considering the impact of their policies on river flows, as well as other activities, such as downstream communities investments in large-scale land use change and · Develop support material for Bank staff on the watershed management, and their effects on inclusion of environmental flows into basin and downstream flows and ecosystem services catchment planning and into water resources · Broaden the concept of environmental flows for policy and legislative reforms appropriate pilot projects to include all affected · Draw lessons from developed countries, which downstream ecosystems, including groundwater have experience with incorporating environmental systems, lakes, estuaries, and coastal regions flows in catchment planning. · Develop support material for Bank staff and counterparts in borrowing countries, such as case Fourth, efforts are needed to expand collaborative studies, training material, technical notes, and partnerships: analyses of effectiveness. · Expand collaboration with NGOs (International Third, efforts are needed to promote the integration of Union for the Conservation of Nature, Worldwide environmental flows into policies and plans through Fund for Nature, The Nature Conservancy, dialogue, instruments such as country water resources Natural Heritage Institute, and others), research assistance strategy (CWRAS), country assistance organizations, and international organizations strategy (CAS), country environmental assessments, (United Nations Environment Programme, and development policy lending, and support material Ramsar Secretariat, International Water for Bank staff: Management Institute, and United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) · Promote basin or catchment plans that include to take advantage of their experience in conducting environmental flow allocations, where relevant, EFAs and building environmental flow capacity in through country dialogue developing countries · Use CASs and CWRASs to promote Bank · Strengthen collaborative relationships with assistance with basin or catchment planning industry associations, such as International and water policy reform so that the benefits of Hydropower Association and private sector environmental water allocations for poverty financing, to extend their recognition of alleviation and the achievement of the Millennium environmental flows as desirable hydrological Development Goals are integrated into country outcomes to include the social and economic assistance outcomes that result from the ecosystem services · Incorporate environmental water needs into Bank delivered by the downstream flows SEAs such as country environmental assessments · Integrate lessons from this analysis into--and and sectoral environmental assessments coordinate the activities outlined above with--the · Test the use of EFAs in a small sample of sectoral ongoing initiative of the World Bank's Sustainable adjustment lending operations, including where Development Network and Energy, Transport, and xviii Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 18 4/9/09 12:44:52 PM Summary Water Department for enhancing benefits to local investment in water resources infrastructure, while communities from hydropower projects. reducing the risk of detrimental environmental impacts that threaten the livelihoods of downstream Adoption of this framework will improve the Bank's communities. ability to implement its strategy of increasing Institutions and Governance Series xix Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 19 4/9/09 12:44:53 PM Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 20 4/9/09 12:44:53 PM I Case Study Criteria Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 1 4/9/09 12:44:53 PM Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 2 4/9/09 12:44:53 PM Selection of Case Studies Case Study Characteristics case studies, because these represent the settings where environmental flows have been introduced through The policy and basin case studies were selected to water policies. In these locations, the policies have provide a diversity of institutional settings, geographic now been implemented for a number of years and regions (Figure A.1), and levels of economic thus offer good opportunities for learning lessons. development (Table A.1). The infrastructure project case Australia and the EU also provide opportunities to studies were selected for their diversity of geographic learn from environmental flow provisions in cross- regions, sectoral purposes, and whether they involved border and transboundary policy settings respectively. new infrastructure, rehabilitation, or re-operation The Tanzanian water policy case study provides an of existing infrastructure. Only one example of each example where environmental flows were required in type was taken from a given country, even though the national water policy of a developing country. countries such as Australia, for example, have a number of catchment-scale water plans with environmental Four catchment- or basin-level water planning studies flow components, and there are numerous examples that included EFAs were selected for case studies. They of project-level environmental flow assessments in included one from a developed country--Australia--and European countries and the United States. Five policy- three from developing countries and regions--South level, four catchment/basin plan-level, and eight project- Africa, Tanzania, and the Mekong region. Finally, eight level case studies were selected. Policy, catchment/basin, single and multipurpose projects covering a diversity of and project-level case studies were selected from South sectors--hydropower generation, irrigation, inter-basin Africa--because of its experience in environmental water transfer, water supply, and ecosystem restoration-- flows--and Tanzania, a country currently developing were selected for project-level case studies. All but one expertise in environmental flows. were in developing countries, and all but two were In order to draw on the best available experience, supported by World Bank funding. the selection of case studies included both World- Bank-supported and non-World-Bank cases. Bank- The project-level case studies include EFAs conducted as funded case studies were used where there was good part of the development of a new dam (Berg River Dam, documentation in English and staff members were South Africa; and Mohale Dam as part of the LHWP available for interview. Overall, eight of the 17 case in Lesotho), replacement of old infrastructure (Naraj studies were supported by the Bank. Figure A.1 shows Barrage, Mahanadi River, India; and irrigation canals the locations of the case studies, and Table A.1 describes in Tarim basin, China), reconstruction/modification of the characteristics of the case studies. existing infrastructure (Berg Strait dyke, Aral Sea; Lower Kihansi, Tanzania; and Katse Dam as part of the Lesotho South Africa, Australia, Florida (United States), and Highlands Water Project in Lesotho), and re-operations the European Union (EU) were selected for the policy for existing infrastructure (Bridge River, Canada; Institutions and Governance Series 3 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 3 4/9/09 12:44:53 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations Figure A.1. Location of Case Studies Location of Seventeen Environmental Flow Policy, Plan and Project Case Studies Regional Policy Case Studies National Policy Case Studies State Policy Case Study Park/Basin/Catchment Plan Case Studies Infrastructure Project Case Studies Water Framework Directive, European Union Aral Sea, Bridge River, Central Asia Canada Tarim Basin, China Florida Water Policy, USA Chilika Lagoon, Senegal, India West Africa Mekong Basin, National Water Policy, South East Asia Tanzania Pangani Basin, Lower Kihansi Tanzania Power Project, Tanzania Kruger National Park, Pioneer Catchment, Australia National Water Policy, South Africa South Africa Lesotho Highlands Water Project, Lesotho Berg River, South Africa National Water Initiative, Australia DECEMBER IBRD This map was produced by the Map Design Unit of The World Bank. The boundaries, colors, denominations and any other information 36665 2008 shown on this map do not imply, on the part of The World Bank Group, any judgment on the legal status of any territory, or any endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. Manantali Dam, Senegal basin; dams on Syr Darya initially obtained from published sources, including River, Aral Sea basin; and Tarim basin, China). Some of the archives in the case of the Bank-led case studies, the lessons for the rehabilitation and re-operation case and unpublished materials and reports. Interviews studies differ from those for the new infrastructure. were then arranged with the project team leaders who were available, and with other team members where Introducing EFAs into cross-border and transboundary the team leader was not available. The interviews rivers and groundwater systems is particularly were either in person or by telephone. The interviews difficult because of the inherent complexity of dealing particularly focused on the motivations for the study with multijurisdictional issues. There needs to be and its subsequent influence, since this information agreement between the countries of the basin on the was seldom documented. Additional documentation allocation of water for environmental purposes before was collected during these interviews. The draft case environmental water allocations can be made. Six of studies were sent to team leaders for checking before the case studies--two policy-level, one catchment- being finalized. For non-Bank case studies, principals level, and three project-level--provide examples of involved in the case studies were contacted and either cross-border or transboundary EFAs. interviewed or requested to provide information by The case studies were developed from both e-mail. These case studies were sent to the principals for documentation and interviews. Documentation was checking before being finalized. 4 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 4 4/9/09 12:44:57 PM Selection of Case Studies Table A.1. Characteristics of Case Studies Country/ GNI per Case Study Region capita (US$)* Institutional Setting Sector Purpose Date Completed Policy National Australia $35,990 Federation of States Multisectoral 1994; revised 2004 Water Initiative Water Framework European Union $4,089­$89,571 Union of countries Multisectoral 2000 Directive Florida Water Policy USA $44,970 (USA) State government within Multisectoral 1972; subsequent federal system amendments National Water Policy South Africa $5,390 Unitary government Multisectoral 1997 National Water Policy Tanzania $350 Unitary government Multisectoral 2002 Catchment and Basin Plans Kruger National Park South Africa $5,390 National Environment, Planning and On-going (with transboundary agriculture, operations component) biodiversity Mekong Basin South East Asia $480­$2,990 Transboundary Multisectoral Planning On-going Pangani Basin Tanzania $350 National and Multisectoral Planning On-going Transboundary but environment- focused Pioneer Catchment Australia $35,990 National Multisectoral Planning 2002 Infrastructure Projects Aral Sea Central Asia $260­$5,060 Transboundary Environmental Re-operations GEF project 2003; Restoration and restoration. World Bank project Dyke upgrading still active Berg River South Africa $5,390 Catchment Water supply New dam In progress Bridge River Canada $36,170 Sub-catchment Hydropower Re-operations 2001 Chilika Lagoon India $820 Sub-catchment Irrigation Restoration and 2004 Flood control re-operations Lesotho Highlands Lesotho $1,030 Transboundary Inter-basin Reconstruction 2006 Water Project transfer of outlet structure (water supply) in old dam, and new dam Lower Kihansi Power Tanzania $350 Sub-catchment Hydropower Reconstruction of In progress Project outlet structure in new dam Senegal West Africa $750 Transboundary Multi-purpose Reoperation and Regional restoration Hydropower Development Project completed 2005 Tarim Basin China $2,010 Sub-basin Irrigation Irrigation canal 2005 reconstruction and re-operations Note: *GDP per capita is from World Bank Doing Business 2008 site, accessible at: http://www.doingbusiness.org/ExploreEconomies/EconomyCharacteristics. aspx Case Study Assessment environmental flows case studies were developed from these EIA and SEA criteria, since environmental flow Good Practice Criteria assessments are a special type of EA. These criteria have similarities to those proposed by Lamb (1995) to assess Good practice criteria for including environmental the effectiveness of management programs for in-stream aspects in water resources policy, legislation, plans, flows in the United States (Box A.1), although the latter institutions, and infrastructure investments are listed are focused on the implementation of institutional in Appendix A of the recent World Bank ESW on programs rather than EFAs and so are less relevant here. Strategic Environmental Assessment and Integrated Water Resources Management (World Bank, The following good practice assessment criteria were used forthcoming). The criteria used here to assess the for the policy, plan, and project case studies here, largely Institutions and Governance Series 5 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 5 4/9/09 12:44:59 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations Box A.1. Assessment Criteria for In-Stream Flow Programs in the United States A number of U.S. states introduced instream flow programs, but there was little information on how well the programs worked. There were a number of reasons why these programs had not been evaluated; one was the lack of evaluation criteria. To remedy this deficiency, Lamb proposed five criteria: (1) public confidence--a good program was one that enjoys public confidence that the program will work; (2) certainty--if the in-stream water use is guaranteed for a long period, the program can be judged to be successful; (3) proper administration--this criterion covers a number of factors, including setting of goals and measurement criteria, systematic implementation process, and appropriate authorization; (4) expense--a measure of the budgetary expense, but not including measurement of the benefits of the program; and (5) outcomes--both the extent of stream protection and the quality of the protection. Source: Lamb (1995). based on the criteria used in the ESW on Strategic · recognized methods and reliable data were used in Environmental Assessment and Integrated Water the planning Resources Management (World Bank, forthcoming): · there was integration between environmental impacts and the consequent social and economic · environmental allocations (recognized and required impacts of water allocation decisions as part of water allocation planning) · the EFA methods were cost-effective · a mechanism to identify environmental objectives · the EFA influenced the allocation of water for in water planning environmental purposes within (and beyond) the · comprehensiveness (including all components plan of the water cycle, national and transboundary concerns, and the linkage of environmental flows Project-level case studies were assessed for the extent to to social and economic outcomes) which: · the detail with which provisions assess and implement EFAs, and the handling of · environmental flow considerations were recognized overallocated systems as being legitimate during the conduct and · policy provisions to encourage stakeholder implementation of the EFA participation n formulating environmental · stakeholders were encouraged to participate in the flow requirements and in the making and EFA and their requirements were taken account of implementation of decisions · recognized methods and reliable data were used in · the use of reliable data, high-quality science, and the EFA recognized methods for assessing environmental · there was integration between environmental water needs impacts and the consequent social and economic · monitoring, reporting, and auditing requirements impacts of water allocation decisions · the EFA was conducted in a cost-effective way and Catchment or basin plans were assessed for the extent its recommendations were cost effective, taking to which: account of the overall project costs · the EFA was influential in including downstream · the legitimacy of environmental flows was environmental considerations into the final project recognized when the plan was being formulated deign and operations and implemented · stakeholders with an interest in environmental flow While most of the criteria relate to the conduct of the outcomes were engaged in the planning EFA itself, the effectiveness of a case study requires a 6 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 6 4/9/09 12:44:59 PM Selection of Case Studies judgment about its subsequent influence. This is difficult Institutional Drivers for a number of reasons. Some case studies have yet to be fully completed and it is difficult to assess their The basin/catchment and project-level case studies effectiveness at this stage. In addition, there are a number were analyzed to identify the drivers that initiated and of cases that might have been judged to have had little sustained them (Box A.2). The six drivers describe the influence in their early stages, but subsequently were very mechanisms that can initiate an EFA and maintain influential. For example, the early definitions of IFRs in the momentum for its completion. They are based the rivers flowing through the Kruger National Park were on drivers originally identified for project-level EIAs not implemented for a number of reasons, and so would (Ortolano, Jenkins, and Abracosa 1987) and have been have been assessed as having little influence. However, modified here to incorporate the additional drivers that they subsequently formed the basis of the Reserve can lead to the inclusion of environmental flows in determinations of those rivers, and the experience gained water policy and basin planning. in carrying out the IFRs had a significant influence on However, the drivers that lead to the inclusion of the subsequent South African Water Policy. environmental flows into water resources policies Box A.2. Drivers for Environmental Flows The classification of drivers in this assessment is drawn from the six types of institutional drivers identified by Ortolano, Jenkins, and Abracosa (1987) for environmental impact assessments. Judicial drivers. The courts have a formal role in ensuring that government agencies implement EFA provisions in the relevant legislation. Judicial drivers are widely used in the United States, where the judiciary has a constitutionally sanctioned role in reviewing government procedures. Procedural drivers. Legislation, regulations, and guidelines provide formal drivers over the procedures to be followed when EFAs are conducted for basin water allocation plans or project impact assessments. However, procedural drivers are seldom effective without the availability of other drivers such as evaluative or professional drivers. By themselves, they can lead to well- written EFAs that are ignored. These drivers also include external agreements such as international conventions and regional agreements. Evaluative drivers. Evaluative drivers exist when there is an institution responsible for assessing the quality of implementation of policy requirements, or plan- or project-level EFAs. These independent assessors may have the power to return catchment or basin plans or EFAs for revision; may be able to fine lack of compliance with policy requirements; or may rely on publicity to generate effective implementation of policy. Instrumental drivers. The requirements of international development partners provide an additional driver for EFAs. Many development partners have formal requirements for EFAs as part of the due diligence attached to loans. There can also be informal instrumental drivers operating where the development partner advocates environmental flow considerations when supporting water policy reforms. Instrumental drivers can play a central role in developing countries, where legislative and evaluative drivers are absent. Professional drivers. The considered judgment of planners, professional associations, and other professionals undertaking policy development, catchment/basin plans, or project developments can act as a powerful driver for EFAs. Professionals can be influenced by international developments in EFA or, more broadly, in environmental sustainability. Public drivers. These drivers rely on informed public citizens, community-based organizations, and nongovernmental organizations who are motivated and confident enough to make their views about environmental equity known to government. They may be more relevant in developed countries, which have a tradition of active public engagement in the decisions of government, but may also be important in developing countries. A stimulus is often provided by local, national, or international NGOs, who make an assessment and then inform the public. Source: Modified from Ortolano, Jenkins, and Abracosa 1987. Institutions and Governance Series 7 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 7 4/9/09 12:45:00 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations differ from the ones that operate for plans and and four drivers operated for environmental flow projects. Environmental flow provisions are included provisions (Box A.3). in policy when the policies themselves are being revised, and so the policy drivers need to include both The case studies are reviewed for both their inclusion of those that lead to the policy reforms as well as those environmental flow considerations into policies, plans, that operate specifically to include environmental and projects and the subsequent implementation of flows into the new policies. Three types of policy environmental flow provisions (where there is sufficient reform drivers were apparent in the case studies information on implementation). Box A.3. Drivers for Water Resource Policy Reform and Inclusion of Environmental Flows Policy Reform Convening. In a federal system--such as the EU, the United States, or Australia--the federal government can use its influence to convene and lead policy reforms even when the responsibility for the policy implementation lies at a subsidiary level. This convening power is sometimes supplemented with financial assistance from the federal level to help the subsidiary levels of government implement the policy reforms. Singularity. A singular event--such as a drought--can precipitate policy reforms if it is clear that the current water policy is inadequate to handle the event. While such events act as triggers for reform, there is often a backlog of issues--including provision of water for the environment--that need to be incorporated into the new policy beyond the particular deficiency that triggered the reform. Public. Public pressure, because of perceived deficiencies in water resources management, can act as a powerful stimulus for reform. Environmental Flow Inclusion Institutional. Water managers and other professionals within government can support the inclusion of environmental flow provisions in policy because they are aware of the benefits that these flows confer on downstream environments and communities. Evaluative. A specific organization can be identified in the policy with the oversight of environmental flow provisions to ensure they are implemented. The organization is typically at least partially independent of government since it is overseeing the performance of government agencies. This driver acts to implement the environmental flow provisions rather than to introduce them into policy. Public. Where the public is concerned about the decline in downstream environments because of water abstractions and other developments, they can exert considerable pressure for environmental flow provisions to be included in policy reforms. Scientific Professional. Scientific organizations and individual scientists can use their standing in government and in the community to highlight the issues arising from disruptions to downstream flows and to propose policy provisions to help restore downstream environments. International Developments. The proclamations from major international conventions, such as the 1992 Rio Summit, can exert considerable influence on the content of new policies. 8 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 8 4/9/09 12:45:00 PM II. Policy Case Studies Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 9 4/9/09 12:45:00 PM Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 10 4/9/09 12:45:00 PM Case Study 1. Australian water reform Background of institutions; (f) re-use of urban wastewater; (g) improved education and consultation procedures; Australia is a federation where, until recently, and (h) allocation of water for environmental benefit. the commonwealth government has had only a The COAG Water Reform Framework was to be coordinating, convening, and funding role in water fully implemented by the year 2001. This date was resources management. The responsibility for water subsequently extended to 2005 for certain components resources management has resided with the six of the reforms, including water allocations and trading. state and two territory governments. Recently, the commonwealth government approved legislation-- the Providing water for environmental benefit was central Water Act 2007--that establishes a commonwealth to the reforms (Agriculture and Resource Management government agency that has responsibility for planning Council of Australia and New Zealand and Australian water use in the Murray Darling Basin, the basin with and New Zealand Environment and Conservation the highest population and most heavily used water Council 1996). All governments committed to resources. determining the environmental water requirements for all river systems and groundwater basins using the The southeastern part of the country, where most of best available scientific information. For overallocated the population is concentrated, experienced a severe or stressed systems, governments agreed to provide drought in the early 1980s. This sensitized both urban environmental water allocations that would restore the and rural populations to the overallocation of water health of these systems. The COAG agreement and the entitlements that had occurred in some catchments, 12 principles for the provision of water for ecosystems particularly in the Murray-Darling Basin. By the early (Box 1.1) provide a coherent and unified (although not 1990s, it was apparent that the environmental health uniform) framework for water resources management of the continent's water resources--its rivers, aquifers, across the country. estuaries, and wetlands--was deteriorating (National Land and Water Resources Audit 2001; Australian The COAG agreement was amended in 1996 State of the Environment Committee 2001). In 1994 to strengthen the groundwater and stormwater the Council of Australian Governments (COAG)-- management components, and further extended in heads of the federal, state, and territory governments-- 1999. Even so, the timetable to complete the COAG agreed to undertake major reforms of water resources reforms by 2001 proved overly ambitious. In addition, management, including (a) separation of water a number of environmental assessments (Australia State service delivery, water resources management, and of the Environment Committee 2001; National Land regulatory functions; (b) pricing water at its full cost; and Water Resources Audit 2002) made it clear that the (c) separation of land and water titles; (d) a market state of the nation's water resources was not improving. for water trading; (e) privatization and corporatization Consequently, in June 2004, the federal, state, and Institutions and Governance Series 11 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 11 4/9/09 12:45:01 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations Box 1.1 ARMCANZ/ANZECC National Principles for the Provision of Water for Ecosystems Principle 1. River regulation and/or consumptive use should be recognized as potentially impacting on ecological values. Principle 2. Provision of water for ecosystems should be on the basis of the best scientific information available on the water regimes necessary to sustain the ecological values of water-dependent ecosystems. Principle 3. Environmental water provisions should be legally recognized. Principle 4. In systems where there are existing users, provision of water for ecosystems should go as far as possible to meet the water regime necessary to sustain the ecological values of aquatic ecosystems while recognizing the existing rights of other water users. Principle 5. Where environmental water requirements cannot be met due to existing uses, action (including reallocation) should be taken to meet environmental needs. Principle 6. Further allocation of water for any use should only be on the basis that natural ecological processes and biodiversity are sustained (that is, ecological values are sustained). Principle 7. Accountabilities in all aspects of management of environmental water should be transparent and clearly defined. Principle 8. Environmental water provisions should be responsive to monitoring and improvements in understanding of environmental water requirements. Principle 9. All water uses should be managed in a manner that recognizes ecological values. Principle 10. Appropriate demand management and water pricing strategies should be used to assist in sustaining ecological values of water resources. Principle 11. Strategic and applied research to improve understanding of environmenta water requirements is essential. Principle 12. All relevant environmental, social, and economic stakeholders will be involved in water allocation planning and decision making on environmental water provisions. territory governments (except Tasmania and Western territory treasuries now paid attention to the water Australia)1 signed a further agreement, the National reforms because of the linkage between progress and Water Initiative (NWI), to accelerate the water reform tranche payments. There was pressure on the water process. management authorities from their own treasuries to formally meet the terms of the agreement (although The National Competition Policy of April 1995 was they were less interested in achieving the substance of an agreement between the commonwealth, state, the reforms). Unlike the 1994 agreement, the National and territory governments to advance a nationally Water Initiative of 2004 did not link compliance with coordinated approach to microeconomic reform the flow of financial resources. across a number of sectors, in return for a series of national competition tranche payments based upon The NWI provided a more thorough blueprint for the effective implementation of the reform agenda. water reform than did the 1994 agreement, and These microeconomic reforms included the 1994 COAG water reform agenda. Bringing the water reforms within the National Competition Policy had 1 Tasmania signed the agreement in 2005 and Western Australia a number of consequences. In particular, the state and signed the agreement in April 2006. 12 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 12 4/9/09 12:45:01 PM Australian Water Reform highlighted a number of areas where the reforms were The National Competition Council (NCC) prepared lagging, including provisions for environmental flows assessments of progress with the COAG agreement in where improved environmental outcomes were to be 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, and a sixth and final achieved through: assessment in 2005. · expansion of permanent trade in water, bringing The NWC issued the first biennial assessment of about more cost-effective and flexible recovery of progress with the NWI in late 2007. Although some water to achieve environmental outcomes components of the NWI--water accounting, water · more sophisticated, transparent, and pricing, water trading, and water entitlements--were comprehensive catchment-level water planning progressing well, environmental water allocation dealing with key issues such as the interception aspects were less satisfactory. A number of states of water2, the interaction between surface and and territories were not meeting NWI requirements groundwater systems, and the provision of water to to return overallocated systems to environmentally meet specific environmental outcomes sustainable levels of extraction. It was very difficult · a commitment to return water to overallocated to define the NWI concept of sustainable levels systems as quickly as possible, in consultation with of extraction. Although states had generally made affected stakeholders good progress in rolling out catchment-level water allocation plans, the scientific underpinning of these The National Water Commission (NWC) was plans, especially the links between water and the established to drive the NWI agenda. environment, were weak. In addition, management The COAG and NWI agreements had significant of water for the environment was judged to be weak. implications for environmental flows. They required Thus, environmental water managers, with authority state and territory governments to: and funding to trade and manage water on behalf of the environment, had either not been established or · recognize water for the environment as a had been given inadequate authority and resources. In legitimate use, on the same legal footing as addition, most states did not have adequate institutions consumptive water for auditing environmental outcomes. · draw up water allocation plans for catchments and groundwater areas that provided for environmental Because of the lack of progress in returning flows overallocated systems to environmentally sustainable · implement mechanisms that returned water to the levels of water extraction, in early 2007 the federal environment in surface and groundwater systems government announced a major $10 billion program-- that were overallocated from a sustainability point the National Plan for Water Security--to acquire water of view for the environment through a mixture of irrigation · establish water markets where environmental water use efficiency improvements and outright allocations could be traded purchases of water entitlements. This program has · develop new, or amend existing, legislation to subsequently been increased to $12.9 billion through provide for the above requirements the Water for the Future program. As part of the agreements, each jurisdiction was 2 required to introduce legislation and programs to Interception refers to the (usually unlicensed) extraction of water before it reaches watercourses, primarily through commercial implement the reforms. forestry activities, groundwater extraction, and small farm dams. Institutions and Governance Series 13 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 13 4/9/09 12:45:02 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations Drivers of environmental flows, were proceeding at too relaxed a pace, partly because there was no institution charged The COAG and NWI agreements were the formal with actively driving the reforms. Consequently, the drivers of the water reforms, including the increased National Water Commission was established as part of prominence of environmental water. However, these the NWI, specifically to drive the water reforms. formal drivers were underlain by other influences. There was widespread public concern about the deteriorating Assessment state of Australia's water resources, and politicians at the state and national levels were sensitive to these Recognition. Environmental flows were a central concerns. Scientifically credible studies on the state component of the 1994 COAG agreement: "States of the aquatic environment provided legitimacy to would give priority to formally determining these concerns; these studies had been commissioned allocations or entitlements to water, including by governments seeking factual advice. In addition, allocations for the environment as a legitimate user government officials at the state and federal levels of water" and subsequently the NWI. The National recognized the importance of reforming water resources Principles (Box 1.1) were developed through management and added their active support to the negotiation between all Australian governments reform program. Through these multiple influences, the specifically to provide a framework for incorporating strength of concern was strong enough and enduring environmental considerations into water planning. enough to lead to the two rounds of national water reforms over 13 years, together with other reforms to Both the COAG agreement and the 2004 NWI water management, both within the Murray Darling agreement explicitly recognized that water for Basin (MDBC 2004; Independent Audit Group 1996) environmental purposes provided public benefit and nationally (Council of Australian Governments outcomes and that it underpinned the sustainability of 2007; Australian Government 2007). other water uses. A central plank of both agreements was returning water to rivers that were overallocated in Since 2003, many parts of Australia have undergone order to ensure their environmental sustainability. the most severe drought in over 100 years. Many irrigation districts in the Murray Darling Basin are While neither agreement assigned an explicit priority receiving only minimal water allocations. Urban areas, to water for the environment, the NWI implies including six of the country's eight capital cities, are that water for the environment should have a high on water restrictions. These water shortages have priority by stating that consumptive water uses heightened public awareness of the need to ensure that must be restricted to "environmentally sustainable the country's water resources are managed carefully and levels of extraction." This requirement is echoed given support to the water reforms. in state-level legislation. In New South Wales, the Water Management Act (2002) requires that water The financial and convening authority of the federal abstraction must (a) protect the water source and its government was also an important driver. The initial dependent ecosystems, and (b) protect basic landholder COAG agreement relied on implementation by the state rights. This implicitly assigns environmental water governments, initially with oversight from a high-level equal priority with landholder rights. However, steering group and then with periodic assessments by determining the environmentally sustainable levels of the NCC--an institution without specific expertise in extraction has proven to be very difficult in practice, water management. Within a few years it was clear that partly because there is a lack of agreement about the some components of the reforms, including provision meaning of the term and partly because there is a lack 14 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 14 4/9/09 12:45:02 PM Australian Water Reform Box 1.2. Interpreting Environmentally Sustainable Levels of Extraction In a 2005 self-assessment, the Australian state and territory governments identified only three out of 340 surface water management areas and 19 out of 367 groundwater management units as being overallocated. These estimates are significantly lower than the estimates of overallocation in the preceding 2000 Australian Water Resources Assessment, which identified 26 percent of Australia's river basins and 34 percent of Australia's groundwater management units as approaching or being beyond sustainable extraction limits. It is unlikely that this decrease resulted from improved management; rather it arose from changes to definitions of sustainable yield and level of development between the two assessment reports. The National Water Commission then applied a nationally consistent set of measures of stress on surface and groundwater systems in an independent assessment of 51 representative water management areas. This assessment still relied on self- assessments of sustainable yield by the state and territory governments. The analysis found that: · Three out of the 51 water management areas had a consumptive use greater than sustainable yield. · Seventeen water management areas had a high level of consumptive use as a proportion of inflows. · Eleven water management areas had a high level of consumptive use as a proportion of the total water resource. · Two groundwater management areas had a consumptive use greater than the total annual inflow. While this independent assessment was based on data for just 2004­05, it indicates that the 2005 self-assessment by the states significantly underestimated the level of overallocation. State and territory governments need to agree on a consistent set of definitions and assessment procedures before the environmental sustainability of the country's water resources can be properly determined. Source: National Water Commission (2007). of reliable scientific evidence linking river flows and Comprehensiveness. The COAG agreement initially groundwater levels to ecosystem services and human focused on surface freshwater systems (rivers, wetlands, benefits (Box 1.2). floodplains); groundwater systems were not properly incorporated until 1996. Groundwater management Three out of the 51 water management areas had a subsequently became a centerpiece of the NWI consumptive use greater than sustainable yield. --including provision of water for groundwater- Under the NWI, environmental water entitlements dependent ecosystems--when it became clear that must be given statutory recognition and be accorded restrictions on surface water abstractions in the Murray at least the same degree of security as water access Darling Basin were shifting demand to groundwater entitlements for consumptive uses. Water allocation abstractions. The measurement of connectivity between plans also must have a statutory basis. These surface and groundwater has become a priority in requirements have now been implemented in all states recent years. However, groundwater has yet to be fully through new or amended water legislation and, in integrated into water allocation plans, even though there principle, environmental water entitlements have equal are groundwater management provisions in some plans. statutory recognition to other entitlements. The provision of water to sustain ecosystem services in Both the COAG and the NWI agreements pay little estuaries has received little attention in the COAG and attention to the effects of dams and other water NWI agreements. Even so, a number of the catchment- resources infrastructure on downstream flows3. This is partly because few dams are being built in 3 The COAG agreement requires that assessments have to be Australia, and partly because environmental policies undertaken and the environmental requirements of rivers have to and legislation, rather than water resources policies be met before water is harvested for irrigation, rural water supply and legislation, provide the primary protection for or for dam construction. The NWI agreement treats dams as either mechanisms to hold environmental water entitlements or environmental flows below infrastructure such as dams. as part of interception of surface flows (i.e., as small-farm dams). Institutions and Governance Series 15 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 15 4/9/09 12:45:03 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations level water allocation plans include provisions for plans have now been approved for about 150 of ensuring flows to estuaries. Australia's major surface and groundwater systems. For example, 36 WSPs had been gazetted in New South The Murray Darling Basin and the Great Artesian Basin Wales by 2006, covering 80 percent of surface and are the major cross-border water resources in Australia. groundwater use in the state. A further 10 WSPs are The former is subject to separate agreements, which are yet to be completed, and 28 surface water plans and formally recognized in the NWI agreement. However, 5 groundwater plans for less stressed systems (termed there is no explicit mention of the Great Artesian Basin macro plans) are being developed to cover most of the or other cross-border water bodies in the NHI. remaining waterbodies. Both the COAG and NWI agreements include both The NWI requires state and territory governments water flow and water quality aspects. For example, to establish "environmental and other public benefit the NSW Water Management Act 2002 requires outcomes" for their water allocation plans. All environmental objectives for both water quality and river governments have legislated for these outcomes. flow, and envisages "water sharing plans" (WSP) that For example, the New South Wales government has include water quality aspects and source protection and developed "interim river flow objectives" (RFOs) for rehabilitation. This requirement has been implemented each catchment in New South Wales. in the WSP for the regulated Lachlan River system in New South Wales as a set of rules for a water quality Returning water to overallocated rivers and allocation that may be used for any water quality issue. groundwater systems has proven to be one of the more difficult components of the reforms. Both state The NWI agreement provides for a wide range of and federal governments have mounted well-funded influences on water availability, specifically identifying programs, using subsidies and outright purchases forestry plantations, but also allowing for other of water, but the amount of water returned to influences such as farm dams, groundwater pumping, environmental use has been limited. In addition to and bushfires. The NWI requires water resource the recent Water for the Future Program, some state accounts that include the effects of climate change governments have implemented programs to buy back and also requires that the effects of climate change water entitlements on selected overallocated rivers, are included in water allocation plans. The NSW and the Murray Darling Basin Commission is midway legislation allows the minister to modify a WSP to through a $500 million water recovery program.4 reduce water entitlements as a result of climate change, Nevertheless, there has been public disquiet about the but does not include climate change as an influence to environmental benefits from this returned water, and be included in a WSP. opposition from irrigators who fear that remaining irrigation enterprises will be rendered unviable as Environmental water mechanisms. Legally enforceable irrigation properties are taken out of production. catchment-level water allocation plans with specific environmental water allocations are at the heart of the The NWI accepts that environmental water can be COAG and NWI agreements. These plans have been provided through both a rules basis (such as cease-to- slow to be developed because of the requirements for pump rules during low flow periods) or as an access stakeholder consultations, the difficulty of establishing environmental water allocations, and the time 4 required to collate best available scientific knowledge The Living Murray Initiative requires that 500 Gl of water will be returned to environmental purposes by 2009; to date, 328 Gl in each catchment. Nevertheless, water allocation has been recovered. 16 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 16 4/9/09 12:45:04 PM Australian Water Reform entitlement (environmental water entitlements held in states, in some cases being represented on the decision- a headwater storage). Registers of environmental water making committees. In spite of some disputed decisions entitlements and a reporting system for rule-based about the adequacy of environmental water allocations environmental water are being developed. (leading to a court challenge in one NSW catchment), environmental views have generally been represented in The COAG and NWI agreements emphasize the use of decisions. economic instruments, including market mechanisms, for maximizing environmental water allocations. The Review and Enforcement. Progress with implementing NWI envisages that environmental water entitlements the 1994 COAG agreement was monitored annually will be traded on the market in the same way as by the National Competition Council between 1999 consumptive water entitlements. Although water markets and 2004. From then, the NWC assessed progress of have operated successfully for some years, they have yet initially the COAG agreement and subsequently the to be actively used for buying and selling environmental NWI. The 1999­2005 assessments included sanctions; water entitlements. However, off-market mechanisms, the NCC and NWC could recommend that the federal such as tenders, have been used successfully in NSW and government withhold payments to state governments Victoria for purchasing entitlements for water. where the latter had not met the requirements of the COAG agreement. For example, $28m was withheld The NWI envisaged that environmental water managers from NSW in 2004 for inadequate scientific backing would be appointed to manage environmental for environmental flow allocations and for lack of entitlements, including trading on the water market. transparency in determining these allocations; half Few such managers have been appointed and there is these funds were paid in 2006 and the remainder only limited legislative, financial, and technical support returned in 2007 because of progress with these aspects for them. of the reforms. The NWC biennial assessments, commencing in 2007, are not backed by these Participation. The National Principles (Box 1.1) make it financial penalties. However, the federal government clear that all relevant stakeholders must be involved in has recently decided to reinstate payments to state all decisions on environmental water provisions. On the and territory governments that meet achievement other hand, the NWI commits jurisdictions to include criteria in areas of reform, including water resources consultations with all stakeholders on quite specific management. issues--devising pathways for returning overdrawn water systems to environmentally sustainable extraction The NCC and NWC assessments of the COAG levels, and when water plans are reviewed--but makes reforms provided a uniform policy assessment no mention of involvement on other issues such as the framework across multiple jurisdictions, and the initial preparation of water plans. public nature of the assessment by an independent commission served to maintain impetus for The NWI requires states and territories to provide implementing the agreement. While there is no firm information to all relevant stakeholders on specific topics, evidence available, anecdotal information strongly including the sustainability of water use, and the science suggests that linking water reforms to financial underpinning the identification and implementation of payments in the 1994 COAG agreement was an environmental and other public benefit outcomes. effective motivator of change. Environmental representatives have played an Data and science. The National Principles (Principle 2, important role in water allocation planning in all Box 1.1) and the NWI both explicitly require that best Institutions and Governance Series 17 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 17 4/9/09 12:45:04 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations available science is used in establishing environmental Lessons water requirements. The 2004 NCC assessment report (National Competition Council 2004) required that 1. Even in a complex federal system, it is possible to a holistic approach be employed, and defined this as make substantial progress toward water reform, (a) a multidisciplinary approach; (b) all components including provisions for environmental water, if of the water system; (c) data that are comprehensive, there are strong, mutually reinforcing drivers. relevant, current, and subject to quality control; (d) 2. Widespread concern about environmental the entire water regime (that is, variability, duration, degradation and overallocation of water resources magnitude, frequency, and timing); (e) human recognized in the 1990s was one of the principal use constraints; (f) peer review; and (g) ongoing drivers for water reform. Regular, public assessments monitoring. of environmental health by independent authorities served to maintain the impetus for the reforms, All states have now introduced such multidisciplinary, ultimately leading to a new round of more holistic techniques for environmental water assessment, comprehensive reforms in 2004 when it was clear some more rapidly than others. Some states (such as that environmental health was not improving. Queensland) have undertaken scientific field studies 3. The public nature of the reviews of progress in to support catchment-level environmental water implementing the water policy was an important assessments (Case study 8); others have relied on driver for maintaining impetus. It is probable that collation of existing knowledge. Few assessments are the financial sanctions contained in the COAG peer-reviewed, and the monitoring of environmental reforms were effective motivators for change. outcomes is patchy. The use of non-holistic or poorly 4. The initial focus on surface water management led defined environmental assessment techniques in to potential environmental problems, as demand some states was criticized by both the NCC and quickly shifted to groundwater and interception of the NWC assessments (which led to the financial overland flows. The whole water cycle needs to be sanctions resulting in the withholding of funds for included in the reforms. one state government) and may have been a factor in 5. Institutional aspects of environmental water the subsequent adoption of more defensible holistic management--making laws and regulations, techniques in Tasmania and NSW. restructuring institutions--have largely progressed satisfactorily, but actually providing the Monitoring and Reporting. The NWI requires that environmental water has proven more difficult. robust monitoring systems are introduced for assessing Water allocation plans have taken much longer compliance in overallocated surface and groundwater to produce than anticipated; the recovery of systems; less stressed systems require monitoring environmental water in overallocated systems to record progress toward full allocation. National has been slow, contentious, and expensive; states frameworks for environmental water accounting and have been slow to establish environmental water river and wetland health are still being developed. managers; and the framework for monitoring of Some states have introduced monitoring of outcomes environmental outcomes has been slow to establish. from environmental flows--for example, NSW has 6. Scientifically credible information has played an integrated Monitoring of Environmental Flows an important role in supporting the reforms, program--but progress is slow in this area, partly establishing the initial extent of environmental because the definition of environmentally sustainable degradation, assessing environmental water levels of extraction and hence environmental targets requirements in catchment plans, and monitoring remains ill-defined. progress with improvements. 18 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 18 4/9/09 12:45:05 PM Australian Water Reform 7. Couching a central part of the reforms in terms of Lamb, B.L. 1995. "Criteria for evaluating state of "environmentally sustainable levels of abstraction" instream-flow programs: Deciding what works." J. Water placed pressure on environmental science. To date, Resources Planning and Management 121: 270­274. it has not been possible to reach agreement across the states on the interpretation of this concept. MDBC. 2004. Intergovernmental Agreement on This has proven to be the major impediment to the Addressing Water Overallocation and Achieving environmental aspects of the reforms and a stumbling Environmental Objectives in the Murray-Darling Basin. block to wider reforms, since they rely on priority Canberra: Murray Darling Basin Commission. assignment of water to environmental sustainability. National Competition Council. 2004. Assessment of 8. Non-market economic instruments have been Governments' Progress in Implementing the National successfully used to source environmental water Competition Policy and Related Reforms: 2004. Volume 2: in stressed river systems. However, market-based Water. Canberra: Australian Government. instruments have yet to prove effective for acquiring National Land & Water Resources Audit. 2001. environmental entitlements because parts of the Australian Water Resources Assessment 2000. Surface Water institutional framework--environmental water and Groundwater--Availability and Quality. Canberra: managers, legal provisions in some states--have yet National Land & Water Resources Audit. to be established. National Land and Water Resources Audit. 2002. Australia's Natural Resources: 1997--2002 and Beyond. References Canberra: National Land and Water Resources Audit. Agriculture and Resource Management Council of National Water Commission. 2007. Australian Water Australia and New Zealand and Australian and New Resources 2005. Level 2 Report. Canberra: National Zealand Environment and Conservation Council. Water Commission. 1996. National Principles for the Provision of Water for Ecosystems. Sustainable Land and Water Resources Ortolano, L., B. Jenkins, and R.P. Abracosa. 1987. Management Committee Subcommittee on Water "Speculations on when and why EIA is effective." Resources Occasional Paper SWR No 3. Canberra: Environmental Impact Assessment Review 7: 285­292. Australian Government. World Bank. 2006. Agriculture Water Management Australian Government. 2007. A National Plan Initiative. Washington, DC: World Bank. for water security. Canberra: Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. World Bank. 2007. Clean Energy Development Investment Framework. Washington, DC: World Bank. Australian State of the Environment Committee. 2001. Australia State of the Environment 2001. World Bank. 2008. Infrastructure Action Plan. Independent report to the Commonwealth Minister Washington, DC: World Bank. for the Environment and Heritage, CSIRO. Canberra: Department of the Environment and Heritage. World Bank. 2008. Development and Climate Change: A Strategic Framework for the World Bank Group. Council of Australian Governments. 2000. Our Vital Washington, DC: World Bank. Resources: A National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality. Canberra: Department of Agriculture, Fisheries World Bank (forthcoming). Strategic Environmental and Forests. Assessment and Integrated Water Resources Management and Development. Washington, DC: World Bank. Independent Audit Group. 1996. Setting the Cap. Report of the Independent Audit Group. Canberra: Murray Darling Basin Commission. Institutions and Governance Series 19 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 19 4/9/09 12:45:05 PM Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 20 4/9/09 12:45:06 PM Case Study 2. European Union Water Framework Directive Background its natural waters are highly regulated. Along with most other Mediterranean countries, however, it has relatively The European Union (EU) currently includes 27 weak environmental flow requirements. member states with other countries, such as Turkey, waiting to join over the next decade. Climate and water resources vary considerably across the continent. The Water Directive Framework Southern Europe is dominated by a Mediterranean The European Water Framework Directive (WFD) climate with hot dry summers and mild wet winter. (Council of European Communities 2000) came into Water demand is primarily for irrigated agriculture and force on December 22, 2000. This major legislative domestic supply, with major increases in population initiative is intended to resolve the piecemeal approach along the coast during the summer. In Northern to European water legislation that had developed since Europe, precipitation is more evenly spread throughout 1975, largely because water-related issues-- such as the year and water use is primarily for domestic supply pollution, nature conservation and drinking water and industry. High population densities produce standards--had been handled through separate sectors. localized water stress. For example, the Thames basin Directives dealing with these issues were sometimes in southeast England receives around 650 mm of inconsistent. The WFD was intended to bring a precipitation, but houses over 10 million people, unifying framework to these separate water-related yielding less than 1,000 m3 per person per year, the directives. Whereas previous Europe-wide directives had international standard for water stress. been implemented through different legislation in the various European member states, the WFD required In general, European states have strong institutions national legislation to be put in place to complement with well-qualified technical staff. Water-related the directive, with competent agencies selected to issues and policies vary across the continent. Rivers implement it. in Central and Eastern Europe suffered significant pollution during the 20th century due to discharges The Water Framework Directive has two classification from heavy industry, but many restoration projects systems: (1) ecological status, which is an integrated are in place to return these rivers to good quality. system using biological and physico-chemical Northern European countries have tended to have tight parameters and has five classes (Figure 2.1); and (2) controls over pollution of the aquatic environment, as a chemical classification, which is an assessment of well as provisions for environmental flow allocations, compliance with standards for "priority hazardous due partly to more plentiful water resources in these substances," which has two classes (pass or fail). The regions. In the southern part of the EU, countries final status is defined as the lesser of the chemical and receive limited rainfall and experience high seasonal ecological status and is assessed in terms of the extent water demands. Spain has over 1,200 large dams and of deviation from undisturbed reference conditions. Institutions and Governance Series 21 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 21 4/9/09 12:45:06 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations Figure 2.1 Status options for water bodies in the WFD Reference Conditions 1 (nearly) totally undisturbed high OK slight alterations good moderate alterations moderate measures major alterations poor needed severe alterations bad 0 The primary means of setting reference conditions is by causes of failure to meet GES. Environmental flows are identifying similar water bodies that are undisturbed, seen as part of the measures needed to restore many with similarity being assessed by classifying and typing rivers to GES or maintain those already at GES. sites according to selected physical variables, from a combination of mapped (catchment area, slope, The WFD does not specify the measures needed to geology) and site-specific (water width, depth) data. restore or maintain GES, as these will be case-specific. Each country is left to define environmental standards, Deviation from ecological reference conditions in any such as maximum abstraction rates or releases from body of water is measured primarily through assessment dams, since these are related to river type and will vary of three elements of the aquatic ecosystem: (1) fish according to reference conditions in different countries. (taxonomic composition and age structure); Furthermore, the WFD does not specify how water (2) invertebrates (taxonomic composition and the may be retrieved from licensees in overabstracted mixture of sensitive and non-sensitive species); and basins. Nevertheless, a "common implementation (3) macrophytes and algae (taxonomic composition and strategy" (CIS) has been established by the European abundance). Commission to achieve some consistency of approach.5 The water directors from government departments Under the WFD, all EU member states agreed to meet every six months to comment on and/or agree achieve the objective of at least "good ecological status" on the recommendations of the CIS Working Groups. (GES) in all bodies of surface water and groundwater Pan-European research projects have been established to by 2015, and also to prevent deterioration in the status allow scientists to work together. of water bodies. Pristine sites are classified as "high ecological status" (HES), and must be maintained at The WFD allows limited exceptions to achieving GES. this status level. Only in the case of HES is the river In particular, an alternate objective of at least "good flow regime a primary quality element and must be ecological potential" (GEP) can be applied where close to natural, along with the biology of the river. For water bodies are designated as "heavily modified" water bodies classified as "moderate," "poor," or "bad," measures must be implemented, such as improving 5CIS guidance documents are available at http://forum.europa. water quality or removing structures, to remedy the eu.int. 22 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 22 4/9/09 12:45:07 PM European Union Water Framework Directive (HMWB) or artificial because of constraints imposed support the WFD because they saw it as an opportunity by physical modifications to the water body, such as to strengthen their roles in environmental protection. dams. A HMWB is designated if (1) the water body Even some water abstractors have viewed it as a way of is likely to fail to achieve GES because of substantial "greening" their credentials. physical modification for the benefit to society (such as flood protection or navigation); and (2) the beneficial However, the use of natural conditions as the functions would be significantly compromised by benchmark for river restoration means that some restoration measures required to achieve GES, and there cherished characteristics of rivers are under threat. For is no other technically feasible and cost-effective way example, chalk streams, which are one of the most to deliver that function. For example, a dam that is no highly prized river ecosystems in the United Kingdom, longer economic should be removed or operated in a are the result of centuries of river management. The way that will achieve GES. Designation of a water body WFD states that these should be returned to more as HMWB is thus ultimately an economic judgment. natural conditions, which may be less biodiverse and less attractive to local people. The WFD's focus on ecological outcomes rather than social objectives may Drivers thus be less acceptable to local stakeholders. Harmonization of legislation, policies, and practices was a major driver for the establishment and development Assessment of the European Union. Since the 1970s, EU-wide directives have been drawn up that require member Recognition. The WFD is concerned with river states to change their national legislation in line with a protection and river restoration and is not focused common European goal. The EU has many international on environmental flows specifically. Consequently, rivers, and it is within the spirit of the EU that guidance hydrological modification is not used to assess is issued to promote transboundary basin management. ecological status, except for HES. Thus, even if the flow regime is significantly altered in a water body Until the WFD was initiated, water issues were covered downstream of an impoundment or abstraction, unless under many separate EU directives and sectoral policies the biology is impacted, it could be rated as GES. covering, for example, drinking water, bathing water, flood protection, and river pollution. A key turning Even though the WFD only explicitly requires point occurred in 1988, when those responsible for environmental flows in relation to maintenance of management of ecosystems proposed an ecological HES, appropriate flows are still accepted as a basic directive on the basis that the ecosystem was the best requirement of a healthy river. The flow regime is indicator for sustainable development. The idea was included as a supporting quality element for GES and supported by sectors such as domestic water providers, other lower status levels. This recognizes that GES is who felt that their water treatments costs were increased unlikely to be reached in a water body with significantly because of degraded surface and groundwater. altered flows, as this will result in changes to the river ecosystem through modification of physical habitat Many NGOs supported the introduction of the and alterations in erosion and sediment supply rates. WFD because it recognized the importance of natural Consequently, restoring a more natural flow regime ecosystem functions that provide services to humans. may well be a necessary measure in a river that fails Some ecological advocates supported the concept GES, and so environmental standards have to be set of reference conditions that were broadly natural. for abstractions and for releases from impoundments as Furthermore, some environmental protection agencies part of river management to restore or maintain GES. Institutions and Governance Series 23 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 23 4/9/09 12:45:07 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations In addition, there is currently uncertainty as to whether river water body. Wetlands fed by aquifers are referred existing tools for assessment of biological quality to as "groundwater-dependent terrestrial ecosystems." elements are adequate for provisional designation of HMWBs. While there is no provision within the WFD The WFD explicitly links water quantity with water for surrogates to be used when biological assessment is quality and stream morphology as elements that not possible, there is an acceptance within the UK that support the biology of aquatic ecosystems. alteration to the river flow regime can be used for an initial classification in these circumstances (Acreman It is increasingly recognized that climate change will 2007). However, the final classification must be based have a significant impact on the aquatic environment in on biological data. Europe. In particular, there is current debate about how reference conditions will alter under climate change, Each country reports to the European Union on and thus change the targets for management of water progress with implementation of the WFD and can be bodies. However, the WFD currently does not address fined for lack of compliance. This is a powerful lever climate change explicitly. for action by some countries that see noncompliance as politically damaging. Other countries appear less Data and science. Major problems have arisen in concerned. Some countries are finding it difficult to trying to implement the WFD because of the need to implement the directive, but none has yet been fined interpret the practical meaning of general concepts. The because major deadlines for WFD have not been definitions of reference sites, GES, and GEP have been reached. particularly difficult, and there is not yet agreement across Europe on these terms. Comprehensiveness. A key element of the WFD is the development of river basin management plans. Many The CIS for the WFD is producing guidance on some European states are already managing water resources of these interpretations, but interpreting other terms at the basin level, and so anticipate a smooth transition raises fundamental ecological issues that cannot readily to WFD implementation. This includes existing be resolved. For example, if reference conditions for transboundary river basin initiatives, such as those for certain river types (such as lowland rivers, which are the Rhine and Danube. Each river basin must show almost all heavily developed in Europe) do not exist, the current and objective status for each water body how can ecological objectives be defined for these and a set of measures to achieve at least GES by 2015. river types? Another major issue is whether significant However, the WFD does not explicitly identify a hydrological alteration alone can be grounds for priority water allocation for the environment; it merely declaring that a water body is not in good status. Some states that water bodies must achieve at least GES by argue that the WFD is a biological directive and thus whatever measures are necessary. decisions need to be made using biological data; others argue that biological data are often lacking so decisions The WFD is comprehensive in its definition of water need to be made on other grounds, such as hydrological bodies, which include rivers, lakes, canals, reservoirs, alteration. In reality, this is an integrating directive groundwater, and transitional water (estuaries and because the standards for all physico-chemical and deltas). Wetlands are not explicitly referred to as such biological quality elements have to pass the standards to since, under the Ramsar Convention, all water bodies achieve GES. In addition, there is a lack of consistent are wetlands. However, wetlands associated with water tools and data across Europe to measure the degree of bodies are included within the definition; for example, alteration of a water body from reference conditions. floodplains are included as part of the adjacent lake or Pan-European projects have been set up to address 24 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 24 4/9/09 12:45:08 PM European Union Water Framework Directive some of these issues. In the meantime, implementation and Slovenia) are starting the process and have invited has proceeded on a practical basis because the UK experts to present their experiences in start-up arguments have not been resolved and deadlines are workshops. approaching. An additional project was set up, called WFD 82 to Successful implementation of such major legislation provide best practice guidance for setting flow releases needs to be flexible to allow for issues not considered from impoundments. It employed the building block when the legislation was originally established. A good method (BBM) (Tharme and King 1998), which was example is that reference conditions are becoming a developed in South Africa (case study 3), for identifying moving target due to climate change. This complication the elements of the flow regime needed to achieve was not considered seriously 20 years ago. either GES or GEP in river ecosystems. Full application of BBM requires site-specific data. However, the WFD The tools and data for water management differ 82 project produced some generic data sets of flow between countries and, in many cases, between requirements for different species that could be used in provinces within countries. For example, some rapid assessment of flow releases from reservoirs without countries use detailed physical habitat models, such the need to collect site data. The recommendations of as PHABSIM, to define ecologically acceptable flows, this work are currently being tested on a set of water whereas other use expert-based judgment or rules of bodies with reservoirs across the UK. thumb. In France, the environmental flows from dams must be a minimum of 1/40th of the mean annual flow The WFD thus faces some major challenges in its goal for existing schemes and 1/10th of the mean annual to harmonize water management across Europe. The flow for new schemes. These differences cause problems EU has funded various research projects to support when flow requirements need to be established for implementation of the WFD, primarily on methods transboundary rivers and for EU-wide assessments of for predicting reference conditions in water bodies. the ecological status of water bodies. The fish-based assessment method for European rivers (FAME) (Schmutz 2004) is a good example. The UK is leading Europe in the development of FAME supported development of the European Fish methods for establishing the environmental flow Index (EFI), which used environmental variables needed to achieve GES. The WFD 48 project (Acreman (altitude, distance from source, catchment area, slope, and others 2005) focused on setting standards for water wetted width, air temperature, presence/absence of resources, such as the maximum abstraction levels that lake upstream) to predict what fish species could be would maintain GES. This work only covered river expected to be present in reference conditions. Rivers types found in the UK. The project produced two main are then classified into five levels of degradation based outputs: (1) a means of classifying river water body on deviation of observed fish species and abundance ecosystem types based on the characteristics of the river from those predicted by the model. The Stream basin draining to them; and (2) the production of look- and River Typologies Project (STAR) developed a up tables for each river type, specifying the maximum similar procedure for predicting macro-invertebrate abstraction allowable at different flows. The maximum community reference conditions (Sandin and levels of abstraction ranged from 7.5 to 35 percent Verdonschot 2006). In some cases, these methods of the natural flow, depending on river type and flow can suggest the causes of the degradation and suggest rate. No other countries have produced new methods measures that can be implemented. In other cases, or look-up tables explicitly for WFD implementation, separate studies are required to identify causes of failure although several countries (including Norway, Sweden, to achieve GES. Institutions and Governance Series 25 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 25 4/9/09 12:45:08 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations Participation. The WFD recognizes the importance of consulted with little prospect that their views would be developing effective mechanisms to support public and acted upon, and thus became frustrated. stakeholder participation and encourages involvement in river basin decision-making processes. However, the Implementation. EU member states are required to role of stakeholders in decision making is not explicit; identify a competent authority to implement the WFD. certainly, there is no defined role in environmental flow Many of these authorities have already had experience in assessment within the WFD. balancing the needs of water users and the environment and developing decisions that reflected the different Reviews of participation in five European countries needs of different water bodies. The WFD removes (Portugal, Greece, the Netherlands, the United much of this flexibility, as it specifies a homogenous Kingdom, and Spain) that encompass a range of ecological status target that must be achieved. different political and institutional contexts have concluded that there is little real opportunity for the The ownership of water is not addressed in the WFD; active involvement and collaboration of the interested it just requires water bodies to be in at least good parties (Videira, Antunes, Santos, and Lobo 2006). status. Operating rules for most reservoirs have been Instead, the engagement, although called participation, agreed between the dam owners (water or hydropower is largely an information dissemination exercise for companies) and these have to be revised to include government departments or implementing agencies, environmental flows. In many cases, especially major with an opportunity to comment. However, some dams, the owners are required to provide river flow stakeholder participation occurs in the development of data to prove that they are operating the dam within visions for river basin management plans or for specific the agreement. The competent agencies (mainly activities, such as environmental impact assessment environment protection agencies) are then responsible and development of measures where water bodies for monitoring all the relevant quality elements needed fail to achieve GES. This limitation on stakeholder for the ecological classification, including the biology participation is partly because the WFD moves decision and physico-chemical quality elements that provide making to an objectives-based approach, where the target the test of whether the water body is at GES. This status of the water body is fixed in advance (at least is likely to require adaptive management, since the GES), and away from scenario-based decision making, precise environmental flows required to achieve GES where options are presented and stakeholders can are not known. Releases and abstraction allowances influence the selection of the most appropriate scenario. may need to be altered as understanding grows through monitoring programs. Monitoring for the WFD will The experience in Europe with catchment-based also have to be integrated with other needs, such as stakeholder participation has not always been positive conservation of designated habitats and species and (Box 2.1). In the past, local negotiations led to management of invasive species. different water allocations in different river basins. Many river basins are overabstracted because of weak This was seen to be un-equitable at national scale. license agreements or even lack of licenses. The major Negotiations were often dominated by a few vocal issue for the future is implementing the environmental water users, which led to bias, and sometimes only flows needed to achieve GES in these overabstracted key stakeholders were invited to meetings, giving rise rivers. Some of the approaches being tested in trials are: to conspiracy theories and distrust of the outcomes. In other cases, interaction with stakeholders was · Users are asked to give up some abstraction to counterproductive because the stakeholders were increase their "green" credentials or in exchange for promised participation, but were merely being priority attention in seeking alternative water sources. 26 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 26 4/9/09 12:45:08 PM European Union Water Framework Directive Box 2.1 Wetlands and Environmental Flows in Spain The Upper Guadiana Basin is located on the Central Spanish Plateau, covering an area of 16,130 km2. Development of the region since 1972 has been achieved through expanding irrigated agriculture. The intensive use of groundwater, especially during long periods of low rainfall, has caused a dramatic decline in groundwater levels and led to the degradation of important groundwater- fed wetlands, such as Las Tablas de Damiel. In 1994, the La Mancha Occidental aquifer was declared "definitively overexploited" because of unsustainable use. This designation implied restrictions on groundwater withdrawals, a ban on drilling new wells, and the development of a participatory process with irrigation communities. The Guadiana River Basin Authority was established as an independent body to manage the river and aquifers and allocate water between the various stakeholders, including the environment. In addition, the Spanish 1985 Water Code required the authority to prepare a water plan indicating the water available to each groundwater-licensed user in aquifers declared as "overexploited." Before the declaration, about 16,000 wells had been drilled; following the declaration, farmers have probably drilled about 8,000 to 9,000 additional illegal wells. It is also estimated that there are in total about 20,000 to 40,000 illegal wells with unknown abstractions. NGOs are not strong in the basin, and most environmental issues have been raised by academics or government representatives. Hydrological models showed that pumping rates above two-thirds of the maximum historical rate (400 m3/yr) were unsustainable. By 1998, the abstraction rate was 600 Mm3/yr of water per year. When faced with having to reduce abstraction, the farmers took out a legal case against the authority, which effectively stalled the whole water management process. The process for managing overexploited water resources created considerable mistrust between the different stakeholder groups, and the legislation proved to be inadequate when faced with this level of overabstraction. All the water users and officers of national and regional government were invited to a workshop in May 1998. The goal was to move from confrontation to collaboration, in order to achieve sustainable development by finding a balance between environmental flows to the wetlands and allowing groundwater abstraction for agriculture. This goal was ambitious and parts of the meeting were confrontational. Several further meetings with stakeholders have been held with a high level of participation. These meetings show the interest by stakeholders in trying to solve the problems through dialogue and by developing a trusting environment. This has been an important step in collaborating to find a solution. While the participatory process required under the legislation is under way, the other required actions--restrictions on current withdrawals and bans on new bores--have not been implemented, primarily due to insufficient manpower in the Guadiana River Basin Authority. Sources:Acreman and de la Hera 2007; Bromley and others 2001. · Farmers are increasingly investing in efficient Market mechanisms for this have not yet been technology or on-farm storage of water during established. floods for use during dry periods. To encourage · In most EU countries, water tariffs are set this, licensing authorities may agree to higher total administratively. In some cases, water suppliers abstractions if water is taken during floods, because can increase charges to customers to offset costs of more water is available. In addition, publicity new infrastructure required to reduce abstractions campaigns, free advice, and water metering with from overabstracted water bodies. This has been sliding tariffs have all proved successful. successfully applied in several cases. For example, · Licenses are granted for short time periods, after restoration of the River Kennet in the UK, which they can be revoked or reduced; this gives impacted by water abstractions, was funded by water users time to adjust and find new sources or increases in the component within the water supply implement demand management. costs related to environmental issues. · Some users own licenses they do not exploit. · In some cases, the only solution to implementing Under new laws, licenses may be tradable, environmental flows to achieve GES will be either loaned or sold to other water users. compulsory purchase of licenses from water users Institutions and Governance Series 27 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 27 4/9/09 12:45:09 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations by the state; that is, provision of compensation guise of true participation can create ill-feeling and payments for lost resource use. can be counterproductive. 5. The implementation of an externally defined However, these approaches to reducing water objective, such as GES, ignores and discards much abstractions from overallocated systems are still being of the local experience that river management tested in trials, and there are few experiences in the EU authorities have accumulated in meeting the needs from which lessons can be drawn. of water users and the environment for different water bodies with different characteristics. Lessons 6. Recovering water in overabstracted river basins remains the most difficult obstacle to 1. Overcoming the major variations in legislation, implementing environmental flows. Various customer law and civil rights, assessment methods are being tried, but recovering water techniques, and data availability to achieve a is likely to remain contentious and will require uniform water management framework within the political commitment. EU requires investment in major R&D programs costing many millions of dollars. Establishing a Acknowledgments consistent environmental flow policy across such a diverse region is expensive and time consuming. The case study was drafted by Professor M. Acreman 2. For the legislation to be effective, many technical and reviewed by Dr. A. J. D. Ferguson. concepts need to be clearly defined and procedures need to be defined for implementing these References concepts. The problems arise partly because scientists do not agree on some biological, Acreman, M.C., M.J. Dunbar, J. Hannaford, A. Black, ecological, or hydrological issues, and partly O. Bragg, J. Rowan, and J. King. 2005. Development of environmental standards (Water Resources). Stage because the implications of implementing the 3: Environmental Standards for the Water Framework directive will create political problems. Directive. Report to the Scotland and Northern Ireland 3. A tool-kit of environmental flow procedures Forum for Environment Research. Wallingford and is needed to implement the legislation, so that Dundee: Centre for Ecology and Hydrology and assessments can be conducted for different issues University of Dundee. and river types. Look-up tables provide a simple Acreman, M.C. 2007. "Guidance on Environmental means of setting environmental flow requirements, Flow Releases from Impoundments to Implement the but are inflexible and uncertain at any individual Water Framework Directive." Final report to SNIFFER site. Techniques, such as BBM, combine explicit Project WFD82. Wallingford, UK: Centre for Ecology knowledge of the hydrological and ecological and Hydrology. system to provide a site specific solution, but are Acreman, M.C., and A. de la Hera. 2007. "Case Study: costly to employ. the upper Guadiana, Spain." On Wetlands and River 4. Stakeholder participation is a key requirement if Basin Management. Gland, Switzerland: Ramsar true community involvement is to be achieved. Convention. This is particularly important when water users may have to give up some rights, as experienced Bromley, J., J. Cruces, M.C. Acreman, L. Martinez, and M.R. Llamas. 2001. "Problems of sustainable in Spain. The WFD is weak on specifying groundwater management in an area of over- participative requirements. Consultation under the exploitation: the Upper Guadiana catchment, central 28 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 28 4/9/09 12:45:10 PM European Union Water Framework Directive Spain." International Journal of Water Resources European rivers (FAME)--a contribution to the Development 17(3): 379­396. Water Framework Directive." Report to European Commission. Accessible at: http://fame.boku.ac.at Council of European Communities. 2000. "Directive Establishing a Framework for Community Action Tharme, R. E., and J.M. King. 1998. Development in the Field of Water Policy." (2000/60/EC). Official of the building block methodology for instream flow Journal, 2000. Brussels: Council of European assessments and supporting research on the effects of Communities. different magnitude flows on riverine ecosystems. Report to Water Research Commission, 576/1/98. Cape Town, Sandin, L., and P.F.M. Verdonschot. 2006. "Stream and South Africa: Water Research Commission. river typologies--major results and conclusions from the STAR project." Hydrobiologia 566 (1): 55­68. Videira, N., P. Antunes, R. Santos, and G. Lobo. 2006. "Public and stakeholder participation in European Schmutz, S. 2004. "Development evaluation water policy: a critical review of project evaluation and implementation of a standardised Fish-based processes." European Environment 16 (1): 19­31. Assessment Method for the ecological status of Institutions and Governance Series 29 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 29 4/9/09 12:45:10 PM Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 30 4/9/09 12:45:10 PM Case Study 3. South Africa National Water Policy and Legislation Background not deal adequately with issues of environment, equity, and downstream water requirements for Until the election of the democratic government human or ecosystem needs. The NWA is based on 28 in 1994, South Africa's water law was based on the fundamental principles and objectives,7 which included riparian rights principle. Being based on the ownership three principles that were relevant to provision of water of property, this favored a selective portion of the for the environment: population. Legal access to water was thus biased in favor of the interests of the dominant white population. · There shall be no ownership of water, only a right The advent of a democratically elected government in (for environmental and basic human needs) or an 1994 provided opportunities for a new constitution. As authorization for its use (Principle 3). part of that, the government implemented an overhaul · The quantity, quality, and reliability of water of the policies, laws, and institutions governing water required to maintain the ecological functions management.6 on which humans depend shall be reserved so that human use of water does not individually The White Paper, National Water Act, and National Water Resource Strategy 6Apart from redressing the manifest inequities, there were other The new South African constitution of 1996 laid reasons for overhauling South Africa's water policy. South Africa is the foundation for an overhaul of water policy by already classified as water-stressed, with just 1,200 m3 of available freshwater per person per annum, and is predicted to be water- guaranteeing access to "sufficient water" for all citizens scarce by 2025. The growth of the economy was making demands and the right to an environment that is "not harmful for water in the industrial and urban heartland, which was far to their health or well-being," as well as the right from the areas of highest rainfall. It was increasingly expensive to build more water storage to meet these demands. Agriculture to have the environment protected for the benefit and forestry were economically important and provided a living of present and future generations. The subsequent for millions of people in the rural areas. Agriculture accounted for about half the nation's water use, and its use of water needed White Paper on Water Policy (Department of Water to be made more efficient if water was to be shared among all Affairs and Forestry 1997) included these principles by sectors. Water was also important for South Africa's extensive stating that water for meeting basic human needs and mining industry; at the same time, mining was a source of water pollution that degraded the resource for other users. There was maintaining environmental sustainability would be also obvious degradation of the aquatic environment in many guaranteed as a right. parts of the country where water resources have been polluted, or where changes in flow regimes have affected aquatic ecosystems. Consequently, the focus of water planning and management had This new approach to water management was encoded to shift from development of the water resource to improving in the 1998 National Water Act (NWA). The previous water use efficiency, including conservation and reuse, protection Water Act of 1956 had emphasized riparian ownership of water sources, and maintenance of aquatic environments. 7Fundamental Principles and Objectives for a New Water Law for and commercially based control of water, and did South Africa, 1996. Institutions and Governance Series 31 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 31 4/9/09 12:45:11 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations or cumulatively compromise the long term water body, establishing the reserve, and developing a sustainability of aquatic and associated ecosystems water resource management plan. DWAF has developed (Principle 9). its own policy guidelines for participation (Department · The water required to meet the basic human of Water Affairs and Forestry 2001). needs .... and the needs of the environment shall be identified as "The Reserve" and shall enjoy There are a number of provisions in the policy and the priority of use by right. The use of water for all legislation that are relevant to environmental flows. other purposes shall be subject to authorization Principle 7 of the policy states that management (Principle 10). of waters is "to achieve optimum, long term, environmentally sustainable social and economic The 1997 White Paper and the 1998 legislation are benefit for society from their use." The prominence the fundamental statements of water policy in South given to environmental water requirements in Africa and, as such, cover a variety of topics related the policy, and subsequently in the NWA, was to the objectives and mechanisms for water planning influenced by a recognition from a number of and management. They are consistent with the South quarters--including the Southern African Society of African Bill of Rights, which gives all South Africans Aquatic Scientists (Palmer 1999), DWAF, and Water the right to an environment that is "not harmful to Resources Commission--that there was a need to their health or well-being," as well as the right to have provide quantitative estimates of environmental water the environment protected for the benefit of present requirements. The role played by aquatic scientists and and future generations. natural resource managers is noteworthy. They took advantage of the opportunity provided by the water It is difficult to strike a balance between, on the one reforms to ensure that both long-term sustainability hand, the fundamental changes needed if previously and more immediate equity issues were incorporated disadvantaged groups are to obtain access to water in the new water policy and legislation. This sense and, on the other, the certainty needed for productive of building expertise and influence and then seizing water-dependent economic activities to continue. the opportunity offered by the water reforms is well Consequently, the policy places considerable emphasis described in a recent paper (Biggs, Breen, and Palmer, on participatory approaches to implementing its in press). provisions (Department of Water Affairs and Forestry 2005). According to the NWA, any decision in water The provision of water for basic human needs and for resource management requires two participatory environmental functions (the basic human needs and processes (Burt and Neves 2006): ecological reserves) are the only recognized rights to water; all other water uses require entitlements that will 1. Relevant stakeholders and water users must be be recognized only if they are beneficial in the public consulted on every step, from establishment to interest. implementation. 2. Before anything can be legally formalized, it The basic human needs reserve is a core obligation--it must appear in the Government Gazette, inviting is immediately effective--for drinking and hygiene written comment from the public. purposes. In principle, it is met using a specific quantity of water, such as the 25l/person/day specified in the The NWA thus requires participation in important Reconstruction and Development Programme, the decisions such as the establishment of catchment development manifesto of the ANC government. management agencies, classification of a particular On the other hand, the act allows for the ecological 32 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 32 4/9/09 12:45:11 PM South Africa National Water Policy and Legislation reserve to be phased in over time. The decision on how to be used, following a period of public consultation. much water will be allocated to the environment is The classification system is being progressively location-specific and depends on the environmental implemented. class of the water body. The water requirements of the ecological reserve--both quantity and quality--are South Africa has been a leader in developing determined from a scientific assessment of the water environmental flow techniques for determining the needed to achieve ecological sustainability. In many quantity and quality of water needed to provide cases, this requirement cannot be met if all the current a given level of habitat protection (Box 3.1). The water rights are exercised. In these cases, the decision development and use of these techniques pre-dates the makers (DWAF at present and ultimately the CMAs) water policy and legislation, and provides the country try to meet the ecological reserve through adjustments with internationally recognized technical expertise to to water management rules; where this is not possible, determine environmental water requirements. a decision has to be made on the water allocation that best meets all requirements. These decisions on Some water resources may be already unacceptably overallocated systems are yet to be made in South degraded as a result of overexploitation; in these cases, Africa, but will come to the fore during the formulation the policy states that management will rehabilitate of water resources plans by CMAs. the resource to an acceptable state over a long enough period to allow water users to adjust their activities. As van Wyk and others (2006) point out, the ecological reserve is commonly regarded as being The policy and the NWA also deal with activities that in direct competition with the needs of humans, reduce the quantity of water reaching streams and thus resulting in varying interpretations of the meaning impact on downstream human and ecological processes. and purpose of the ecological reserve. They propose Commercial forestry is specifically identified in the that the reserve should be regarded as contributing NWA as a stream flow reduction activity, although to human water needs by sustaining the ecosystem the minister has the power to declare other land uses functions that support human uses, rather than as stream flow reducing activities. One of the drivers being seen as in competition with human needs. for controlling these land uses is their effect on the While the concept of ecosystem goods and services downstream aquatic environment. is theoretically attractive, the actual delivery of many of these ecosystem benefits is either long term (when The policy and the act require catchment many needs are immediate) or indirect (and hence not management agencies (CMAs) to be progressively always obvious). It requires strong scientific backing, established throughout South Africa, giving priority as well as political support, for these concepts to be to the most stressed catchments. The CMAs are put into practice. to be locally responsible for water management in each catchment, with each CMA being governed The objectives for water use are embedded in a National by a board. The functions of the CMA include the Water Resources Classification System (NWRCS) preparation of a catchment strategy, which includes that is to be applied to all surface and groundwater the water resources classification in the catchment resources throughout South Africa. The NWRCS is a (an ecological, economic, and social exercise to set of guidelines and procedures for determining the identify the management level for each part of a desired characteristics of a water resource (Department river system), the requirements for the reserve, and of Water Affairs and Forestry 2006). The NWA leaves it water allocation plans. Nineteen water management up to the minister to determine the classification system areas (WMAs) were declared in 1999; the National Institutions and Governance Series 33 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 33 4/9/09 12:45:12 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations Box 3.1. Development of Environmental Flow Methods in South Africa The early environmental flow allocations were simple hydrological ratios, starting with 1 percent of allocations to be assigned to the environment in the 1970s, later increased to 10 to 15 percent, until there was a realization that simple ratios were insufficient and that environmental flows needed to be based on the water requirements of aquatic ecosystems. Various research projects were undertaken supported by the Water Research Commission and the DWAF, including the trial of the IFIM method in the Olifants River (Western Cape). Overall, IFIM was not suited to the objective of maintaining South African river ecosystems in a healthy condition. The first workshop on "Ecological Flow Requirements for South African Rivers" was held in 1989 following these studies. South Africa subsequently became a pioneer in the development of holistic techniques, which considered the water requirements of the complete ecosystem, including the source area, river channel, riparian zone, floodplain, groundwater, wetlands, and estuary. South Africa opted for these methods because they are quicker, more consultative methods based more on expert opinion rather than intensive data collection. In addition, they are more suited to the capacity and financial resources available, as well as to situations where there was a greater dependence on natural-resource based livelihoods. Holistic methods were groundbreaking, not only because they integrated consideration of all components of the flow regime, but also because they required the cooperation of aquatic scientists, hydrologists, and managers. The earliest and at that time most widely used holistic technique in South Africa, the building block methodology (BBM), was first introduced in a workshop at the Lephalala River in 1992. BBM-based methods have been applied systematically to major water resource projects in 14 rivers throughout South Africa and in the Logan River in Australia. Following a workshop on the Sabie-Sand rivers, the DWAF determined that the BBM could meet the legal requirements for quantifying environmental water requirements. As a result, the BBM was formally endorsed by the DWAF and is accepted by other water management and conservation organizations. The BBM is a prescriptive approach for developing a flow regime that maintains a river in a predetermined condition. However, the habitat flow stressor response (HFSR) method, developed using the BBM as a basis, has largely supplanted the BBM. The HFSR has been applied to about 10 large reserve studies during the last five years. An integrated framework method, SPATSIM, was used for many of the major E-flow assessments (Hughes 2004). The DRIFT method, developed during the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (Case Study 14), has also been approved and has now been used in about two reserve studies. Sources: King, Tharme, and de Villiers 2000; Liphadzi 2007; D. Louw (pers. comm.) Water Resource Strategy (Department of Water integrated exercise once the final resource classification Affairs and Forestry 2004a) provides the sequence system is established. for establishing CMAs in these areas. To date, six CMAs--Inkomati, Mvoti-Mzimkulu, Gouritz, Since being passed in 1997 and 1998, the water policy Olifants-Doorn, Thukela, and Usutu to Mhlathuze and legislation have been slowly but progressively CMAs--have been established. Their catchment implemented and have sought to overcome a number strategies have yet to be produced. of significant impediments. First, the new water policy requires a fundamental shift in approach The National Water Resource Strategy required under from water allocations being based on prior riparian the NWA has now been completed (Department rights (usually held by the white minority), to one of Water Affairs and Forestry 2004b). Although it based on negotiation over equitable and efficient does not describe the classification system, because sharing of the resource. This transition has proven that has to be established by regulation after public to be difficult, with opposition from groups who consultation, it does propose that the reserve consist previously had extensive access to water resources. of three classes--natural, moderately used/impacted, Secondly, there has been a reluctance (until recently) and heavily used/impacted. It also proposes that, for a to transfer responsibility for operational management particular system, the determination of the classification from DWAF to the CMAs because of concerns within of a resource, the associated reserve, and resource sections of DWAF and the wider water resources quality objectives will usually be undertaken as an community about the capacity of new agencies to 34 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 34 4/9/09 12:45:13 PM South Africa National Water Policy and Legislation manage effectively. Thirdly, the ecological reserve Drivers has proven to be particularly difficult to implement in catchments where the available water has been The transition from apartheid to a democratic regime and fully allocated.8 Reserving water for the environment the consequent need to redress inequities in the access to in these catchments will mean reducing current and allocation of South Africa's water was the key driver entitlements, finding additional sources, or introducing for the reform of water management. While the apartheid efficiency gains, with the saved water being assigned government had recognized the issue of environmental to the environment. Fourthly, the strong emphasis flows for, at least, key ecosystems, it took the now on participatory approaches to all stages of decision government to embrace the concept wholeheartedly and making has been onerous to implement because of the incorporate it into policy and legislation. limited experience in such approaches among both There were a number of drivers for including an institutional staff and stakeholders (Lotz-Sisitka and environmental water reserve within the new policy. Burt 2006). Finally, some marginalized stakeholder Firstly, it ensured that the basic human needs reserve groups find difficulty in seeing that a functioning was sustainable in the long term, particularly for those aquatic environment can provide ecosystem services on subsistence incomes who were highly dependent that are as important as the use of the water for on the resource. Secondly, it was part of a wider set of purposes such as irrigation and household supply. components of the water reforms, designed to redress Water that is allocated to the environment is seen as the degraded state of a number of the country's water water that is lost to these stakeholders. resources. Thirdly, it was a response to a number In the meantime, the minister is authorized under the of international developments that emphasized the act to make a preliminary determination of the water importance of maintaining the aquatic environment resource classification and the social and ecological because of the ecological services provided by the reserve. This power has been used since 2001 to make environment.9 Finally, it was driven by a need to be a some preliminary determinations of the ecological good neighbor with countries with which South Africa reserve. Low confidence estimates of the reserve shared water resources, which, in turn, was driven by have been produced for all South African quaternary the higher level political changes following the end of catchments for the National Water Resource Strategy. apartheid. The methodology used for the determination of In addition, a number of professional societies, such the preliminary water resource class and ecological as the Southern African Society of Aquatic Scientists, reserve was established in 1999 (Department of worked with officials from the DWAF to provide the Water Affairs and Forestry 1999). These estimates foundations for environmentally sustainable water are based on a very limited understanding of the functioning of ecosystems or habitat requirements. DWAF has subsequently produced an internal 8The reserve has not yet been implemented in catchments that strategic perspective (ISP) for each WMA to assist are not overallcoated. 9 in their management prior to the establishment of The White Paper lists these as: the UN Conference on the Human Environment (Stockholm, 1972); the International Drinking the CMAs. These include updated estimates of the Water Supply and Sanitation Decade launch (Mar del Plata, reserves, based on testing the impacts of various flow 1977); the World Conference on Water and the Environment (Dublin, 1992); the UNCED Earth Summit ­ Agenda 21 (Rio de scenarios on ecological responses and on other water Janeiro, 1992); the Drinking Water and Environmental Sanitation users. An optimized flow scenario is then selected Conference on the Implementation of Agenda 21 (Noordwijk, that maximizes ecological outcomes and minimizes Meeting of Ministers, 1994); the Global Water Partnership meeting (Stockholm, 1996); and the First World Water Forum of impacts on other water users. the World Water Council (Marrakesh, 1997). Institutions and Governance Series 35 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 35 4/9/09 12:45:13 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations resources development and management in the policy environmental impact requirement because the reserve and the NWA because they recognized the links was seen as being for the benefit of people rather than between maintaining aquatic ecosystems and poverty the environment. reduction and equality (Biggs, Breen, and Palmer, in press). The unity and organization displayed by the The environmental water provisions of the policy-- South African aquatic science community was a key including the establishment of the classification factor in including environmental flows in the policy system, the reserve, the formation of CMAs, and their and demonstrating that there were techniques available authorization to produce water allocation plans--are for putting the policy into practice. contained in the National Water Act 1998. Thus, the environmental water provisions of the policy are backed Assessment by legislative authority. Recognition. The need for maintaining environmental The minister has used the provisions of the act flows, including the setting of water objectives through to establish an interim classification system and the classification system and the provision of an environmental reserve while the CMAs are being environmental reserve, is a central part of the water declared. A program has been commenced to improve policy and its supporting legislation and strategy. the calculation of the reserve (Department of Water The policy is recognized internationally as setting a Affairs and Forestry 2004a). benchmark for incorporating environmental water considerations into national water policy. The policy Comprehensiveness. The policy is very comprehensive, discusses the concept of environmental sustainability with provisions for managing all the main stages of at length, recognizing that the concept includes the the water cycle, including the interception of overland provision of ecological services that support beneficial flow (streamflow reduction activities). At this stage, uses of water, while maintaining enough resilience in only commercial forestry (which is specified in the the system to allow recovery from shocks. Act) has been declared a streamflow reduction activity, but dryland sugarcane is being considered (Warren The ecological reserve is assigned an equal first priority 2000). The ecological reserve applies to both surface with the basic human needs reserve in the policy and the and groundwater; the reserved water is available to act. These quantities have to be established before any support ecosystem functioning rivers, wetlands, and other water use permits are allocated (although there are estuaries. temporary water allocation mechanisms available until the new catchment strategies are established). The policy is intended to take account of the impact of human activities on climate, rainfall, and evaporation, Although the environmental water focus in the policy but the issue of climate change is not mentioned in the is on the establishment of the ecological reserve policy, and the legislation does not include it as one and its inclusion in the catchment strategies, the of the considerations to be taken into account when policy also includes provisions for protecting the strategies and plans are being drawn up. However, the environment as part of project-level developments. National Water Resources Strategy sees climate change Developments "require an assessment of the possible as one of the two factors (the other is land use change) impacts of a proposed project, and the design of that can affect water availability and argues that "it is measures to reduce negative impacts and enhance prudent to anticipate the possibility of climate change positive impacts." However, it does not specifically and to take this into consideration in the development identify environmental flows within this broader of catchment management strategies." 36 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 36 4/9/09 12:45:14 PM South Africa National Water Policy and Legislation Transboundary obligations are given prominent (King and Tharme 1994). The rapid determination recognition in the policy; in fact, transboundary water also includes low confidence hydraulic modeling and allocations rank third in priority after the social and some limited data collection. The intermediate and ecological reserves, although environmental flows are not comprehensive determinations--which can be based on explicitly included in these obligations to neighboring the BBM, DRIFT, or HFSR methods--involve specific countries. local data collection and hydraulic modeling.10 The policy requires that environmental considerations While the policy, the act, and the National Water are integrated with social and economic Resource Strategy place considerable emphasis on the considerations when catchment strategies and water ecological reserve, they do not specify the mechanisms allocation plans are developed. It states: "The process for implementing the reserve. The implication of of balancing social and economic benefits as well designating the reserve as a right with all other uses as of determining environmental objectives should being conditional implies that the conditions on involve those affected, or their representatives, in these licenses act as the mechanism for achieving the weighing up the options on an informed basis." social and ecological reserve. There is no mention in Under the act, the catchment management strategy the policy of holding water in reservoirs in regulated must include the water resource classification (which systems for environmental purposes. is based on environmental and social objectives), the requirements of the reserve, and the water allocation The policy recognizes that some systems may already be plan. The latter, in turn, must be based on a range degraded and may need "restoration to a healthy state." of considerations, including the requirements of the The act assigns the CMA (or the minister) the power reserve and past social inequalities. to undertake compulsory licensing within a specific geographic area that is, or is soon likely to be, under Environmental water determination. While South "water stress.'' After specified consultation procedures, Africa's National Water Policy and NWA provide the the CMA or minister can issue water allocations that legislative and policy framework for water allocations, bring the water resource back to sustainable levels. they do not provide detailed strategies and approaches The National Water Resource Strategy amplifies these to promote equity, sustainability and efficiency in circumstances, and describes a gradual return of the water use, or a process to roll this out across the water resource to an acceptable level of health. The country (Department of Water Affairs and Forestry strategy contains preliminary estimates of the total 2005). Thus, the policy does not prescribe a particular volumes required for the reserve in each WMA; these mechanism for establishing the water requirements estimates indicate that about half the WMAs are, in of the ecological reserve. Nor does it or the act or principle, already overallocated (the reserve cannot be the National Water Resource Strategy provide details met from local yield and interbasin transfers), although, on how the ecological reserve is to be determined, in practice, not all water licenses are currently exercised. apart from requirements for consistency with the Putting the provisions for recovery to sustainability into water resource classification and formal stakeholder practice means reducing someone's allocation of water consultation in the act. To help operationalize and will always be difficult. Given the slow formation the reserve, DWAF has developed four levels for of CMAs and the lack of water resource plans, these determining environmental water needs--desktop, requirements have yet to be tested in practice. rapid, intermediate, or comprehensive. The desktop and rapid determinations are largely based on applications of the BBM to determine instream flow requirements 10Pers comm., D. Louw, March 2008. Institutions and Governance Series 37 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 37 4/9/09 12:45:14 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations While the policy recognizes the efficiency of economic board following consultations within the catchment. instruments, including market-based ones, for For example, the Advisory Committee for the Inkomati controlling water use, it does not advocate their WMA proposed that there be 14 seats on the governing immediate use because of the cost associated with board, with one representing conservation interests markets and the possibility of windfall profits for people (Burt, du Toit, Neves, and Pollard 2006). The minister who have inherited water allocations under an unjust then asks these organizations to nominate members system. Instead, regulatory means are proposed as the who he can accept or reject. The minister can also mechanism for allocating water to environmental and appoint additional board members to achieve a other purposes. balanced representation of interests. In spite of the slow rollout of water allocation plans While the extensive consultation requirements have under the act, South Africa has acquired considerable been introduced to help overcome previous inequities, experience in undertaking site-specific EFAs over many they have proven to be time-consuming to implement years (Case Studies 11, 14). There is thus a pool of because of misconceptions about the role of the reserve, scientific knowledge and scientific capacity, together fears about loss of access to water by those with licenses, with a range of assessment techniques that can be and a limited capacity among the country's poor to applied to the production of these plans and catchment engage in the consultative processes. The limited strategies when the mechanisms are in place. acceptance by the poor of environmental flows implies that, despite these consultative efforts, it is difficult to Participation. The policy, legislation, and strategy11 introduce the idea that a healthy environment bestows were developed as a result of widespread consultation sufficient long-term benefits to outweigh the short-term among political leaders, officials, water user groups, gains from additional water for consumption. and citizens in the post-apartheid era, beginning with the distribution of the booklet on water rights for Data and science. The policy and legislation do public comment. A Water Law Review Panel produced not mention the use of best available scientific a set of principles for a new water law, taking into information and methods in establishing and account the comments from the public, and these implementing environmental water provisions. principles were then further refined through public Although not required in law, the National Water consultation, with special attention to including the Resource Strategy does state that resource directed views of the rural poor and the disadvantaged. Other measures--that is, the classification and the reserve-- interest groups such as agriculture, industry, mines, should be "technically sound, scientifically credible, municipal users, and environmental groups were practical and affordable." encouraged to arrange their own meetings to discuss the principles. National government departments and Even though high-quality scientific approaches are not both provincial and local spheres of government were required in the policy or legislation, South Africa has, also consulted. in fact, been a world leader in developing methods for assessing environmental water needs using best available The act includes extensive provisions for consultation scientific information and integrating it with social and during the implementation of the provisions of the economic information (see Case Studies 7, 8, 14). policy. For example, the formation of the governing board of a CMA is a complex process. The minister has to appoint an advisory committee, which recommends 11Appendix F of the Water Resource Strategy lists the extensive relevant organizations in each catchment to serve on the consultations carried out. 38 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 38 4/9/09 12:45:15 PM South Africa National Water Policy and Legislation The policy emphasizes the need to improve monitoring more direct dependence on the ecosystem services and to ensure that water resources are managed and provided by the reserve. protected on the basis of sound scientific and technical 5. The extensive consultation requirements in the information and understanding. The act states that policy and legislation have proven to be time one of the entities to be monitored is health of aquatic consuming to implement and, because of the ecosystems. An Ecological Reserve Monitoring Program requirements in the legislation, this has slowed is being developed but is not yet implemented. Hence, down the production of catchment strategies and it is too soon to assess whether these monitoring the determination of the ecological reserve. requirements are being implemented effectively. 6. The policy and the legislation do not require that best available scientific knowledge is included Lessons in the determination of environmental water requirements. While this has not prevented 1. A progressive policy and legislation, a strong cutting-edge scientific approaches being used in scientific knowledge base and capacity, and a wide the EFAs that have been carried out to date, it commitment and energy for change, are important may prove to be a limitation when the catchment but are not necessarily sufficient to bring about strategies are being rolled out and difficult fundamental redistribution of water resources, decisions have to be made between water for the including allocations for environmental purpose. environment and water for consumption. There also needs to be widespread social support for the change, and this has been difficult to generate Acknowledgments in the polarized world of water in South Africa. 2. Scientists can play a key role in introducing The following assisted with the preparation of this case innovative ideas such as an ecological reserve if they study: Dr. Stephen Mitchell, Dr. Dana Grobler, Dr. are well-organized and able to seize opportunities Paul Roberts, Dr. Mark Dent, and Dr. Harry Biggs. when there are major water reforms under way. Drs. Delana Louw, Marcus Wishart, Tally Palmer, 3. It is difficult to introduce an ecological reserve in Kevin Rogers, and Professor Jackie King provided catchments where the water resource was already helpful reviews of the case study. fully allocated under the old riparian doctrine. This usually means reducing the allocations to water References users who have held entitlements for long periods. Biggs, H.C., C. M. Breen, and C.G. Palmer. In press. 4. Introducing the ecological reserve has proven to "Engaging a window of opportunity: synchronicity be difficult because there is little acceptance that between a regional river conservation initiative and the reserve is intended to provide the goods and broader water law reform in South Africa." International services on which poorer segments of society Journal of Water Resource Development (accepted April depend. There is a perception among some poorer 2008) communities that allocations of water to the Burt, J., D. du Toit, and D. Neves. 2006. "Participation environment frustrate their opportunity for access in Water Resource Management: Book One. Learning to water resources, which they had previously about Participation in IWRM: A South African been denied under the apartheid regime. But it Review." Report No. TT 293/06, Gezina, South Africa: has also been easier to explain to the poorer and Water Research Commission. rural communities than to established farmers the Burt, J., D. du Toit, D. Neves, and S. Pollard. 2006. benefits of the ecological reserve, because of their "Learning about Participation in IWRM: A South Institutions and Governance Series 39 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 39 4/9/09 12:45:15 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations African Review." Gezina, South Africa: Water Research implementation: incorporating water quality and Commission Report No. TT 293/06. quantity components for rivers." Pretoria: Water Research Commission Report No. 1160/1/04. Department of Water Affairs and Forestry. 1997. "White Paper on a National Water Policy for South King, J.M., and R.E.Tharme. 1994. "Assessment of the Africa." Pretoria: Directorate Communication Services. Instream Flow Incremental Methodology and Initial Development of Alternative Methodologies for South Department of Water Affairs and Forestry. 1999. Africa. Pretoria: Water Research Commission Report Resource Directed Measures for Protection of Water No. 295/94. Resources; Volume 3: River Ecosystems. Version 1.0. Pretoria: Department of Water Affairs and Forestry. King, J.M., R.E. Tharme, and M.S. de Villiers, eds. 2000. "Environmental Flow Assessments for Rivers: Department of Water Affairs and Forestry. 2004a. Manual for the Building Block Methodology." Pretoria: National Water Resource Strategy: Our Blue Print for Water Research Commission Report No. TT 131/00. Survival. First edition. Pretoria: Department of Water Affairs and Forestry. Liphadzi, S. 2007. "Watermark: The Lasting Impression of the Ecological Reserve." Gezina, South Africa:, Water Department of Water Affairs and Forestry. 2004b. Research Commission Report No. TT 307/07. National Water Resources Strategy. Pretoria: Department of Water Affairs and Forestry. Lotz-Sisitka, H., and J. Burt. 2006. "A Critical Review of Participatory Practice in Integrated Water Resource Department of Water Affairs and Forestry. 2005. "A Management." Gezina, South Africa: Water Research Draft Position Paper for Water Allocation Reform Commission Report 1434/1/06. in South Africa: Towards a Framework for Water Allocation Planning." Discussion Document. Pretoria: Palmer, C.G. 1999. "Application of ecological research Department of Water Affairs and Forestry. to the development of a new South African water law." Journal of the North American Benthological Society Department of Water Affairs and Forestry. 2006. "A 18(1):132­142. Draft Position Paper on the Development of a National Water Resource Classification System." (NWRCS). van Wyk, E., C.M. Breen, D.J. Roux, K.H. Rogers, T. Draft Discussion Document. Pretoria: Department of Sherwill, and B.W. van Wilgen. 2006. "The Ecological Water Affairs and Forestry. Reserve: Towards a Common Understanding for River Management in South Africa." Water South Africa 32 Department of Water Affairs and Forestry. 2001. (3): 403­409. "Generic Public Participation Guidelines." Pretoria: DWAF. Warren, M. 2000. "Stream flow reduction activities ­ water use licensing." Presentation to Course on Hughes, D.A., ed. 2004. "SPATSIM, an integrating Groundwater and the National Water and Water framework for ecological reserve determination and Services Acts. University of Pretoria, South Africa. 40 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 40 4/9/09 12:45:16 PM Case Study 4. Tanzania National Water Policy Background resources through a phased approach initiated by the Department of Water Resources in the Ministry of Until the early 1990s, water supply planning and Water, Energy and Minerals: management in Tanzania was based on administrative regions and was focused on provision of urban and · Phase 1: Rapid Water Resources Assessment rural water supply, while irrigation and energy planning (reconnaissance-level study in 1995) were carried out at the national level. At the end of · Phase 2: Management Actions of Specific Basins the Water and Sanitation Decade, water supply targets (supported from 1997; ongoing) were far from being met and even investments in urban · Phase 3: Implement Policy, Interventions and and rural supplies were facing serious problems related Programs sector-wide (ongoing) to the sustainability of those supplies. At the same time, there were growing conflicts over access to and The second track involved development and policy utilization of the water resource in some of the more reforms in the various water-using sectors--rural heavily used river basins. A review of the water sector and urban water supply, irrigation, and hydropower in 1993­94 revealed that more emphasis needed to be development. In addition, the GOT formulated an placed on (a) full involvement of beneficiaries, environmental policy (1996) and implemented a series of (b) involvement of the private sector, (c) a strengthened water-related environmental management projects in all legal and institutional framework, and (d) the the three Great Lakes and in the Lower Kihansi Gorge. management of the basic water resource. A rapid water resources assessment (RWRA), Through the 1990s, a series of well-publicized water undertaken in mid-1994 by the government with management conflicts between hydropower and other support from DANIDA and the World Bank, uses of water--including irrigation, environment, identified major inadequacies in intersectoral and livestock--underscored the need to improve the coordination of water use and management, growing management of the country's water resources (Box 4.1). These examples and subsequent analysis illustrate how 12 the country's economic performance is both vulnerable Among the components of the Tanzanian economy, both the largest sector (agriculture) and the fastest growing sectors to climate variability and closely linked to good water (tourism and mining)--as well as traditional sectors such as resources management (World Bank 2006).12 energy, industry, and livestock--are heavily reliant on access to sufficient water of good quality, and individual livelihoods and social well-being depend on well-managed water resources. Given The government of Tanzania (GoT) responded to these the strong links between water and the national economy and the issues with parallel reforms that were loosely linked in livelihoods of Tanzanians, the targets in the Tanzanian National the water resources sector and water related subsectors. Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty (NSGRP) are not likely to be achieved if the management of water resources and The first track focused on the management of water the environment is not improved. Institutions and Governance Series 41 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 41 4/9/09 12:45:16 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations Box 4.1 Tanzania Water Management Conflicts Mtera Crisis: Hydropower and Irrigation The Mtera Dam on the Great Ruaha River is the main structure regulating the two hydropower plants on the Rufiji River, which generate nearly 50 percent of the nation's electricity. The Mtera reservoir reached full capacity in 1990, after which the water levels declined, with serious consequences for hydroelectric generation. The consequent reduction in generation caused severe load shedding and rationing of electricity nationwide during 1991­93. The causes of the decline in reservoir level were strongly disputed. The generating authority, TANESCO, blamed uncontrolled and expanding upstream abstractions for irrigation, while the farmers blamed the low rainfall conditions at the time. Others claimed that poor operations of the reservoirs were the problem. Technical studies were conducted to determine the real causes of low storage levels and inflows. They concluded that the primary cause of the low reservoir levels was reduced rainfall and inflow into the dam, precipitated by uncontrolled and expanding irrigation as well as increased demand for electricity, resulting in ad hoc responses leading to poor operations at Mtera Dam. Usangu Plains: Irrigation, Livestock, and Environment The drying of the Great Ruaha River since 1993 also resulted in intense competition between irrigators and pastoralists for water, particularly during the dry season, in the Usangu Plains upstream of the Mtera reservoir. Farmers believed that increasing numbers of cattle were placing greater demands on water and forage during the dry season. The gradual expansion of areas under irrigation by farmers decreased land that was previously available for grazing and the availability of water for livestock. The Great Ruaha River originates in the Kipengere Mountains and flows through the Ruaha National Park--an important wildlife- based tourism site--and into the Mtera Dam, that regulates the river for power production at Kidatu. The regular drying of the river during the dry seasons caused the wildlife to move away from the river, affecting the income from tourists. Wetlands on the Usangu Plain have also been affected. The western wetland has almost disappeared and the eastern wetland--which is important for grazing, game animals, and fishing during the wet season--has shrunk substantially. Pangani Falls Hydropower Station: Hydropower and Irrigation When the Pangani Falls hydropower station (68MW) was nearing completion in the early 1990s, it was found that inflows into the Nyumba ya Mungu (NYM) regulating reservoir were much lower than predicted because of an increase in the number of uncontrolled upstream abstractions for irrigation. NORAD, the main funder of the power station, had asked the government to put measures in place to manage the water resources before construction commenced. For this reason, the Pangani Basin Water Office was established in 1991. Following the regulation of the river by NYM, the productive fishery in the Kirua Swamp collapsed because the annual flooding of the wetland ceased (IUCN 2007). Decreased flows into the Pangani estuary have also increased saltwater intrusion. Lower Kihansi Hydropower Plant: Hydropower and Environment The Lower Kihansi hydroelectric plant (LKHP) was constructed on the Kihansi River at the 900 m Kihansi Falls during the mid- 1990s (Case Study 16). Although the project EIA had concluded that there were no significant environmental issues, it did not consider impacts downstream of the proposed dam. Subsequent ecological monitoring studies conducted during project construction in 1996 found an endemic toad, the Kihansi spray toad (KST), in a rare wetland system in the Kihansi Gorge located downstream from the dam. The toad was dependent on the spray created from the water falls. Operation of the underground hydroelectric plant would abstract over 90 percent of the annual river flow and consequently would drastically reduce the spray in the gorge, adversely impacting the spray wetland. Once discovered, temporary measures were taken to safeguard the ecosystem. The flow required to maintain the ecosystem was not known. The decision to generate power from diverting nearly 90 percent of the total flow had been assumed in the economics of the project. As a consequence, the process of granting a water right for generating power and setting aside water for ecosystem needs was highly contested, largely because at that time there was no policy that recognized the environment as a legitimate user of water and because of the substantial costs from reduced hydropower production. Following extensive scientific studies, a final water right for the hydroelectric plant was granted in June 2004. It stipulates an environmental flow requirement of 1.5­2.0 m3/s to be coupled with other mitigation measures to ensure the conservation of the Kihansi Gorge as stipulated in the environmental management plan, including a specially designed and constructed sprinkler system to generate artificial spray in the gorge wetlands and captive breeding of KST in U.S. zoos for safekeeping (an insurance against ecosystem collapse). 42 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 42 4/9/09 12:45:17 PM Tanzania National Water Policy conflicts between different uses of water (including · recognized the importance of ensuring that water for environment), limited representation ecosystem services are maintained through of stakeholders in decision making, insufficient environmental water provisions incentives for efficient water use, increasing pollution, · assigned the environment second priority for water and limited hydrologic and water use data on which allocation following basic human needs rational allocation decisions could be based in most · required a national water resource classification river and lake basins. The RWRA identified four scheme to be developed out of the nine basins as priority basins. Of these · required public participation in establishing four, the Pangani and Rufiji basins, which generated environmental water allocations most of the nation's hydropower, faced severe water · recognized that best available scientific information use conflicts; the Lake Victoria Basin--important should be applied to establishing environmental for fishery exports, trade, and navigation--faced water requirements degradation of the lake ecosystems; and the · required an EIA process for large-scale water unregulated Ruvu Basin faced water shortages infrastructure development projects affecting the city of Dar es Salaam, the economic hub of the country, Tanzania took a pragmatic and empirical approach to establishing its river and lake basin water offices, As part of the reforms, a new National Water Policy13 starting with some of the priority basins identified (NAWAPO) was passed in 2002, containing provisions prior to and during the RWRA. Three years after for improved management of water resources and NAWAPO had passed, it had established seven urban and rural water supply. Improvements to both offices.14 Even though all basin boards have been surface water and groundwater management are formally established, not all of them are operationally included in the policy. It places important emphasis effective yet. Their level of effectiveness varies; on environmental water management, including nonetheless, this proactive approach has allowed the provisions for environmental flows, maintenance staff to radjust to their new roles, understand basin of water quality, and protection of surface and issues, and to gain experience through learning in groundwater sources. The environmental flow new and complex procedures such as determining provisions of the policy are grounded on economic, environmental flows (Case Study 9). livelihood, and biodiversity values. The nation's largest and best-known protected areas, national parks, and South Africa's experience and expertise have also been game reserves--such as the Serengeti, Lake Manyara, influential at an operational level in environmental Ruaha and Sadani National Parks, and the Selous water allocation. The South African DRIFT method Game Reserve--are all based on water-dependent has been adapted for the pilot EFA in the Pangani basin ecosystems. They not only have very high biodiversity (Case Study 8), and an older South African method, value, but are also high foreign-income generators the building block methodology, is being used in other and revenue providers for the national economy. basins. The design of the Tanzanian environmental Although it was largely driven by local concerns and flows capacity building program was influenced by initiated locally, the policy was, in part, influenced by the 1997 South Africa White Paper on Water Policy 13The development of this policy, which includes water resources, (Department of Water Affairs and Forestry 1997), urban water and rural water components, was supported through including its environmental water provisions (Case the World Bank River Basin Management and Smallholder Study 3). Thus, like the South African policy, the Irrigation Improvement project. 14The Pangani and Rufiji River Basin offices had already been Tanzanian policy: formed in 1991 and 1993 respectively. Institutions and Governance Series 43 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 43 4/9/09 12:45:17 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations South African and UK consultants (Acreman and Complementary reforms in the environmental sector King 2007). Nevertheless, Tanzania's experience include the passage of Environment Management Act, differs from South Africa's in the speed with which it 2004, which mandates an EIA for any application for a has implemented its water policy and the associated water abstraction permit and a strategic environmental environmental water provisions. Nine river and lake assessment for any hydropower or major water project basin organizations have now been formally established (World Bank, forthcoming). The recent wetlands (although they have serious capacity limitations strategy has included provisions for environmental and many are yet to be operational), and several flows, the draft irrigation policy is consistent with the environmental flow initiatives are under way or have provisions of NAWAPO, and a number of ministries advanced in anticipation of (river basin) water resources (Agriculture, and Natural Resources and Tourism) are management plans: engaging in activities to support environmental flow provisions. However, other ministries that depend · The environmental water requirements of the on water resources are yet to fully recognize and Lower Kihansi hydropower plant, stipulated as part integrate the importance of supporting the broader of the final water right, was negotiated on the basis water management reforms, including the provision of economics, national priority concerns, ecological of environmental flows. This is most noticeable in the studies, mitigation measures, and experimental case of the Ministry of Mining and Energy, which does flow release studies. not include water management or environmental flow · Short-term training in EFA has been provided to provisions in its energy policy, even though hydropower University of Dar es Salaam under the LKEMP provides 60 to 70 percent of the electricity generated project. nationally. · A study tour has been organized to South African institutions. · A pilot basin-wide EFA, with capacity building Drivers components, is being conducted in the Pangani Basin with support from IUCN and other agencies NAWAPO was initiated by the Tanzanian government (Case Study 8). because of the clear policy failure of previous attempts · EFAs are being implemented on the Mara River to provide urban and rural water supply without catchment (with WWF/GLOWS support) and the adequate attention to protecting the water resource Wami-Ruvu Basin (USAID/GLOWS support). base and address the pronounced water use conflicts. · Preliminary environmental flows have been Although funding for NAWAPO preparation was recommended for the Ruvu River estuary under supported by donor agencies, the policy development the preliminary EIA for the proposed Kidunda process was largely driven locally and was highly Dam. These recommendations may be revisited consultative. There was a combination of local and through additional studies as part of the EIA. external factors that may have contributed to the · A broad stakeholder forum for an EFA has policy and its requirements for environmental flows. been recently initiated in the Ruaha Basin (with The RWRA, which initiated the water reforms DANIDA/WWF support). including the new policy, was a result of rising local awareness of water resources issues and management Nevertheless, Tanzania needs to put considerable limitations that became evident during the nationwide effort into building its internal capacity to undertake drought and water crises in the Pangani and Rufiji and implement EFAs and apply them in river basin basins. Although some of these issues--the drying of planning and project developments. the Great Ruaha River, the desiccation of the Kirua 44 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 44 4/9/09 12:45:18 PM Tanzania National Water Policy Swamp in the Pangani Basin, and the Lower Kihansi basin plans under the soon-to-be-enacted Water challenge--arose because of a neglect of environmental Resources Bill. water requirements, it is notable that the RWRA was not primarily driven by, nor centered around, environmental issues. Assessment Recognition. The policy has a solid basis in sustainability. An additional driver was the awareness of Tanzanian It recognizes that "environmental flows and levels are water resource professionals of the emerging necessary for riparian biodiversity, wetland systems, and international consensus on responding to water freshwater-seawater balance in deltas and estuaries." resources challenges and the inclusion of environmental The reasons for maintaining these aquatic environments considerations in this consensus.15 Environmental include both protection of biodiversity (including rare components were included in the new water resources and endangered species) and the provision of ecological policy because of the range of environmental issues in goods and services such as flood control, sediment the country. The South African policy and law (Case retention, nutrient recycling, and microclimate Study 3) provided a model to learn from and guidance stabilization. on how to respond to these issues. The policy requires that integrated, multisectoral river Public concerns were not a strong motivator for the basin plans are drawn up. After basic human needs, it inclusion of environmental water considerations in the assigns second priority to water for the environment new policy, although some of the issues that had an in these plans. Development of both surface and environmental component (such as the loss of tourism groundwater resources must conform to these plans. in the Ruaha National Park as a result of the drying up In particular, large water schemes--dams, large rainfall of the Great Ruaha River) did raise local public and harvesting schemes, water intakes, groundwater political concern. abstraction, and interbasin water transfers--will be Although the policy itself was primarily motivated subject to a permit and an Environmental Impact by forces from within Tanzania, the implementation Assessment (EIA). The Tanzanian Environmental of the environmental flow provisions of the policy Management Act (2004) has provisions to support this included a strong external influence. Multilateral and policy. bilateral funding agencies and international NGOs In spite of these clear provisions in the policy and have supported environmental flow assessments in the draft legislation, there are varying levels of Tanzania because (a) the country had a suitable policy understanding of the importance of environmental framework, (b) some river basin offices welcomed water allocations within Tanzanian institutions. initiatives to undertake EFAs, and (c) the donors were As a result of the experiences of the Lower Kihansi seeking suitable locations to implement their own hydropower plant, and the Mtera and the Pangani EFA programs. The Lower Kihansi environmental Falls hydropower plant crises, there is now a good flow work, although part of an emergency response, appreciation within the Ministry of Water and was central to the granting of the final water right Irrigation regarding the importance of integrating for the hydropower plant. Implementation of environmental flows has yet to be rolled out and driven systematically by the Ministry of Water and 15 Irrigation as part of its water policy implementation The Dublin Principles were issued in 1992. In 1993, the World Bank issued its Water Resources Management Policy calling for a process and to meet the legal requirements for river more holistic approach to the management of water resources. Institutions and Governance Series 45 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 45 4/9/09 12:45:18 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations environmental concerns into water resources National Water Sector Development Strategy management. The EFA study in the Pangani Basin specifies the mechanisms for implementing it. The (Case Study 8) and proposed EFA studies in other implementation strategy for the water policy (Ministry basins are being managed by the basin water offices of Water and Livestock Development 2004) specifically rather than the environment institutions. It is requires that environmental flow requirements be important that other institutions (including the determined for all major rivers. The draft legislation National Environment Management Council, the makes provision for a water reserve, which is to be Division of Environment and sectoral Ministries) declared by the minister for each water resource that become more familiar with the environmental flow has been classified according to a water resource provisions in NAWAPO and develop their capacities to classification scheme. But neither the policy nor the help implement these provisions. draft legislation establish mechanisms for acquiring water for either basic human needs or the environment Comprehensiveness. The policy clearly recognizes the in circumstances where the water is already overused. importance of managing the whole terrestrial water cycle from the watershed to the ocean. However, the Nevertheless, in spite of the lack of legislative backing environmental water components of the policy are and the limited knowledge about water-ecological written in terms of surface water--wetlands, rivers, relationships in Tanzania, the government has floodplains, estuaries, and coastal zones--and, in progressed with EFAs in four basins with assistance spite of the importance of groundwater for parts of from external partners.16 These EFAs will be fed into the the country, make only a single mention of the role of water resources plans that will be developed by the basin groundwater in sustaining some ecosystems. However, water boards when the legislation is passed. However, the physical sustainability of groundwater--for because the EFAs are being supported by different example, by protecting recharge areas--is well- external agencies, the approaches and techniques are recognized in the policy. The effect of activities in likely to differ between basins. There is a need for the watershed that intercept runoff before it reaches coordination so that a well-considered set of EFA streams are only considered in terms of erosion and methods and approaches are adopted across Tanzania to sedimentation of water storage facilities. Nevertheless, meet different financial and time and legal requirements. the policy provides a comprehensive justification for providing water for the environment, including Participation. The policy contains some general recognition of the links between water quantity and provisions concerning participation in water planning quality and the role that environmental water plays in ("Planning shall involve all stakeholders and will be providing economic and social benefits. intersectoral in character")but there are no specific requirements regarding stakeholder participation in The policy recognizes the need for cooperative water allocation planning or environmental water management of transboundary water resources, determination. The draft legislation has some provisions and makes specific mention of transboundary for stakeholder involvement in planning and the environmental management issues such as water minister has powers to establish regulations, including pollution, biodiversity conservation, wetlands and catchments degradation, fisheries management, and water hyacinth control. 16The EFA in the Pangani Basin is supported by IUCN; the proposed EFAs in the Mara River catchment and the Wami-Ruvu Environmental water status. The policy advocates basin are supported by WWF and the USAID GLOWS program; and the proposed EFA in the Ruaha Basin will receive DANIDA providing water for the environment, while the and WWF support. 46 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 46 4/9/09 12:45:19 PM Tanzania National Water Policy regulations for preparing water resource management the health and viability of riverine and estuary plans and the involvement of persons with "a clear ecosystems," and "water resources assessment will be interest in water resources." Overall, there is not the done on the basis of sound scientific and technical requirement for extensive stakeholder participation that information and understanding." The EFA being is found in the South African policy and legislation. In conducted in the Pangani River Basin has fulfilled this part, this could be because the Tanzanian policy did not requirement, with the assessment being based on a emerge from a constitutional review process designed to detailed scientific analysis of the water requirements of fundamentally address a history of racial discrimination organisms in the freshwater and estuarine parts of the and economic and social marginalisation, as occurred in river. The other EFAs being proposed will also include the case of South Africa (Case Study 3). strong scientific investigative programs in accordance with the policy. The draft legislation contains some provisions for participatory planning. The basin water boards, which The policy also recognizes the need to rehabilitate and draw up the basin water resources management plans, expand the data collection network and improve data are required to consist of representatives from the analysis and storage if well-rounded decisions are to water sectors and other key sectors (including the be made. Data collection and analysis should be at environment), local government, NGOs, women, and the regional (basin) level, since that is where decisions catchment committees. The catchment committees are to be made, and dissemination and storage should comprise private sector, WUA, local government, be at the national level. The policy also sees research, women, and NGO representatives. There are thus data collection, and information dissemination as one opportunities for environmental representation on of the opportunities for improving cooperation in the the boards overseeing the plans through sectoral management of transboundary water bodies. The policy representation. However, the draft legislation does advocates that there should be public access for all to not have any specific requirements for stakeholder the data. participation when basin water resources management plans are being developed. Nevertheless, the In accordance with the policy, some river flow gauging experience to date has been that water management stations were rehabilitated and augmented in the Pangani has been participatory. The RBMSIIP supported the and Rufiji basins as part of the River Basin Management establishment of selected water user associations to and Smallholder Irrigation Improvement Project (World provide a framework for stakeholder participation Bank 2004) between 1997 and 2003. Additional in irrigation water management in the Rufiji and funds and technical assistance for improving the data Pangani basins, and the Pangani EFA study has collection infrastructure and monitoring, enforcement included extensive participation by stakeholders. and compliance activities in all nine Tanzanian river Since the Pangani EFA is being used as a training and lake basins under the Water Sector Support Project opportunity for water resources staff, it can be (World Bank 2007) were approved in January 2007, expected that subsequent EFAs will be more and implementation of this is under way. However, this participatory. monitoring infrastructure will need to be maintained and the data will need to be processed and analyzed by Data and science. The policy has a clear emphasis on the government over the long term for this monitoring the use of scientific information. It notes that "water to be effective. Skills and capacity for interpreting the for the environment shall be determined on the best data will also need to be developed to get the best out of scientific information available considering both the this investment. These critical factors will determine the temporal and spatial water requirements to maintain sustainability of the WSSP investment. Institutions and Governance Series 47 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 47 4/9/09 12:45:21 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations Lessons 5. The level of understanding of environmental flows varies considerably at policy and 1. The crisis brought about by inadequate water operational levels across ministries. The Water supply planning and enforcement in the Resources Department exhibits the greatest early 1990s led to water reforms throughout understanding and has taken the lead in the remainder of the decade. Although the implementing environmental flows, rather than environment was part of, but not a major sector the environment agencies. The environmental in this crisis, environmental water needs became agencies played a prominent role alongside the increasingly more pronounced once the reform Rufiji Basin Water Office (RBWO) in defining program commenced, in part due to the problems and enforcing the environmental flows for the with providing water to Ruaha National Park and Lower Kihansi Hydropower Project. The ministry the international publicity given to the Lower responsible for hydropower has, however, not Kihansi Gorge issue (Case Study 16). The lesson embraced the environmental flow provisions in is that sometimes a crisis can precipitate positive its 2003 energy policy, in spite of being at the action, even if environmental-flow-related issues center of the controversies in the early 1990s are not central components of the crisis, they and 2000s that highlighted the importance can be incorporated into the crisis response of allocating water to the environment. Such mechanism. sectorally focused, engineering-based institutions 2. It is not necessary to wait for supporting find it difficult to internalize environmental legislation; progress can be made in and social issues such as environmental water institutionalizing EFAs and water resource provisions. management plans and building experience 6. Despite the importance of groundwater for in EFA if there is sufficient political and urban water supply and in the semi-arid parts administrative will, resources, and technical of Tanzania, the environmental sustainability of support. groundwater systems is inadequately reflected in 3. Support from NGOs and international agencies the policy. can be valuable in supporting EFA studies, but the timing and structure of these EFAs should be determined by the government's implementation Acknowledgments strategy rather than by relying on the initiative of basin water offices or the objectives of external Mr. Sylvand Kamugisha, Mrs. Josephine Lemoyane, development partners. The separate EFA initiatives Mr. Hamza Sadiki, Mr. Saidi Faraji, and Mr. need to be reviewed so that lessons are learned for Washington Mutayoba provided helpful comments on broader, more cost-effective applications. a draft of this case study. 4. There are mutually supporting environmental requirements in the NAWAPO (and the References draft water resources bill) and in the 2004 Environmental Management Act. This policy Acreman, M., and J. King. 2007. "Capacity Building harmonization provides for a coordinated to Undertake Environmental Flow Assessments in Tanzania." Annex E in: World Bank. 2006. Tanzanian approach across institutions when the Water Resources Assistance Strategy: Improving Water environmental flow provisions are being Security for Sustaining Livelihoods and Growth. Report implemented. No. 35327-TZ. Washington, DC: World Bank. 48 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 48 4/9/09 12:45:21 PM Tanzania National Water Policy Department of Water Affairs and Forestry. 1997. Implementation Completion Report." Washington, "White Paper on a National Water Policy for South DC: World Bank. Africa." Pretoria: Directorate Communication Services. World Bank. 2006. Tanzanian Water Resources Assistance Strategy: Improving Water Security for Sustaining IUCN. 2007. Pangani River System: State of the Basin Livelihoods and Growth. Report No. 35327-TZ. Report ­ 2007. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN. Washington, DC: World Bank. Ministry of Water and Livestock Development. 2004. World Bank. 2007. "Tanzania Water Sector Support National Water Sector Development Strategy (Circulation Project: Project Appraisal Document." Washington, Draft). Dar es Salaam: Ministry of Water and Livestock DC: World Bank. Development. World Bank. forthcoming. Strategic Environmental World Bank. 2004. "Tanzania River Basin Management Assessment: Enhancing Capacity for Integrated Water and Smallholder Irrigation Improvement Project: Resources Management and Development in Tanzania. Washington, DC: World Bank. Institutions and Governance Series 49 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 49 4/9/09 12:45:21 PM Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 50 4/9/09 12:45:22 PM Case Study 5. Florida Water Management Policy Background thousands of acres of wetlands, fish and bird hatcheries, and waterways. Consequently, there are now programs Within the United States, state governments have to restore some of these damaged aquatic ecosystems responsibility for water resources management. and to protect remaining ecosystems. Unlike some other federated systems--such as the European Union and Australia--there is little national While water management policies have contributed to coordination of this management, so that different the development that has fueled the state's population water management approaches have developed within growth, they have also taxed its seemingly abundant regions within the country. These approaches, however, water supply. Florida's water-dependent environment are still subject to national legislation that affects water, needs large quantities of freshwater for its sustained such as the 1969 National Environmental Policy Act health. The interior of south Florida is largely and the 1972 Clean Water Act. agricultural, with additional water demands; the Florida, particularly southern Florida, has experienced coastal regions require water for urban and industrial rapid growth since the 1940s as a result of urban and development. In recent years choices have had to be industrial development, the expansion of recreation and made regarding assigning water to further economic tourism facilities, and agriculture. Unlike many rapidly growth, environmental protection, and maintaining an developing areas of the United States, Florida as a adequate, safe water supply. whole has extensive water resources. The northern part of the state contains the largest collection of springs in Florida water policy the United States. However, there are serious spatial and temporal distribution problems. Seasonal fluctuations Florida has incorporated the water resources policy result in large quantities of water when demand is low, statement from the 1972 Water Resources Act and its and less water in winter months when demand is high. subsequent amendments into Chapter 373.016 of the In addition, the available water is frequently in the Florida statutes. The policy statement has, as two of interior of the state, not on the coast where the demand its aims, the conservation of surface and groundwater is greatest. resources and the preservation of natural resources, fish, and wildlife. Given the issues confronting the state, A system of aquifers supplies 90 percent of the state's including the spatial disjunction between sources and urban water uses and half its agricultural needs. South the demand for water, the policy emphasizes that water Florida's development also depends on draining surface sharing between different regions of the state only be water from places it is not needed through hundreds undertaken after all local sources of water have been of kilometers of canals, dikes, and levees. Developing utilized, including desalinization, conservation, reuse, this flood-control and drainage system has damaged and aquifer storage and recovery. Institutions and Governance Series 51 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 51 4/9/09 12:45:22 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations The 1972 legislation created six water management requirements beyond which significant harm will districts (WMDs), later reduced to five, with territories occur to water resources or ecosystems (Box 5.1). A defined by watersheds rather than political boundaries. subsequent review of the act required that MFLs be The WMDs are responsible for water supply, flood based on best available information, and that recovery protection, water quality, and natural systems as or prevention strategies be developed for any water well as considerable policy-making authority. The body where the MFLs were not currently being met or Florida Department of Environmental Protection where they were likely to be exceeded within 20 years. is responsible for protecting the quality of Florida's drinking water, rivers, lakes, and wetlands. The Each WMD also has to submit to the department a department establishes the technical basis for setting priority list for the establishment of MFLs within the the state's water quality standards, conducts monitoring district. The process of setting the MFLs can be subject programs, and coordinates water management across to independent scientific review at the discretion of the state. However, planning and management is the the district or at the request of a stakeholder or the responsibility of the WMDs. One commentator claims department, and the WMD and department must that the resulting two-tiered structure has created give weight to the independent review when making inefficient, decentralized water resource planning and a final decision on the MFL. The WMDs also provide development agencies with little statewide coordination the department with an annual report on progress with (Fletcher 2002). their water management plans. Each WMD is controlled by a board with nine Apart from MFLs, the districts can also control water members (13 in the case of the SouthWest Florida abstractions by declaring water reservations, where WMD-SWFWMD) chosen for their residency and permits for water abstraction can be subject to quantity technical qualifications, including hydrology and and timing constraints. However, all existing permits at environmental science. Each WMD develops a district the time the reservation is declared are exempt from the water management plan that defines the district's restrictions. role in water resource management and provides comprehensive long-term direction. Under the 1972 The WMDs also establish "caution areas," where they act, these plans must establish minimum flows for believe that there are existing water resource problems surface water and minimum levels (MFLs) for surface or where problems may develop in the next 20 years. water and groundwater. MFLs act as minimum This allows permitted quantities of water consumed to Box 5.1 Minimum Flows and Levels The Florida Water Resources Act defines MFLs as: 373.042. Minimum flows and levels 1. Within each section, or the water management district as a whole, the department or the governing board shall establish the following: a. Minimum flow for all surface watercourses in the area. The minimum flow for a given watercourse shall be the limit at which further withdrawals would be significantly harmful to the water resources or ecology of the area. b. Minimum water level. The minimum water level shall be the level of groundwater in an aquifer and the level of surface water at which further withdrawals would be significantly harmful to the water resources of the area. 52 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 52 4/9/09 12:45:22 PM Florida Water Management Policy be gradually reduced. If water sources and conservation Drivers efforts will not meet future needs, a regional water- supply plan is prepared that provides water for all The legislation was passed because of the need to manage existing and predicted uses and natural systems. both the rapid growth in demand for water and the (Regional water supply plans have now been developed need to protect important ecosystems, some--such for all parts of Florida and, in some cases, are in their as the Everglades--of international significance. The second, third, or fourth iteration.) However, the severe drought of 1970­71 had demonstrated that the WMDs have found themselves in a difficult position existing water resource management arrangements were when preparing these development plans because they inadequate and that reforms were needed. Representative are responsible for the contradictory tasks of both stakeholder groups also played an important role; urban preserving the environmental values of water resources development, agriculture, industry, and environmental and meeting increases in water demand. In addition, interests were all represented by organized groups who the lack of statewide coordination and strong grassroots ensured that the legislation protected their interests as political support for "local sources first" means that far as possible. These same groups have remained active there are institutional barriers to moving water from in promoting changes and improvements since the the water-rich parts of the state to where there is excess legislation was first passed. demand. Assessment At the state level, the Water Policy Office of the DEP prepares Florida's Water Plan, which is the DEP's Recognition. The protection of natural ecosystems principal planning tool for long-term protection of through environmental flows (and groundwater Florida's water resources. The plan is intended to help levels) was central to the 1972 legislation and the DEP focus on the highest water resource protection implementation rule, making this an early inclusion priorities, organize its own water management of environmental flow requirements in legislation. responsibilities, and build water management Despite this, no significant progress was made by the partnerships. DEP is also required to produce an annual districts to set MFLs for nearly 20 years after the 1972 progress report, based on the reports from the districts act. It was not until a series of lawsuits and subsequent and its own activities, with performance measures legislation in the mid-1990s that the districts began against the plan's objectives. to set MFLs. The MFLs and the water reservations are intended to protect water-dependent ecosystems. The Water Resources Implementation Rule 62­40 In the 1972 act, there was recognition of 10 water provides guidance on implementing the state and resource values (WRVs),17 which are effectively district plans. It includes requirements for establishing ecosystem goods and services. The maintenance of goals and objectives, implementing the MFLs, and minimum flows for surface water systems is intended reporting and monitoring. For example, it states to protect both the water resource and the ecology of that MFLs should recognize the natural fluctuations the area, but the maintenance of minimum levels in in flows and levels that contribute to ecosystem groundwater systems is linked only to protection of functioning, and that MFLs should be expressed in a way that defines a hydrologic regime. This provision has ensured that MFLs, in spite of their name, are not 17These WRVs include recreation; fish and wildlife habitat and implemented as simple minimum flow requirements passage of fish; estuarine resources; transfer of detrital material; but as minimum flows that are sensitive to hydrologic maintenance of freshwater storage and supply; aesthetic and scenic attributes; filtration/absorption of pollutants; sediment conditions. loads; water quality; and navigation. Institutions and Governance Series 53 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 53 4/9/09 12:45:23 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations the water resource and not to groundwater-dependent refuge; (b) breeding, nesting, denning, and nursery ecosystems. In spite of this limitation in the wording, areas; (c) corridors for wildlife movement; (d) food where minimum levels have been set for aquifers, the chain support; and (e) natural water storage, natural levels were chosen to protect connected ecosystems such flow attenuation, and water quality improvements. as springs, wetlands, and lakes. However, it does not include the need to account for There is an implicit first priority accorded to the the impacts of climate change on either the availability provision of water for ecosystem protection in the of water or shifts in patterns of water demand. wording of the MFLs (Box 1). However, the link Nevertheless, some districts, notably SWFWMD, are between issuing water abstraction permits and the incorporating long-term climate variability in setting MFLs is not explicit in either the legislation or the MFLs. implementation rule. Wade and Tucker (1996) state that, when the act was first drafted, it was intended The legislation also includes provisions for inter-district that MFLs were to be protected in the permitting water transfers. While such transfers are discouraged process, but that this was not carried through into the in favor of utilizing the intra-district water resources, act. Under Part II of the act, remaining within MFLs is they are permitted subject to conditions. These not one of the conditions for issuing permits, although include consideration of the costs and benefits and the implementation rule requires that established the environmental impacts on both the supplying MFLs shall be protected during the issuance of permits and receiving areas. The legislation also includes a under parts II and IV of the act. Nevertheless, there compact among Florida, Georgia, and Alabama for are opportunities to make this linkage stronger. Water the management of the transboundary Apalachicola- reservations are the tool for implementing MFLs when Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin. However, the compact issuing water use permits. However, there is little is more concerned with equitable apportionment of political will to establish water reservations, and thus the basin waters among the three states and does not MFLs are not considered when issuing new permits. mention environmental management. The compact broke down in 2003 with Florida refusing to agree to However, the priority accorded to MFLs is illustrated an allocation formula that only gave minimum flows for by the requirement in the implementation rule that the Apalachicola River, whose freshwater flows into the MFLs shall be protected during water shortages, except Apalachicola Bay (Melville 2005). The case will be heard when the drought is so severe that such protection in the Supreme Court; it seems that Florida will have to would compromise public health and safety. be on the side of sound ecological management in order to advocate its position. MFLs apply to infrastructure projects as well as to district plans. The implementation rule states that Environmental water mechanisms. The legislation "Established minimum flows and levels shall be states that goals, objectives, and strategies for water protected during the construction and operation of management are to be contained in the implementation water resource projects." rule, which, in turn, defines the "protection of the functions of entire ecological systems" as one of the Comprehensiveness. The legislation is very clear on the objectives of water resource planning. The state water need to protect both surface and groundwater sources, plan describes a hierarchy of goals, objectives, and floodplains, and wetlands. It recognizes that uplands, strategies for water management in Florida and the wetlands, and other surface waters provide ecosystem performance measures used in measuring progress. For functions, which include (a) providing cover and natural systems, it describes four goals and two objectives: 54 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 54 4/9/09 12:45:23 PM Florida Water Management Policy · Maintain the integrity and functions of water on their residency and technical skills; the latter resources and related natural systems. include agriculture, the development industry, local · Restore degraded water resources and related government, government-owned or privately owned natural systems to a naturally functioning water utilities, law, civil engineering, environmental condition. science, hydrology, accounting, or financial businesses. The two legislated mechanisms for maintaining The implementation rule requires adequate opportunity and restoring natural ecosystems--MFLs and for participation by the public and governments, the water reservations--are instruments for controlling measure of which is public workshops with advance abstractions of water by consumptive users to ensure notice at least 90 days before plan acceptance or that water is left in the systems. The legislation does not amendment by the WMD board. The legislation also provide for legally secure environmental water reserves requires that the WMD board hold a public hearing at to be held in storages for release for downstream least 30 days in advance of completing the development environmental benefit because Florida has very few or revision of the district water management plan. impoundments on its rivers. The legislation and the While these provisions ensure that stakeholders implementation rule are designed around regulatory can comment after the plan is drafted, they do not measures to achieve environmental outcomes; there are promote full engagement in the development of the no provisions for introducing economic instruments to plan. However, some districts, notably SWFMD, go improve water use efficiency and the redistribution of well beyond the legislative requirements for public/ water to the environment. stakeholder engagement in developing their regional water supply plans. The legislation has provisions for returning water to overallocated or potentially overallocated systems; that The legislation also requires WMDs to develop an is, those where MFLs have been exceeded or are likely to information program for the legislature, media, and be exceeded. In these systems, recovery and prevention the general public, although it does not mention strategies are required to describe how the MFLs will environmental information specifically. be achieved through development of additional water supplies and implementation of conservation and other Data and science.The legislation requires that the "best efficiency measures. The legislation and implementation available information" is used when calculating MFLs for rule do not allow for reducing or returning water permits a water body. As noted above, this includes recognition in order to meet MFLs. The performance measures in of the natural fluctuations in flows and levels. While, in the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) principle, it is desirable to use best available information, annual progress reports do not report on progress it has raised some problems in practice (Wade and toward MFLs for systems that are overallocated, and so Tucker 1996). Because it is technically difficult to the success of these measures is difficult to determine. determine all the ecologically related functions that the At present, there is only one water body, the upper water flows and levels support, some managers interpret Peace River, designated as overallocated, and one, the the "best available information" phrase to mean that Loxahatchee River, as potentially overallocated. Both are extensive research programs need to be completed in the very early stages of recovery or prevention strategy before MFL determinations can be made. They are implementation. concerned that the MFLs need to be legally defensible against charges of not being "best available," particularly Participation. The boards of the WMDs are in areas where water is contested. In some cases, the appointed by the governor of Florida and are selected slow progress in establishing MFLs for 20 to 25 years Institutions and Governance Series 55 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 55 4/9/09 12:45:24 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations after the 1972 act was passed can be attributed to this progress reports. The 2003 DEP annual report, the conservative interpretation. Since 1992, the districts latest available, shows that 97 percent and 28 percent have established MFLs for 237 separate water bodies, of established MFLs were being maintained in the most of these since 1997. Another 114 are scheduled to St Johns River and South West Florida WMDs, and be adopted over the next two years, so this requirement that 70 percent and 22 percent of new MFLs were need not be an impediment to developing protective established on schedule in these districts. One district, measures based on high-quality science if there is the North West Florida Water Management District, political will to establish these measures. has yet to set a single MFL, despite having most of the state's most ecologically important rivers and estuaries. A related difficulty with determining MFLs is The report does not comment on the reasons for the interpreting the criterion "significantly harmful" in the shortfall in these and other performance measures, nor definition of MFLs. The implementation rule provides does it recommend remedial actions. some factors to be included in the determination, but stops short of providing a decision rule. This has proven These reports focus on hydrologic outcomes; there is no to be a significant practical impediment to uniformity requirement for measuring ecological outcomes from across the state. However, districts have been quite the MFLs and water reservations activities. conservative in their interpretation of "significant harm," preferring to err on the side of maintaining Lessons instream flows near natural conditions. 1. It took a crisis in the form of a severe drought to Nevertheless, methods for determining water trigger the development of legislation that provided withdrawal procedures that are consistent with a framework for equitable water allocation. The the MFL requirements have been developed and heightened environmental awareness of the applied. The Southwest Florida WMD has adopted population meant that the legislation incorporated a percentage-of-flow method (typically 10 percent the need for environmental water allocations. with a cutoff to protect low flows) for deciding on the 2. While devolving planning and management impacts of water withdrawals on its un-impounded responsibility to districts, such as river basins, has rivers. This method provides protection to the fresh and many benefits, it can also impede the resolution estuarine portions of these rivers, where the responses of transboundary issues such as inter-district water of key characteristics to flows are frequently nonlinear transfers. State agencies need to retain sufficient (Flannery, Peebles, and Montgomery 2002). authority to coordinate actions and make decisions on transboundary issues. The legislation allows for independent scientific review 3. Restoring overallocated systems to sustainable of the process by which MFLs are established. However, flows and levels is inherently difficult. It seems the review is not an intrinsic part of the process--it unlikely that this can be achieved through just has to be requested. Even so, most districts are being water conservation and development of additional proactive with respect to peer review of MFLs. water sources (which may add further stress to SouthWest Florida and St John's River WMDs convene other water bodies). Policies to restore these peer-review panels for all MFLs and are responsive to systems would be stronger if there was clear the findings of those peer reviews. authority for districts to revoke or buy back water abstraction permits on an equitable basis. Reporting and Monitoring.Under the legislation, both 4. The policy is proactive in that it requires that DEP and the districts are required to provide annual potentially stressed waterbodies be identified 56 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 56 4/9/09 12:45:24 PM Florida Water Management Policy up to 20 years in advance, providing time for these same requirements have resulted in some of precautionary actions to be implemented. the best science and most sound approaches for 5. The focus on setting MFLs for stressed and protecting instream flows in the United States. potentially stressed water bodies means that more pristine systems are sometimes allowed to degrade Acknowledgments substantially before any attention is paid to them. This means that degradation may occur before Doug Shaw, TNC, Florida reviewed a draft of this case protections are put in place. study and provided helpful comments. 6. Merely defining MFLs is not sufficient unless a clear link is established between MFLs and References limits on the issuing of water abstraction permits. Although there are mechanisms available, such as Flannery, M.S., E.B. Peebles, and R.T. Montgomery. declaring water reservations (which then require 2002. "A Percent-of-flow Approach for Managing the consideration of MFLs), invoking these Reductions of Freshwater Inflows from Unimpounded Rivers to Southwest Florida Estuaries." Estuaries mechanisms requires political will. 25(6B): 1318­1332. 7. Implementing MFLs is difficult if there is no defined procedure for quantifying value-laden Fletcher, C.R. 2002. "Florida Water Resource terms such as "significantly harmful." Establishing Development: A Call for Statewide Leadership." an MFL is a social, not a scientific, decision and J. Landuse and Env Law 18(1): 113­144. the policy or its associated rules should describe the Melville, D. 2005. "Whiskey Is For Drinking: Recent mechanism to determine the MFL. Water Law Developments In Florida." J. Land Use 8. In cases where there is a likelihood of litigation 20(2): 493­506. over establishing limits to water abstraction permits (through mechanisms such as MFLs), legislative Wade, J., and J. Tucker. 1996. "Current and Emerging requirements for "best available information" Issues in Florida Water Policy." Florida Water Law and Policy Program, University of Florida College of Law. may actually impede progress toward establishing Boca Raton, FL: Florida Center for Environmental sustainable limits on water abstraction. Conversely, Studies, Florida Atlantic University. Institutions and Governance Series 57 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 57 4/9/09 12:45:25 PM Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 58 4/9/09 12:45:25 PM III. Basin/Catchment Plan Case Studies Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 59 4/9/09 12:45:25 PM Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 60 4/9/09 12:45:25 PM Case Study 6. Kruger National Park and Catchments Background north. The park is a long strip about 60 km wide and 350 km long, running in a north-south direction. It The Kruger National Park (19,633 km²) is famed for straddles three major basins--the Levuvhu in the north, both its biodiversity and its record of early human the Letaba/Olifants in the middle, and the Incomati settlement, from San rock paintings to archaeological in the south. The Incomati River empties into Maputo sites with evidence of early hominids. It is an important Bay in Mozambique (Box 6.1), while the Olifants and tourist destination and source of foreign income for Letaba Rivers join together on the ark boundary before South Africa. flowing into the Limpopo River, which reaches the The Sabie Game Reserve, the precursor of the park, Indian Ocean to the north of Maputo. The main rivers was proclaimed in 1898. In 1926, the Kruger National passing across KNP are (from north to south) Levuvhu, Park (KNP) was formed from the merging of the Sabie Shingwedzi, Letaba, Olifants, the undeveloped Uanetse, and Shingwedzi Game Reserves under the National Sabie-Sand, and the (highly developed) Crocodile Parks Act. More recently, the KNP has been joined with Rivers. The northern region of the park is mostly arid Mozambique's Limpopo National Park and Zimbabwe's and flat, although there are local areas with higher Gonarezhou National Park into the Greater Limpopo rainfall. The central region of the park is grassland Transfrontier Park. plain, stretching west to the Lebombo Mountains, which form the boundary with Mozambique. The The KNP is located in the northeast of South Africa, southern region of the park has higher rainfall and is abutting Mozambique to the east and Zimbabwe to the more densely vegetated. Box 6.1 Transboundary Water Management The Incomati Basin is transboundary with Mozambique and Swaziland. The Incomati River dried up in 1982 under drought conditions, leading to widespread public awareness within all three countries about the demands being placed on the river. Impoundments and abstractions had reduced the freshwater and sediments flowing into the estuary, which has changed the flow regime. These changes had detrimentally affected the estuarine ecosystem and shrimp and fish production. It was apparent that plans in all three countries for dams would exacerbate the situation in the lower rivers of the basin, and there was a need for agreed minimum flows. After considerable negotiation, base flow at the border between South Africa and Mozambique was set at 2m3/s in 1991 to satisfy water demands from the border down to the confluence with the Sabie River. However, within a few years, Mozambique claimed that South Africa and Swaziland were not adhering to the agreement. The Joint Incomati Basin Study (JIBS) was initiated to provide a better factual basis on which the waters of the basin could be assessed and shared. An agreement--the Tripartite Interim Agreement on the Projection and Sustainable Utilization of the Water Resources of the Incomati and Maputo Watercourses--was signed by the three countries during the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002 in Johannesburg. Instream flow targets are included in the agreement, although these were not obtained through a rigorous process. Source: Nkomo and van der Zaag 2003. Institutions and Governance Series 61 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 61 4/9/09 12:45:25 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations The rivers rise in the high veldt to the west of the park. The threat to these rivers was made clear by the 1992 These rivers are heavily utilized and suffer from water drought, the worst in recorded history (Newenham and depletion and pollution from urban runoff, industry, Chavalala 2003), when many of the rivers ceased to and mining. These rivers already have a number of run. The drought also pointed to the inequities of the impoundments to provide water for irrigation and then-water law. In the Sand subcatchment of the Sabie urban use power generation, and the construction of River, the main agricultural concerns continued to dams is continuing. The Injaka Dam was completed on water crops, while water had to be trucked in to poorer the Marite tributary of the Sabie River in 2002, and the communities for domestic consumption. A single De Hoop Dam is planned for the Steelpoort River, a water-use sector could stop the flow of the river with tributary of the Olifants River. Dam developments also impunity (Pollard and Walker 2000). are under way downstream of the park. Mozambique is planning to raise the walls of two major dams--the Water abstraction for irrigation, coupled with a Massingir and Corumana dams. These projects will drought, has caused the Olifants River to cease flowing flood environmentally important gorges on the Olifant at least twice since 2000. The Levuvhu and Letaba and Sabie rivers within the park. rivers already commonly stop flowing in the dry season because of upstream water demands. With large-scale Meeting water demand is the key issue in the infrastructure planned for the Olifants River, especially catchments feeding the park (Department of Water new mining operations in the Dilokong corridor, the Affairs and Forestry 2004a). This demand arises from Sabie River is the last remaining perennial river in multiple sources, including (a) a huge demand for KNP,18 but it too faces increasing demands, primarily additional water-use licenses by emerging black farmers; from irrigation developments. The Inyaka Dam in the (b) rapid population growth in parts of the Inkomati Mariti River, a tributary of the Sabie River, was recently and Olifants basins, including urban and semi- completed. This dam makes provision for maintaining urban development; (c) international obligations to environmental water requirements in the Sabie River Mozambique to provide minimum flows at the border and therefore in the park, as well as rural domestic from rivers of the Inkomati Basin; and (d) social water water requirements in the local region and some requirements (beyond the basic human needs reserve), irrigation expansion. A considerable amount of water which place water demands on the rivers above the park, (25 million cubic meters per annum) is also earmarked particularly those in the Inkomati and Olifants basins. to be transferred to the stressed adjacent Sand River catchment for domestic water requirements, freeing up Water quality is an issue in some of the catchments. some of the flow of the Sand River for environmental Water quality in the Inkomati is threatened by the water requirements. If properly managed, the presence of coal mines and large coal reserves. There are environmental integrity of the Sabie River can thus be salinity, eutrophication, toxicity, and sediment problems safeguarded for the foreseeable future. in areas of the Olifants Basin and, in the Lower Olifants sub-area, water quality is influenced by discharges from Because of the growing stress on the rivers within the the mining complex around Phalaborwa in the Ga-Selati park during the drought of the 1980s, South African River. The water quality of the groundwater resources National Parks (SANParks) needed to know the flows in the Steelpoort area of the basin is under threat from needed to maintain the park's biodiversity. In 1988, mining and agricultural activity. Adequate, good quality flows in these rivers are vital 18The Waterwheel (January/February 2007). Pretoria: Water to the ecological integrity and biodiversity of the park. Research Commission. 62 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 62 4/9/09 12:45:26 PM Kruger National Park and Catchments it initiated a comprehensive multidisciplinary and (Sudlow 2004). Where the information was available, multi-institutional research program, the Kruger these studies provided the baseline information for National Park Rivers Research Programme (KNPRRP), assessments of instream flow requirements (IFR) of to investigate the rivers of the park, in particular the rivers in the park and more widely throughout South polluted Olifants River, the severely degraded and Africa. The last phase of the program has specifically once-perennial Letaba and Levuvhu rivers, and the focused on broadening the base of understanding to ecologically important Sabie River (Du Toit, Rogers, include stakeholder groups (Breen and others 2000). and Biggs 2003). The KNPRRP has been implemented through three phases, with successive phases broadening The KNPRRP successfully raised awareness of the their coverage from scientific knowledge, to predictive vulnerable condition of rivers in the park and provided capabilities that supported management, to capacity researchers with a factual basis for establishing in- building for implementing decisions. stream flow requirements for rivers in the park. The KNPRRP addressed a wide diversity of topics The Building Block Methodology and KNP (Breen and others 1998), including (a) better predictions of physical processes; (b) better predictions The building block methodology (BBM) (King and of biological processes and responses; (c) integration of Louw 1998) was first introduced into the KNP at a physical and biological understanding; (d) addressing workshop for the Lephalala River in February 1992 problems of scale; and (e) methods for determining and further developed in a series of water resource management objectives. development projects (King, Tharme, and de Villiers 2000). It was designed to provide a rapid first estimate Most of the initial research was undertaken on the of the IFR for rivers in the park, which were subject Sabie River, which is a small but ecologically significant to considerable hydrological stress (Box 6.2). The river with importance for the tourism industry method was subsequently adopted by DWAF for Box 6.2 Instream Flow Requirements and the Building Block Methodology The Building Block Methodology (BBM) was developed specifically to provide a relatively rapid, scientifically reliable method for determining instream flow requirements (IFR). The first workshop on the development of an environmental flows method was held in 1987 (Ferrar 1989). The BBM was initially applied to rivers within South Africa where dams were being considered, including in the KNP. It has subsequently been used to determine the ecological reserve as required in the 1998 National Water Act. The method is based on three main assumptions: (1) riverine biota can cope with naturally variable flow conditions, but atypical flow conditions constitute a disturbance and could cause fundamental changes; (2) management of the most important components of the natural flow regime will contribute to the maintenance of natural biota and ecosystem functions; and (3) flows that most strongly influence channel geomorphology should be included in the managed flow regime. The BBM approach involves the following sequence: · Current and historical geomorphology, water chemistry, and biotic data are collected. · This information is presented at an IFR workshop together with descriptions of the virgin and present daily flow regimes. The workshop is attended by specialists in relevant disciplines. · Habitat availability, together with the sediment-moving capacity of various flows, form the basis for a recommended modi- fied flow regime built in monthly blocks of water. Each volume of water is characterized with a description of the biological, hydraulic, or geomorphological function it serves. Hydrological modeling research provides techniques to translate IFR recommendations into reservoir release operating rules for both low flows and flood events. Source: Palmer 1999. Institutions and Governance Series 63 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 63 4/9/09 12:45:26 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations determining IFRs, although other methods and more the basic human needs reserve. Thus, in the Inkomati advanced developments of the BBM methodology have Basin, the implementation of the ecological reserve is subsequently been approved as well. likely to have a serious impact on the availability of water for irrigation and afforestation, and in the case of The method was applied to all the rivers within the the Komati River, power stations also, and the reserve park and IFRs were developed for these rivers (Mackay, needs to be implemented gradually (Department of King, and Louw 1999). For example, the maintenance Water Affairs and Forestry 2004b). The situation is flow ecological water requirement for the Sabie River especially serious in the Crocodile River region, where within KNP was determined to be an annual average there is potential for economic growth, and yet where flow of 291.2 million m3/yr. the reserve cannot be met even now, given existing SANParks required these IFRs to provide evidence for water licenses. In the Sand River catchment, there are the flows needed to maintain the park's biodiversity. presently insufficient water resources for domestic use However, it had little influence over activities that were and irrigation requirements let alone for the ecological producing the stresses outside the park boundaries, and reserve, and in the Letaba catchment almost all flow is was reliant on DWAF to implement the IFRs. DWAF abstracted during drought and very little is left to meet could not initially provide these environmental flows the significant ecological requirements of the park. because many of the rivers were already fully allocated The progressive implementation of the 1998 Water Act (or even overallocated) and there was no mechanism to has provided the means to determine the ecological recover water for environmental purposes. There was reserve for the park's rivers. Catchment strategies, also a lack of understanding in some parts of DWAF which are required under the Water Act (Case Study about the importance of environmental flows (Gyedu- 4), will include determinations of the ecological reserve Ababio 2005). The sections within DWAF that had and the water allocation plans needed to achieve these estimated the water requirements of the reserve had environmental flows. The strategies will be developed no responsibility for implementing the reserve and once the CMAs are established. The Inkomati CMA consequently these environmental water requirements was the first to be established under the National Water were not put into effect. Resources Strategy (Department of Water Affairs and More recently, the "internal strategic perspectives" Forestry 2004a) because of the level of stress in that (ISP) produced by DWAF contained low confidence basin, including in the basin rivers that flow through estimates of the ecological reserves for all catchments the southern part of the park. However, even after plans in South Africa. Where better information is available, have been developed and accepted by the minister, such as for some of the rivers within the park, the ISPs it will require considerable political and institutional contain higher confidence estimates of the reserve.19 willpower for water to be returned to safeguard essential Unfortunately, the delay in implementing the reserve ecological functions. has meant that it is now more difficult to acquire the The reserves for the rivers flowing through the park are water for the environment than it would have been if being determined at present, with different levels of the IFRs had been implemented. confidence for different rivers. Thus, high confidence It is clear that it will not be possible to meet many of the preliminary ecological reserve requirements for the 19The Kruger National park is included within the Inkomati, park's rivers, given the current level of development, Olifants, and Levuvhu/Letaba WMA Internal Strategic Perspectives, published in 2004 by Department of Water Affairs international water obligations, and the requirements of and Forestry, Pretoria, South Africa. 64 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 64 4/9/09 12:45:27 PM Kruger National Park and Catchments environmental water requirements have been finalized tourism, especially international visitors, and economic for the Letaba River (Pulles, Howard, and de Lange losses to the surrounding region. Inc. 2006) and Komati River (AfriDev 2006) and an ecological reserve monitoring program is being The concern of NGOs about the threats to the park's formulated in the Letaba River. This monitoring biodiversity from these developments acted as an program will be applied to other rivers flowing additional driver for action. There was also professional through Kruger National Park. High confidence pressure from leading South African researchers who reserve studies are also being undertaken on the Sabie/ were concerned about the impacts of the upstream Sand and Crocodile systems to complement and development on the park. improve the previous IFR studies. Operating rules have been developed for the Olifants River and are The requirements under the 1998 Water Act being modified to reflect current developments in subsequently provided a legislative driver for the catchment, and rules are also being developed establishing the ecological reserve within the park's for the Luvuvhu and Letaba rivers (Thomas Geyedu- rivers. The recent establishment of the Inkomati CMA Ababio, pers. comm., January 2008). Unlike the IFR provides an institutional mechanism for bringing studies, these new reserve determinations include about the water reallocation needed to meet the reserve implementation mechanisms and methodologies. requirements. Drivers Assessment The drought of the early 1990s was the principal Recognition. SANParks clearly understood from an driver for the establishment of IFRs for the park's early stage the need to maintain river flows to provide rivers. The drought highlighted the vulnerability of the the basic ecosystem functions that supported the park's rivers to upstream developments, including land use biodiversity and tourism industry. They supported changes (such as increased forestry plantations in the research under the KNPRRP to provide the factual upper catchments and increased human settlement) basis for the initial establishment of IFRs for the park's and the development of dams upstream and rivers. The South African Water Research Commission downstream of the park. The upstream developments also recognized the need to establish environmental within South Africa had reduced flows in the rivers flows in the park and funded much of the biophysical to the point where only one major river, the Sabie, research carried out during the 1990s in the park, as remained perennial. The downstream proposals to raise well as the development of planning and management. the dam walls on the Massingir and the Corumana There was also strong support from sections of the dams in Mozambique acted as an additional driver, DWAF, where there was recognition of the need for because these proposals would cause additional loss of environmental flows. riverine habitat by flooding gorges on the Olifants and Other parts of DWAF were slower to accept the Sabie rivers.20 need to conserve the park's river flows. The DWAF SANParks was deeply concerned about the potential had traditionally focused on the development of loss of biodiversity from these developments, given that the country's water resources and has taken time to maintenance of biodiversity was the major objective of adjust to its new role under the National Water Act SANParks. Loss of this diversity would not only be an 20The raising of the Massingir Dam wall has gone ahead and the issue in its own right, but it would lead to reductions in water has backed up and flooded the gorge within the park. Institutions and Governance Series 65 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 65 4/9/09 12:45:27 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations of custodian and coordinator of the country's water of the different flow scenarios; rather, the impacts resources, with many of the operational responsibilities of the different scenarios on other water users were (including planning) transferring to the CMAs. incorporated into the reserve determinations. Consequently, there have been different opinions within DWAF about the importance of the reserve. Given the years of disenfranchisement, the capacity While the water reform staff in the Sub-Directorate of local stakeholders needs to be developed so that of Environmental Studies, together with some other they can engage productively in the water allocation parts of the department, have been actively involved planning process. Ensuring that local views and in assessing the environmental reserve within the aspirations are incorporated will be especially catchments feeding into the park, the concept of the important in the overallocated WMAs, where some reserve is still not fully accepted by all staff within the difficult decisions will need to be made on access department. to water. Phase III of the KNPRRP contributed to a common vision for the Sabie and Olifants rivers, Many holders of riparian water licenses in the although the changing management environment catchments above the park, including both traditional with the formation of catchment management irrigators and more recent black entrepreneurs, committees and CMAs partially eclipsed these have had trouble accepting the primacy of the efforts. Similarly, efforts to enhance river forums were ecological reserve and its implicit restrictions on water undercut by the new management structure, which abstractions. There is a concern within DWAF that absorbed the attention of the stakeholders (Breen and these groups would mount legal challenges to any others 2000). Nevertheless, the KNPRRP activities attempt to implement the reserve, and that it would be will contribute to participative management in the better to wait until the compulsory licensing system is longer run. introduced under the Water Act before attempting to recover water for the environment. Other activities include a pilot study in the Crocodile River system to test two methods for capturing local Participation. The first IFRs within the park were perceptions and priorities for management. One of the estimated through use of the BBM method. This underlying reasons for the study is to ascertain how method is essentially a technical exercise (Box 2) with stakeholders understand sustainability, with a special limited stakeholder engagement, apart from SANParks focus on environmental flows and compliance with the itself. This reflects the focus of the IFR process on ecological reserve.22 establishing just the environmental water needs and not extending to a wider assessment of stakeholder Assessment Technique and Data. Over the last decade, requirements for water. Nevertheless, it was recognized the Kruger National Park has been central to the that an EFA cannot be a purely scientific process development of expertise in South Africa in the because these flows also provide some of the ecological goods and services on which local people rely.21 The 21Subsequent comprehensive determinations of the reserve, such estimations of the ecological reserve through the ISPs as that undertaken in 2004 in the Thukela River catchment of and the more recent high-confidence determinations the Kwazulu/Natal province, pioneered the incorporation of of the reserve for the Letaba and Komati catchments stakeholder involvement, user needs, and social aspects such as goods and services into EWR methodology. (Pulles Howard & de Lange Inc. 2006) include 22"An exploration of the value of understanding stakeholder considerations of the needs of other water users as well mental models for management of water resources in the as operational constraints. However, these studies did Crocodile Catchment, Mpumalanga South Africa. Preliminary Findings of the Mental Models Working Group." Report not involve other stakeholders directly in the assessment provided by S. Pollard, February 2008. 66 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 66 4/9/09 12:45:28 PM Kruger National Park and Catchments determination of environmental flows. The initial The Ecological Reserve Monitoring Program is still BBM exercises on the Luvuvhu and Letaba covered being established, and it is too early to assess its the whole catchment and were not done as part of progress. the KNPRRP, which focused on the Sabie River. Kruger National Park specialists were involved in these Integration. The BBM method and the subsequent exercises, and this contact led to the IFR on the Sabie FSR method are primarily environmental assessment in partnership with the KNPRRP. The BBM method methods that do not integrate the social and economic was initially used to establish the IFRs of the park's issues with environmental water requirements. Basic rivers. This technique is an internationally recognized social needs for water are identified through the basic method and was the first technique accepted by human needs reserve. DWAF for determining the environmental water requirements under the Water Act (MacKay, King, Cost Effective. The cost of undertaking the and Louw 1999). determination of the ecological reserve for the rivers of the park is not available. However, an economic study is More recently, the flow stressor response (FSR) method presently under way as part of the reserve determination (O'Keefe and Hughes 2004) has been used for the in the Sabie and Crocodile rivers to estimate the value determination of the reserve for low-flow conditions of the ecosystem goods and services under the different within the rivers of the park. This method is designed flow scenarios. to guide the evaluation of the ecological consequences of modified low-flow regimes using an index of flow- Influential. The application of environmental flows related stress. It can be used within holistic methods, procedures in the park as a result of the concern about such as BBM and DRIFT (Case Study 14); thus, in the water security has been influential in establishing the case of the reserve for the Letaba catchment, FSR was ecological reserve for the rivers of the KNP. Although used for the low flows and a combination of DRIFT the application of the BBM method within the and BBM were used for the high flows (Pulles Howard park did not, at the time, result in environmental & de Lange Inc. 2006). The method is independent of flows, the development of these IFRs helped spread the level of biological knowledge, although the amount awareness about the importance of environmental of knowledge will affect the level of confidence that can flows and formed the basis of the subsequent reserve be placed in the recommendations. determinations. The determination of the IFRs also provided confidence that there were procedures for The BBM assessments of the park's rivers were assessing environmental water requirements, and this underpinned by the data collected during the contributed to the inclusion of the ecological reserve into KNPRRP. The early establishment of this program was the South African national water policy and legislation. a far-sighted decision. A formal scientific assessment of the BBM method in August 1996 between those Lessons developing the BBM and those carrying out the KNPRRP research on the Sabie River concluded that, 1. Even though there was no policy or legislation in while the BBM could not directly use the full range the early 1990s that legitimized environmental of available scientific data, it could access it indirectly flows, the concern of park officials for quantifying through the knowledge of scientists engaging in BBM the flow needs of rivers in KNP ultimately workshops (MacKay, King, and Louw 1999). The high- contributed to both national legislation and to the confidence assessments also drew on the information implementation of the reserve for the rivers flowing gathered during the KNPRRP. through the park. Institutions and Governance Series 67 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 67 4/9/09 12:45:28 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations 2. The early quantifications of environmental water The Contribution of the KNPRRP." Pretoria: Water requirements (IFRs) were not acted upon because Research Commission Report TT 106/98. they were not backed by legislative requirements or Breen C., M. Dent, J. Jaganyi, B. Madikizela, implementation mechanisms. They were accepted J. Maganbeharie, A. Ndlovu, J. O'Keeffe, K. Rogers, for planning purposes by the Planning Division M. Uys, and F. Venter. 2000. The Kruger National Park of DWAF, which had asked for them, but were Rivers Research Programme. Final Report. Pretoria: not widely accepted within the department. Water Research Commission Report TT 130/00. Nevertheless, they formed the basis for subsequent Department of Water Affairs and Forestry. 2004a. reserve determinations in the rivers of the park. National Water Resource Strategy: Our Blue-Print for 3. The KRRP was undertaken independently of the Survival. First Edition. Pretoria: Department of Water development of the BBM methodology. It was a Affairs and Forestry. visionary decision because it helped provide the scientific basis and credibility for the subsequent Department of Water Affairs and Forestry. 200b. "Inkomati WMA Internal Strategic Perspective." BBM applications. Pretoria: Department of Water Affairs and Forestry. 4. Developing an ecological monitoring program is an important part of implementing environmental Du Toit, J., K.H. Rogers, and H. Biggs, eds. 2003. flows. The Kruger Experience: Ecology and Management of 5. Where stakeholders did not have a history of Savannah. Washington, DC: Island Press. engagement in decisions, their capacity needed Ferrar, A.A.,ed.. 1989. "Ecological flow requirements to be built up through specific capacity building for South African rivers." South African Nat. Sci. activities, including development of a common Prog. Rep. No. 162. Pretoria: Foundation for Research vision, establishment of local objectives and Development, CSIR. involvement in monitoring activities. Gyedu-Ababio, T.K. 2005. "The Water Crisis in the Kruger National Park, South Africa: Which Way?" Acknowledgments Unpublished Position Paper, SANPark Thomas Gyedu-Ababio, Sharon Pollard, Delana Louw, King, J.M., and D. Louw. 1998. "Instream flow and Steve Mitchell provided documents as well as assessments for regulated rivers in South African using the Building Block Methodology." Aquatic Ecosystem comments for incorporation into this case study. Dr. Health and Management 1: 109­124. Jackie King, Dr. Kevin Rogers, and Dr. Niel van Wyk also provided helpful comments. Dr. Kevin Rogers and King, J.M., R.E. Tharme, and M.S. De Villiers. 2000. Delana Louw reviewed a draft of this case study. "Environmental Flow Assessments for Rivers: Manual for the Building Block Methodology." Pretoria:Water Research Commission Report TT 131/00. References MacKay, H.M., J.M. King, and M.D. Louw. 1999. AfriDev. 2006. "Komati Catchment Ecological Water "Comprehensive Ecological Reserve Methodology. Requirements Study." Report No. RDM X100-00- Section F: Resource Directed Measures for of Water CONCOMPR2-1205. Pretoria: Department of Water Resources: River Ecosystems." Pretoria: Department of Affairs and Forestry. Water Affairs and Forestry. Breen, C.M., M. Dent, J. O'Keefe, N. Quinn, and Newenham, J., and M.S. Chavalala. 2003. K. Rogers. 1998. "Meeting the Water Quantity and "Determining the instream flow requirement Quality Needs of the Natural Environment of Rivers: monitoring protocol." (Development of monitoring 68 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 68 4/9/09 12:45:29 PM Kruger National Park and Catchments methods for the ecological reserve [quantity] for Palmer, C.C. 1999. "Application of ecological research rivers). Pretoria: Water Research Commission Report to the development of a new South African water law." 1101/1/03. Journal of the North American Benthological Society 18 (1):132­142. Nkomo, S. and P. van der Zaag. 2003. "Equitable water allocation in a heavily committed international Pollard, S., and P. Walker. 2000. "Catchment catchment area: the case of the Komati Catchment." management and water supply and sanitation in the 4th WaterNet/ WARFSA Annual Symposium: Water, Sand River Catchment, South Africa: description and Science, Technology and Policy: Convergence and issues." Association for Water and Rural Development Action by All, Gaborone, Botswana. (AWARD), Bushbuckridge, South Africa. O'Keeffe, J.H., and D.A. Hughes. 2004. "Flow- Pulles Howard & de Lange Inc. 2006. "Letaba Stressor Response approach to environmental flow Catchment Reserve Determination Study." Main Report. requirement assessment." In: D.A.Hughes, ed. " Pretoria: Department of Water Affairs and Forestry. SPATSIM, An Integrating Framework for Ecological Reserve Determination and Implementation: Sudlow, B.E. 2004. "Birds as bio-indicators of the Incorporating Water Quality and Quantity ecological integrity of the Sabie River, Mpumalanga." Components of Rivers." Pretoria: Water Research M.Sc. Dissertation, Faculty of Natural Science, Rand Commission Report No. TT 245/04. Afrikaans University, Johannesburg, South Africa. Institutions and Governance Series 69 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 69 4/9/09 12:45:29 PM Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 70 4/9/09 12:45:29 PM Case Study 7. Mekong River Basin Background23 size, allowing fish to move into the wetlands to feed and breed, creating one of the most productive, diverse, and The Mekong River is a vital resource that shapes the biologically rich freshwater ecosystems in the world. social, economic, cultural and ecological functions of the six countries through which it flows--China, The river provides livelihoods to people in the basin, Myanmar, Peoples Democratic Republic of Lao (Lao primarily through fisheries and irrigation. Wild fisheries PDR), Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. With a are the major source of low-cost and high-quality total catchment area of about 795,000km2 and about protein, and a major source of employment and income 4,800km long, it is one of the largest rivers in the world. in rural areas. Wetlands that are vital for maintaining Similar to other tropical river systems, the Mekong the fisheries depend on the cycle of dry-season low River has large fluctuations in seasonal discharge. flows and wet-season floods to sustain the ecological It experiences very low flows during the dry season, systems. Rice, the major agriculture product, also yet floods extensively during the rainy season. The depends on flood recession agriculture. most important event of this wet season is the annual flooding of the Tonle Sap in Cambodia, Southeast Asia's largest natural freshwater lake (Box 7.1). During this 23This section is drawn from World Bank 2000 and World Bank period, the lake expands to five times its dry-season 2006. Box 7.1 The Tonle Sap Ecosystem Tonle Sap, a large shallow lake in the center of the Cambodian plain, is a unique lake-river system. During most of the year, the lake drains into the Mekong River through the Tonle Sap River. This flow provides a substantial part of the dry-season flow in this part of the basin and helps to control salinity intrusion in the delta and conserve mangrove forests. These dry-season flows also allow the cultivation of a second rice crop in the Mekong Delta. During the wet season, the Tonle Sap River reverses its flow and fills the lake from the Mekong River to cover an area up to 1.6 million ha. The lake basin contains extensive wetlands and flooded forests that are critical to the lower basin fishery and other biodiversity resources. The periodic flooding that carries sediment-rich water from the Mekong River to the lake, combined with the area's high biodiversity, are the main reasons for the development of this unique and rich ecosystem. The lake is an important source of fish for the Cambodian population, providing about 138,000 tons annually, while fish migration from the Tonle Sap to the Mekong River represents a crucial re-stocking source for the river. The lake and its floodplain provide a refuge for a wide variety of birds, including a number of breeding colonies of large water birds. Approximately 350,000 hectares of the lake's floodplain are cultivated. Much of the cultivated crop is rice (450,000 tons p.a.), along with mungbeans, melons, and a variety of other vegetables. Finally, Tonle Sap and the associated cultural heritage of the Angkor complex are central to Cambodia's national identity. Source: ILEC 2005. Institutions and Governance Series 71 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 71 4/9/09 12:45:29 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations The Mekong riparian countries have different economic Basin--ratified an agreement24 that created the Mekong and social development goals, some of which depend River Commission and set out provisions for improving on maintaining existing flows, while others require water resources management in the Mekong River changes to the flow regime. Cambodia plans on Basin. The agreement identifies the need to develop increased irrigation and agriculture, yet must also the basin for the benefit of all four countries while maintain existing freshwater flows to support wild protecting the environment and ecological balance. fisheries and for transit. Lao PDR intends to develop Specifically, the agreement identifies the need to utilize its enormous hydropower potential for export, yet must water resources reasonably and equitably, and to also maintain flows for transport and capture fisheries. develop guidelines to manage the river flows. The four Thailand has ambitious plans for irrigation and agro- countries are the full members of the MRC; Myanmar processing development in the poor regions within and China have observer status to the MRC and are the basin, along with river diversions to northeast active members of discussions on regional economic Thailand and an inter-basin transfer to the Chao development of the Mekong River. Phraya River, which drains central Thailand through Bangkok. Vietnam is concerned about flood protection Institutionally, the MRC comprises a Council (a maintenance of existing river flows for its agricultural ministerial level body for policy direction), the MRC areas, and maintaining flows in the dry season for rice Joint Committee (which implements the decisions of production and salinity control in the Mekong Delta the Council), and the MRC Secretariat (which provides to protect agricultural land and prevent domestic water technical and administrative capacity). In addition, supply problems. China looks to the Mekong River to each country has its own National Mekong Committee, provide hydropower to support its extensive plans for which acts as the conduit for cooperation between the economic growth. MRC Secretariat and their counterparts in the basin countries. The agreement established a comprehensive There are other important environmental issues in the institutional framework to address sustainable use of basin. Severe deforestation in Thailand was contributing the river, not only to meet the needs of the four MRC to increased flash floods in the rainy season. Increased riparian nations but also for informing and guiding abstraction for irrigation in Vietnam and the upstream future upstream developments in China. The agreement dam projects could together exacerbate salinization sets out general principles and procedures, including the of the Mekong by affecting its flow. The Mekong protection of the environment and ecological balance River's aquatic ecosystems also support a globally of the basin. It does not set specific water allocations for significant level of biodiversity. The Mekong floodplain the four countries, but requires that mutually acceptable ecosystem, which comprises an extensive network of minimum monthly natural flow during the dry season, wetlands, flooded forests, and estuaries, is dependent natural reverse flows to the Tonle Sap during the wet on the annual flood regime to provide nutrients season, and maximum daily peak flows during the flood and floodwaters to support over 1,200 fish species, season be identified and agreed on. including the giant Mekong River catfish, the largest freshwater fish in the world. Many Mekong fish species However, there is an active pursuit of national interests are highly migratory through the basin's river network, by the lower Mekong countries and the upper riparian which makes them very susceptible to changes in flow country that poses a challenge to the expectations set regimes and barriers. 24 In 1995, Lao PDR, Cambodia, Thailand and "Agreement on the Cooperation for the Sustainable Development of the Mekong River Basin Water and Related Resources." http:// Vietnam--the downstream countries in the Mekong www.mrcmekong.org/agreement_95/agreement_95.htm 72 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 72 4/9/09 12:45:30 PM Mekong River Basin forth in the agreement. China's existing dams and plans (4) acceptable minimum flows, and (5) water quality in to construct further dams25 and the Laos PDR's recently the Mekong River Basin. approved Nam Theun 2 project and further plans for hydropower dams have brought public attention to An environmental flows approach was developed and the need for coordinated development of the Mekong. applied as the technical basis for determining acceptable Active planning by Thailand to pursue water diversion minimum flows in support of the procedures enabling from the Mekong, together with Vietnam's steps toward Article 6 of the Mekong Agreement, which requires further dam construction, signal the intentions of these (1) that dry-season flows should be "not less than the countries to move ahead with development projects, acceptable minimum monthly natural flows during possibly irrespective of regional considerations. each month of the dry season," and (2) wet-season flows should "enable the acceptable natural reverse This unilateralism is partly fueled by a perception by flow of the Tonle Sap to take place." The WUP aimed some outside observers that the MRC is a regulatory to establish interim flow procedures26 by July 2004. In agency imposing rules, instead of (as stated in the addition, the project supported strengthening of various Mekong Agreement and the MRC's Strategic Plan) a institutional (regional and national) capacity for the river basin organization facilitating mutually beneficial implementation of the procedures for water utilization, and optimal development. MRC itself has not yet fully undertaking basin management functions, coordination acquired the regional credibility--or all of the expertise, with upper riparians and donor agencies, supervision organizational capacity, or analytical tools--to facilitate and monitoring of the implementation of the project, inter-country negotiations, despite good progress in the and financial and procurement management. past seven years to put basic cooperative frameworks and a decision-support system together. In addition, While the MRC had agreed in principle, under the the MRC has no authority and limited ability to WUP, to provide for flows that would sustain the enforce agreements. Compliance with basin scale plans, health of the river system, they lacked the technical including rules for the maintenance of flows, is by expertise to determine those flows. The World Bank, consensus and through recognition of mutual benefits. through the BNWPP Environmental Flows Window, and under the WUP helped develop a three-phase The Water Utilization Project work plan to a work program jointly developed and implemented by the MRC's WUP and Environment The World Bank was the implementing agency for the Program (EP) entitled Integrated Basin Flow Global Environment Facility (GEF) Water Utilization Management (IBFM). IBFM is the MRC's custom- Project (WUP), which provided assistance to the MRC made environmental flows assessment approach to to implement some provisions of the agreement (World provide information to Mekong basin countries so Bank 2000). The project is due to reach completion that more informed trade-offs can be made between in 2008. The outputs include the participatory development and social and environmental impacts. development of basin-wide hydrological modeling IBFM activities were agreed and implemented under capability, which was agreed by all member countries the guidance of a technical committee representing to allow predictions of the consequences of various each of the MRC countries. development proposals on downstream flows. The project also supports a process to negotiate and agree on five sets of procedures (initially entitled "rules") 25About 16 percent of the Mekong's flow comes from China. 26 on (1) data and information sharing, (2) water use Procedures for Maintenance of Flows on the Mainstream (PMFM)--one of five sets of procedures agreed to be drafted and monitoring, (3) prior notification and consultation, approved by the MRC Council under the WUP. Institutions and Governance Series 73 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 73 4/9/09 12:45:30 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations The three IBFM phases can be summarized as follows: World Bank (World Bank 2004) and later refined under the MRC's Basin Development Program (BDP), 1. An initial phase designed to describe the present- were used to describe a possible range in the general day flow regime of the Mekong basin, make this level of basin development from present day to the information readily available, and propose flows greatest potential level of development over the next based on these as a first step in agreeing acceptable two to three decades. The MRC hydrological models, minimum flows. developed under the WUP, were used to describe the 2. A rapid, yet comprehensive, environmental flows resulting flow regime in a manner that could be readily assessment encompassing not only the biophysical, understood by the multidisciplinary expert team. Each but also the social and economic aspects of possible flow regime was assessed in terms of its ecological, infrastructure development, based on available data social, and economic implications based on current best and information with an international recognized available knowledge. This phase was conducted as a panel of experts paired with riparian specialists. desk study supplemented with limited fieldwork, using 3. Ongoing comprehensive flows assessment based an expert panel of specialists from the lower Mekong on continuing field work, acquisition of data and basin countries and international specialists. This phase information, and broad stakeholder participation. was completed by the end of 2005. In the first phase, the hydrologic and hydraulic models, Some of its findings include: being developed under the WUP, were used to describe the present-day flow regime of the Mekong based on 1. The Tonle Sap is highly vulnerable to potential historical data. This work resulted in the preparation flow changes. The high-development scenario has of a widely distributed publication providing essential the potential to permanently flood more than 50 information on the origin and distribution of river percent of the flooded forests that circle its dry- flows in the basin (Mekong River Commission season extent, thereby drastically reducing what is Secretariat 2005). The first draft--Technical Guidelines thought to be the main food source for the fishery. for Implementation of the PMFM--was also developed 2. The expected benefits of controlling salt intrusion in under this phase. These guidelines were initially the Mekong Delta from higher HEP-generated low developed to meet the July 2004 WUP deadline for a flows in the dry season would be extremely modest flow plan for the basin, but were not approved. because the extra water flowing down the Mekong would retard draining of the Tonle Sap, and so very These flow rules were one of four rules produced little extra water would arrive in the delta. from the WUP. Three have been enacted by all four 3. The study also illustrated the shift in beneficial member states; that is, the rule on notification of the uses of the Mekong's waters by country that riparian neighbors in case of interventions in the water would occur as development progressed. Dam system, and rules on standardizing and sharing of data. building countries would increase their proportion However, the rule concerning the minimum acceptable of benefits, while those relying on the natural dry-season flow was only accepted as a nonbinding resources of the river would decrease theirs. guideline in February 2006, because of concerns that 4. The initial economic valuation of beneficial development plans would be restricted too much by uses, although considered to be only a first flows aimed to maintain the present river condition. approximation, provided indications of the magnitude and direction of change and is In a second phase in 2005, a range of development considered to be a useful basis to start the scenarios, initially generated under a study by the discussion of trade-offs between sectors and 74 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 74 4/9/09 12:45:31 PM Mekong River Basin between regions as the MRC seeks to guide future The IBFM was seen in some quarters as anti- development activities in the basin. development because it was seen to be focused on 5. Additional aspects of the flow regime should be maintaining the natural flow regime (Johnston 2007). considered beyond the two nominated in Article 6 This undermined its credibility with some development of the Mekong Agreement. They include advocates, even though it is intended to provide an (a) vegetation in protected areas in southern Lao objective and scientific framework enabling the best and northern Cambodia; (b) bank erosion between "triple bottom line" outcomes--economic, social, Vientiane and Pakse; and (c) maintenance of and environmental returns--from water resources deep pool habitats for the highly productive and development. These concerns have impeded the important Mekong fisheries. implementation of the third phase of the program to the point where a number of reports on environmental This phase was carried out over eight months using water needs have not been published and consultations available knowledge and data, and so confidence levels with stakeholder groups have not proceeded. are low. Nevertheless, it has indicated the need to combine development with protection of important ecosystems. Drivers A number of pressures drove the development of an The third IBFM phase commenced in 2006 and was environmental flows program in the Mekong River. originally scheduled for completion in 2008. It was intended as a comprehensive holistic flow assessment While all basin countries had economic development based on a targeted research program of both riverine plans that used the water of the Mekong River, ecology and socioeconomic factors. In this phase, China's ambitious plans for dams was seen by the the "Mekong method" of flow assessment, based on downstream countries to pose a particular threat to the DRIFT method (Case Study 14), is intended to their use of the river's water. The downstream countries provide higher confidence scenarios of the linked flow, were concerned that China's development plans did biophysical, social, and economic implications of not limit their use of the Mekong for development. development. The Mekong method is designed to be Vietnam and Cambodia, in particular, were concerned highly participatory. This phase of IBFM is intended to about disruptions to their fishing activities, which are include a comprehensive consultation process, although important sources of protein for their people. Lao PDR there are considerable difficulties in developing this had a particular reason to support an environmental process across the diversity of governance structures flow assessment--they were keen to establish an agreed within the basin. Phase 3 was halted in 2007 for a envelope within which they could develop dams to number of reasons, including funding limitations. It export electricity and generate foreign income. may start up again in a different form under the MRC's new Basin Development Plan. However, environmental flow concerns were not dominant issues for any of the countries, even those Scenarios developed by the MRC will be assessed for downstream within the basin. The requirement their costs and benefits over the next 20 to 30 years of development partners for environmental flow for different stakeholders. The scenarios show the assessments was the primary driver in this case. The implications of different development paths to inform World Bank and GEF supported the development decision making, but it is unlikely that a specific of flow rules through project funding. Bilateral scenario will be selected as providing the optimal assistance agencies also promoted environmental flow development path. assessments. Institutions and Governance Series 75 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 75 4/9/09 12:45:31 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations NGOs were specifically concerned that changes in the 3. Because of time pressures under the WUP, there flow regimes as a result of upstream dams would inhibit was a need to agree on flow values in a short period the functioning of the Tonle Sap ecosystem. Reductions of time without adequate understanding by all in wet-season flows could limit the quantity of reverse parties. flows into the Tonle Sap, abstractions of water for irrigation and other off-stream purposes could reduce Participation. The first two phases of the IBFM the extent of flooding, and barriers across the river were conducted as technical exercises with limited could limit the upstream migration of fish. Higher dry- stakeholder input. The third phase has been designed season flows from upstream dams would retard drainage to be participatory, with special attention to subsistence of the Tonle Sap in the dry season. users who are generally most at risk from hydrological and ecological change since they are heavily reliant on natural systems. However, comprehensive stakeholder Environmental Flow Assessment participation in a new, multinational institution such as Recognition. Environmental flows as a scientific and the MRC is complex and still in its infancy. This lack of objective basis for flows assessment is central to the experience is complicated by the different approaches of Mekong Agreement. Article 6 requires that mutually the Mekong basin countries toward stakeholder input acceptable minimum monthly natural flow along the to major decisions. For example, the most articulate main stem of the Mekong River be maintained during NGOs are found in Thailand, while there is very each month of the dry season, and that wet-season different stakeholder representation from government flows be great enough to provide for the reversal of and party structures in Lao PDR and Vietnam (World flows into the Tonle Sap. Nevertheless, the MRC was Bank 2006). Thus, stakeholder participation may be attracted to the environmental flow approach, but only expected to be implemented in quite different ways in if implemented in a broad and holistic manner to cover each of the countries. all in-stream and on-stream water uses, including those essential to protect the ecological conditions on which Consultations on environmental water requirements some populations relied. were held with government agencies, local and international NGOs, and academics during 2006 and While the concept of a holistic environmental flows further consultations were planned with provincial approach is accepted in principle by the lower Mekong agencies and local communities during 2007 (Guttman countries, there remains considerable tension and 2006). However, these latter consultations have now misunderstanding both between countries and within been delayed because of concerns within the MRC countries over its application in support of the Mekong that they may lead to undue weight being given to the Agreement. This is because: requirements of traditional water users rather than to development proposals. As a consequence, one NGO 1. The enabling, rather than the restrictive or (Dore 2006) has complained that "public engagement regulatory, aspects of the flow procedures and to this point has been practically nonexistent. guidelines as intended by the Mekong Agreement Moreover, it has been a struggle to get the reports into are not yet well-understood by all parties. the public domain." 2. The IBFM approach and the results based on environmental flows assessments were necessarily Assessment Technique and Data. IBFM occurred in three complex due to their multidisciplinary nature, and phases spanning the period of 2004­09. The first phase therefore difficult to communicate and agree in a of the IBFM was essentially a hydrological assessment. multinational context. The outcomes of this work were a publication on the 76 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 76 4/9/09 12:45:32 PM Mekong River Basin hydrology of the Basin (Mekong River Commission These three phases represent a graduated response to 2005) and the initial technical guidelines describing implementing an environmental flows approach in this hydrology in relation to the provisions of Article 6 cases where there is very limited expertise, data, and of the Mekong Agreement. These outputs provided an time. The first phase met the need for some immediate important contribution to the understanding of flows flows to provide interim protection while more detailed in the Mekong Basin and the basis for further analysis assessments were being carried out. The second phase of flow components. allowed the existing data and knowledge to be explored so that a targeted research plan could be drawn up The second phase went beyond hydrology by assessing and also helped increase local awareness and capacity the individual environmental, economic, and social for EFAs. The third phase, based on field data and benefits and costs of a number of possible future flow stakeholder objectives will, if it proceeds, provide a regimes. Due mainly to time limitations imposed by more defensible set of environmental flow assessments the WUP, it was essentially a demonstration run, and designed to provide sound information to decision was limited to a desk study using already available makers on possible trade-offs in moving forward with information supplemented by limited field work. It was infrastructure development. carried out by a multidisciplinary team of specialists in environmental flow impact assessment, hydrology, Integration. The IBFM is holistic in that it requires hydraulic and hydrodynamic modeling, geomorphology, the understanding of the interaction between water quality, botany, aquatic invertebrates, fisheries, changes in flows within the basin as a result of herpetology, ornithology, sociology, and economics. It human activities and the resulting environmental represents a major achievement in that the methodology impacts and social and economic benefits and costs. was agreed with the member countries at different levels Because of the need to integrate the analysis of of development and applied over a large river basin at an water and ecological resources, water quantity and early stage of infrastructure development. quality, and transboundary issues and concerns, the knowledge base and modeling package of the WUP The third phase, based on the DRIFT procedure, project incorporated components to allow the direct is designed to overcome both the methodological assessment of transboundary impacts on ecological, and data limitations of the second phase. The expert social, and economic resources and conditions. This panel approach will be replaced by verifiable modeled integration of environmental issues with social and predictions, and the limited data of the second phase economic development was central to the acceptability will be augmented by a specially designed, 4-year of the IBFM program. The term "environmental" biophysical and socioeconomic research plan based on in describing environmental flows as applied at the the outcomes of the first two phases. The additional MRC generated much misunderstanding. It was research includes hydraulic modeling of selected river viewed by some to be restrictive and limiting of future reaches, sediment transport modeling, studies of river development, rather than facilitating and enabling bank stability and erosion, the dynamics of deep pools, better and objective decision making about future studies of fish, the increased inundation of SiPanDone development. (a proposed Ramsar site within Lao PDR), and better information on the how the river functions and of Influential. The EFA was technically proficient and its importance in the lives of its people. Almost all of well-designed. It produced several important outputs, this work remains to be done; the development and but has fallen short of influencing the operations of calibration of the physical models within the MRC is the countries in the basin. The now widely distributed the most advanced. description of the hydrology of the basin was produced Institutions and Governance Series 77 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 77 4/9/09 12:45:32 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations under phase 1 and, under phase 2, the initial assessment sufficient wet-season flows to reverse flows into indicating there is room for future development if Tonle Sap. The subsequent analyses showed that attention was paid to the impacts of changes in flow on this was too simplistic and that a wider range downstream water users. The new Basin Development of flow components needed to be considered in Plan, which started in 2008, is based on the results of the full third phase analysis. For example, the the IBFM. establishment of a minimum dry-season flow may be too simplistic--upstream developments The third phase has been restricted in its stakeholder that increase dry-season flows may be just as consultations and production of technical reports environmentally disruptive as development that because of misunderstanding by some countries and reduce dry-season flows. individuals who believe that environmental flow rules 4. The integration of environmental issues with social will restrict development. Even if it is completed, it is and economic development was central to the not certain that the MRC has sufficient standing with acceptability of the IBFM program; an analysis the governments of the basin to lead to the results that was focused just on environmental outcomes being implemented in basin planning and management would not have been accepted. operations. 5. A broadly based environmental flows assessment Nevertheless, these EFAs have helped widen the using participatory methods in the member understanding within the MRC and, to a lesser extent, countries is highly complex and difficult to within the basin countries of the importance of communicate in a multinational context. Adequate retaining sufficient flows in the river to maintain vital time and mechanisms are required to communicate ecosystem functions. and enable understanding of the enabling aspects of the approach, and ownership and mutual benefits by all participants. Lessons 6. A phased approach can be effective in establishing 1. The term "environmental flows" can be EFAs when there is limited expertise and few data misunderstood to mean the protection of the available. Interim flow management assessments environment at the expense of development and can be developed and established while skills are human needs. This can bias development agencies developed and data needs are identified and met. and the private sector against the concept to the 7. Developing a stakeholder consultation process, point where the EFA is ineffective. including the production of information in 2. Technically thorough and scientifically credible multiple languages, in transboundary river basins EFAs are not sufficient to bring about decisions where there are major differences in government and implementation of flows for truly sustainable attitudes toward inclusion and generally a low development if there is not strong political and level of education is extremely difficult and slow. senior managerial support. This is especially true Technical studies, with only limited stakeholder for transboundary rivers, where there is a need engagement, may be a sensible interim step while a for trust among the riparian countries, along with properly inclusive study is developed. technical competence and a mandate for decision by the transboundary authority. Acknowledgments 3. The Mekong Agreement included the maintenance of just two components of the Dr. Robyn Johnston, Dr. Jackie King, and Mr. John flow regime--minimum dry-season flows and Metzger provided comments on a draft of this case study. 78 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 78 4/9/09 12:45:33 PM Mekong River Basin References and Stakeholders." Kusatsu, Japan: International Lake Environment Committee Foundation. Dore, J. 2006. "Response by IUCN to river flows and development in the Mekong River Basin." Mekong Mekong River Commission Secretariat. 2005. Update and Dialogue 9(3): 5. Australian Mekong "Overview of the hydrology of the Mekong Basin." Resource Centre, University of Sydney, Sydney, http://www.mrcmekong.org/download/free_download/ Australia. Hydrology_report_05.pdf Guttman, H. 2006. "River flows and development in World Bank. 2000. "Water Utilization Project Project the Mekong River Basin." Mekong Update and Dialogue Appraisal Document." Washington, DC: World Bank. 9(3): 2­4. Australian Mekong Resource Centre, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia. World Bank. 2004. "Modelled observations on development scenarios in the Lower Mekong basin." Johnston, R. 2007. "Integrated water resource Mekong Regional Water Resources Assistance Strategy. management in the Mekong." Paper presented http://www.mrcmekong.org/download/free_download/ at "A Greater Mekong? Poverty, Integration and LMB-Development-Scenarios.pdf Development," Australian Mekong Resource Centre, University of Sydney, September 26­27, 2007. World Bank. 2006. Mekong Water Resources Assistance Strategy: Future Directions for Water Resources ILEC. 2005. "Managing Lakes and their Basins for Management in the Mekong River Basin. Washington, Sustainable Use: A Report for Lake Basin Managers DC: World Bank. Institutions and Governance Series 79 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 79 4/9/09 12:45:33 PM Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 80 4/9/09 12:45:33 PM Case Study 8. Pangani Basin Environmental Flow Assessment Background recently, the PBWO has received technical assistance from a multiagency program (elaborated below), The Tanzanian Water Utilization and Control including for a pioneering basin-wide environmental Act (1981) proposed devolution of management flow assessment (EFA). This case study describes responsibility to the river- and lake-basin level. The the conduct of the Pangani basin EFA, which will 2002 National Water Policy (Policy Case Study 4) contribute to the water resource management plan for reinforced that requirement. Among other things, it the Pangani Basin. requires that basin-level water resource management plans be developed taking into account "land use- water-environmental linkages." The bill implementing The Case Study Description the recommendations in the policy is expected to be passed by the Tanzanian Parliament in 2008. The The Pangani River has two main tributaries; the bill confirms that water resources management plans Kikuletwa rises on the slopes of Mount Meru, and the should be developed at national, basin, catchment, Ruvu rises on the eastern slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro. and subcatchment levels and that environmental These rivers join at the Nyumba ya Mungu (NYM) concerns should be incorporated into the plans. reservoir. About 90 percent of the flow of the Pangani River originates from the slopes of the two mountains. Tanzania has nine river and lake basins. The first river Springs in the Kilimanjaro region are an additional basin office established in the early 1990s, the Pangani source of water. Some of the basin's larger springs River Basin Office, with support from NORAD was contribute as much as 20 m3/s to the NYM inflows. further strengthened during the World Bank-funded This proportion becomes vital during the dry season, River Basin Management and Smallholder Irrigation when rainfall contributions diminish. A small part of Improvement project because of the severe water the basin (about 5 percent) is transboundary, where use conflicts facing this river basin (Box 8.1). More the Lumi River flows into Kenya before returning to Box 8.1 Water Use Conflicts in the Pangani Basin When the Pangani Falls hydropower station (68MW) was nearing completion in the early 1990s, it was found that inflows into the Nyumba ya Mungu (NYM) regulating reservoir were much lower than predicted because of significantly increased uncontrolled upstream abstractions for irrigation. NORAD, the funder of the power station, asked the government to take strong action to better manage water resources in the Pangani basins. As a result, the government initiated actions to establish the Pangani Basin Water Office. Following the regulation of the river by NYM, a large portion of the largest wetland in the basin--the Kirua swamp--dried up, with loss of fisheries and recessional agriculture. Flows into the estuary have also been affected, but the environmental consequences are not known. Source: IUCN 2003. Institutions and Governance Series 81 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 81 4/9/09 12:45:34 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations Lake Jipe in Tanzania. Currently there is a dialogue Environment Facility through UNDP. IUCN has project that promotes cross border cooperation in the selected this basin as one of the 10 demonstration management of this ecosystem.27 sites for its global Water and Nature Initiative, which has the goal of integrating an ecosystem approach The largest use of water in the basin is for smallholder into catchment policies, planning, and management. irrigation, although electricity generation in the The EFA is used to explain the ecological and social lower part of the river is of national importance and outcomes of different ways of allocating water. A contributes nearly 17 percent of the total electricity particular scenario represents a chosen trade-off generated nationally. Fishing and urban and industrial between resource protection and development. The demands are important additional uses of the basin's flow regime within that scenario is the environmental water. Important wetlands in the basin include Lakes flow needed for ecosystem maintenance. To date, Jipe and Chala and the NYM reservoir, all of which eleven development scenarios have been tested. This support fisheries. The basin contains wetlands, notably information, and the tool, will be used subsequently the Kirua swamps to the south of NYM reservoir, when the Pangani Basin water resources management although little is known about their biodiversity or plan is developed to help illustrate the implications for their hydrological contributions (IUCN 2003). The the environment of different flow scenarios. Mkomazi Game Reserve, a protected area, is located within the basin. The study is using the downstream response to imposed flow transformation (DRIFT) method (see Case Principal concerns are the loss of river flow from Study 14), modified to suit the limited data, funds, uncontrolled irrigation and urban demands and the and technical capacity available in the Pangani Basin. consequent likelihood of conflict between water The team undertaking the assessment comprises staff users. In particular, these upstream water demands from a number of basin water offices, the National have reduced the quantity of water available for Environment Management Council, the Ministry of the downstream hydropower generation. Flows Water, and academics from the University of Dar es into Lake Jipe have been reduced, partly because of Salaam and other institutions. The team is led by South overabstractions for irrigation in Kenya. Fisheries in African consultants. An important objective of this the NYM reservoir are under considerable stress due effort is also to strengthen the capacity of local staff in to overfishing, and large portions of the Kirua swamp EFA in Tanzania. have dried up as a result of the regulation of water flows issuing from the NYM dam. In addition, reduced The EFA is currently well-advanced, with the river, inflows plus increased nutrient loads into Lake Jipe have estuary, and social baseline situation assessments encouraged excessive Typha growth, which restricts completed. The ecological, social, and economic fishing and access for stock watering. There has also effects of the eleven flow scenarios have also been been a drastic decline in estuary condition and fishery. completed. Tanzanian water resources and environment professionals have been trained in undertaking EFAs, Although the water resource management planning and stakeholder groups--the basin board, staff of required under the bill is yet to commence, the relevant ministries, water user groups, local government government of Tanzania is conducting a pilot EFA in officials, policy makers--have been kept informed of the Pangani Basin under the direction of the Pangani Basin Water Office and with support from the IUCN Water and Nature Initiative through a grant from the 27The dialogue is being financially supported by InWent, an government of the Netherlands, as well as the Global international NGO. 82 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 82 4/9/09 12:45:34 PM Pangani Basin Environmental Flow Assessment progress with the EFA so that they will be ready to Management Council) are supporting the study and interpret results when they are available. have provided staff to join the study team to develop skills in EFA. As a consequence of this EFA, there is The activity has a budget of about $500,000 and will growing understanding among the various water-using take between 2 and 3 years to complete (mid-2005 to sectors in the basin about environmental flows. late 2008). Although there are some transboundary aspects to flow Drivers management in the Pangani Basin, the scope of the pilot EFA is confined to the Pangani River and its main The study resulted from a conjunction of an existing tributaries within Tanzania and does not extend to the policy requirement, an impending legislative driver--the transboundary part of the basin. Water Resources bill--and the opportunity for financial and technical support by an international NGO. Participation. The NAWAPO calls for participation IUCN, as part of its Water and Nature Initiative, was of stakeholders in decision making, planning, looking to undertake a demonstration EFA study management, and implementation of water resources in a basin where there was considerable pressure on plans. The modified DRIFT methodology developed water and environmental resources, biodiversity and in the Pangani Basin is participatory. Major stakeholder ecosystem goods and services were threatened, people groups (including members and staff from the basin and institutions were willing to act, and there was a board, ministries, water user groups, local government, capacity to support the implementation of an EFA. policy makers, and the environment sector) have The government of Tanzania was keen to support the been consulted to identify their dependence on river project, given that it was seeking to build its capacity flows. They have provided input to the scenarios to for undertaking EFAs as part of its basin-level water be tested, and the services and goods they receive resources planning. from the river have been valued through a specific activity. Consultations were carried out during the There was also strong institutional support from social economic studies at two levels within five the PBWO for the EFA, given the need to include socioeconomic zones. Focus groups were conducted environmental water allocations in the proposed basin- with old people, village leaders, smallholder irrigators, scale water resource plans. and extension officers in the area. River health assessment included consultation with residents on Assessment ecological information such as fish catches and types. Recognition. Environmental flows are recognized as Subcatchment forums are being established across an important part of the river basin planning process the basin, starting with the Kikuletwa Subcatchment in both the National Water Policy and the draft Forum.28 These forums will provide opportunities for legislation. The Ministry of Water supported the on-going local participation in water resources decision development of an EFA in the Pangani Basin, even making (Pangani Basin Water Office 2007). before a water resource management plan process was commenced, in an attempt to develop an e-flows Environmental objectives. The modified DRIFT methodology for use in other Tanzanian river and lake is exploratory with the objective of assessing the basins. Both the water management agency (Ministry of Water and Irrigation) and the environment 28This work is supported with funds from the Netherlands management agency (National Environment Development Organization (SNV). Institutions and Governance Series 83 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 83 4/9/09 12:45:34 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations environmental effects of different scenarios based on to provide information for the assessment. They possible changes in both water supply (climate change include studies on macroeconomic issues, hydroelectric and catchment management) and water demand power generation modeling, climate change, hydraulic (allocation options, irrigation and hydropower modeling, fisheries in the basin, fish and invertebrate development, efficiency, population growth). By life histories, and vegetation. October 2008, eleven flow scenarios are planned to be evaluated. It is anticipated that the outputs of the EFA Integration. DRIFT was specifically designed to integrate work will strongly inform the environmental objectives environmental outcomes with their social and economic and outcomes in the final river basin plan required impacts and so is well-suited to developing countries under the upcoming Water Resources Act and guided where there is a high dependence on environmental by the national policy that assigns environmental goods and services from rivers. Each scenario assessed objectives second priority after basic human needs. during the EFA allocates a different priority to each use (such as hydropower generation, agriculture, and urban Assessment technique. The DRIFT method is holistic and industrial water). The scenarios are not limited to in that it includes many components of the aquatic environmental considerations. However, the integration ecosystem. In the case of the Pangani Basin, this of environmental water needs with other demands for means that the environmental water requirements water use in the basin can only occur properly during of rivers, lakes, swamps, and estuaries are included a planning exercise when all stakeholders can be fully in the assessment. Although the important role involved. This is best undertaken after the relevant of groundwater in the upper basin has not been legislation is passed so that the basin water office specifically included, the springs in the Kikuletwa River has a mandate to require the participation of these have been taken into consideration as they strongly institutions and communities and make decisions about affect surface water flow in that river. water allocations. The assessment relies on site-specific hydrological, Cost Effectiveness. The project has a budget of $500,000 environmental, social and economic data collected in over 3 years--a high cost if the EFA is a model of what the basin over two years. A simple hydrological systems is to be carried out in the country's other eight river model, WEAP, based on available data from gauging and lake basins. However, there are a number of factors stations and from water use, is used to predict the flow that may have inflated the cost of this assessment, such regimes under the different scenarios and the ecological as the training component to build Tanzanian capacity responses to these flows. A river and estuarine health for carrying out EFAs, and the establishment costs for assessment has been conducted, once during the dry the country's first EFA, including the development of season and once during the wet season, to provide the modified DRIFT method. Although the cost is the baseline conditions for the river. A socioeconomic substantial, EFAs are still only a small percentage of situation assessment was also undertaken to determine total development costs for a basin such as the Pangani. the type and extent of use made of the aquatic They provide a factual basis for making water allocation ecosystems by people living in the catchment. The decisions that share the basin's water equitably. application was designed and organized by recognized international experts from South Africa, who led a team The project has yet to be completed and so its of Tanzanian water managers and academics. achievement of objectives within the limits of available information, time, resources, and methodology and In addition, a number of specialized scientific reports its influence on the final river basin plans cannot be from experts outside of the team have been completed assessed yet. 84 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 84 4/9/09 12:45:35 PM Pangani Basin Environmental Flow Assessment Reporting. To date, the project has produced various conducting the EFA, legitimizing the assignment draft reports from specialist studies and reports on the of staff from both water and environment hydrological nature of the basin, basin delineation, agencies to the study team. scenario selection, river health, estuary health, and 2. There needs to be firm direction at the national socioeconomic assessments for the Pangani Basin (IUCN level when conducting donor-funded trials of 2007), as well as a summary of all these that synthesizes EFA in a developing country, to ensure that understanding of the basin. A scenario report is the locations chosen and the methods used suit completed in draft form showing the options and trade- the needs of the country. At present, there are offs involved for a range of development and climate no guidelines or regulations in place in this change scenarios. The report that provides the river and case to guide the design of these EFA projects. estuarine health assessment has been summarized in an The Pangani EFA work is expected to provide easily understood "state-of-the-basin" report. important input into the future river basin planning process and will be an important Influential. Given that the EFA study is yet to be learning model for informing future EFA work in completed, and the basin planning exercise has yet to Tanzania. be carried out, it is too early to assess whether this study 3. EFA projects in developing countries can provide has influenced the provision of water for environmental opportunities to develop technical skills for benefit or not. However, it has helped develop capacity undertaking further EFAs (including for project within Tanzania for conducting EFAs and has helped developments) within the country. The Pangani raise awareness within environmental and water EFA is specifically designed to build these skills resource agencies of the importance of providing across government institutions at the national environmental flows. and basin levels, as well as academic institutions. Staff trained under the Pangani EFA are now being They are now being utilized in two further EFA used both in the recently commenced EFA for the studies. Wami River and in the proposed EFA for the Ruaha 4. The method employed for the EFA in a data-poor Basin. However, since these recent EFAs are being developing country needs to balance the cost supported by other NGOs, they may follow different of implementation with the need to produce EFA methods and procedures. While this is not a environmental flow recommendations that reflection of this specific EFA project, it illustrates are based on data and defensible. In this case, that the influence of the project has been limited the experience of the international consultants at national coordination levels. It is important for allowed them to devise a procedure that included a critical review to be conducted of these different the major requirements while limiting the cost. methods so that Tanzania benefits by identifying a The applicability of DRIFT to less-well-funded small number of methods that are both suited to the basins is yet to be determined. different circumstances across its river and lake basins and are cost-effective for a nation that faces enormous Acknowledgments budgetary constraints. Mr. Sylvand Kamugisha, Ms. Josephine Lemoyane, Lessons Mr. Hamza Sadiki, Mr. Saidi Faraji, Mr. Washington Mutayoba, Dr. Jackie King, and Dr. Cate Brown 1. The National Water Policy and proposed provided helpful comments on a draft of this case legislation provide a firm foundation for study. Institutions and Governance Series 85 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 85 4/9/09 12:45:35 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations References Pangani Basin Water Office. 2007. "Pangani River Basin Management Project." Technical Progress Report IUCN. 2003. The Pangani River Basin: A Situation (January­December 2007). Analysis. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN. IUCN. 2007. State of the Basin Report ­ 2007. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN. 86 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 86 4/9/09 12:45:36 PM Case Study 9. Pioneer Catchment Background Case Study Description Under the 1994 Council of Australian Governments The Pioneer planning area (encompassing the Pioneer (COAG) and subsequent National Water Initiative River, Sandy Creek and Bakers Creek) is a small area, (NWI) agreements, state and federal governments of about 2,200 km2, on the northeast coast of Queensland. Australia agreed on wide-ranging reforms to Australia's Sugarcane is the predominant form of agriculture water management, including the development of (although there are other horticultural activities), as well water allocation plans for all Australian catchments as cattle grazing. Mackay is the major town. Apart from and major groundwater systems. The water allocation an estuarine wetland, there are no significant wetlands plans were to include provisions for environmental in the area. Four endangered and three `of concern' water. ecosystems, 18 rare or threatened plant taxa, some macroinvertebrate and fish species, and two mammals Under the Water Act 2000, the state of Queensland (the water mouse and the Irrawaddy dolphin) occur has drawn up a state-wide water allocation plan and within the study area. Eungella National Park occupies has adopted a 2-level approach within each of its a small part of the northwest of the Pioneer catchment, 35 catchments--a Water Resources Plan (WRP) and Mt Kinchant Conservation Park covers about specifying the objectives for meeting the social, half of the Sandy Creek catchment in the southeast environmental, and economic needs of the catchment, of the study area. There are two dams, Teemburra and and a resource operations plan (ROP) providing the Kinchant, in the planning area. Mirani, Marian, and details of how water resources will be managed from Dumbleton Rocks weirs control flows and levels within day to day to meet these objectives. A monitoring the Pioneer River. The Teemburra Dam and downstream strategy for assessing the ecological outcomes of flow regulators were completed for irirgation useage flow management has also been developed and about 3 years before the study was carried out, and the implemented. These catchment plans are subsidiary water licenses were still being taken up as the dam filled. legislation under the Water Act and so their provisions The Pioneer River is not overallocated and the study carry the force of law. area is not regarded as being under stress. As of April 2008, Queensland has completed 18 WRPs, The environmental flows study assessed the potential and has four more in preparation; it has completed environmental impacts of increased water abstractions nine ROPs and 10 are being drafted. The Pioneer WRP in the Pioneer catchment. Environmental water was approved in December 2002 and the ROP was requirements were assessed by a panel of experts approved in June 2005. through an environmental conditions study (Technical Institutions and Governance Series 87 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 87 4/9/09 12:45:36 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations Advisory Panel 2001a) and an environmental flows Although not as prominent as other drivers, public report (Technical Advisory Panel 2001b). The former opinion was one of the forces behind the inclusion of assessed the current environmental conditions, the environmental concerns into these catchment plans. likely conditions if all present water entitlements In the early 1990s, there had been widespread public were utilized, and the key knowledge gaps. Specialist dismay over the degradation of the waterways in the reports were produced on geomorphology, hydrology, southeast of Australia, especially the Snowy River habitat, water quality, aquatic vegetation, riparian and the Murray Darling Basin, leading to the COAG vegetation, macroinvertebrates, fish, other vertebrates, agreement. Ten years earlier, a federal government had estuarine, and marine environments. The flow regime been defeated largely on environmental issues and under current and full water abstraction entitlements politicians were sensitive to public opinions about the was modeled with the IQQM model (Technical environment. This public interest in environmental Advisory Panel 2001c). The environmental flows report water issues was maintained throughout the 1990s as quantifies the associations between changes in the flow shown by the public engagement in water allocation regime of the waterways and their geomorphological planning. and ecological impacts. The Water Act 2000 requires the minister to report This environmental assessment was then used to annually on the progress of implementing the plan inform the decisions in the WRP about water and the results of monitoring for ecological outcomes. allocation between environmental and various These public reports provide a driver for putting the consumptive uses. environmental water provisions into practice. Drivers Assessment Two procedural instruments--the 1994 COAG Recognition. The Water Act 2000 requires that water agreement and the Queensland Water Act 2000--acted resource plans (WRPs) include environmental flows as the primary drivers for the WRP. The NWI was by requiring the minister to consider the "duration, signed two years after the Pionner catchment WRP was frequency, size and timing of water flows necessary to completed and so was not an influence in the conduct support natural ecosystems" when developing these of the WRP. Oversight by the National Competition plans. However, the act does not state a priority to be Council (NCC), and subsequently the National Water accorded to environmental water allocations. Thus, Commission (NWC), of progress with the water the need to assess environmental flow requirements reforms, including the production of water allocation was inherently part of the preparation of the plan, plans, acted as a realistic evaluative driver for the and a technical advisory panel (TAP) was appointed Pioneer WRP. to carry out the environmental flows assessment at an early stage. Professional drivers were also important. While professional associations were not specifically involved, By the time the Pioneer Valley WRP was being water managers and aquatic scientists throughout produced, sectoral departments were accepting the Australia were concerned about the state of the concept and implementation of environmental flows country's water resources. There was a widespread and there was no significant institutional opposition. acceptance of the need to ensure that environmental The major sectoral institutions (Department of services were maintained through environmental water Primary Industry and Fisheries, Environmental delivered through water allocation plans. Protection Agency, National Parks and Wildlife Service, 88 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 88 4/9/09 12:45:37 PM Pioneer Catchment Pioneer Valley Water Board) had input into the plan Environmental Objectives.The WRP states both the formulation. general outcomes sought in the plan and eight specific environmental outcomes: Participation. The catchment planning exercise was led by the Queensland Department of Natural Resources · to maintain habitats of native plants and animals and Mines (now Department of Natural Resources in watercourses, lakes and springs and Water), and involved other relevant departments, · to maintain riparian systems and their functions stakeholders, and interest groups. The planning process influencing the riverine ecosystems was highly participatory, with submissions being sought · to maintain and favor native plants and animals from the general public when the intention to prepare associated with watercourses, lakes, and springs the plan was first announced and again on release of the and riparian zones draft WRP and ROP. A number of information sessions · to provide wet-season flow to benefit native plants and meetings were also held with various interest and animals in estuaries groups in the plan area to allow face-to-face feedback. · to maintain long-term water quality suitable for A separate Community Reference Panel, containing riverine and estuarine ecosystems environmental representatives, was formed. It reported · to maintain existing geomorphic features and directly to the minister. processes However, the work of the TAP in assessing the effect · to maintain the capability of one part of the river of different flow scenarios on the aquatic environment system to be connected to another through the was treated as a technical scientific exercise that did flow of water (a) throughout the watercourse not require stakeholder input. The scenarios were network, and (b) within the riparian zone, established by the lead department with stakeholder floodplain and watercourses, lakes and springs input through the Community Advisory Panel. The · to maintain ecosystem food chains, their balance TAP's reports were publicly available on the internet and the movement of carbon energy and were available for comment during the public Although these objectives solely deal with fresh consultation phase of the planning. The TAP's reports and estuarine surface waters, the plan also includes provide extensive detail on how environmental provisions for maintaining ecosystems that are sustainability was assessed from both fieldwork, existing groundwater-dependent and have been subsequently data and information, and from comparision with addressed separately. comparable rivers in other catchments. The reports were not independently peer reviewed. Assessment technique and data. The environmental flows assessment method used in the plan development--the A total of 226 submissions on the ROP were received "benchmark" method (Brizga and others 2002)--is by an independent referral panel formed by the chief regarded as comprising best practice. It is holistic in executive of the department. The panel considered that it considers contributions from all stages of the the submissions and made recommendations to the hydrograph and their role in sustaining the major chief executive on each submission. This process was organisms and habitats in the river system. The transparent with a public report being produced assessment covered freshwater and estuarine systems, (Department of Natural Resources and Water 2005) including river pools and wetlands, and groundwater. detailing each submission, the recommendation of the referral panel, and the chief executive's decision with The benchmark method relied upon a mixture of data reasons. collected during field assessments of the river system, Institutions and Governance Series 89 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 89 4/9/09 12:45:37 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations together with data on the responses of biota to flow procedure has subsequently been used in other conditions in comparable rivers in the region. The Queensland surface water catchments where a WRP flow regime under the two development scenarios has been drawn up. Environmental flow studies was modeled using a daily flow calibrated for the have increased in effort through the EFAP and the catchment. appointment of regional biologists. The technical advisory panel that undertook the Reporting. The Environmental Conditions Report and EFA comprised eight professionals with scientific the Environmental Flows Report, together with the backgrounds in hydrology, geomorphology, and various hydrological modeling reports, provide an extensive and speciality fields within aquatic ecology. The panel transparent base of scientifically credible information commenced work two years before the decisions were on which to make decisions. These reports are made and so was able to report in time to influence the understandable by non-technical people, with the key development of the WRP. information contained in maps and diagrams illustrating the predicted impacts of the development scenarios on The ecological outcomes of the WRP are monitored key organism groups in each river reach and estuary. through the Environmental Flows Assessment Program (EFAP). Rather than monitoring general parameters, While the ROP specifies quite clearly the the EFAP process identifies specific ecological assets in environmental water requirements--such as minimum each catchment that have critical links to flow. It then flows at different seasons of the year at strategic develops conceptual and numerical models of the links locations--the way in which these operating rules between the relevant elements of the critical flows and were derived from the environmental water study, and the ecological assets that are to be protected. the extent to which the environmental assets would be protected using these rules, is not clear. This is Integration. Only two scenarios were assessed in being addressed through EFAP and annual reporting the environmental study--(1) the current water requirements. abstraction, and (2) the level of abstraction if all licenses were utilized following the completion of the Studies are being undertaken to fill some of the key Teemburra Dam. While, on the surface, this is quite a knowledge gaps so that a better information base is limited selection of scenarios, it does represent the outer available when the plans are revised in 10 years. limits of the range of likely levels of water abstraction and so was approriate in this catchment. The scenarios The ROP requires ecological monitoring and did not include the impacts of climate change on assessments that will be used to establish whether the water resources of the catchment. The EFA was the ecological assets with critical links to flow in the restricted to assessing the environmental aspects of the catchment are protected with the environmental flow allocation rules and did not include the social and flow regime in the WRP and ROP. This monitoring economic aspects. However, the environmental, social, program was developed separately using a risk and economic aspects were considered together when assessment approach (Cottingham and others 2004). the water allocation decisions were made during the The implementation of the ROP and WRP are reported WRP preparation. annually by the minister responsible for water. The latest report (Department of Natural Resources and Cost effectiveness. The cost of conducting the EFA and Water 2007) for 2006­07 identifies five priority WRP is not available. However, there are indications ecological assets (four fish and one amphibian species) that the program is regarded as cost-effective. The for monitoring because they are at greatest risk from 90 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 90 4/9/09 12:45:37 PM Pioneer Catchment water development activities. The ecological monitoring Acknowledgments strategy will be presented for public consultation within the next year. Dr. Satish Choy of Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Water provided comments on an earlier Influence. The minister is required to take notice of draft. the study when making his final water allocation decision. In that formal respect, it was influential. References The environmental reports, including the EFA, were a significant input to the decision-making process. Brizga, S.O, A.H. Arthington, B.J. Pusey, M.J. Kennard, However, the recommended environmental flows S.J. Mackay, G.L. Werren, N.M. Craigie, and S.J. Choy. were only partly included in the WRP because of 2002. "Benchmarking, a `top-down' methodology for assessing environmental flows in Australian rivers." In: stakeholder and public feedback on future possible Environmental Flows for River Systems. An International allocations. Working Conference on Assessment and Implementation, incorporating the 4th International Ecohydraulics Symposium. Conference Proceedings. Cape Town, South Lessons Africa: Southern Waters. 1. This case study illustrates how multiple drivers Cottingham, P., G. Quinn, R. Norris, A. King, B. operate at different time scales and different levels Chessman, and C. Marshall. 2004. "Environmental of visibility. Thus, the formal procedural drivers of flows monitoring and assessment framework." intergovernment agreements and legislation were Canberra, Australia: CRC Freshwater Ecology. actually driven, in turn, by public pressure and, Department of Natural Resources and Water. 2005. to a lesser extent, by professional recognition that "Pioneer Valley Resource Operations Plan: Community action needed to be taken on environmental water Consultation Report." Brisbane, Queensland, Australia: management. Department of Natural Resources and Water. 2. The Water Act 2000 legitimized the inclusion of environmental flows in the WRP. Department of Natural Resources and Water. 2007. Water Resource Plan Annual Report. Brisbane, Australia: 3. While the EFA was a competent, focused and Department of Natural Resources and Water. well-reported activity in its own right and there was a legal requirement for the minister to consideer its Technical Advisory Panel. 2001a. "Environmental findings when drawing up the WRP and ROP, and Conditions Report." Pioneer Valley Water Resource the flow management rules in the ROP are clear, Plan. Brisbane, Australia: Department of Natural there is no easily discernible link between these Resources and Water. rules and the environmental outcomes identified in Technical Advisory Panel. 2001b. "Environmental Flow the WRP. Report." Pioneer Valley Water Resource Plan. Brisbane, 4. The EFA does not need to be participatory to Australia: Department of Natural Resources and Water. provide acceptable input to the plannning process. However, the EFA feeds into a highly participatory Technical Advisory Panel. 2001c. "Hydrology Assumptions Report." Pioneer Valley Water Resource planning and decision-making process and this Plan. Brisbane, Australia: Department of Natural may compensate for the absence of stakeholder Resources and Water. input to the EFA. 5. The monitoring and public reporting requirements of the Water Act provide drivers that promote the environmental outcomes of the WRP. Institutions and Governance Series 91 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 91 4/9/09 12:45:38 PM Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 92 4/9/09 12:45:38 PM IV. Project Case Studies Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 93 4/9/09 12:45:38 PM Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 94 4/9/09 12:45:38 PM Case Study 10. Restoration of the Northern Aral Sea Background efficiency about two to three times lower than that of a well-managed system (World Bank 2001). The Aral Sea is situated in Central Asia. Its catchment lies in seven countries--Tajikistan, Afghanistan, The annual inflow from the Amu Darya progressively Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Islamic declined from 56,000 Mm3 before 1960 to 43,000 Republic of Iran, and the Kyrgyz Republic--with Mm3 in the 1960s, to 17,000 Mm3 in the 1970s, two, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, bordering the lake. and to 4,000 Mm3 in the 1980s (International Lake The Amu Darya and the Syr Darya are the two major Environment Committee 2004). This precipitous rivers feeding into the lake. Until the 1960s, the Aral decline in inflows caused the lake to dry out. The Sea was the world's fourth largest inland water body surface area dropped to 17,000 km2 by 2003, with a with a surface area of more than 67,000 km2. The loss of volume of approximately 90 percent. Salinity lake was brackish and supported a major fishery and increased to 34 g/l, about equal to seawater. The sea functioned as a key regional transportation route. split into a number of parts with the Northern Aral Sea The extensive deltas of the two major inflowing rivers (NAS) and the Large Aral Sea (LAS) being the largest sustained diverse flora and fauna, irrigated agriculture, components. A channel has intermittently connected animal husbandry, hunting and trapping, fishing the two with flow from the NAS to the LAS. Inflows and harvesting of reeds. The deltas and wetlands also from the Syr Darya reduced salinity in the NAS to 19 provided extremely important foraging and breeding g/l by 1997. The LAS, however, has continued to shrink habitat for birds, with the basin being located at the and salinity has continued to rise above 40 g/l, with convergence of the Central Asian, Indian, and East the sea becoming almost biologically dead except in the African flyways for north-south migratory species. immediate delta area of the Amu Darya. During the Soviet era, the Amu Darya and Syr The desiccation of the Aral Sea has brought significant Darya were progressively developed for hydropower environmental, economic, and social problems (World and irrigation. Water withdrawals almost doubled Bank 2001, Global Environment Facility 1998). The between 1960 and 2000, with irrigation accounting environmental problems include: for 92 percent of the water use in the basin.29 These agricultural developments stabilized food production · shrinkage and salinization of the lake has led to a in the region and created employment and incomes loss of fish and other aquatic species, with the 24 for some 8 million people who settled in the new endemic fish species all becoming extinct area. The water control and irrigation infrastructure still constitutes a major economic asset of the region. 29 However, the majority of the irrigation and hydraulic Scientific Information Center, Inter-State Coordination Water Commission 2002. Quoted in International Lake Environment infrastructure is very inefficient, with on-farm water use Committee, 2004. Institutions and Governance Series 95 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 95 4/9/09 12:45:39 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations · health and environmental damage from wind- upstream irrigation areas. The only realistic option is blown salt and sediment from the lake bed into the to increase inflows using a mix of infrastructure and surrounding district improved operations and use these flows to restore · soil erosion in the upper basin, which threatens the potentially productive or ecologically important parts of operation of the irrigation infrastructure the Aral Sea. · loss of wetlands and their biodiversity in the deltas of the inflowing rivers because of greatly reduced The World Bank and GEF Projects flows, the virtual elimination of spring floods by the river operations, and the lowering of the NAS UNEP, the basin countries, and the World Bank level, which has resulted in river bed erosion and developed the Aral Sea Basin Program (ASBP) lowering of river water levels, making diversions to support the ICWC. The GEF's Aral Sea Basin of water for filling of inland delta lakes difficult or Program Water and Environmental Management even impossible Project (1998­2003) and the $64.5 million World · declining groundwater levels because of the Bank-supported Syr Darya Control and Northern falling Aral Sea affecting groundwater dependent Aral Sea Phase-I Project (approved May 2001) ecosystems contributed to the ASBP. Because of the difficulty of developing coordinated programs with basin countries, The legal basis for cooperation between the countries the World Bank and other donors have funded a is embryonic, with no agreement for cost sharing number of independent projects to rehabilitate of operations and capital and no agreement for irrigation infrastructure within the Aral Sea Basin and information exchange. The Interstate Commission for thereby increase safety for downstream populations, Water Coordination (ICWC) was formed following improve irrigation efficiencies, and provide for better the breakup of the Soviet Union to manage annual environmental outcomes within the irrigation districts allocation and scheduling of water releases throughout and in downstream areas. This case study focuses on the the Aral Sea Basin. However, the member countries GEF-funded Water and Environmental Management do not always abide by the decisions of the ICWC. It Project and the World Bank-funded Syr Darya Control is very difficult to operate the basin coherently under and Northern Aral Sea Project. these circumstances and there are regular disagreements on water sharing. There have been tensions between The Water and Environmental Management Project countries in the Syr Darya Basin over the management had the objectives of (a) stabilizing the environment; of the water stored in the Toktogul reservoir, the largest (b) rehabilitating the disaster zone around the sea; storage in the basin. Kazakhstan and Uzebekistan give (c) improving the management of international waters; priority to irrigation, while the Kyrgyz Republic and and (d) building the capacity of regional institutions. Tajikistan give priority to electric power generation. The project was completed in 2003 (World Bank It is technically and politically impossible to revive the 2004). Analyses conducted under the project showed Aral Sea to its former extent. Even if the full flow of that additional water of suitable quality can be made the Amu Darya and Syr Darya were allocated to the available to restore the deltas of the Amu and Syr Aral Sea, it would take many decades to refill because Darya by improving water management throughout of the shallowness of the sea and its high evaporation the basin. In addition, Lake Sudoche (a 40,000 hectare rate. Politically it was not possible to divert significant delta lake on the border of the LAS), which had quantities of water to the restoration of the sea because become desiccated due to poor water management, of the large number of people now dependent on the was restored through engineering works that diverted 96 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 96 4/9/09 12:45:39 PM Restoration of the Northern Aral Sea a mix of saline drainage water and fresh river water the NAS from the highly saline LAS, together with to the lake. The restoration appears to have fully rehabilitation of hydraulic infrastructure and improved met its biodiversity and social/economic targets, operations of upstream dams. The project design with the wetland attracting various birds, including included a series of subprojects to increase freshwater some endangered species. Economic benefits were inflows by 1,300 Mm3 to the Syr Darya delta wetlands also gained as the local population is able to use and lakes through the construction and rehabilitation the restored area for fishing, hunting, and grazing. of infrastructure along the Syr Darya; in fact, the The success of the Lake Sudoche restoration led the actual inflows turned out to be much larger because government of Uzbekistan to continue the program of excess water that was previously diverted to the desert wetland restoration with three new projects in the Amu was retained and passed on to the Aral Sea, and winter Darya delta. flows that had previously caused flooding were able to be retained within the channel and delivered to the However, the project was overly ambitious in other Sea.30 areas where its objectives were not consistent with its modest financing. Thus, the project identified a target The dyke was completed in August 2005. It was of a 15 percent reduction in the water withdrawn originally predicted that it would take 5 to 10 years to for irrigation as one of its targets. Such a significant fill the NAS. Instead, the NAS's level has risen more reduction in water use would require a major swiftly than expected to 38m, from a low of less than investment in rehabilitation of irrigation and drainage 30m, because of the additional water. The additional systems as well as capacity building, public awareness, inflows eliminated the flooding that used to occur and technical assistance, well beyond the $9.1million along the Syr Darya and contributed to improved budget of this project. relations between Kazakhstan and the Kyrgyz Republic. The returning waters have allowed fishing to expand The subsequent World Bank-funded Syr Darya in the lake, including an export-oriented commercial Control and Northern Aral Sea Project provided a fishery. The new and rehabilitated infrastructure along $64.5million loan to the Republic of Kazakhstan, with the Syr Darya has also improved irrigation of riparian the objectives of: farmlands and partially restored lakes in the Syr Darya delta, which are important for fishing. · sustaining and increasing agriculture (including livestock) and fish production in the Syr Darya Overall, the restoration of the NAS has proven to be Basin in Kazakhstan remarkably successful in spite of the initial widespread · securing the existence of the NAS and improving publicity about the impossibility of restoring this the ecological/environmental conditions in the heavily degraded system. The partial recovery of the delta and around NAS, leading to improved ecosystem has received extensive press coverage.31 human and health and conservation of biodiversity The first objective is being achieved through 30An ice cap formed on the Syr Darya during winter and, when it rehabilitation of the deteriorating hydraulic broke because of fluctuations in flow rates, formed large blocks of infrastructure within the basin and providing reliable ice that blocked the channel and caused lateral flooding. Once the upstream dams were rehabilitated, they could be operated to allow water to irrigated agriculture; the second is to be the ice cap to be formed high enough to permit large volumes to achieved by creating a permanent dike across the flow at a continuous rate so that the ice cap did not break up. 31 Berg Strait between the NAS and the LAS to capture "As a Sea Rises, So Do Hopes for Fish, Jobs and Riches," New York Times, April 6, 2006; "Kazakhs get Loan to Save Aral Sea," inflows through the Syr Darya Delta and isolate BBC, April 9, 2007. Institutions and Governance Series 97 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 97 4/9/09 12:45:40 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations Drivers increased flows were regarded as simply an improved There had been numerous ineffective investigations water allocation. and studies prior to the Syr Darya Control and Participation. The GEF-funded Water and Northern Aral Sea project. The main driver for Environmental Management Project was a this project came from the determination of the transboundary project requiring the participation of local populations to restore their livelihoods and five governments. However, there were difficulties in the support of the government of the Republic of getting adequate cooperation between the regional Kazakhstan. governments and, in some instances, between Widespread publicity, led by international NGOs, governments and donor partners. The national about the deterioration of the Aral Sea raised awareness components of the project, including the restoration of of the plight of the Aral Sea. However, the NGOs did Lake Sudoche, were more successful partly because they little to actually bring about the restoration. did not require cooperation between governments. The projects triggered a number of World Bank The ICR for the GEF-funded project noted that the safeguard policies, including the EA policy (OP/ project design did not place much emphasis on public BP4.01). However, in this case these safeguard participation, except in the components that sponsored policies did not act as drivers for the development of a competition for innovative water savings proposals environmental flows because the restoration of these from farmers, and attempted to change water users' environmentally degraded areas were already primary behaviors by creating public awareness of the urgent objectives for the projects. need to conserve water. However, neither component worked well. The first had such high overhead costs that it was terminated early, and the second was ineffective Assessment because the major causes of inefficient water use Recognition. The need for flows to maintain the Aral Sea were dilapidated infrastructure and poor government ecosystem and all the productive activities that depended policies. Consequently, the second component was on it was not recognized by the Soviet government at the scaled down and the level of public involvement was time the upstream developments were being undertaken. reduced to be more commensurate with the capacities The potential problems were recognized by some of people who had little experience of individual scientists, but their views were ignored. contributions to national issues. However, after the breakup of the Soviet Union, The Syr Darya Control and Northern Aral Sea the government of the Republic of Kazakhstan was project included a component to increase the fully aware of the benefits of restoring the NAS. The capacity of national authorities and agencies in river environmental flows component of most projects is basin management, including promotion of public designed to mitigate some deleterious aspect of the participation in water allocation and management main objective of the project. However, this project was process in the Kazakhstan part of the Basin through quite different. Its main objective was to use increased a Basin Consultative Group. The group was intended downstream flows to restore the NAS ecosystem. to ensure stakeholder participation in water allocation However, the increased flows were not labeled as decisions affecting the major water users, such as environmental flows because there was such a close irrigation command areas, fresh water lakes, hayfields connection between restoring the downstream aquatic and the NAS. In fact, the group was not formed environment and restoring people's livelihoods that the because the authorities were able to undertake the 98 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 98 4/9/09 12:45:40 PM Restoration of the Northern Aral Sea necessary consultations without the need of a special contribute to biodiversity conservation" (ARCADIS committee. Euroconsult 2000). The project itself was developed through extensive The environmental assessment recommended that a consultation, meetings, and workshops with monitoring program be instituted both during project government institutions. Consultations were also implementation and subsequently to track the recovery carried out with civil society and stakeholders at progress. The program would monitor primarily local and regional levels, with sector institutions, hydrological indicators and some social/economic environmental representatives, media, local and indicators. Impacts on biodiversity and fisheries catches international NGOs, and with representatives of are the recommended biological indicators. However, international organizations such as UNDP. The PAD the newly formed Kazakhstan Ministry of Natural comments that there was very strong ownership of the Resources and Environmental Protection, which project at the local level and that the local population would be responsible for monitoring and enforcement became frustrated at what they saw as too much activities, was recognized to be weak and to lack the consultation and too little action on the ground. capacity to monitor project activities. A $500,000 management and training program has been included Assessment. In most projects, environmental flows are in the project to help improve skills within the ministry. included to mitigate the deleterious downstream effects of a development proposal. This project is different in Integration. The environmental assessment predicted that the return of flows to the Aral Sea was one of the social and economic improvements for local prime project objectives because of the environmental, populations following the recovery of some of the NAS social, and economic benefits from restoring the and delta ecosystems. However, these benefits were sea. EFA techniques, which are designed to identify not analyzed in depth and were not closely integrated environmental flow requirements in the face of other into the environmental assessment. In spite of this lack proposed uses of the water, were not directly relevant of analysis of the integration between the biophysical for this project. Even so, the EIA that was undertaken as outcomes and the social and economic benefits, the part of project preparation predicted the likely changes social and economic benefits were qualitatively clear in lake level (an additional average inflow of 1,300 and the lack of detailed analysis did not constitute a Mm3/year and a water level between 39.2 and 42.0 m significant deficiency. asl) and effects on fish species composition. It predicted that the NAS fisheries production will be dominated by Cost effectiveness. While the recovery of the NAS has species that at present are largely confined to delta lakes occurred faster than anticipated and there have already and the Syr Darya, provided that the fish could migrate been some environmental and economic benefits, it is from the NAS to the spawning grounds in the delta and too early to assess the cost effectiveness of the project. its wetlands and lakes. Consequently, the regulatory structures between the NAS and the spawning grounds Influential. The successful restoration of Lake Sudoche were revised to allow for fish passage. The effects on has been influential in encouraging the government other environmental components were only predicted of Uzbekistan to extend the number of lakes to be in general terms "The effects on biodiversity in the NAS rehabilitated. The rehabilitation of the NAS has will be mainly positive: desalinization, restoration of contributed to improved water sharing between flora and habitat for resident and migratory birds and Kazakhstan and the Kyrgyz Republic, and the discharge other species in combination with the restoration of of the winter flows from the dams in the headwaters of the NAS as a staging area for migrating birds, will all the Syr Darya to the Aral Sea has overcome the tensions Institutions and Governance Series 99 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 99 4/9/09 12:45:41 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations that used to arise from flooding within Kazakhstan 4. The widespread publicity generated by when the Syr Darya became blocked with ice. The rapid international NGOs turned the problems of the success of the project has also contributed to an increase Aral Sea into an international cause. However, it in confidence within Kazakhstan to tackle other was the determination of the local population, environmental degradation. supported by the government of Kazakhstan and the World Bank's funding, that really drove the Lessons rehabilitation. 1. The NAS was restored through a mixture of Acknowledgments infrastructure (the Berg Strait dike); improved operations (avoiding ice blockages and spillage to Masood Ahmad of the World Bank reviewed this case the desert); and rehabilitation of dam operating study. structures. With a project of this size it is not possible to provide the volumes of water needed References without combining engineering with improved ARCADIS Euroconsult. 2000. "Syr Darya Control and efficiency of water use. Northern Aral Sea Project: Environmental Assessment." 2. Success breeds confidence. The successful Executive Summary. Arnhem, the Netherlands: restoration of Lake Sudoche and the clear Euroconsult. benefits to the local people have encouraged the government of Uzbekistan to unilaterally Global Environment Facility. 1998. "Aral Sea Basin undertake additional lake restoration projects. Program (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan)." Washington, DC: The partial, but rapid, restoration of the NAS has Global Environment Facility. also encouraged the government of Kazakhstan to consider other restoration. International Lake Environment Committee. 2004. 3. The environmental restoration of Lake Sudoche "Lake Basin Management Initiative. Experience and and the NAS has brought about obvious social Lessons Learned." Brief No 1. Aral Sea. Kusatsu, Japan: International Lake Environment Committee. and economic benefits and so received strong support from local populations. The impact from World Bank. 2001. "Syr Darya Control and Northern the degradation of these resources was so profound Aral Sea Phase ­ I Project." Project Appraisal that there was no dispute about restoring the Document. Washington, DC: World Bank. aquatic environment--in fact, the flows were World Bank. 2004. "Implementation Completion regarded as economic/social flows rather than Report: Water and Environmental Management environmental flows. Project." Washington, DC: World Bank. 100 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 100 4/9/09 12:45:41 PM Case Study 11. Berg Water Project Background Heritage Site due to its incredible diversity and levels of endemism. Comprising only 6 percent of the area of The Berg Water Project (BWP) was the first large southern Africa, it has more than 9,000 plant species, water resources infrastructure development project in 70 percent of which are endemic, accounting for half South Africa to be designed, constructed, and operated the species on the subcontinent and almost one in five within the framework of the National Water Act of all plant species in Africa. This makes it the smallest (No. 36, 1998), requiring that water be provided for yet most diverse of the world's six plant kingdoms. human needs and an ecological reserve (Case Study Similar levels of endemism are observed among other 3), and in accordance with the guidelines of the World groups. The major vegetation types found in the area Commission on Dams. It represents the culmination of the Berg Water Project are well-represented within of a detailed options analysis carried out by the the Cape Floral Kingdom and their status is classified as Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) least threatened. over a 14-year period to identify appropriate measures to address the water requirements of the Western Cape The Berg River Dam watershed is not pristine and has of South Africa. Impounded on July 26, 2007, it is the been intensively utilized in historical and prehistorical first bulk water resource development project directly periods. Since the 19th century, the area was used linked to water demand management in South Africa. for stock farming, while in prehistorical periods the indigenous Khoekhoe used the valley for grazing. In The Berg River32is the only major river within the Berg 1903, a state pine forest was established and covered Water Management Area (Berg-WMA), an area of 13 the entire valley. In addition to the forestry and a trout 000 km2 in the southwestern corner of South Africa that farm located within the dam basin area, there was also supports a strong and diversified economy. The gross economic production of the Berg WMA was R63,8 bn in 1997, 12 billion of which came from the Berg River 32The Berg River may be divided into a number of major catchment (2.5 percent of RSA's GDP). Economic geomorphological zones: (1) Source Zone, including cliff waterfalls activities are dominated by industrial and other and sponges; (2) Mountain Headwater Stream, with steep, rocky activities in the Cape Town Metropolitan Area, intensive slopes; (3) Mountain Stream, with fast-flowing streams with a rapid fall; (4) Transitional River, which is an intermediate zone vineyards and fruit growing under sophisticated between mountain stream and upper foothill river; (5) Upper irrigation in mountain valley's and foothills, and dryland Foothill River, where the riverbed is less steep, more stable, and comprises mixed cobble and instream vegetation; (6) Lower wheat cultivation in the lower reaches. Foothill River, which is similar to the upper foothill river, but has significantly more sedimentation comprising mainly quartzitic The Berg-WMA is situated within the Cape Floral sand; (7) Lowland River, where the river now adopts a shallow Kingdom, which covers an area of approximately gradient with cobbled runs being replaced with a soft-bottomed system made up of sand and/or clay. The Berg Water Project is 90,000 km2. It was recognized in 2004 as a World located within the source and upper foothill river zones. Institutions and Governance Series 101 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 101 4/9/09 12:45:42 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations water resource infrastructure within the area prior to Upper Berg River. The Berg River estuary is the the construction of the Berg River Dam. Thus the area second most important in South Africa in terms of has been extensively transformed. At the time of the national conservation importance, providing important implementation of the Berg Water Project, the area was recreational and tourism opportunities. entirely and densely covered in alien vegetation. Despite the area being exposed to historically intensive The Berg Water Project land use, the conservation status of the quaternary The BWP is considered essential if the Greater Cape catchment is rated as very high. The conservation value Metropolitan area continues to experience strong was based on the underpinning ecosystem processes and economic and population growth and predicted water the likely presence of particular bird and amphibian shortages are to be avoided. The yield of all existing species, but particularly fish species, which is a priority sources within the Western Cape Water Supply System conservation group for this area. Of the 19 indigenous (WCWSS) is 475 Mm3/a. The ZAR1.55 billion BWP fish species in the Cape, 16 are endemic and four (including the Dam), located in the upper reaches of are historically found in the Berg River catchment. the Berg River, is designed to capture winter rainfall The Berg-Breede White Fish (Barbus andrewi) is now and store it for supply to the City of Cape Town extinct in the catchment, while the Berg River redfin (CCT) during the dry summer months, augmenting (Pseudobarbus burgi) is critically endangered, and the the available yield in the WCWS by 81 Mm3 (18 Cape galaxias (Galaxias zebratus) and Cape kurper percent) to 523 Mm3/a. Total unrestricted water use (Sandelia capensis) are near threatened. The upper in the 2005/06 year was estimated to be 465 Mm3/a reaches of the Berg River along with a limited number and predicted to grow to 560 Mm3/a by 2011 under a of tributaries are the last refuge areas where indigenous high-growth scenario. The catchment above the Berg fish are still relatively abundant. River dam site, although constituting only 7 percent of the WMA, contributes 14 percent of the runoff because An assessment of the state of the river (River Health of the high rainfall in the upper mountainous area of Program 2004) shows that, although the river is the WMA. The dam's capacity is equivalent to the mean moderately modified (Table 11.1), the overall condition annual runoff. is "good".Since the 1980s, cumulative impacts associated with encroachment of alien vegetation, The BWP includes the Berg River Dam, a 2.5 urban and agricultural development, and a number km pipeline from the dam to the Dasbos inlet, of diversion weirs have resulted in deteriorating allowing water to be pumped from the dam into the water quality, and elevated summer flows as a result Riviersonderend Tunnel System, and the supplement of water transferred from the Breede River into the scheme. Water will be pumped either directly into the Table 11.1 Condition Ratings for the Berg River CONDITION RATING INDEX Above Dam Below Dam Jim Fouche Paarl Hermon Lower Berg Habitat integrity Natural to Fair Good to Poor Fair Poor to Poor Fair to Poor Fair to Poor In-stream geomorphology Natural Good Fair Poor Fair Fair Riparian vegetation Poor Poor Poor Poor Fair Poor Invertebrates Natural Good Fair Poor Fair Fair Fish Good Fair Fair Poor Poor Poor Water quality Natural Good Good Poor Fair Fair Desired health (overall) Natural Good Fair Fair Fair Fair Source: River Health Program 2004. 102 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 102 4/9/09 12:45:42 PM Berg Water Project Riviersonderend Tunnel System where it can be gravity "damage control" instream flow requirements33 (IFR), fed to the City of Cape Town or pumped into the that any changes in the magnitude of the IFR require Theewaterskloof Dam in the Breede River catchment the authorization from the DEAT and the DEAT's for storage. The dam's design also includes a 63m high approval of the detailed water release patterns. Further multilevel inlet tower that allows for environmental provisions were included in the RoD to accommodate releases of up to 200m3/s to mimic floods and the any subsequent revisions of the reserve based on the management of downstream water quality. The streams findings of the monitoring program. and runoff flowing into the Berg River Dam provide a sustained yield of approximately 56 Mm3/a. The In April 2002, the cabinet approved the supplement scheme will increase this yield from 56 to 81 implementation of BWP. The original proposal had Mm3/a through a weir, 4ha balancing dam, and pump been withheld while the national government assessed station that allows pumping of a portion of the winter water conservation, demand management, and flows to the Berg River Dam via a 10km pipeline. alternative supply options. The decision to augment supply was conditional upon the CCT reducing the The process of identifying appropriate measures to demand for water by 20 percent by the year 2020. address the water requirements of the Western Cape The BWP Raw Water Supply Agreement between the of South Africa started in 1989 when the DWAF DWAF and the CCT specifically commits the CCT to initiated the Western Cape Systems Analysis (WCSA) achieving the "low water demand curve." to determine future needs, water resources availability, and appropriate measures to address water shortages. In response, the CCT has been implementing a The options identified underwent public consultation Comprehensive Water Conservation and Water in 1996 from which 12 additional schemes were Demand Management Programme. This includes the identified for further investigation. One of the reuse of effluent from wastewater treatment works, options considered was the development of the Berg water conservation and demand management measures, River Dam (then called Skuifraam Dam) and the restructuring of water tariffs, and bans and restrictions "supplement scheme." on nonessential water uses. As part of the demand measures, the TCTA awarded a ZAR21 million, eight- Environmental impact reports were completed for year contract to the Working for Water Programme the Berg River Dam in November, 1996, and for the to facilitate the removal of alien vegetation from the supplement scheme in October, 1997. These included Berg River catchments. This is expected to significantly a preliminary reserve determination for the river increase the amount of runoff available for storage downstream of the dam but not for the estuary. On in the dam. In 2005/6, the targets established by the the basis of these submissions, a Record of Decision DWAF in terms of the "low water demand curve" was issued by the Department of Environmental were exceeded by 13 percent. Continued success in Affairs and Tourism in May 1999 with a seven-year implementing water demand measures could delay any authorization period. The RoD provides authorization further interventions until 2015. subject to three sets of conditions. These include six general conditions, seven relating to the environmental management plan (EMP), and six relating specifically to 33The term instream flow requirement (IFR) is commonly the ecological reserve, defined in the RoD in accordance used in South Africa, while other international terms such as with the National Water Act (Act No. 36, 1998). environmental flow and ecological flow are also used. All these This included a requirement that the design did not terms are used synonymously and refer to the collective amount of water needed to sustain healthy, natural ecosystems based on foreclose the option of releasing floods in excess of the scientific studies. Institutions and Governance Series 103 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 103 4/9/09 12:45:43 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations In May 2002, the Minister of Water Affairs and and change of natural habitat and biota have occurred, Forestry directed the Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority but where the basic ecosystem functions are still (TCTA) to fund and implement the BWP as an predominantly unchanged. Preliminary determination implementing agency of the DWAF (Box 11.1). of the reserve was set at 31.1 percent of the mean annual runoff of 141.683 Mm3. A comprehensive The issue of environmental flows was addressed determination of the reserve, including that for the at various stages during design, construction, and estuary, is expected following finalization of the three- operation of the dam. Preliminary assessments of the year Berg River monitoring program. environmental flow requirements were carried out in 1992/93 as part of prefeasibility investigations for the Skuifraam Dam and again in 1996 as part of the Drivers feasibility studies. These initial approaches were based Professional drivers were important in both the early on early versions of the building block method (Case and later stages of planning for the Skuifraam Dam. Study 7) and relied on specialist studies to explore the During the late 1980s and early 1990s, there had impact of flow reductions on the riverine environment. been an increasing recognition among water resource A series of workshops and specialist meetings during planners and ecologists of the need for scientifically the following decade focused on more detailed specialist based approaches to determining environmental flows inputs and the assessment of different scenarios (Case Study 4) and this had led to the initial estimates undertaken by a range of stakeholders. of instream flow requirements for the upper Berg River. This process resulted in the recommendation of a The political transition in South Africa provided a reserve determination based on a high confidence, unique opportunity for translation of these professional preliminary determination for the Upper Berg. The drivers into legislative provisions that provided stronger preliminary ecological category was set as category C. protection for aquatic ecosystems. The 1998 National This represents a moderately modified state where a loss Water Act gave legal standing and legitimacy to the Box 11.1 The Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority (TCTA) The TCTA is a public entity established in October 1986, with the signing of the Treaty between Lesotho and South Africa, to facilitate ancillary developments in South Africa associated with the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP). TCTA was legislatively incorporated into the National Water Act in 1998 as a body established under Section 103(2) to implement international agreements in respect of the management and development of water resources shared with neighboring countries, and on regional cooperation over water resources. Under the act, the Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry can allocate additional functions insofar as these do not compromise the ability to discharge primary functions, including, but not limited to, management services, financial services, training and other support services. A Revised Establishment Notice published in March 2000 amended the TCTA's mandate to assume responsibility for all additional projects in the water sector. In May 2002, TCTA was directed in terms of Section 103(2) of the National Water Act to fund and implement BWP as the agent for the DWAF. In 2004, TCTA was further directed to fund and implement the ZAR2.5 billion Vaal Pipeline Project to meet the rising water demands of Eskom and Sasol in the Mpumalanga Highveld region. In August 2005, DWAF presented to the Parliament Water and Forestry Portfolio Committee the business case for the creation of an agency for the management and development of national water resource infrastructure. This may lead to the merger of TCTA with the DWAF's National Water Resource Infrastructure Branch to form the National Water Resource Infrastructure Agency. The NWRIA is intended to have responsibility for the operations and maintenance of South Africa's major national dams and water transfer schemes and the implementation and funding of social and economic bulk water infrastructure 104 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 104 4/9/09 12:45:44 PM Berg Water Project professional judgment and methodologies developed Downstream irrigators have historically held riparian over the previous decade. The legal framework along water rights and have had to adapt to the changing with progressive leadership was central to maintaining legal framework governing water use and primacy of the momentum and ensuring compliance with the ecological reserve. There have also been significant environmental water requirements during the design, challenges for DWAF to reorient itself in line with the construction, and operation. rights-based approach that recognizes the reserve as a primary right (the only right in law), while continuing The global significance of the Cape Floral Region to ensure the development of water resources in support has also been an important indirect driver in the of social and economic growth. The initial motivations development agenda of the Western Cape Region. from the ecologists for the proposed peak flood flows Although the development of the Berg River dam did were deemed by the DWAF to be not technically not directly threaten the Floral Region, the public feasible. Similarly, the ecologists have been forced to awareness of the importance of good environmental refine the methodologies for determining environmental management produced an enabling environment for flows. This is acknowledged through the adoption conservation-oriented measures such as those contained of scenario-based approaches that allow weighted within the environmental flow assessments. Government consideration of the options to address sometimes authorities, local and international conservation competing social needs and economic demands. agencies, water resource professionals, and local NGOs have invested significant efforts into providing a solid Participation. Arrival at the decision to proceed with scientific basis that highlights the importance of the the BWP, and the project itself, has been through a Cape region, including its rivers and estuaries, and detailed consultative process. This was initiated through the benefits that these have at the community level the WCSA, and the BWP has since established a through tourism and natural-resource-based activities. number of participatory mechanisms to include a wide Recognition of these important linkages has increased range of stakeholders. An Environmental Monitoring public awareness, both locally and internationally, on Committee (EMC) was established to encourage the need to ensure environmentally sustainable solutions participative monitoring of the conditions specified to development needs and an enabling framework for in the RoD and the performance and implementation environmental flows. of the EMP. The EMC includes representatives from the DWAF, TCTA, civil society, water users, local Assessment communities, and consultants for the project. Recognition. Although there was broad recognition Broad-based participation in the reserve determination of the need to provide water for downstream itself was limited. The initial process of determining the environments, agreeing on the reserve has not been reserve through the BBM-based approach focused only easy. Using a scenario-based approach to facilitate on water for the environment and involved specialist discussion among principal stakeholders, the inputs facilitated through a series of workshops. preliminary reserve reflects a negotiated agreement These were limited to professionals within the DWAF, among the principal stakeholders on the allocation of water resource engineers, and ecologists. However, as water to ensure sustainable allocation among competing methodologies for reserve determination developed demands. This agreement included reductions in and scenario-based approaches were adopted, these the recommended peak flood flows and increases in came to reflect negotiated agreements among a larger summer low flows intended to facilitate a compromise number of stakeholders on the allocation of water. This among prior established uses. wider participation was also facilitated by the increased Institutions and Governance Series 105 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 105 4/9/09 12:45:44 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations recognition of the reserve following the provisions of conservation importance. While the recommended flow the act and the explicit requirement to address the regime was similar to that previously recommended, social component within the same planning framework. it proposed slightly higher flood requirements, with a medium-sized flood of 70­100 m3/s in June and a larger The increased participation of a range of diverse release of 100­220 m3/s between July and September. stakeholders has often been complicated by the exclusionary nature of professional dialogue. Engineers Subsequent hydrological yield analyses identified that and ecologists have had to adapt to different terminology the IFR could not be met without affecting the yield and approaches, accept differences in the resolution of and relative costs of the water supplied from the scheme. their respective science disciplines, and reach agreement Consequently, scenario meetings were held to compare on the principles encapsulated in the provisions of the flow regimes more suited to off-stream users with the legislation. This process has often been facilitated by recommended IFR and assess the affects of these on one, or a small number of, professionals who are vital to the river ecosystem. A "damage control" scenario was bridging the disciplinary divide and facilitating a mutual adopted where environmental flows were reduced from understanding. For example, ecological arguments for the recommended IFR in a way that was thought to flood flows to maintain important ecosystem processes have the least impact on the river ecosystem. Changes within the system were more successful once translated included a reduction in the volume of the recommended into more engineering orientated, sediment transport flood flows and an increase in the frequency and models and associated with sedimentation and the duration of summer irrigation releases that were up to frequency and magnitude of flood risks. four times the capping flows, resulting in permanently elevated flow conditions in the Berg River. Assessment Technique and Scientific Data. Preliminary determination of the ecological reserve was built on Two additional workshops were convened in 1998 and a number of earlier estimates of environmental water 2001 to assess the design criteria for the outlet works requirements. The method for determining the IFRs after it was acknowledged that additional work was in the early 1990s was based on an early version required to deepen the scientific understanding of the of the building block methodology that was under relationship between ecological processes and a particular development in South Africa at that time (Case Study flow magnitude or frequency. Concerns had also been 6). The recommended flow regime from that assessment raised on the potential impact of the recommended included three freshets per annum and four controlled flood releases (200m3/s) on the project costs and dam floods. However, the IFR was only determined for one safety. The Record of Decision specifically required that "critical reach" and lacked hydraulic data that had been the design be such that it did not foreclose the option of specifically designed to help determine the IFR. releasing floods in excess of the "damage control" IFR flood regime, and so this information was necessary to A workshop was undertaken at the feasibility stage in inform the design of the dam. Consequently, provisions 1996 to reassess and/or refine the recommended IFRs. were included in the design of the dam and the diversion Three characteristic reaches were identified, although conduit for both low flow and flood releases. A 5.5m only two were assessed due to the extreme degradation diameter concrete tunnel through the dam wall, which of the third. Determination of the reserve was based on was used during construction for river diversion, is now specialist studies undertaken for vegetation, fish, macro- used for peak flood releases. The operating rules provide invertebrates, water quality and geomorphology. Data for the required volumes, frequency, and variability of inputs to the determination process were also provided water to be released from the dam to maintain the flow on the hydrology, habitat integrity, and biodiversity and integrity of the Berg River downstream of the dam. 106 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 106 4/9/09 12:45:45 PM Berg Water Project Consultations conducted in 1996 also recognized the monitoring provides the baseline against which the need for a detailed monitoring program to provide project's environmental allocations are assessed, and will the basis for an adaptive management framework be used to establish a comprehensive reserve for both to facilitate implementation of the reserve. This was the river and the estuary. The issue of appropriate flood reflected in the conditions outlined in the RoD, releases is now under discussion in the light of advances which required sufficient baseline information to be in environmental flow assessment methodologies, the collected prior to completion of the dam to assess information available from the three-year baseline the effectiveness of the environmental flows. If the monitoring program, and concerns over water quality monitoring demonstrates that the BWP has an (salinity is a key issue in the lower reaches of the Berg unacceptable ecological affect on the river or estuary, the River). RoD requires that the environmental flows be revised. Integration. The environmental flow determinations The baseline monitoring program, initiated in 2002, were integrated with the environmental assessments included eight specialist studies for the riverine during the feasibility stage and the RoD issued by the environment, nine specialist studies for the estuary, Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism and a series of general catchment reports that included in 1999 covers implementation of the EMP and the groundwater elements. The aim was to monitor the reserve determination. Following initial determinations, effects of the artificial flow regime imposed downstream there was an ongoing process of consultation on of the dam as required under the conditions laid forth integrating the recommended flow regime into the in the RoD. The objectives of this program were to: design parameters for the dam. · confirm compliance with the IFR The preliminary freshwater requirements for the Berg · verify the nature and accuracy of the changes to River estuary were investigated at a workshop in 1993 the ecosystem that were predicted as a result of the as part of the Western Cape System Analysis. While it dam was acknowledged the estuary was an important and · determine the effectiveness of the environmental integral part of the Berg River, it was not included in flow releases in terms of their predicted effects on the preliminary determination because of inadequate ecosystem processes baseline data and information available and because · facilitate implementation of adaptive management the workshop concluded that the contribution of flows where undesirable and/or unpredicted changes from the upper reaches of the Berg River to the estuary in ecosystem characteristics are detected; such was low enough for the BWP not to impact on the adaptive management would seek to minimize the estuary significantly (in comparison to the contribution impacts of these changes of flows from the tributaries and the middle and lower reaches). Subsequent concerns have seen the estuarine Data collection was completed in 2005 and a environment included under the broader monitoring conceptual model was developed for determining program and included in the comprehensive and managing changes brought about by the BWP. determination, which included estimates of the The program focused on the flow regime and the estuarine reserve in 2008. physical, chemical, and biological characteristics that the environmental flow is intended to support. Cost Effective. Several concerns were raised during Among other elements, the program included sediment feasibility studies in 1996 that the cost of incorporating transport monitoring and hydraulic and salinity the required environmental flow requirements into the modeling of the Berg River estuary. This comprehensive dam's design and operation would reduce the effective Institutions and Governance Series 107 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 107 4/9/09 12:45:46 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations yield, reducing the number of users and increasing the in South Africa. While the legal provisions providing for unit cost of water. This would reduce the availability the access to information ensures that this is available of capital to fund other social needs and bring forward upon request, specific reports and detailed information is the date for new schemes. However, ecologists and difficult to track and trace and so not readily accessible. geomorphologists identified the deterioration of the Recognizing this, and the value of the lessons that can river condition in the absence of adequate sediment- be derived from the process for determining the reserve, sorting floods and argued for inclusion of provisions the TCTA will commission as part of the project closure enabling flood releases of at least 160m3/s. Estimates at reporting process a detailed review to reflect on the the time suggested that the additional cost to address experience and derive the lessons learned. the recommended peak flood flows of 160m3/s would result in an additional 20 percent to the overall cost of Influential. The determination of environmental flows the dam. A detailed project completion report is being for the BWP has had a direct influence on the design prepared, including a detailed cost breakdown, and will and operation of the dam. However, the process of be issued by the end of 2009. arriving at an environmental flow regime has also had broader significance. First, the BWP is the first large, To facilitate determination and setting of the reserve, water resources infrastructure development project in an economic analysis was undertaken to assess the South Africa to be designed, constructed, and operated impact of four scenarios on the yield and relative cost within the framework of the National Water Act. The of water (Table 11.2). Final agreement on the design provisions of the act are viewed globally as being at the parameters and acceptance of the peak flood flows was forefront of efforts to ensure sustainable water resources facilitated by recognition that these floods would help use through recognition of the reserve, and so will have remove sediments and therefore reduce the potential an important global impact. for flooding of urban and industrial areas downstream, particularly in the Paarl area. Lessons Reporting. The process of arriving at and then 1. The Berg Water Project was implemented implementing the BWP has produced a large number within the framework of renewed focus on the of specialized reports covering a wide range of different development of bulk water supply infrastructure topics relating to the sustainable development and use provided by the World Commission on Dams, and of the water resources in the Berg-WMA. This process within the inclusive environment of progressive has been linked to a detailed options assessment for governance created by the democratic transition in providing water to the CCT and developed over a South Africa. unique period of political transition. This in itself has 2. A strong bottom-up process, driven by the scientific brought about significant changes in the legal framework community and progressive technocrats in water for the management and development of water resources affairs, can provide important professional drivers. Table 11.2 The Yield, Cost, and other Implications of Environmental Release Scenarios Urban Years Additional capital Illustrative Relative Env Release Effective yield Equivalent people before next expenditure water cost (Mm3 a­1) Scenario (Mm3 a­1) hectares1 provided for scheme (ZARm) cost of water 0 No IFR 88 13,500 800,000 5.9 0 65 1.00 19 Drought IFR every year 73 11,200 667,000 4.9 50 74 1.14 43/19 Damage control IFR 61 9,400 560,000 4.0 89 85 1.30 51/19 Full maintenance IFR 54 8,300 493,000 3.6 112 94 1.45 Source: DWAF 1996b. 108 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 108 4/9/09 12:45:46 PM Berg Water Project However, legislative provisions are important Work Session. Pretoria, South Africa: Department of for maintaining momentum and ensuring Water Affairs and Forestry. commitment to the development of specific policies and procedures to ensure determination and Department of Water Affairs and Forestry. 1996a. Skuifraam Feasibility Study: Berg River IFR Refinement implementation of the reserve. Workshop 31 Jan. 31, Feb. 1­2, 1996. Pretoria, South 3. Design parameters need to be carefully integrated Africa: Department of Water Affairs and Forestry. into the determination of environmental flows. The process of determining the reserve is a Department of Water Affairs and Forestry. 1996b. data-intensive, capital process that requires time, Skuifraam Feasibility Study. Berg River IFR Refinement sufficient resources, and a long-term commitment. Workshop Proceedings. Southern Waters report to Department of Water Affairs and Forestry. DWAF Three years of data-intensive monitoring followed Report No PG100/0/1296. Pretoria, South Africa: two previous determinations to ensure adequate Department of Water Affairs and Forestry. inputs. The results reveal additional complexity and highlight the need for adaptive measures Department of Water Affairs and Forestry. 1996c. to respond to changing context and ensure Skuifraam Dam Feasibility Study: Environmental appropriate data feedback loops. Impact Assessment. DWAF Report No PG100/00/0496. Pretoria, South Africa: Department 4. Reaching agreement requires comprehensive of Water Affairs and Forestry. analysis of the full costs and benefits associated with water use within the system. Environmental Department of Water Affairs and Forestry. 1999. flows are an integral, legislated component of an Skuifraam Dam Feasibility Study: Outlet Works Flood allocation framework that should be extended to release Workshop Proceedings. DWAF Report No encompass a full economic analysis of the value of PG100/00/1198. Pretoria, South Africa: Department of Water Affairs and Forestry. water and the services that it supports. Fick, L. 1999. Skuifraam Dam: Outlet Works-DWAF Acknowledgments Discussion report submitted to the World Commission on Dams. London: Earthscan. The authors would like to acknowledge the cooperation of Dana Grobler (Cape Action for People and the Freshwater Consulting Group. 2001. Skuifraam Dam Outlet Works Design Workshop: Ecological Rationale Environment), Bertrand van Zyl, Tente Tente, Nigel for specific floods in the Instream Flow requirements Rossouw, Pierre de Villiers, Geordie Ratcliffe, and Cate for the Berg River foothill zone. Zeekoevlei, South Brown in the preparation of this case study. Africa: Freshwater Consulting Group. PDNaidoo & Associates Consulting Engineers. References 2000. Skuifraam Dam: IFR Maximum Flood Release Independent Review. Report to DWAF, Pretoria. Department of Environmental Affairs and Pretoria, South Africa: Department of Water Affairs Tourism.1999. EIA Authorisation for the Skuifraam and Forestry. Dam and Skuifraam Supplement Scheme in the Upper Reaches of the Berg River Catchment to the River Health Programme. 2004. State-of-Rivers Report: Riviersonderend/Berg River Government Water Berg River System. Department of Water Affairs and Scheme. Pretoria, South Africa: Department of Forestry, Pretoria. ISBN No: 0-620-32075-3. Pretoria, Environmental Affairs and Tourism. South Africa: Department of Water Affairs and Department of Water Affairs and Forestry. 1993. Forestry. Instream Flow Requirements for the Berg River Second Institutions and Governance Series 109 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 109 4/9/09 12:45:47 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations Roberts, P. 2005. Dealing with water project risks: and Water Requirements. Cape Town, South Africa: Berg Water Project: South Africa. ICOLD Paper No: Southern Waters Ecological Research and Consulting 0193-S1, 73rd Annual Meeting, Tehran, Iran. Paris: International Commission on Large Dams. Southern Waters. 2001. Berg River Intermediate Reserve Determination Specialist Starter Document. Roberts, P. 2005. The Berg Water Project, South Africa: i. Methodology for evaluation of the IFR determined A CWD Test Case. Unpublished Paper. in the IFR workshop of 1992/93; and, ii. Berg River Instream Flow Assessment Future Desired State of the Southern Waters.1993. Water Requirements of the Berg River. Cape Town, South Africa: Southern Waters Berg Estuary. Vol 1, 43.4 Estuarine Importance Rating Ecological Research and Consulting. 110 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 110 4/9/09 12:45:47 PM Case Study 12. Bridge River Water Use Plan Background channel and whether they may construct fences, screens and fish or game guards across streams for the purpose Hydroelectric power has been the engine of economic of conserving fish or wildlife.35 While the province is growth in the entire Pacific Northwest of North delegated authority to manage natural resources under America and remains a vital and integral part of the the British North America Act,36including the fish- culture, economy, recreation, and identity of its people. related works just noted, there continues to be some Within this economy, energy, forestry and mining- challenges over who has the ultimate responsibility for related activities (such as large pulp mills, lumber managing fisheries resource--British Columbia, or milling, mining, metal refining) have been the greatest Canada under the Fisheries Act.37 contributors to gross domestic product. In the late 1990s, BC became a significant exporter of Hydropower is developed and managed within British electricity to the rest of Canada and the United States. Columbia by BC Hydro, a Crown corporation enacted As a result, the integration of economies across borders under the Hydro and Power Authority Act. BC Hydro became even more tightly tied. In general, electricity is owned by the government of British Columbia and by extension the people of British Columbia. Pre-1980, most development decisions were made and directed by 34For the most part all of BC Hydro's water licenses have no end government. Compared to a privately owned utility, its date and therefore an indefinite approval to use water for the Crown corporation status gives BC Hydro substantial purpose of hydroelectric generation has been given. 35The Water Act requires "beneficial use of water," which only access to relatively inexpensive capital. In 1980, the recognized power generation, agriculture, and flood control. As Utilities Commission Act came into force and provided a result, there was a culture shift required within the provincial Ministry of Water, Lands and Air Protection (now Ministry of a level of regulatory oversight for rate-making purposes Environment) that would ensure a multiple interest perspective and ensured an adequate rate of return to shareholders when considering changes to the water license terms and (the people). Permission to construct and operate conditions. 36The 1867 BNA Act serves as a base document for the Canadian hydroelectric plants in British Columbia is governed constitution, which is not a single document but rather a set of by water licenses that are acquired from the provincial documents known as Constitution Acts and just as importantly a comptroller of water rights under the Water Act. set of unwritten laws and conventions. 37The Fisheries Act dates back to the British North America Act. However, the focus of much of the department's work up to the A license specifies the terms and conditions of use, late 1970s was on oceans-related fisheries management (stock including the quantity of water diverted, the time assessment, quotas, fish fleet management, etc.). In fact, British Columbia did not have a Pacific Office until the early 1990s. period over which the diversion is allowed,34 whether In 1977, Section 35 of the act was passed and was followed by storage is permissible, and the kinds of works that may the department's "Policy for the Management of Fish Habitat" be constructed, maintained and operated; and whether (including the "no net loss" working principle) in 1986. Since the adoption of the "no net loss" policy, there has been increased the licensee is permitted to alter or improve a stream or pressure on BC Hydro to resolve fish/power issues. Institutions and Governance Series 111 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 111 4/9/09 12:45:48 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations has been a catalyst for much of the trade relationships In addition, the federal Department of Fisheries and between British Columbia and Alberta in Canada and Oceans (DFO) has worked with BC Hydro at several Washington State, Oregon, California, Idaho, and facilities to negotiate flow releases. DFO has collected a Montana since the 1960s. considerable amount of fish habitat and flow data and the analysis of these data raised awareness of potential Most water licenses granted for large hydroelectric habitat restoration opportunities. Habitat restoration developments were granted before 1962. During was seen as being beyond the scope of BC Hydro's this era, public values leaned heavily and almost responsibilities because it was not required under the exclusively toward economic development (power licensing rights. However, water management grew in generation) and flood control. Environmental and importance and federal and provincial governments social assessments were cursory, at best, as the focus took a stronger stance on the management of fish and was on providing energy to feed the rapid growth of fish habitat, particularly at power facilities. the post-war Vancouver and the Pacific Northwest of North America. In addition, most water licenses did not have sunset clauses and did not have provisions Bridge River Hydropower Complex for dealing with other values--such as fish and fish The Bridge River Basin is in the rain shadow of the habitat, recreation interests, water quality, First Nations' southern coastal mountains about 200 km northeast traditional use, and transportation--which were of Vancouver in British Columbia. The Bridge River considered incidental to the growth-oriented objectives hydroelectric project consists of three reservoirs of the day. The assessment of environmental, social, (Downton, Carpenter, Seton), three diversions (La Joie, and cultural effects as it is known today did not exist Terzaghi, Seton) and four powerhouses (La Joie, Bridge in a robust form and public involvement was almost 1 and 2, and Seton). It generates 466 MW (2,479 nonexistent. As well, First Nations were only beginning GWh/year), representing 4 percent of BC Hydro's total the legal process to establish rights and title and generating capacity of about 12,000 MW. authority within their traditional territories. The source of Bridge River is the Bridge Glacier in the Rivers are central to the identity of many BC Coast Mountain Range. The glacier comprises about communities. Most importantly, the salmon resources of 140 km2 of the 998 km2 watershed area above La Joie many of BC's large rivers, including the Bridge River, are Dam. The Bridge River is about 120 km long and flows significant cultural and economic assets. The province's southeast from the snowfields of Monmouth Mountain. coastal communities rely on salmon to derive their Tributaries to the Terzaghi sub-basin below La Joie livelihood, and coastal First Nations have a 10,000-year Dam drain 2,691 km2. history and heritage centered around salmon. The Bridge River development was one of the most In the late 1980s, there was an increasing public complicated engineering projects in North America, concern about declining or endangered fish stocks and with impacts that were not well-understood at the aquatic habitat, in part been driven by more active time of its construction in 1948. The La Joie Dam, the role taken by local public interest groups. These local most upstream structure, impounds Downton Lake (regional small scale and provincial) interest groups and Terzaghi Dam impounds Carpenter Lake. The La are a key characteristic of British Columbia's activist Joie generating station has a maximum discharge of history. Given the large provinceand small population, 48.1 m3/s and the turbine is equipped with a pressure interest groups were able to have a direct influence on release valve, which is also used to maintain fish flows. public opinion and government decisions. All releases from the La Joie facility discharge into the 112 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 112 4/9/09 12:45:48 PM Bridge River Water Use Plan Middle Bridge to Carpenter Reservoir, which is in turn In 1991 and 1992, BC Hydro spilled water from the impounded by Terzaghi Dam. Spills from Carpenter Terzaghi Dam into the Bridge River in response to Reservoir occur through spill release structures at major inflows to the reservoir. These spills removed Terzaghi Dam into the Lower Bridge River, which gravel and hence had a fisheries habitat impact. DFO subsequently joins the Fraser River. charged BC Hydro for the 1991 and 1992 spills under three sections of the Fisheries Act. Charges for the 1991 From Carpenter Reservoir, water is diverted by two spill were heard in court and BC Hydro was found tunnels and penstocks through Monmouth Mountain to have acted appropriately under the circumstances to the Bridge River generating station (1 and 2). Each and with respect to the gravel replacement and fish station houses four turbines and discharges in the mitigation actions. Seton Reservoir. At Seton Dam, 23 km below the Bridge River stations, water is diverted along a 3.7 km In May 1996, because of public concern over impacts to power canal to the Seton Generation Station located the fisheries resources and the draining of the Downton on the banks of the Fraser River. Spills from the Seton reservoir, the province of British Columbia appointed Lake Reservoir occur through release structures at a special environmental auditor to review actions taken Seton Dam into the Seton River, which joins the by BC Hydro. The auditor's report acknowledged that Fraser River upstream of the generating station and BC Hydro had made credible and ongoing efforts to downstream of the Lower Bridge River. The Seton Lake address fisheries issues, and that trade-offs made during Reservoir has a very narrow operating range and is only operations were acceptable in terms of mitigating risks. capable of providing daily flow regulation. The dam The report also noted that fines under federal Fisheries has a fish-water release gate and a fish ladder. These Act can only be imposed after damage has occurred facilities are operated in various combinations during and that the monetary value of fines does not act as spills and to provide fishery requirements. an effective deterrent to future outcomes.38 The report recommended that "BC Hydro and the Ministry of The Terzaghi Dam does not have a minimum flow release Environment establish an independent, multistakeholder mechanism. Since construction, the facility operated process to complete a proper [process], which would with water releases into the Bridge River only during gather the environmental and other information spill events (apart from some brief test releases in the necessary to fully assess options for management 1980s). Consequently, there was often a dry riverbed strategies that would balance power, flood control, social, for approximately 4-km downstream of the dam until recreational, and environmental impacts." the river receives groundwater and tributary inflows to provide a surface flow. Historically, habitat improvement In 1997, BC Hydro spilled water once again under work consisted of gravel placement and was undertaken the same conditions as in 1991 and 1992 and despite by BC Hydro to replace lost spawning gravel areas due to progress made on addressing many of the DFO's issues, spill events. The gravel was well-used by spawning salmon. concerns and requested changes to accommodate fish A release of flows (approximately 0.56 m3/sec) was and fish habitat, the federal Department of Fisheries provided in 1988 to test the release structure itself and to and Oceans charged BC Hydro for destruction of fish assess the improvement in habitat in the river as a result of habitat on the lower Bridge River. the increased flows. The test indicated that the flows were not sufficient to improve fish habitat since most of the water flowed sub-gravel in the dry part of the riverbed, 38Fines only highlight a concern/behavior, but do not necessarily and did not appreciably increase the depth of water or the lead to good solutions as the "fix" is usually short rather than long term and not necessarily based on good science or a full wetted width in the lower portion of the river. assessment of possible options. Institutions and Governance Series 113 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 113 4/9/09 12:45:49 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations In 1998, BC Hydro decided to remove the issues In addition, advisory teams assisted the management from the federal court. It and DFO agreed to a committee and the program in five key areas: settlement involving release of water into the Bridge First Nations, fisheries, resource valuation, power River downstream of the Terzaghi Dam. Included modeling, and communications/engagement. These in the agreement was the provision of habitat teams maintained a system-wide perspective, and in restoration/improvement through channel shaping to some cases (such as fisheries and resource valuation) accommodate the flow regime, monitoring programs, provided a forum for scientific review and assurance and development of a yearly water budget that would that methods used were consistent across individual provide for a minimum flow and operational plan. The WUPs. Each team included representatives from increased interim flow release was negotiated pending DFO,40provincial agencies, BC Hydro, and, where the completion of a water use plan. appropriate, other external experts. The WUP had a BC Hydro Project management team, WUP Management Structure and a consultative committee (CC), and advisory teams. Bridge River WUP The role of the CC members was to participate in good The Bridge River Water Use Plan attempts to balance faith according to the following seven principles: environmental, social, and economic values over (1) recognition of multiple objectives; (2) no change the entire complex (3 reservoirs, 3 dams, and 4 to existing legal and constitutional rights and powerhouses). The plan was designed over 3 years; responsibilities; (3) collaborative, cooperative, and BC Hydro was responsible for the management of the inclusive process; (4) recognition that trade-offs planning process. (choices) have and will occur; (5) embodies science and continuous learning through information gathering There were three committees: (1) a WUP and analysis; (6) focus on issue resolution and long- Management Committee, comprising staff-level cross- term benefits; and (7) paid compensation if rights are government (inter-government and intra-government) voluntarily diminished and there are financial impacts and BC Hydro; (2) a WUP Steering Committee on the licensee. (assistant deputy minister level and BC Hydro vice president); and (3) a WUP Policy Committee (deputy The outcomes of the WUP were a set of minister/director general level and BC Hydro vice recommendations contained in a consultative president/president). The management committee committee report that documented process, issues, was responsible for overall program coordination. objectives, performance measures, trade-offs, and The steering committee provided guidance to the management committee and resolved outstanding process issues. The policy committee provided 39Participation in the collaborative process was paid for by BC policy and direction on public interest issues and Hydro, except for government agencies who continued to pay staff salaries and travel costs. First Nations sat at the same table as concerns as part of making trade-offs generally at the overall WUP Management Committee and provided strategic the program level as well as support to a facility- advice and input to ongoing program design and delivery issues specific consultative committee, as required. Federal as was necessary. 40DFO's participation in the process was dependent on their and provincial government agencies and BC Hydro understanding that some incremental changes and adjustments to were members of the management and technical flows would occur in order to improve conditions for fish, thus committees of the WUP. First Nations provided input allowing them to feel comfortable within the context of their obligations under the Fisheries Act and meeting requirements of on an advisory level.39 the national policy for the management of habitat, as previously noted in the text above. 114 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 114 4/9/09 12:45:49 PM Bridge River Water Use Plan areas of agreement and disagreement. BC Hydro positive impacts on environmental and social indictors incorporated the recommendations into proposed while increasing power benefits. Relative to current amendments to water licenses, but reserved the right to operations, outcomes of the final recommendations will reject some recommendations. As a result, the extent of likely benefit wildlife habitat, fish conditions, power consensus within each CC report became an important generation, aesthetics, and flood management consideration; the higher the degree of agreement on proposed changes, the more difficult it was for BC Hydro to reject recommendations. The process and Drivers recommendations did not fetter the discretion of any The effects of the spills from the Terzaghi Dam (1991, regulatory decision maker (for example, the comptroller 1992, 1997) and the impacts on fisheries habitat acted of water rights, minister of fisheries and oceans). The as the primary drivers for the Bridge River WUP. In degree of consensus also influenced the decisions of addition, the DFO was either threatening to press regulators in much the same fashion as BC Hydro. charges or was pressing charges for destruction of fish habitat at other BC Hydro facilities (Cheakamus, Hugh The final recommendations for the Bridge River Keenleyside, John Hart). BC Hydro had two choices: it hydroelectric system reflected a balance between the could negotiate or litigate, and decided that the former dominant41 fish and wildlife interests in the reservoirs, was a more productive and cost-effective approach. while protecting and enhancing other values in the rivers. Specifically, minimum and maximum elevations Other related drivers include the results from the 1993 were targeted to mitigate entrainment risks in Downton Electric System Operations Review;42 1996 Ward Reservoir and enhance fish and wildlife conditions Report;43 the 1994 Stave Falls Minister Order, which in Carpenter Reservoir, respectively. A tension included a requirement for the development of a WUP; between fish and wildlife benefits became apparent in increasing concern over the health of salmon stocks; determining the final operating strategy, resulting in a increased presence of DFO in British Columbia; a recommendation for a five-year revegetation program to government with strong environmental policy focus; and enhance riparian habitat in Carpenter Reservoir. increased activism by environmental groups on water- related issues. All these actions occurred in the space Maintaining flexibility in the main reservoirs was of 5 years and provided the impetus and momentum required in part to manage spills and flows in the necessary for the implementation of the WUP program. Middle Bridge, Lower Bridge, and Seton Rivers. Spill events were of most concern in the Lower Bridge River for fish and wildlife reasons. Consequently, 41The trade-off analysis process focused on flows, not operations. the recommended operating strategy set a priority to As well, the process deliberately looked at dominance objectives spill first at Seton River and limit spill events in the and the costs and benefits of changes that would have the most positive outcomes at the least possible cost to flows and foregone Lower Bridge River. For the Middle Bridge River, power generation. In fact, preferred outcomes were all neutral to flow constraints were specified. Determining a flow positive with respect to power generation. 42 regime in the Lower Bridge River proved difficult ESOR was prompted, in part, by historic complaints about reservoir impacts, primarily from the Columbia­Kootenay because regular flows had not been monitored there region. Driven by provincial and federal agency concerns, the prior to 2002 and the understanding of flow needs province was concerned that BC Hydro was not operating its system in a manner that gave adequate consideration to non- and ecosystem response was extremely poor. A flow power resource values. These non-power resource values included shape and magnitude was specified for the Seton not only fish and fish habitat but also recreation, flood control, River. The final recommendations also included aesthetic values, wildlife, economic activity, etc. 43The report concluded that BC Hydro was operating out of elimination of operational constraints that have had compliance at six of the ten facilities examined. Institutions and Governance Series 115 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 115 4/9/09 12:45:50 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations Assessment Initially, BC Hydro took the position that, since it had been given water licenses that conveyed the rights Recognition. While the actual development of facility to use water for power generation, it did not need to WUPs began in 1998, the pre-planning for the WUP accommodate requests for environmental flows. As a program began in 1993. In the end, the WUP process result, there was a need to build support for the WUP generally and specifically was accepted as legitimate by process within BC Hydro itself. all participants--at the management and facility specific level (i.e., stakeholders). However, the process to build Environmental groups were also skeptical of WUPs this understanding and support occurred gradually because they feared that it was just another government and required a concerted and considerable effort to process that would not provide a transparent vehicle build trust among government agencies, First Nations, for considering their interests and desires. Almost environmental groups, and within BC Hydro over all environmental and community groups in the many years. It was a different approach to the historic Bridge River area and in general supported the and practiced tradition of an adversarial, position-based implementation of a minimum flow. Building trust process for resolving natural resources challenges. through the principles of the WUP process was critical. By the end of the process, however, there was In relation to the Bridge WUP, First Nations widespread support from both government agencies participation was the most challenging. The Stl'atl'imx and the community. First Nation (SFN) (Box 12.1) are very independent and had been negotiating with BC Hydro for For the Bridge River project there were no many years on past grievances. The SFN preferred transboundary impacts as the river is contained entirely government-to-government discussions and at first within the geography of British Columbia. saw the WUP process as undermining that more political relationship. In concluding comments, Participation. The Bridge River WUP consultative however, the SFN were "impressed with the results process was initiated in September 1999 and completed of the consultative committee." While they did not in December 2001. The consultative process followed "sign" off for political reasons, they provided positive the steps outlined in the provincial government reinforcement of the process and outcomes. guidelines (Province of British Columbia 19968). Box 12.1 The Stl'atl'imx First Nation The SFN is made up of 11 communities, each of which is represented at the Chief's Council Table. The total population is about 6,000 people. The governance vision statement includes a continuing and renewed relationship between Stl'atl'imx people (ucwalmicw) and the land (tmicw), employing the following four principles: · respects Stl'atl'imx cultural traditions--using the ways (nt'akmen), laws (nxekmen) and standards of our people as passed down through the generations · respects nature--putting the health of water, air, plants, and animals and the land itself before all else · is under Stl'atl'imx authority--letting the people collectively decide how the land and resources of the Stl'atl'imx territory will be managed · serves the Stl'atl'imx communities--recognizing that resources continue to provide sustenance in old and new ways to our people The SFN have asserted their claim to the ownership of this tribal territory since the signing of a 1911 Declaration of the Lillooet Tribe in 1920. Three of the SFN communities are currently engaged in a treaty negotiations process and have an agreement in principle signed and are working toward a final agreement. 116 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 116 4/9/09 12:45:50 PM Bridge River Water Use Plan The CC comprised 13 members representing power Hydro made extra efforts to ensure SFN views could generation, recreation, cultural use and heritage sites, still be incorporated into the final CC report. fish, wildlife, water quality, socioeconomic interests, and First Nations. All participated in the process on In addition, documentation of areas of agreement an equal footing. The CC chose their facilitator, who and disagreement played a critical role in ensuring the was paid for by BC Hydro. Observers could attend but views of all CC members were heard. CC meeting could not participate in the discussion process unless minutes were produced after each meeting and each invited to do so through a member of the committee. participant saw themselves reflected in the discussion and ultimately in the final recommendations. The SFN participated in the process at the main table, then at a separate First Nations table, then not Assessment Method. The structured process followed at all in 2002. They returned to the table at the final in the Bridge River WUP program was one of the meeting but only as observers, even though they had keys to its success. The consultative process consisted "accepted" the final recommendations of the CC. of six key steps, based on multi-attribute techniques Reasons for this are noted above in relation to their and value-focused thinking (Keeney 1992). The desire for government-to-government relationships steps begin with clear articulation of objectives and and concern that the WUP process would undermine performance measures, which describe the extent to negotiations. which each alternative operating regime contributes to or detracts from each objective. Usually quantitative, The CC was supported by several technical working the performance measures force specificity on the groups, including fisheries, wildlife, and recreation. objectives, better educate each participant on the BC Hydro provided the technical support on power needs of others, and create a basis on which to collect modeling. The CC met regularly over the 3-year period. decision-focused information. Additional meetings were held with SFN in order to ensure their unique issues and traditional knowledge The CC agreed to the following objectives for the was considered. The committee's work required all Bridge River WUP: members to keep an open mind and understand the perspectives of others on the committee. Group · Fisheries: maximize the abundance and diversity of discussions were structured to identify and explore fish in all parts of the system a range of alternative operating regimes, and to seek · Wildlife: maximize the area and productivity of compromises across interests while remaining within wetland and riparian habitat regulatory and other boundaries. · Recreation and Tourism: maximize the quality of recreation and tourism experience in all parts of In general, the members of the CC worked well the system together. They participated in the discussion and · Power: maximize the value of the power produced analysis of very complex issues, within a large set of at the Bridge, Seton and La Joie facilities inter-related alternatives and asked questions of BC · Flood Management: minimize adverse effects of Hydro and government officials that forced better focus flooding on personal safety or property on the real issues and interests. BC Hydro's support for · Dam Safety: ensure that facility operations meet good science, transparent information sharing, strong requirements of BC Hydro's dam safety program project management, and defined timelines provided an · Water Supply/Quality: preserve access to and important structure to the process. The SFN reticence maintain the quality of water for domestic and to participate did not delay CC deliberations and BC irrigation use Institutions and Governance Series 117 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 117 4/9/09 12:45:51 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations Where possible, performance measures were modeled graphs, and graphics. Furthermore, since not all quantitatively. modeling was intended to monetize performance but rather to incorporate natural units of measure, where Operating alternatives were then developed to possible, the CC had a higher level of acceptance than address the various objectives. In total, more than 20 would have been the case had the outputs been strictly alternatives were run through BC Hydro's operations mathematical. model, and the consequences for each objective were discussed by the consultative committee against the The CC recommended that the Bridge River WUP agreed-to performance measures. Preferences and be reviewed in 2012, which at the time was the end values were documented and areas of agreement date of a proposed adaptive management program. It sought. With the exception of one non-First Nations further recommended that a formal review based on the member (who abstained), the CC members eventually results of the monitoring programs be conducted after agreed on a single recommended operating alternative. the fifth year of implementation. A recommendation may be forwarded to the comptroller of water rights to A total of 23 technical studies were completed during trigger an earlier review of the water use plan if there the 3-year process. These studies improved the is evidence of significant unexpected and unacceptable knowledge base on the Bridge River system and helped impacts at that time. calculate the performance measures for the CC. A clear, deliberate, and time-bounded process set the framework Integration. The objectives, which represented different for completion of the studies. Expert judgment was social, environmental, and economic values, were also used to fill information gaps, including explicit brought together through the deliberations of the CC. recognition of First Nations values as part of a Decision methods included both intuitive response and traditional ecological knowledge study. ranking using technical methods (paired comparisons, consequence tables, etc.). In each round of assessments, An operations model using commercially available key trade-offs and uncertainties were discussed to software was used to evaluate system operating enhance understanding and allow participants to make alternatives. The model optimized the Bridge River more informed choices. facility operations for power production within specified constraints using 39-year inflow data. The It became clear early on in the process that active primary model outputs were daily reservoir levels and adaptive management would be needed. This was releases from dams, along with daily power production. driven by the complexity of the system, the desire for These data were used as input to an environment more information than could be collected during the model and a power values model. The former used timeframe of discussions, and a constrained budget. a Visual Basic program to simulate environmental Sources of uncertainty associated with each outcome and social performance measures,44 while the latter were discussed by the CC. Determining a flow regime model calculated the annual value of power based on information about energy prices, dispatchability, and plant characteristics. 44A series of Excel spreadsheets was used to store model parameter, physical characteristics of the system (e.g., reservoir Overall, the model outputs provided data that many surface area as a function of elevation, etc.) and the hydrological CC members had little experience with. However, scenarios (e.g., schedules of discharge and reservoir elevations BC Hydro was able to synthesize the model outputs associated with each alternative). Output, the performance measures and various diagnostic indicators, are viewed as data into a variety of understandable forms, such as maps, sets, time series graphs, and/or maps. 118 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 118 4/9/09 12:45:51 PM Bridge River Water Use Plan in the Lower Bridge River proved particularly difficult. also increasing power generation. More broadly, it Because the Lower Bridge River did not have regular improved the capacity for environmental management flows until 2002, the understanding of flow needs within BC Hydro. It led to the development of new and ecosystem response was extremely poor. An tools for assessing operating issues and it illustrated adaptive management program was proposed to test the importance of monitoring. The monitoring multiple alternative water management policies over committee--made up of government (federal, specified periods of time. These trials were intended provincial, and local), BC Hydro, First Nations, and to be complete by 2012, but at this point have not public representatives--will be a vehicle for ongoing been approved due to additional SFN concerns. dialogue. When these flow trials are initiated, the monitoring data will be evaluated and subsequent discussion The Bridge River WUP is now the new benchmark held with regulators about a long-term flow release for sustainable management. The WUP process, of program. The adoption of an adaptive management which the Bridge WUP is one of 23 completed plans, approach to implementation was a significant factor has made a positive impact on policy and regulatory in allowing some CC members to support the final intervention at BC Hydro's facilities. The WUP process recommendations as it allowed them to accept model has now been adopted in multiuse planning in several outputs that had considerable uncertainty. non-hydropower watersheds throughout BC. Cost Effective. There were three components of cost for the Bridge WUP: the cost of plan production, cost Lessons of infrastructure improvements, and ongoing cost of 1. A structured decision-making process is important implementation. for ensuring an organized approach to identifying The full costs of plan production are unavailable, and evaluating alternatives. but the technical studies cost about $600,000. The 2. Data and information (both science based, recommended infrastructure improvements cost up to traditional knowledge) and models can provide $6 million (the annualized costs of constructing and a valuable foundation for building agreement in operating a new 12 MW facility at the Seton generating complex decision-making environments. station). The implementation costs, including the 3. Adoption of an adaptive management approach annual costs of the monitoring plan, average about proved crucial to reaching a final decision when $520,000 per year (undiscounted) over the period of there was inadequate information. the plan. 4. Prosecutions, or the threat of legal action, may initiate action but will not, in the end, result in Overall, the costs of developing the plan and effective, long-term solutions. implementing the actions were estimated to be less than 5. Clarity of scope and a clear understanding of what the costs of the court proceedings as a result of charges issues are inside and outside of the process are being laid by the DFO. As an offset to these costs, the essential for progress. chosen alternative allowed BC Hydro to generate an 6. Time is needed for "airing" concerns. extra $1.8 million in electricity. 7. Regulatory requirements are helpful but should not constrain the deliberations. Influential. The Bridge River WUP resulted in 8. It was important to have participation of the changed operational procedures that enhanced traditional owners (First Nations) and to integrate environmental, social, and cultural outcomes, while their ecological knowledge with the scientific Institutions and Governance Series 119 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 119 4/9/09 12:45:51 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations knowledge. It takes time to "capture" and translate Acknowledgments this information. 9. While the upfront development costs may This case study was written by Denise Mullen-Dalmer, seem large, the costs of not dealing with issues DMD Management Ltd., and reviewed by Sue Foster or concerns are higher and will involve a more and Kevin Conlin of BC Hydro. adversarial, court-oriented process. 10. It takes time to build trust, especially with respect References to complex modeling methodologies. 11. It is important to provide documentation and Keeney, Ralph. 1992. Value-focused Thinking. Boston: Harvard University Press. information in a form that is understandable and useful to all process participants and the public. Province of British Columbia.1998. Water Use Plan The experience that this lesson comes from is not Guidelines. Province of British Columbia, Canada. mentioned above. http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/wsd/plan_protect_sustain/ water_use_planning/cabinet/wup.pdf 120 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 120 4/9/09 12:45:52 PM Case Study 13. Restoration of Chilika Lagoon Background inflows to the lagoon. Smaller rivers and streams from the catchments along the western side of the lagoon Chilika Lagoon, located on the east coast of India in the contribute the remainder. The lagoon is primarily state of Orissa, is the largest brackish lagoon in Asia. The connected to the Bay of Bengal through a channel in lagoon runs parallel to the coast of the Bay of Bengal, the north. The exchange of water through this channel, separated by a 60 km barrier spit that varies from 0.5 together with freshwater inflows and evaporation, to 2.0 km wide. The lagoon is a biodiversity hotspot, controls the salinity of the lagoon. especially for waterbirds and other aquatic species. Over 160 species of waterbirds--totaling up to 2 million The productivity of the lagoon declined significantly individuals--can be found at the peak migratory times during the 1990s, primarily due to declining salinity during some seasons. The lagoon supports many aquatic as a result of reduced interchange between the lagoon species and is home to the Irrawaddy dolphin, which is and the ocean because of the northward littoral drift of listed as an endangered species by the IUCN. the channel. There was an increase in sediment loading from the western catchments and irrigation areas of the The Chilika Lagoon ecosystem and surrounding Mahanadi Delta. These sediments are believed to have catchment provides income for about 200,000 people largely deposited within the lagoon itself, as well as near who are directly or indirectly dependent upon the and along the mouth of the lagoon. As a result of the fish, crab, and prawn catch. There is intensive farming closing of the lagoon mouth, the salinity level of the around the lagoon, mainly for cashews, with rice lagoon dropped dramatically from 20­30g/l to 2­3 g/l production taking place in fringe wetland areas. These during May as the freshwater buildup continued. areas also support grazing for over 50,000 cattle and provide fuelwood as well as for other products for The hydrologic and water quality changes affected home consumption and income generation. Chilika Chilika's biodiversity and productivity. Fish catches has a growing ecotourism industry due to the abundant declined from 6,000 tons in 1980 to 1,641 tons in wildlife; it also has numerous temples that draw large 1997/98 (a reduction of nearly 73 percent); crab and local populations. shrimp catches also declined by over 90 and 80 percent, respectively, during the 1990s; several sponge species The lagoon's ecosystem depends on the water, sediment, became extinct; other species became endangered, and salt balances of the water body. The lagoon lies including the Irrawaddy dolphin; and aquatic weeds within the Mahanadi Basin. The Mahanadi River flourished in the lagoon. The 1999 super cyclone further reaches the ocean to the northeast of the lagoon. The added large inflows of freshwater. The blockage of the Daya, Nuna, and Bhargavi branches of the river delta lagoon outlet led to flooding and waterlogging of large provide between 50 to 65 percent of the freshwater areas of paddy crop in lakeside villages, with consequent inflows and between 50 to 75 percent of the sediment sanitation problems and outbreaks of disease. Institutions and Governance Series 121 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 121 4/9/09 12:45:52 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations In 1992, the state government of Orissa formed the Oceanic exchange through the new channel has led Chilika Development Authority (CDA) to manage to a remarkable recovery of the lagoon. Salinity rose conservation efforts for the lagoon, oversee research, almost an order of magnitude, sediment flushing from and develop a management plan. It coordinates the the lagoon increased, the area under aquatic weeds was activities of the various state departments that work in substantially reduced, and the lagoon's productivity the Chilika lagoon catchment. The chief minister of recovered. Fish catches rose eight-fold between Orissa is the chairperson of the CDA. 1999/2000 and 2002/03. Total fish, prawn, and crab catches rose from 1,900 tons in 2000 to about 12,000 Following widespread concern about the declining tons between 2002 and 2005 (Figure 13.1). A survey fish catches and biodiversity, the lagoon has been of local fisherman reported that they had earned, on rehabilitated through a combination of immediate average, an additional 50,000 rupees (about $1,040) and longer-term actions. The most important per year. immediate actions were the cutting of a new exit to the ocean and the dredging of a new channel between Chilika Lagoon had been placed on the Montreux the Mahanadi Delta and the new mouth to facilitate Record (Ramsar's list of sites undergoing ecological tidal influx and freshwater outflows, which helped degradation) in 1993. It was taken off the list and restore the balance of freshwater, sediments, and awarded the prestigious Ramsar Wetland Award in saltwater. The new exit was completed in September 2002 in recognition of these improvements. 2000. The longer term actions included control of sediment The decision to open the new exit was based on both fluxes from the western catchments through promotion extensive stakeholder consultations and scientific of income-earning, good agricultural practices; studies. Detailed 1- and 2-dimensional modeling of the reductions in sediment from the irrigation areas feeding lagoon hydrodynamics had predicted that the new exit into the lagoon; and improvements in flows through would lead to a rapid return of higher salinity within the Mahanadi River Delta into the lagoon. A number the lagoon. These predictions were confirmed when the of international organizations--including Wetlands exit was opened. International, JICA, Ramsar, DHI, JFGE and the Figure 13.1 Total Fish, Prawn, and Crab Landings in Chilika Lagoon, 1995­2005 Total Landings 16 14 12 MT) 10 8 (,000 6 4 2 0 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 Year Note: The solid line marks the opening of the second channel to the ocean. 122 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 122 4/9/09 12:45:53 PM Restoration of Chilika Lagoon World Bank--assisted with these restoration activities. into Chilika Lagoon that complemented the CDA's in- The World Bank provided assistance for determining lagoon monitoring. the environmental flow needed to sustain the lagoon in the longer run through the Orissa Water Resources During the course of the OWRCP, the State Water Consolidation Project (OWRCP) 1995­2004, with Resources Board adopted a State Water Plan that specialist expertise being provided through the Bank- included requirements for environmental flows, administered BNWPP Environmental Flows Window. environmental guidelines for all water resources While the increased exchange with the ocean has clearly projects, and a Strategic Environmental Policy for led to immediate and widespread benefits, it will not the water resources sector. Although the Department be sustainable if the natural flow regime from the of Water Resources had made a commitment to Mahanadi River is not at least partially restored and modify the operating rules of the Barrage to include if sediments continue to enter the lagoon and silt up environmental water requirements, it was apparent that the entrance. This case study focuses on the attempt to the department was having difficulty understanding introduce environmental flows so as to help maintain the concepts of environmental flows. Departmental the salinity dynamics of the lagoon. staff members were more concerned with reducing the quantity of water reaching the lagoon from the Barrage The OWRCP and BNWPP Assistance to reduce the sediment flux from the Mahanadi Delta than increasing it to allow for environmental outcomes. The OWRCP included various environmental management activities, including support for the Between 2002 and 2005, the BNWPP Environmental restoration of Chilika Lagoon, the construction of Flows Window provided specific training on EFA a new barrage across the Kathajori branch of the concepts, methods, and applications to help the Mahanadi River to replace the old Naraj weir; the DOWR and the CDA determine the environmental development of a Strategic Environmental Policy for flow requirements. The window funded a specialist Water Resources Planning and an Environmental consultant to conduct workshops on EFA for Action Plan; and strengthening the Department of both managers and technical specialists; develop Water Resources (DoWR) in technical and managerial hydrologic and sediment models for environmental areas. The Environmental Assessment for the OWRCP flow applications; assist with community consultation (Orissa Department of Water Resources and SMEC processes; provide advice on the application of 1995) identified Chilika Lagoon as a critical natural the hydrodynamic model for assessing in-lagoon habitat below the Naraj Barrage, and recommended water quality changes; and assist with biological- that investigation be undertaken to guide the operation environmental modeling. As a result of this assistance, of the barrage. Consequently, through the BNWPP the CDA and the Department of Water Resources Environmental Flows Window, the Bank provided developed a draft set of Barrage operating rules that assistance in incorporating environmental flows into the included environmental flow releases designed to operational rules for the new Narraj Barrage. benefit Chilika Lagoon. However, the rules could not be finalized because the environmental and With OWRCP support, the CDA produced an socioeconomic components were never completed integrated management action plan for Chilika Lagoon during the OWRCP. The BNWPP support was in July 1999. The plan was drawn up following extended after the OWRCP was closed to complete the extensive consultations with government departments technical work on the flow assessment, but the rules and fisherfolk communities. In addition, the OWRCP have not yet been operationalized by the Department of supported a monitoring program in the rivers feeding Water Resources. Institutions and Governance Series 123 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 123 4/9/09 12:45:53 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations The modeling that was carried out showed that, had also become effective at voicing the concerns of unlike many other environmental flow cases, there these disadvantaged groups. was no conflict between releasing water for the downstream environmental benefits and providing The inclusion of the lagoon on the Montreaux Record water to the irrigation farmers in the delta, because of deteriorating Ramsar sites brought international these water demands occurred at different times of attention to the poor management of Chilika Lagoon, year. However, the Department preceived a conflict causing embarrassment to the state and national between environmental flows and downstream flooding governments and providing an additional driver for of irrigation farms within the delta. In fact, studies by restoring the lagoon. Wildlife International showed that small to medium floods delivered net benefits to these farms and that it The state water plan acted as a procedural driver that was only the large floods that caused financial losses. gave legitimacy to the EFA. However, it was not Nevertheless, departmental staff remained wary of decisive; the need to provide for environmental flows releasing significant environmental flows through the was not accorded high priority within the Department delta and into the lagoon. of Water Resources, let alone other state departments. However, the new state water policy may act as a driver In 2007, the government of Orissa adopted a for future determinations and implementations of progressive new state water policy. This policy, unlike environmental flows. either the National Water Policy of India or most other state water policies in India, recognized the Although the reconstruction of the Naraj Barrage environment as a legal use of water and granted it was primarily driven by safety factors (World Bank second priority in the allocation decision making. The 1995), the environmental assessment for OWRCP new water policy opens up opportunities--through highlighted the need to address the protection and the Orissa Water Sector Improvement/Mahanadi management of Chilika, a critical natural ecosystem. Basin Project, currently in preparation--to further the The reconstructed barrage had to be designed to understanding within government departments of the ensure that appropriate environmental flows were importance of environmental flows to the welfare of provided to Chilika Lagoon. The restoration of downstream communities and to assist the inclusion the lagoon became an explicit objective later. The of these flows in the operational rules for the Naraj World Bank's safeguard policies were instrumental Barrage. in identifying the need for managing this important downstream ecosystem even though an environmental flow assessment, to guide the development of the Drivers operating rules for the Naraj Barrage, was undertaken There were multiple drivers for restoring in-flows, and much later. improving oceanic exchange and water quality in the lagoon. The disastrous effect on the local economy of the reduced interchange between the lagoon and the ocean was the primary driver. The social and economic 45The hardship from the decline in fish catches was accentuated costs led to pressure from fishermen, tourist operators, by a change in government policy, which resulted in fishing rights in the lagoon being put up for tender. The resulting loss and conservationists for the restoration of the lagoon's of access by traditional fishermen, coupled with investments ecosystems. The publicity from riots some years earlier by wealthy businessmen in cultured prawns farms, led to riots. and the deaths of some rioters had put extra pressure on The deaths of four fishermen during protests in May 1999 led to widespread publicity and embarrassment for the Orissa state the government to act45. Local and international NGOs government. 124 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 124 4/9/09 12:45:53 PM Restoration of Chilika Lagoon Assessment with representation from the departments of Water Resources, Fisheries and Animal Development, Recognition. The need to restore the lagoon's hydrologic Forestry, and Agriculture and the CDA, as well as regime had been recognized for some years prior to floodplain and fishing community representatives. the OWCRP. However, officers of the Water Resources Although it only met twice, it was crucial to Department had an expectation that these flow the visibility and acceptance of the EFA within requirements could be specified through a technical government. exercise that resulted in a precise flow being calculated through hydrologic modeling. They were unable to There had been extensive stakeholder engagement in appreciate--and found it difficult to understand--that the preparation of the integrated management action establishing environmental water needs was necessarily plan and, as a result, there were good linkages between a social exercise that balanced the conflicting the CDA and the fishing community at the time of interests of different stakeholder groups along with the EFA. Two workshops were held with fisherfolk environmental needs. and villages from the floodplain, where water-related In addition, calculating and implementing problems were discussed, including issues related environmental flows required the collaboration directly to the Narraj Barrage. Although they discussed of government departments that represented issues very actively, their understanding of the operation sectors dependent on the services provided by the of the barrage was limited, and it was not possible to environment--agriculture, tourism, fisheries, etc. discuss technical options with them. However, the state government departments did not The lagoon communities exhibited great interest in have a culture for--or experience in--engaging in such the opening of the new channel to the ocean, because collaborative exercises. Departments were focused on the benefits from increasing the exchange between the their sectoral objectives and did not assign a priority to lagoon and the ocean were immediately apparent to investigations into environmental flows. them. The erosion control projects under the OWCRP These difficulties were never properly overcome during to reduce sediment inputs from the western catchments the time of the OWCRP and the BNWPP assistance also included extensive community involvement. and were a major factor in the reluctance to implement environmental flow recommendations. Assessment technique. The environmental water requirements below the Naraj Barrage were estimated Participation.The difficulty in getting active using models. A hydrological model was developed participation from state government agencies, to predict water flows and sediment loads from the apart from the CDA and the Department of Water barrage into the lagoon; a hydrodynamic model of the Resources, is described above. Apart from their silo lagoon was used to predict salinity under different flow mentality, there was a regular turnover of senior staff regimes; and a simple fish catch model was developed within these government agencies. The purpose of the based on salinity levels. While lagoon levels, which EFA had to be explained to each new appointee and could be predicted by the hydrodynamic model, it was impossible to build up any momentum for the provided an estimate of water bird nesting potential, study outside of visits by the international consultant. actual bird breeding events could not be estimated because global factors determine the occurrence of A stakeholder executive committee (SEC) had breeding events. There was insufficient information been proposed at the outset of the EFA study. It for the response of other important species, such as was finally constituted toward the end of the EFA dolphins and shrimps, to be modeled. Institutions and Governance Series 125 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 125 4/9/09 12:45:54 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations The models were applied to four environmental flow The EFA integrated key water quality concerns-- scenarios, based on the community consultations particularly salinity within the lagoon--with flows and economic assessment of scenario impacts. Thus, because of the importance of these parameters for the the models suggested that a 60 percent reduction functioning of the lagoon ecosystem. in freshwater flows would result in a net annual incremental cost of 138 million ($131 million) There was some integration at a technical level of flows through losses to floodplain agriculture and fisheries46. and other considerations. However, more importantly, Conversely, by maintaining the present levels of there was little integration at a management level of freshwater flows and reducing high intensity floods, an environmental flows with other management initiatives overall annual incremental benefit of 8,465 million for the restoration of the lagoon, such as erosion control ($8.04 million) would be realized through enhanced programs in the western catchments. agricultural and fish productivity. Cost effective. The EFA was completed technically, Different institutions developed the different models for but was never put into effect. There were some CDA. The Central Water and Power Research Station benefits, such as an increase in understanding about (CWPRS) at Pune developed the hydrodynamic model, environmental flows among some technical staff while the Orissa Department of Water Resources was of the relevant Orissa state departments, but this responsible for the hydrological and sediment models, understanding was never properly internalized by and the CDA was responsible for the ecological response the organizations. Consequently, the project has not models and for coordinating the different institutions. been cost effective at this stage. However, there is an This arrangement proved to be too complex, and opportunity for building on this initial understanding there was poor coordination between the CWPRS, through a subsequent Bank-funded project. the DOWR, and the CDA. Although the CDA had successfully coordinated the contributions of NGOs Reporting. The analyses carried out clearly illustrated the and government agencies to the immediate response to environmental and social trade-offs to the CDA and the the lagoon's problems under the auspices of the national Department of Water Resources and, later in the project, government, they did not have the necessary influence the members of the stakeholder executive committee. when required to coordinate input to a technical assistance project for a long-term response. The Chilika restoration program is supported with a monitoring program--in both the lagoon and the While the CWPRS modelers were readily able to develop inflowing rivers--that tracks changes in key physical the hydrodynamic model, they and DWR modelers were and biological parameters. However, this monitoring less familiar with catchment runoff models and could is not designed to distinguish the contribution not easily grasp the concepts behind ecological and social of environmental flows from the barrage to the response models. Consequently, these latter models were sustained recovery of the lagoon; instead it integrates not developed until late in the project. improvements arising from all the actions contained in the integrated management action plan. Integration. The EFA included modeling of the social and economic impacts of different flow scenarios. These Influential. The EFA was undertaken too late in the models were not intended to be integrated with the OWRCP to be influential when the operating rules for existing physical models. However, the assessments of different flow regimes did integrate these physical, 46Flow Scenarios for Chilika Lagoon, India. Millenium ecological, and social components. Ecosystem Assessment. 126 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 126 4/9/09 12:45:54 PM Restoration of Chilika Lagoon the barrage were being established. It was concluded after downstream flows and increased sediment inputs the OWRCP was completed. While it has not succeeded into Chilika Lagoon, is sometimes necessary to in influencing the operation of the barrage at this point, precipitate action. there remains a possibility that it may still be influential 2. When environmental flows concerns are through the follow-on project now being prepared. introduced late in project implementation where the implementing institution has no background The high level of senior staff turnover (which is a or mandate for environmental and social issues, generic issue within the Indian civil service) meant then environmental flows are likely to be treated that there was little opportunity to embed a strong as just a bureaucratic hurdle that needs to be understanding of environmental flows within the water overcome with minimal effort, rather than an resources bureaucracy, and this affected the seriousness integral part of project implementation. with which the technical findings of the EFA are 3. It is difficult to introduce concepts that rely on treated. While the EFA was accepted as providing an social, economic, and environmental knowledge important input to management of the barrage by the that do not have exact solutions; and require CDA, it was never given a high priority by the Orissa collaboration across multiple disciplines into Water Resources Department (Young 2005). The sectoral, and in particular, engineering organizations. department has retained a strong orientation toward 4. In spite of a recognized institution (CDA) with irrigation development and expansion, and not on responsibility for coordination, departments that water resources management or ecosystem services. were not directly responsible for water resources management continued to focus on their sectoral The EFA for the barrage has not, to date, resulted in the interests and did not engage in cross-sectoral inclusion of environmental flow assessments in other management. development projects. However, it provided training 5. The inclusion of environmental flows in the state and improved understanding of EFA procedures within water plan provided legitimacy to the conduct state government agencies, although the improved of the EFA, but was not decisive in gaining the understanding is still not deep enough for further EFAs priority that was needed to ensure that staff were to be carried out without expert assistance. There is assigned to carry out the agreed tasks. not yet a widespread understanding of environmental 6. The high turnover in senior staff in the Water flows among senior managers. Given the rotation of Resources Department required continual senior staff experienced in this project, it is likely that justification for the EFA and contributed to the the senior managers responsible for future water-related low priority assigned to the activity within the development projects would need to be educated afresh department. about environmental flows. However, the clear priority 7. The stakeholder executive committee was available given to water for the environment in the recent Orissa only toward the end of the project. The project State Water Policy is very likely to have been influenced would have progressed more effectively if this by the awareness of this issue as a result of the EFA assistance was available earlier. conducted for the barrage. 8. The level of participation of villagers and fisherfolk needs to be tailored to their capacity. They were Lessons able to articulate problems and discuss general solutions, but were not equipped to engage in 1. A crisis, such as the severe social disruption and technical discussions concerning the provision of economic hardship brought about by reduced environmental flows. Institutions and Governance Series 127 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 127 4/9/09 12:45:55 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations 9. Good science, even backed by a state water plan, Acknowledgments cannot guarantee good decisions. It needs to receive high-level bureaucratic support and have Dr. Bill Young, CSIRO, reviewed the case study. access to coordinated technical expertise across relevant government institutions. References 10. To be effective, the EFA process needs to be embedded in an existing planning process, such as Orissa Department Water Resources and SMEC. 1995. Orissa WRCP (Revised). Washington, DC: World Bank. a project EA or water resources allocation plan. 11. EFAs must address livelihood concerns if they are World Bank. 1995. "Staff Appraisal Report." Orissa to be relevant in water allocation in developing Water Resources Consolidation Project. Annex 12. countries. Washington, DC: World Bank. 12. There needs to be functioning water resource Young, W. 2005. "Lessons Learned from the Provision management frameworks before environmental of Advice for the Lake Chilika Environmental Flow flow issues can be addressed effectively. Assessment." Report to World Bank's Environmental Flows window of the Bank-Netherlands Water Partnership Program. Washington, DC: World Bank. 128 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 128 4/9/09 12:45:55 PM Case Study 14. Lesotho Highlands Water Project Background financing47 (under Phases 1A and 1B), but its role and participation was crucial to obtain broad international In 1986, the governments of Lesotho and the Republic support and ensure that the project met sound of South Africa signed a treaty to implement the economic, technical, dam safety, and environmental Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP). The project standards. The project was implemented by the Lesotho was intended to meet the growing demand for water in Highlands Development Authority (LHDA) under the the heartland of the Republic of South Africa (RSA); to Lesotho Highlands Water Commission, a binational produce hydropower to reduce Lesotho's dependence commission headed by permanent representatives from on imported energy; and to apply the project-generated the governments of Lesotho and South Africa. export revenues to development-oriented programs within Lesotho. The project was largely funded by the Phase 1A involved the construction of the Katse Dam government of South Africa. At the time, Lesotho had a (185 meter) and the Muela Dam (55 meter), tunnels per capita income of around $440. Close to half of this to transfer water from Katse to Muela and from Muela came from remittances of 150,000 Lesotho nationals to the RSA (18m3/s), and an underground hydropower working in the gold and coal mines in South Africa. station at Muela. This phase ran from 1992 to 1998. With possible mechanization of the mining industry, Phase 1B comprised the Mohale Dam (145 meters), employment growth for Lesotho workers was uncertain, a transfer tunnel connecting the Mohale and Katse and so the project offered Lesotho an opportunity for reservoirs, a 19m high concrete diversion weir on job creation, infrastructure development, and a stable the Matsoku River, and a 5.6km long tunnel. It was revenue source to support the country's development. completed in 2006. The LHWP (a transboundary, inter-basin water transfer At the time of the project, Lesotho did not have a project) was thus of considerable economic importance water resources or environmental policy that either for both RSA and Lesotho. recognized environment as a legal use of water or that mandated environmental flow requirements in The Lesotho Highlands Water Project infrastructure projects. The environmental assessment was carried out according to World Bank requirements. The five-phase LHWP was to be progressively There were few general provisions for environmental implemented over a 30-year period starting in 1990. protection in the 1986 treaty. The treaty provided Phase 1A and 1B of the project were supported by for minimum downstream compensation flows of 11 donor agencies, four export credit agencies, four 0.5 m3/s from Katse Dam and 0.3 m3/s from Mohale European commercial banks, four regional capital markets, and the government of Lesotho. The World Bank contributed only about 3 percent of the project 47Total project cost of Phases 1A and 1B was $ 2.9 billion. Institutions and Governance Series 129 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 129 4/9/09 12:45:56 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations Dam, representing about 3 percent of the mean annual 2. Treaty releases--the releases provided for in the runoff of the respective river systems; the remainder 1988 treaty (about 3 percent of MAR) was to be diverted and exported to RSA. These flows 3. design limitation--maximum releases possible were stipulated without adequate understanding of the consistent with the design of Phase 1 structures implications on downstream water uses. 4. intermediate--flow releases between the design limitation and the treaty requirements The social and environmental assessment for Phase 1A concluded that the project did not present The EFA study highlighted that: any insurmountable environmental obstacles to development, and detailed baseline studies for Phase 1A · nearly 39,000 people were estimated to be impacted were conducted after construction of the project had directly or indirectly downstream of the dams, already started. compared with a few thousand impacted upstream · sites close to the dams would be severely impacted The contractors for Phase 1A were willing to continue under all but scenario 1 with Phase 1B without any major interruption · significant losses could occur to downstream and thereby avoid substantial mobilization costs. communities under all scenarios; even under Consequently, the government of Lesotho requested the scenario 1, losses amount to over $2 million World Bank to avoid delays in commencing Phase 1B annually and to approve the Phase 1B environmental assessment · while increasing environmental flow releases would (which had largely focused on upstream issues and improve the condition of downstream users, impacts) and agreed to carry out an instream flow adopting the fourth (intermediate) scenario would requirement study (essentially an EFA) during the cost Lesotho about $17 million in net present initial construction phase of Phase 1B. The Bank agreed benefit compared to the treaty minimum scenario, to this request, subject to an EFA being conducted a 3.3 percent loss in revenue (Watson 2006) and the implementation of measures to provide · the benefits from the LHWP are large enough for "compensation" releases from the Matsoku, Katse and the economic rate of return to not be substantially Mohale dams prior to commencing impoundment affected by increasing the downstream flow of water in Mohale Reservoir. This requirement was stipulated as a legal covenant to the Bank loan in Agreeing on environmental flow releases proved to be the project appraisal document. In fact, the EFA was difficult. This was partly because (a) the LHDA and substantially delayed, and so the environmental flow the funding partners had different expectations of the releases were not agreed with the World Bank before EFA; (b) the treaty was seen to have already stipulated the date of impoundment. minimum flow releases (that were 3 percent to 5 percent of the total mean annual runoff); (c) of the absence A new method--the downstream response to imposed of a clear policy and legal framework in Lesotho that flow transformations (DRIFT)--was developed for the recognized environment as a legitimate user of water; EFA, specifically to integrate the environmental, social, (d) of the inherent uncertainties in the study predictions; and economic impacts on populations downstream of (e) of the delayed decision-making process; and (f) the the Lesotho Highlands dams. The EFA considered four scientific results were complex and not presented in ways flow release scenarios: that could be easily grasped by decision makers. 1. minimum degradation--60 to 65 percent of MAR After intensive negotiation, the LHDA agreed on a maintained for downstream ecosystems flow release policy with environmental water releases 130 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 130 4/9/09 12:45:56 PM Lesotho Highlands Water Project that were three and four times the treaty minimum Drivers for Mohale and Katse dams respectively. The Mohale Dam outlet valves had to be re-sized to accommodate The World Bank's environmental assessment safeguard the anticipated higher flows, and a new valve had policy was the principal driver for the EFA. Lesotho to be added to Katse Dam to accommodate higher did not have policy or legislative requirements for EFA releases. Although costly in terms of lost revenue EFAs and there was no evaluative oversight from a from water diversions, these larger environmental Lesotho government agency. In fact, the Environment water releases should substantially reduce downstream Ministry from Lesotho was absent from any debate environmental impacts and the size of compensation over downstream effects. The implementation of Phase payments. These costs, however, did not entail any 1A raised awareness about the need to better define, significant changes in the project's economic rate of understand, and address the downstream issues. return. The professional drivers for the EFA in Lesotho were Downstream river health targets were established as part weak. When the EFA was being designed, there was of the EFA study, together with agreed compensation no in-house capacity in environmental flows within payments for the remaining losses in ecosystem services. the LHDA. The environmental adviser at LHDA Local community development projects would be contributed to discussions about the need for an EFA funded with villages in the proximal river reaches, and supported the preparation of terms of reference while compensation would be provided through for such an assessment. Although local NGOs were broad development programs in the distal reaches. active in pursuing compensation and resettlement In both cases, the present value of 10 years predicted issues, they were not influential in driving the EFA losses would be paid up front. Actual losses, based on process itself. monitoring data, would then be used to determine the The other partner in the project, the RSA, on the amount of a second compensation payment that would other hand, had not only been a world leader in cover another 40 years. developing EFA techniques during the 1990s, but had adopted a progressive water policy and legislation that The collection of environmental monitoring data was recognized and mandated water for environment as meant to commence in 2001 but actually commenced a very high priority in its allocation decision making in 2004, largely due to delays internally within (Case Study 3). Further, the professional capacity for LHDA. The program has now been established and both advancing and implementing EFA was also strong early indications are that, under the agreed flow in RSA. Thus, there were strong procedural as well as release policy, the river health targets have been met professional drivers for EFA in South Africa. or exceeded in all except two reaches. While people in the proximal reaches received the agreed initial Although there was, at times, reluctance by LHDA compensation packages, the authorities have delayed to provide water for environmental flows in a timely paying any compensation to those in the distal reaches manner, the implemention of the environmental flow because of the uncertainty regarding the potential policy and associated operating rules for the dams have losses in these reaches. The lack of monitoring data eventually resulted in good downstream environmental may mean that it is impossible to demonstrate losses, outcomes, although the social and economic outcomes exposing the authorities to a serious reputational are less certain. The latter is in part due to the absence risk if the affected people mount a challenge to their of adequate socioeconomic data and information on position. downstream communities. Institutions and Governance Series 131 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 131 4/9/09 12:45:57 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations Assessment Bank safeguard policies filled this gap and became the guides for participation. Recognition. One of the major difficulties in implementing the EFA was the absence of any policy Although an ambitious program of development or legislative framework in Lesotho for recognizing support (based on the experience of Phase 1A) environmental flows as a legal use of water. was designed for the highlands during Phase 1B to Consequently, the discussion about the EFA had to deal offset upstream impacts and disruptions, none were with both, not just the immediate issue of the quantity designed for the downstream communities affected and timing of water needed, but even the legitimacy of by the dams. At that time, there was no knowledge the concept of environmental flows. Thus, even after about the extent and severity of downstream impacts. the government of Lesotho had accepted the need to Moreover, downstream issues and impacts were assessed provide adequate environmental flows, there was some much later in the decision-making process (during reluctance on the part of managers and dam operators the construction of the dams) compared to upstream to release valuable water, particularly when the benefits impacts (which were reviewed before the appraisal of were not obvious and the financial loss associated with the project). such releases due to reduced export of water were quite obvious. Scientific method. The DRIFT technique remains a cutting edge method for systematic integration of Undertaking the EFA concurrently with the environmental, social, and socioeconomic effects from construction of the Phase 1B infrastructure exacerbated changes in river flows. It is holistic in that it considers this problem. It proved difficult to alter the earlier all relevant components of the flow regime. It was treaty minimum flow release, even when it became developed during the LHWP and so met the project's apparent that the treaty minimal flows were inadequate, requirements of allowing the impacts of different because of the costs involved in re-engineering the potential flow regimes to be analyzed. The four flow dams' offtake structures. scenarios described above were augmented with others as decision makers moved toward a decision. Participation. The DRIFT method was developed to ensure that the effects of flow changes on populations The DRIFT technique required extensive fieldwork to were measured. Thus, DRIFT included social and collect the environmental, social, and economic data. economic studies that identified the populations While this ensured that its environmental and social dependent on the river and assessed the effects of predictions were well-founded, it also meant that it different flow scenarios on these populations (or the was time-consuming and expensive to apply. However, populations at risk). In the socioeconomic analyses, the given that there was no baseline data, that the LHWP social implications associated with resource quantity will entail several other phases, and that the LHDA and quality loss or alterations were translated into was skeptical about the value of EFA and required the costs of mitigation and compensation for the convincing evidence, it was appropriate to design and affected population. The impacted population was kept implement such a comprehensive method. informed of these decisions, but were not part of this decision-making process. DRIFT was designed and implemented by expert groups with international standing. In addition, a panel The lack of government policy on environmental flows of international experts was appointed to oversee the also meant that there was no in-country guidance on process. They contributed to the content of the flow the purpose or extent of participatory activities. The release policy, the monitoring protocol, a program to 132 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 132 4/9/09 12:45:57 PM Lesotho Highlands Water Project protect the endangered Maloti minnow, and designing The lesson here is that much more needs to be done by and establishing the Lesotho Biodiversity Trust. the scientists to simplify and translate environmental flows information to ensure that political decision Overall, the project resulted in the development and makers can access and absorb the scientific findings and application of a world-class EFA methodology. make appropriate use of them when making decisions. Cost effective. The EFA (which included the assessments Influential. The comprehensiveness of the EFA analysis for both the Phase 1­1A and 1B, and the proposed and its recognition globally was a major factor in the Phase 2 project) cost approximately $2 million. It was LHDA's eventual acceptance of the need to provide relatively expensive, but in comparison with the scale for downstream flows. The study findings resulted of the project, it was not that expensive. The cost of in the Mohale Dam outlet valves being re-sized to the EFA amounts to only 0.07 percent of the total accommodate the anticipated higher flows, and a new project costs, while the downstream compensation valve being added to the Katse Dam to accommodate costs ($14 million) amounted to 0.5 percent of the higher EFA releases. The EFA also provided the total project costs (Watson 2006). In comparison, the information for the development program to cost of upstream resettlement alone was $68 million. compensate affected communities downstream of the Given that there was no baseline data for the region dam. However, there has been reluctance by the LDHA and that the LHWP will entail several other phases, this to provide agreed compensatory development packages initial investment provides a solid foundation for future for the affected communities in the distal reaches investments. And as noted above, the EFA includes an (reaches further downstream from the dam) until it is assessment of the future Phase 2 project impacts as well. demonstrated that impacts on distal communities are measurable and significant.. Reporting. The four chosen scenarios provided situations that were readily understandable to the In principle, the experience during Phase 1B of decision makers. However, the results of the EFA the project will lead to easier adoption and better were less understandable, at least initially. The acceptance of EFAs in subsequent stages of the LHDP; comprehensiveness of the DRIFT method meant that in fact, as noted above, the EFA for the Phase 2 extensive information and data were generated, making development was included in the EFA. However, the it almost impossible for a decision maker to understand lower-than-expected demand for water from RSA has how an individual expert's predictions had been built meant that there has been no further development of into aggregate weighted indices. While decision makers the highlands water, although studies for Phase 2 are could easily understand the financial implications of already under way. Nevertheless, the knowledge and exporting less water to South Africa, they could not experience gained during the EFA has contributed to easily grasp what it meant to move from one "river environmental flows capacity in Lesotho and is being condition" class to another. used both in the planning and design of the Metalong Dam on the Phuthiatsana River, southeast of Maseru, Given these difficulties, a decision framework was as well as in the LHWP Phase 2 studies. devised to summarize the EFA outputs in a form that the decision makers could understand. While this According to the independent audit supported by illustrated diagrammatically the trade-offs between LHDA, the LHWP environmental flow policy water users and river condition, it still required the development and implementation experience decision makers to understand the implications of represents the most complete, most analyzed, and changes in river condition. best documented project-level environmental flows Institutions and Governance Series 133 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 133 4/9/09 12:45:58 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations case globally. It contains the key steps in the decision- 3. Continuing dialogue and sharing of knowledge making process--from the science of assessing between project proponents and funding agencies ecological impacts under different flow scenarios, can lead to a convergence of views on the to the integration of biophysical and social issues importance of environmental flow assessments in with the ecological impacts, the incorporation of countries without a history of environmental flow early study findings into the decisions about sizing assessments. dam outlets valve, the economic analyses of the four 4. To put the EFA determinations into effect, it is flow scenarios, a decision framework that led to the essential to have a well-defined decision-making environmental flow recommendations and policy, and process. to implementation and monitoring. The EFA process 5. Downstream impacts can be significant. When the (as noted above) was also subjected to an independent EFA was carried out in this case, it revealed that audit which identified important lessons. the number of people affected downstream was, in fact, greater by an order of magnitude (nearly The LHWP experience has also contributed to 39,000 people) than the number affected upstream environmental flows practice elsewhere, primarily of the dams. through the application of the DRIFT method. DRIFT 6. Full-scale EFAs (such as the one undertaken in this remains one of the few EFA techniques that integrates case study) take considerable time to complete. environmental, social, and economic concerns. Thus, Biophysical data need to be collected, affected the Mekong Basin and Pangani Basin environmental communities need to be identified, social impacts flow assessments (Case Studies 7, 8) use modified need to be predicted and explained, and economic versions of DRIFT, and the technique has been applied analyses need to be undertaken. The EFA needs within South Africa in establishing the ecological to be designed and data collection needs to reserve. commence as early as possible. 7. Science needs to be made more accessible. Unless Lessons scientists can present their findings from such a complex environmental, social, economic study 1. Without policy and legislative backing, a project- in a readily understood format, decision makers level EFA will likely struggle to be readily accepted will not be able grasp the full implications of by development-oriented managers. Developing alternative decision choices. Decision makers such a policy simultaneously with the project-level should be educated in the science and the EFA can lead to delays, confusion, and conflict. It methodology at an early stage and provided with is advisable to have a policy and legal framework in continuous feedback as the study progresses to place to guide EFA. ensure that they are not surprised by unexpected 2. The values of stakeholders should be made as outcomes. explicit as possible as early as possible in the 8. A decision framework should be established that process of assessing and determining EFRs. shows the benefits and costs of a range of decisions This is most easily accomplished if there is a using financial, environmental, and social metrics. catchment-level water allocation process or plan in Presenting them with a framework rather than place where the values of stakeholders are already specific predictions gives decision makers control defined. This provides a baseline of water sharing over the choices. against which the changes resulting from a project, 9. The EFA process should make specific predictions such as a dam, can be assessed. that are able to be subsequently tested through 134 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 134 4/9/09 12:45:58 PM Lesotho Highlands Water Project a monitoring program. The budget for the References project should include funds for the monitoring program and there should be opportunities for Watson, P.L. forthcoming. Managing the River, as well as the Dam. Assessing Environmental Flow Requirements-- the monitoring results to feed back into the Lessons Learned from the Lesotho Highlands Water Project. operational plan for the infrastructure. Washington, DC: World Bank. Acknowledgments This case study drew from Watson 2006. Andrew Macoun of the World Bank provided additional information. Institutions and Governance Series 135 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 135 4/9/09 12:45:58 PM Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 136 4/9/09 12:45:58 PM Case Study 15. Lower Kihansi Gorge Restoration Project Background the EA for the LKHP on the assumption that the downstream was uninhabited and unlikely to possess The Lower Kihansi hydroelectric plant was constructed significant environmental value. The steep terrain and on the Kihansi River within the Rufiji Basin in difficult access may have contributed to the inadequate Tanzania during the mid-1990s (World Bank 1993) attention to the downstream gorge area in the EA. To to augment the country's limited electricity supply address this gap, NORAD, a cofinancier of the project, generation capacity.48 The hydropower plant had been commissioned in the mid-1990s a series of baseline and designed as a 180MW run-of-the-river development ecological monitoring studies. with provision for expansion to 300MW in the future, making it a significant power source for the energy- It was during these subsequent ecological monitoring strapped country. The Lower Kihansi site was an studies (by Norplan consultants during project attractive site for a hydropower plant because of the construction in 1996) that led to the discovery of the availability of high head in a short stretch of the river endemic toad, the Kihansi spray toad (KST), in a rare and the favorable hydrology with a good reliability of wetland system in the Kihansi Gorge downstream from flows (Mkhandi and Birhanu 2007), coupled with the the dam. The hydropower plant was designed to divert absence of settlement below the dam site. water from a small reservoir above the gorge through an underground tunnel to drive turbines in a power The catchment above the dam site is 584 km2 in area plant located below the gorge. Thus, operation of the and is characterized by hilly terrain. Mean annual hydroelectric plant would drastically reduce flows rainfall in the catchment is 1944mm. The high- through the gorge and consequently the spray that biodiversity Udzungwa Forest Reserve covers the land sustains the wetland. to the east; the rest of the catchment is covered with small forest reserves, grassland, and bush. Most of the Once discovered and classified as a critically endangered lower parts of the catchment are under agriculture. species under IUCN's red book, temporary measures Downstream of the hydropower site, the Kihansi River had to be taken to safeguard the downstream Lower drops some 800 m through a narrow gorge cut into the Kihansi Gorge ecosystem, including a captive breeding escarpment, with difficult physical access. Although the EA for the Lower Kihansi Hydropower Project (LKHP) (based on a 1991 EIA) had concluded 48Around 10 percent of Tanzania's population has access to electricity. that there were no significant environmental issues 49Environmental studies found the Lower Kihansi hydro site arising from the proposed hydropower plant49, it did preferable to other potential sites because of the smaller size of the not include an assessment of impacts downstream reservoir, and a relatively uninhabited catchment meant that the project would disturb less land area, and there were not expected of the proposed dam. The Bank initially accepted to be serious social and resettlement issues. Institutions and Governance Series 137 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 137 4/9/09 12:45:59 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations program for the spray toad in the United States, the disappearance of the spray toad are not known, although design of special nozzles that could generate fine spray introduced chytrid fungus (known to have caused and construction of an irrigation sprinkler system extinctions in amphibians world-wide and detected in to generate fine artificial spray in the gorge, and the the gorge), and pesticides (endosulfans have been found implementation of an environmental management in concentrations 13 time the concentrations known to plan. The environmental flow required to maintain be lethal to amphibians) or some combination of the the ecosystem was not known, and as a consequence, two factors are possible causes under the heavily stressed the granting of a final water right for generating conditions of the gorge. Chytrid fungus could have hydropower was difficult and delayed. At the time, been introduced through human traffic in and out of Tanzania did not have a water or an environment the gorge, whereas pesticides may have been introduced policy that explicitly recognized the environment during the flushing of the dam or during the high-flow as a legitimate use of water (like other uses of water studies or even via the bypass flow releases. Although such as drinking, agriculture, or energy), did not have the population of spray toads held in captivity in the legislation requiring EIAs for development projects, United States declined from the 499 initially transported and had no technical capacity to undertake an to about 72 in March 2004, more recently, as a result of environmental flow assessment or institutional capacity good animal care, it has recovered and increased to over to facilitate and negotiate an environmental flow 1,000 individuals. requirement for complex water resources investments. The Lower Kihansi power plant came on-stream The Lower Kihansi Environmental in 2000, only 6 months later than the original Management Project commencement date. The plant met its objective The Lower Kihansi Environmental Management of helping meet rising demand for hydropower and Program is a restoration project aimed at conserving reducing the amount of thermal plant use. Since the unique Kihansi Gorge ecosystem, while at the 2000, the 180 MW Lower Kihansi power plant has same time balancing the nation's electricity needs. It is been supplying between one-third and one-quarter of centered around the water needs of the Kihansi Gorge. Tanzania's electricity production (World Bank 2003). The Tanzania National Electricity Supply Company A year elapsed between the diversion of the river flow (TANESCO) applied for the final water right as the and the installation of the emergency measures. During construction of the dam was nearing completion. The this time, the available habitat of the spray toad was provision of this final water right, after the Kihansi spray dramatically reduced and the spray-dependent ecosystem toad was discovered, was highly contested. A provisional was at great risk of extinction. The various mitigation water right had been granted when construction started measures (including a specially designed irrigation with the condition that the dam be constructed with sprinkler system to generate artificial spray) restored a provision for a bypass flow structure of capacity 7 limited amount of spray-dependent habitat, and the m3/s--to release the minimum historical flow that was Kihansi spray toad population subsequently increased. on record. The Rufiji Basin Water Office (RBWO) The artificial spray appeared to stabilize the population monitored the provision of these bypass flows. in the areas where it was installed. Unfortunately, in August 2003 the spray toad population crashed, with In July 2000, in response to a complaint filed by the last documented sighting of a spray toad in May Friends of the Earth, an international environmental 2006. Subsequent biannual surveys since 2006 have not organization, the World Bank launched an documented any spray toads. The exact cause(s) of the environmental review of the circumstances surrounding 138 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 138 4/9/09 12:45:59 PM Lower Kihansi Gorge Restoration Project the LKHP and the steps needed to mitigate its the LKEMP, TANESCO has retrofitted the low-level downstream impacts. The review found that the power discharge pipe from the dam to provide additional head plant was being operated for baseload generation and so that bypass flows now meet the requirements of the not peaking purpose as it had been designed50 and water right. found that the installed bypass pipe capacity to release environmental flows was between 1.5­1.9 m3/s. The In spite of the flows through the gorge being less review recommended that, in addition to the actual than required during both the construction and interim bypass flow of between 1.5 and 1.9 m3/s, operational periods of the dam, the flows, together further mitigation measures be investigated. with the artificial spray system, have stabilized the gorge's spray wetland vegetation to the point where it In 2001, the World Bank approved an emergency loan may be possible in the future to reintroduce the spray to protect the Kihansi Gorge ecosystem and improve toads from the populations held in the United States. Tanzania's water resources management (World Bank This will however require other factors, such as the 2002). The Lower Kihansi Environmental Management chytrid fungus and pesticides, to be controlled and the Project (LKEMP) funded studies into the conservation of establishment of a captive population in Tanzania. the Gorge ecosystem; developed a catchment conservation plan for the area upstream of the dam; supported capacity The LKEMP also assisted the Tanzanian government building in conservation biology and environmental in revising its environmental legislation. A new and water resources management at University level; Environmental Management Act was passed in 2004, developed a process for establishing the final water right containing specific provisions for EIAs, inclusion for operating the power station; formulated an EMP of environmental flows in basin plans, and strategic for the gorge, including an environmental monitoring environmental assessments for hydropower and major plan, as part of the final water right; and supported the water projects. improvement of the legal and institutional structure for environmental management in Tanzania. The LKHP however faces new challenges. There are now growing concerns about the threat from Following extensive scientific studies and negotiations deforestation and uncontrolled bottom valley between TANESCO, the RBWO, NEMC, and cultivation of the catchment above the dam. Clearing LKEMP, a final water right for the LKHP was granted of forests for agricultural activities is common and to TANESCO by the Rufiji Basin Water Board in June is being extended to the hills. Most of the lower 2004. It included an EMP that stipulated environmental accessible areas are cultivated because the valleys are flows of 1.5­2.0 m3/s, coupled with other measures to wet and valley bottom cultivation is a growing practice ensure the conservation of the Kihansi Gorge, including in the dry season. This practice has the potential to ecological monitoring, the continuation of the artificial increase erosion rates, bringing more sediment into sprays in the most ecologically sensitive parts of the the reservoir and into the spray system in the gorge. gorge, and measures to quarantine the gorge from the The increase in agriculture may also lead to an increase entry of further fungal infestations. in the use of pesticides, adding further pressure on the gorge if the spray toads were to be reintroduced. However, implementation of these conditions on the A landscape-wide conservation plan (LWCP) for the final water right has not been easy. Monitoring by the Upstream Kihansi Catchment was completed in 2005 RBWO showed that the bypass flows were about 30 percent less than the flows that TANESCO reported 50This means that there is much less water spilling over the dam it was providing. As a result of an audit requested by and flowing through the gorge than originally envisaged. Institutions and Governance Series 139 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 139 4/9/09 12:45:59 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations as apart of the LKEMP project (SMEC 2005) to There were few institutional drivers from within provide the basis for controlling this threat. Additional Tanzania at that time, partly because there was no policy threats include flood flows from spills over the dam or legislative requirement for either recognizing water and mudslides during periods of heavy rain that have needs for the environment or EIA, and partly because recently caused damage to the sprinkler system and the value of the spray toad appeared to be small or was related infrastructure in the gorge. intangible compared to the very high economic value of the electricity generated from the waters of the Kihansi Additional funding for the LKEMP was approved in River. The DOE, NEMC, and the RBWO played a key September 2007 and commenced in March 2008. Its role in highlighting the complex issues, but had limited objectives are (a) to maintain the captive populations technical and institutional capacity in environmental flow and the gorge ecosystem, and re-introduce the spray work, as this was the first such case nationally. In fact, toad to the gorge; (b) to implement the LWCP to internationally, it was also the first environmental flow protect the upper catchment from further degradation; case of a wetland with a specific micro-climate dependent and (c) to further strengthen capacity for environmental on the spray from the falls instead of river flows. management and compliance in Tanzania. The RBWO acts as the driver for enforcement of the Drivers environmental flow requirements of the TANESCO water right. The RBWO grants the water right and The Lower Kihansi work has occurred in three distinct actively monitors and enforces the conditions of the phases. The initial construction of the LKHP and water right as part of its responsibility for managing belated discovery of the Kihansi Gorge ecosystem water allocations within the Rufiji Basin. An additional occurred under the Bank-funded Power VI project professional driver has arisen in recent years. Because between 1993 and 2001; the LKEMP project of the publicity arising from the discovery of the commenced in 2001 to respond to the emergency rare ecosystem and the Kihansi Spray Toad and the arising from the discovery and stabilize the gorge development of national pride in this unique ecosystem ecosystem and safeguard the spray toad population; and species, Tanzanian environmental and water and additional funding for LKEMP has extended agencies are now actively engaged in supporting the the project to 2010 to facilitate the reintroduction of recovery efforts. the spray toad and improve the management of the catchment above the dam. This section deals with Assessment the last two phases where the environmental flow assessment and implementation occurred. Recognition. The crisis over the Lower Kihansi hydropower plant arose from a lack of recognition of Once the Kihansi spray toad was discovered, the the importance of water needs for the environment safeguard policies acted as a powerful driver for action, and of maintaining downstream environmental flows. and the Bank funded mitigation and protection The environmental assessment carried out at the measures. This instrumental driver was accompanied by time of the Power VI loan, like similar EAs at that a powerful public driver in the form of pressure on both time, concentrated on the upstream impacts of the the government of Tanzania and development partners development. funding the project--including the World Bank and the governments of Norway, Sweden, and Germany--from Nevertheless, the LKHP lessons have improved the international environmental organizations to save the understanding of the importance of environmental spray toad and its associated ecosystem. flows within Tanzanian institutions, partly driven 140 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 140 4/9/09 12:46:00 PM Lower Kihansi Gorge Restoration Project by this internationally recognized case. The 2002 Although there were no legal requirements that National Water Policy and the draft Water Resources determined the breadth and types of consultations Act (Case Study 4) provide for environmental flow required, the consultations were conducted in the spirit determinations and, more importantly, among water of national priority that surrounded this complex issue. resources professional there is now an internalization of the need to provide for flows that maintain downstream Assessment technique. The environmental flow assessment environments. Thus, NEMC, DOE, and the Ministry was, on the one hand, relatively simple spatially in of Water are all much more aware of the need to that the environmental values were concentrated in take downstream effects into account when assessing the Kihansi Gorge. But on the other hand, it was infrastructure development applications. also complex and novel in that the gorge ecosystem was driven by the micro-climate--spray form, Participation. Extensive consultations were held with size, distribution, humidity, wind patterns, and key sectors of the government between 1996 and temperature--generated by the falls, rather than 2003 once the threat to the downstream ecosystem directly by the river flow. Therefore, none of the and the KST were recognized and publicized. These known EFA methods were applicable for the LKEMP. consultations included DOE and NEMC, the Ministry New scientific techniques, based on experimental of Energy and TANESCO, the Ministry of Water and work--ecological studies and flow tests--had to be the RBWO, the Ministry of Natural Resources, and the developed and applied to model the spray fineness, Forestry Department. Under LKEMP, the discussions size, concentration and distribution, humidity, wind were conducted at intergovernmental meetings through direction and speed, and temperature in order to the Multi-sectoral Technical Advisory Committee assess the effects of different flow regimes on the (MTAC) and overseen by a high level inter-ministerial gorge habitat. High-flow trials during the dry and wet steering committee. seasons--both prior to and after the commissioning of the dam--established the area of gorge ecosystem The case study is unusual in that there are no wetted by different levels of flow. communities downstream of the dam in the Kihansi Gorge. The only affected people were essentially Financial and economic evaluation studies of various environmentally concerned people in the international flow regimes provided estimates of the costs of foregone community, initially represented by Friends of the power production. The final flow recommendation Earth. The government of Tanzania had a responsibility, was based on the flow trials, economic studies, and through the International Convention on Biodiversity, the efficacies of the mitigation measures such as the to protect the KST and its habitat. No public artificial sprinkler systems. consultations were held, but extensive consultations have taken place among the many government agencies, Data and science. Following its discovery, extensive the academic community, and development agencies. ecological studies were mounted in the Kihansi Many debates have also taken place in the Parliament Gorge ecosystem, with a focus on the spray toad and over the development challenge facing the country the Kihansi Gorge ecosystem. The habitat, feeding, from the project related issues, including the electricity reproduction, behavior, and predation and disease challenges facing the nation, the contribution of characteristics of the spray toad were established LKHP in the national electricity grid, the cost of the (Channing and others 2006). Ironically, the Kihansi conservation effort, the value of KST to the nation and spray toad is both Africa's most well-studied amphibian its people, and who is benefiting from the conservation and its most endangered, yet knowledge of the overall of the Kihansi Gorge ecosystem and the KST. Kihansi catchment remains patchy at best. Institutions and Governance Series 141 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 141 4/9/09 12:46:00 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations These studies showed that the KST is dependent upon the EFA and the establishment of the flow requirements the spray wetlands, which in turn are maintained by of the final water right. Thus, the cost of the EFA spray that is generated by the waterfalls within the and implementation was approximately $8m. The Kihansi Gorge. Humidity and temperature are two intangible benefits have not been costed. important factors for KST's survival. The toad's thin skin restricts it to cool, humid areas, where it lives on This is clearly an expensive restoration project. Some the vertical rock faces within the direct spray zone of the costs, such as the establishment of the flows of the various falls. Food is mostly small insects that needed to generate certain levels of spray, would have themselves feed on the vegetation in the spray wetlands. been incurred if the environmental flows had been The extent of spray from the falls, and hence the established as part of project preparation. Other costs, extent of habitat suitable for the toads, was established such as the retrofitting of the increased bypass flows through high-flow trials during both the wet and the and the protracted negotiation of the final water right, dry seasons (World Bank 2004). were incurred because of the delayed recognition of the importance of the downstream ecosystem. Integration. The results of the environmental Overall, the project illustrates that delaying EFAs can investigations--the bypass flows plus the engineered significantly increase the total project costs as well as solution of an artificially generated spray--were the reputational costs. integrated with economic/financial assessments in order to arrive at a minimum flow from the dam. Social values Reporting. The environmental management plan was the were difficult to incorporate because of different value key document produced by the first phase of LKEMP. systems. The intangible value of an endangered species It was well-written and its conclusions were clearly was high to people external to Tanzania, but not to based on scientific studies. However, the value of the Tanzanians. Nonetheless, the government of Tanzania downstream ecosystem was not established in this (as a signatory to the International Convention on report, and so the trade-off between flows for electricity Biological Diversity and under pressure from external production and flows for the downstream environment interests) agreed to protect these values. The other could only be established through protracted relevant social value was the loss of amenity by negotiations. Tanzanians, who would forego electricity consumption if some flows were assigned to environmental Influential. The EFA was specifically commissioned to protection. This value was represented through the loss establish the flow requirements for the downstream of revenue by TANESCO resulting from a decision to ecosystem and its outcome and mitigation measures provide water for the downstream ecosystem. were highly influential in establishing the final water right for the power plant. Although the flow Cost effective. It took some years to establish the requirements in the provisional water right were not environmental flow requirements because of both the adhered to by TANESCO, the EFA provided a solid complexity and novelty of the situation and the need basis for the necessary mitigation measures and for the to conduct the scientific studies, and the extended oversight agency (RBWO) to require the company to negotiations required to achieve a balance between enforce the water right and to increase bypass flows ecological sustainability and electricity generation. when the final water right was not being enforced. Most of the original LKEMP project ($6.3m) and its The belated discovery of the spray toad in 1996 subsequent extension ($3.5m) were devoted to the highlighted the limited understanding of the conservation of the Kihansi Gorge ecosystem, including environmental water needs in operational terms and 142 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 142 4/9/09 12:46:01 PM Lower Kihansi Gorge Restoration Project also exposed the limitations of institutional and legal 5. International pressure can sometimes play a structures for environmental protection and the lack powerful role in ensuring that critical ecosystems, of capacity within Tanzania for carrying out EFAs. It including those downstream of infrastructure also highlighted weakness in the project planning and developments, are protected from damage. preparation process. 6. Monitoring is essential to ensure that the agreed environmental flows are adhered to, especially The LKEMP lessons and experience have contributed to when there is pressure to favor critical economic major policy and legal reforms in Tanzania's water (Case water uses such as hydropower production Study 4) and environment sectors. Thus, as a result of and when production-oriented authorities are LKEMP, the new environmental legislation mandates reluctant to understand or accept the need for EIAs for major projects, there is an improved awareness environmental flows. of environmental flows within water and environmental 7. Ecosystems can have indirect as well as direct institutions, as well as for specialist tertiary-level training dependence on flows; in this case, the ecosystem in environmental conservation (Acreman and King depended on the spray from the Kihansi 2005). While these advances have yet to be used for an Falls. None of the traditional EFA methods EFA of a new project, the resulting wider understanding were applicable in these circumstances and of environmental flows has played a significant role in new technical methods based on on-site and the conduct of EFAs for basin water resources plans experimental fieldwork and testing had to be being developed in the Pangani (Case Study 8), Rufiji, developed. and Wami-Ruvu basins in Tanzania. The case has also 8. The restoration of the spray-dependent ecosystem contributed to improved awareness within the Bank depended on both high-quality scientific studies about downstream impacts and environmental flows. and engineering solutions, as well as government commitment to conservation. Lessons 9. The government of Tanzania took the opportunity offered by lessons learned from the crisis over the 1. Unique and spatially limited ecosystems can easily Kihansi Gorge ecosystem to incorporate them be vulnerable to collapse with additional pressure into the new environmental act legislation. It because they have little resilience. strengthened the environmental aspects of its 2. Neglect of environmental flow considerations water policy and built capacity for environmental at an early stage of project preparation can lead assessments, including EFAs. to substantial monetary costs during project 10. This difficult case has also contributed to implementation because of limited options improved awareness within the Bank about available to alter the project design and operations, environmental flows and the need to systematically to retrofit already constructed infrastructure, and address downstream impacts of water resources to carry out additional studies. developments. 3. There are significant reputational costs arising from the omission of or delaying the recognition of downstream effects from the assessment of Acknowledgments development projects. Willie Mwaruvanda, Bill Newmark, Jane Kibbassa, 4. International obligations (such as the CBD) and Fadhila Ahmed provided comments on an earlier provide a means of (and are an important driver draft. for) protecting unique and fragile ecosystems. Institutions and Governance Series 143 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 143 4/9/09 12:46:01 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations References SMEC. 2005. "Landscape Wide Conservation Plan for Upstream Kihansi Catchment." SMEC Project No Acreman, M., and J. King. 2005. "Capacity Building 58708. SMEC, Tanzania. to Undertake Environmental Flow Assessments in Tanzania." Annex E to Tanzanian Water Resources World Bank. 1993. "Power VI Project." Project Assistance Strategy: Improving Water Security for Sustaining Agreement. Washington, DC:World Bank. Livelihoods and Growth. Report No. 35327-TZ. Washington, DC: World Bank. World Bank. 2002. "Lower Kihansi Environmental Management Project." Presidential Memorandum. Channing, A., K.S. Finlow-Bates, S.E. Haarklau, and Washington, DC: World Bank. P.G. Hawkes. 2006. "The Biology and Recent History of the Critically Endangered Kihansi Spray Toad World Bank. 2003. "Implementation Completion Nectophrynoides Asperginis in Tanzania." Journal of East Report (IDA-24890), Tanzania Power VI Project." African Natural History 95(2): 117­138. Washington, DC: World Bank. Mkhandi, S., and B.Z. Birhanu. 2007. "Hydrological World Bank. 2004. Lower Kihansi Environmental Study for Kihansi Catchment." Report to Lower Management Project (LKEMP) (CR 3546 ­ TA). Kihansi Environmental Management Project Mid-Term Review Mission. Final Aide Mémoire. (LKEMP). Washington, DC: World Bank. 144 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 144 4/9/09 12:46:01 PM Case Study 16. Senegal River Basin Background The objectives of OMVS are to (a) stabilize and improve the livelihoods of the inhabitants of the basin The Senegal River Basin (290,000 km2) is shared by and adjacent areas; (b) maintain an ecological balance Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, and Senegal and has three within the basin and promote its sustainability within distinct zones: the mountainous upper basin lying the sahelian zone; (c) render the member states less mainly in Guinea and partly in Mali; the river valley vulnerable to climatic variations and external factors; and its associated floodplain, which varies between 10 and (d) accelerate the economic development of the to 20 km wide and forms the border between Senegal member states through intensive regional cooperation. and Mauritania; and the delta where the river empties A key element of the plan of OMVS includes the into the Atlantic Ocean. Flows in the 1,800 km river, implementation of a regional infrastructure, including one of the largest in Africa, originate almost entirely in (a) the Manantali storage reservoir and hydroelectric the upper watershed from the monsoonal rains between project; (b) the Diama saline intrusion and irrigation April and October. Historically, the river has produced barrage with embankments along the lower river; (c) a two-month flood, bringing water and life to the delta the construction of ports at Saint Louis and Kayes, as and the valley, which is mainly in a desert and arid well berthing facilities at nine locations between the two landscape. Management of the Senegal River Basin is towns, and (d) the development of a navigable channel. vital to the economies of the four riparian countries, whose inhabitants depend upon the river for their The structure of OMVS has also evolved over time. It livelihood in the form of agriculture, animal husbandry, has been reorganized to meet the changing requirements and fisheries. of the initial construction of infrastructure, followed by its management, operation, and maintenance. The During the 1970s and 1980s, the Sahelian region present structure provides an institutional framework experienced an extended period of drought. for transboundary river basin management that is Compounded with the high natural inter-annual essential for implementing environmental flows in an variability in rainfall and in river flows, the drought led international river basin. OMVS allows basin-scale to a chronic water deficit in the region. In response to water management and allocation of benefits between this situation, Mauritania, Mali, and Senegal signed the basin states, such as irrigation water and electricity a treaty in 1972 to establish the Senegal River Basin generated from hydropower. Authority (L'Organisation pour la Mise en Valeur du Fleuve Sénégal ­ OMVS) with the mandate of In addition, OMVS developed an inclusive framework "securing countries' economies and reducing the that set the legal provisions for inclusion of Guinea vulnerability of peoples' livelihoods through water into OMVS and established a joint Basin Development resources and energy development" (World Bank Program, which has reoriented the strategy for the 2006). Guinea joined OMVS in 2006. development of the basin. The present OMVS's vision Institutions and Governance Series 145 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 145 4/9/09 12:46:02 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations is to "implement a joint basin development program station was postponed pending further studies, which that reinforces regional integration, yields benefits and were carried out in the early 1990s. Under the original sustains growth among the four associated riparian project, irrigation has been developed on about countries." 100,000 hectares of the potential 375,000 hectares of land suited for irrigation. A fishery has developed on Senegal River Infrastructure the Manantali Reservoir, leading to settlement. The following description will focus on World Bank- The decision to proceed with the 200 MW power plant supported projects for water resources development at Manantali Dam and associated transmission works in the Senegal River basin. However, a number of was finally taken in 1997 and construction began in other donors, including the African Development 1998, with the power generation and transmission Bank (regional infrastructure development and sound equipment being funded with World Bank assistance environmental management), Agence Francaise de through the Regional Hydropower Development Developpement (water resource management tools), the Project (1997­2003) (World Bank 1997). The Netherlands Cooperation (environmental mitigation transmission lines to Bamako were commissioned and restoration, and water-weeds removal and the in 2002, with the inter-connections to Dakar and rehabilitation in the delta), and the European Union Nouakchott shortly thereafter. The navigation project (preparation of the Senegal River Master Plan) are also has not been implemented due to lack of financing, but supporting the OMVS. OMVS is still planning to proceed with a scaled-down version of the original concept. The Bank agreed to The Diama Barrage was constructed at the mouth of participate in the Regional Hydropower Development the river between 1981 and 1986 to stop saline water Project because the dams being funded would have a entering the river, thus making the river a reservoir of large influence on the economies of the three countries freshwater for irrigation. About 375,000 hectares of in OMVS at that time. The Bank was able to help land are under irrigation. Embankments were built coordinate the development across the countries from the dam upstream on both banks in the early because of its existing experience in a number of sectors 1990s to store water in the river at an elevation that in all three countries. allowed gravity feed to the floodplains and provided sufficient depth for year-round navigation along the The project provided an opportunity to address some river into Mali. The barrage also provided water supply of the difficult environmental and social issues that for stock and for Dakar. accompanied the original project, especially impacts of altered flood regimes. Prior to construction of the The construction of the upstream storage reservoir Manantali Dam, natural inundation of the floodplain at Manantali on the Bafing River was undertaken of the Senegal valley supported up to 250,000 hectares during the period 1982­87 with funding from a of flood recession agriculture, forests which provide consortium of banks and international agencies. The fuelwood and construction timber, fishing, grazing for World Bank declined to be involved. The reservoir, livestock, recharge of groundwaters, wildlife habitat, with a capacity of 11,270 Mm3, was filled over the and maintenance of wetlands in the Senegal River Delta three subsequent years. The purpose of the dam was (Table 16.1). While there is considerable debate about to generate 800 GWh/year of electricity (90 percent the actual values derived in Table 16.1, the principle has certainty) and to provide water for irrigation. The been accepted that the floodplain ecosystem has a high dam site controls 50 percent of the flow on average value that was not recognized in initial planning of the and 70 percent in dry years. The hydroelectric power river basin. 146 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 146 4/9/09 12:46:02 PM Senegal River Basin Table 16.1 Value of Floodplain Since installation of the turbines in 2001 through Production under Pre-dam Conditions the Regional Hydropower Development Project, the Activity Value ($/ha) economics of environmental flows changed. The release Recession agriculture 56­136 Fishing 140 of water for managed floods reduced the amount of Grazing 70 power that could be generated. Even the minimum TOTAL 266­345 environmental flood flow release reduces the mean annual energy from some 800 GWh by an amount varying from 140 to 190 GWh depending on the hydrological regime. The value attached to each kWh in The construction of the Manantali and Diama dams the justification of the energy project was of the order created significant environmental and social impacts. of $20 to $0.05/kWh. A primary impact was the loss of flood-recession agriculture, fuelwood, and grazing on the floodplain. Assistance under the Regional Hydropower Project There was a 90 percent drop in the productivity of was conditional on the basis that OMVS retained the fisheries of the Senegal Delta, which relied on the managed floods as a possible long-term option. inputs of freshwater from upstream. In addition, the A Plan for Mitigating and Monitoring Impacts on character of the vegetation in the Djoudj National the Environment (Plan d'Atténuation et de suivi des Park, adjacent to the river, changed significantly as the Impacts sur l'Environnement ­ PASIE) (Adams 2000) periods of saline water intrusion into the river, which was undertaken during the implementation of the used to occur during the dry season, were replaced by a Regional Hydropower Development Project to mitigate regime of continuous freshwater. For example, the river the environmental and social issues that had occurred channel became chocked with typha australis, which as a result of the construction of the original dams. had previously been controlled natural by saline water, Among other activities, PASIE included a program for and led to increased incidence of bilharzia and malaria. optimizing management of the Manantali Reservoir, so The Diama Barrage and embankments along both sides as to restore some level of benefit to downstream farmers. of the river led to severe degradation of the delta and loss of biodiversity in the Diawling National Park in Further environmental flow programs were Mauritania and also in the Senegal River Delta. implemented to release water through the embankments to re-inundate the Diawling National Park in the north The release of a managed environmental flood of the delta. Such releases were possible from the water flow was made in each year following the filling of stored within the river embankments immediately Manantali Dam in 1991 (Acreman 2003). Because of behind the lower Diama Dam, and thus did not the delay between dam construction and installation require additional water from Manantali and so did of turbines, OMVS agreed that managed floods should not impact on electricity generation. In addition, since be released for a transitional period of 10 years to development of intensive irrigation was considerably benefit people undertaking flood-recession agriculture, less than planned, the releases did not compromise the herding, and fishing. Although the environmental agricultural sector. These environmental flows led to a flows included in the plan were small and inundated major revival in fish stocks, particularly mullet; birds, only around 50,000 hectares (20 percent of the such as white pelicans; and revitalization of traditional original area), they had impressive benefits. Fishermen handicrafts. The total costs of the restoration over 12 in the Senegal River at Mauritania saw their annual years was around $100 per ha, while the added value of catch rise from 10 tons to 110 tons once the annual annual natural resource production was $65 per hectare floods were re-established. (Hamerlynck and others 2006). Institutions and Governance Series 147 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 147 4/9/09 12:46:03 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations The GEF-funded Senegal River Valley Water and · fisheries will be assisted through a technical Environmental Management Project, which included modernization program and training in sustainable IUCN, commenced in 2003. The aim is to develop fisheries management a basin-wide framework to integrate national water · waterborne diseases, which have increased since resources activities within an environmental action the flow regime was modified, will be tackled program. Along with strengthening monitoring through a program to improve water management networks and building technical capacity, the project techniques, treat affected communities, and will assess the impacts of the seasonal floods from provide advice on disease prevention changes to the flow regime due to Manantali Dam. Drivers In 2002, the governments of Mali, Senegal, and Mauritania signed a Water Charter that guarantees A succession of drivers helped propel the provision an annual artificial flooding (Article 14) and minimal of environmental flows within the Senegal River environmental flows (Article 6), except under basin. The initial driver was the realization by Senegal extraordinary circumstances. The objective of the that the belated development of the dams would Water Charter is to "provide for efficient allocation of cause significant economic and social disruption to the waters of the Senegal River among many different the floodplain communities. This was reinforced by sectors, such as domestic uses, urban and water supply, academic research (Horowitz and Salem-Murdock irrigation and agriculture, hydropower production, 1990) that emphasized the importance of the navigation, fisheries, while paying attention to flows to the floodplain agricultural system, as well minimum stream flows and other ecosystem services." as NGO studies that introduced the importance of environmental flows to the delta ecosystem Implementation of the charter is being assisted through (Hamerlynck and Duvail 2003). the $341 million Senegal River Basin Multi-Purpose Water Resources Development Project, which was Initially OMVS took a water engineering approach approved by the World Bank Board in 2006 (World with objectives focused on hydropower, irrigation, Bank 2006). The project will strengthen existing and navigation. Pressure was applied by IUCN to monitoring and information networks and lay the take a more integrated approach to development that foundation for an expansion of hydropower generation included conservation of ecosystems that provide in the Senegal River valley by preparing a comprehensive goods and services to local communities and for these master plan for the basin, completing the hydropower communities to be involved in decision making. feasibility study for the Gouina hydropower site, OMVS invited IUCN as an independent organization and undertaking preliminary technical studies at the to initiate community participation. The Permanent Gourbassi, Koukoutamba, and Balassa sites. Water Commission of OMVS, which makes water allocation decisions, was originally made up of water In addition, the project will mitigate some of the engineers, but now includes representatives from local downstream problems that have arisen from the dam coordinating committees that provide stakeholder developments: input and embraces the environmental flow concept. NGO input is now coordinated under an umbrella · recessional agriculture and irrigation in the mid- organisation (CODESEN), which was expanded from valley will be improved through the development its initial membership of Senegalese NGOs to include of small-scale hydraulic structures and assistance those from Mali and Mauritania. Input from national with irrigation management agencies has also improved. 148 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 148 4/9/09 12:46:03 PM Senegal River Basin The World Bank safeguard policies, triggered during the main principle followed is one of sharing the benefits of appraisal of the Regional Hydropower Development infrastructure operation between countries, not sharing Project, acted as an additional driver for environmental the water itself. For example, Mali does not receive flows. The project included the provision of a specific share of water, but a share of the electricity environmental flows as a condition after the installation generated at Manantali. OMVS decides on the trade- of the turbines. offs between the various sectors: electricity production, commercial irrigation, subsistence farming, and nature Assessment conservation; in this way, it addresses the integration of environmental, social, and economic issues. The sharing Recognition. OMVS did not initially recognize either of costs, such as the downstream environmental/ the importance of maintaining either flood flows or economic costs of upstream development, was not dry season flows to water users downstream of the considered explicitly. As yet, climate change issues Manantali Dam, or the potential environmental have not been mainstreamed into policy and decision impacts from the exclusion of seawater into the estuary making, but its impacts on future water resources of the Senegal River by the Diama Barrage. Subsistence availability are beginning to be studied. farmers, who did not contribute to the national economy, were not considered in economic decisions. The annual flood is seen as the most important aspect The infrastructure development plan was driven by of the natural flow hydrograph for the river valley economic development considerations (Sir Alexander ecosystem, supporting floodplain vegetation and Gibb and Partners 1987). Once investigations took habitat for fish breeding. Releases from Manantali for place, it was realized that the traditional flood-recession hydropower also maintained high river levels for gravity agricultural practices on the floodplain had significant irrigation and deep water navigation. These elevated economic and social importance. These floodplain levels were thought to support the in-river ecosystem; communities were not part of the original plan because no consideration was given that elevated flows and they were considered subsistence farmers who would levels during the dry season might be inappropriately not be impacted by the developments. high for some species at this time of year. Minimum flows are also an issue, but unlike most managed river Environmental flood flows could be provided relatively systems, low flows in the Senegal River are often higher easily during the period prior to the installation of than natural because of the need to maintain water the turbines. It was hoped that, eventually, economic depth for navigation and gravity irrigation. However, it development brought by the dams would provide is increasingly being recognized that too much flow is as alternative employment for floodplain communities, detrimental to the ecosystem as too little flow. such as through intensive irrigation schemes, so that flood releases would not be required in the long term. Various analyses have been undertaken to calculate the best economic option for use of water in Manantali The concept of environmental flows is now accepted dam. Horowitz and Salem-Murdock (1990) concluded within OMVS, through recognition of the need for that a combination of environmental flood flow releases floodplain inundation and for appropriate ecologically and generation of some hydropower was the most low flows. efficient economically. Hollis (1996) reviewed the original consultancies' reports and suggested that an Comprehensiveness. Because management of the water environmental flood release could be made that would resources of the Senegal basin is coordinated by OMVS, inundate 100,000 hectares while retaining sufficient transboundary issues are automatically included. The water to generate 912 GWh of electricity with a 95 Institutions and Governance Series 149 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 149 4/9/09 12:46:05 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations percent certainty, complying with the original terms of patterns, but an optimal environmental flow was teference of the management plan. These studies were achieved by negotiation through stakeholder workshops noted by OMVS, but taken more seriously when they and discussions with individuals facilitated by IUCN. were supported by recognized international bodies such The release of water through the embankments was then as IUCN. approved by OMVS. Environmental water status. The existence of two national Participation. OMVS was established as a top-down parks in the Senegal River floodplain/delta--and organization driven largely by the Council of Ministers the recognition that these areas provide essential and High Commission. OMVS operates consultative ecosystem services for local communities--means that bodies, such as the Permanent Water Commission, but environmental flows are included implicitly in decision these also comprise government officials from member making. Environmental objectives take the form of the states and are charged with allocation of resources. size of the area inundated by flood releases and various There is no forum for local communities' participation scenarios (50,000, 75,000 and 100,000 hectares) have in the policies or implementation work of OMVS. been considered. However, a decision on the precise Local resource users only had influence on decisions environmental flood flow release from Manantali Dam, through participation in studies and workshops run by as in many other situations, depends on trade-offs outsiders such as IUCN. It is likely that without IUCN among a wide range of issues. For example, a release facilitating local resolutions, OMVS would have been is less acceptable if a higher certainty of hydropower unable to resolve differences of opinion and that top- electric power is required. OMVS considers the supply of down decisions would have led to disputes. This can be power to Mali, which does not benefit directly from an a generic problem with top-down approaches, in which environmental flow release to the floodplain and delta. the aim is to act in the national interest regardless of the A further political issue within Senegal and Mauritania distributional impacts on local people. concerns the distribution of benefits. Electricity benefits the urban elite, commerce, and industry (there being The Water Charter extended stakeholder involvement little rural electrification), while environmental flood within the Senegal basin to include farmers and NGOs. releases primarily benefit the rural poor. The expansion Further stakeholder participation was stimulated by of irrigation is potentially in conflict with flood-recession the GEF project, which included participation in its cropping in terms of space. However, the irrigation has design and implementation. Now local coordination not been particularly successful, with much irrigated committees exist throughout all countries of the basin. land already abandoned due to salinization and the resultant increase in diseases, such as bilharzia and Rift Data and science. OMVS has supported a wide range Valley fever. of consultancy studies over the management of water resources, such as the work of Sir Alexander Gibb and Further environmental flow programs were implemented Partners. This included hydrological models of the basin to release water through the embankments to re- to study the implications of different release patterns inundate the Diawling National Park in the north of from Manantali on inundation extent on the floodplain the delta. The precise timing and volume of flows was downstream. The hydrological studies were integrated derived through participation of local resource users. with economic analysis of natural floodplain goods and The return of freshwater flows revised the fishery and services, intensive irrigation, hydropower generation, the growth of grasses (Sporobolus robustus) used by local and navigation. This work produced a series of scenarios women to make mats (their main source of income). under which different areas of the floodplain would be Different users initially requested different flow release inundated, different amounts of electricity generated, 150 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 150 4/9/09 12:46:06 PM Senegal River Basin and different degrees of irrigation could be achieved. ecosystem in Senegal and Mauritania. It also allows The relationship between surface and groundwater for the needs of the rural poor to be balanced in the Senegal valley has also been studied in some against the developed sectors. OMVS allows basin- detail (OMVS/USAID 1990). The environmental flow scale water management and allocation of benefits releases from Manantali were based on these studies. between the basin states, such as irrigation water and electricity generated from hydropower. Independent research has also been undertaken, such as 2. Certain elements of the river flow hydrograph can the hydrological, ecological and socioeconomic studies be the most important aspect of environmental of the Diawling Park (Duvail 2001); these studies flows. In the Senegal basin, it is floodplain defined the environmental flow releases through the inundation that supports an ecosystem that embankments to the delta. provides goods and services for local livelihoods. In general, OMVS did not move radically from its On the other hand, the delivery of flows that are original primary objective of delivering economic beneficial for navigation during the dry season may development to Senegal, Mali, and Mauritania have harmful environmental consequences. through hydropower generation, with the benefits 3. Environmental economics and social economic shared between the countries. The second priority justifications can be used to make a powerful case was to manage the downstream dam at Diama to for environmental flows in many cases. The reports maintain high water levels for irrigation and navigation. commissioned by OMVS identified the economic Concessions were made to release environmental flood value of the functions of the floodplain, which flows to inundate 50,000 hectares (20 percent of the were previously not appreciated by senior decision original area) until the turbines were installed. The makers in the Senegal basin states. This encouraged distributional effects were not seriously considered (i.e. the inclusion of flood releases from Manantali Dam which communities benefit or lost out); the objectives to maintain the floodplain ecosystem at least in the were focused on national and regional economic short term; without these social economic data, growth. Pressure from IUCN, the World Bank, and releases from Manantali would have been restricted others enabled small-scale environmental flow releases purely to the needs of the power generation, to continue, such as releases through the downstream intensive irrigation, and navigation sectors. embankments to the delta. These were largely to avoid 4. Release of freshwater to the coastal zone, such political conflict rather than recognition of economic as deltas and estuaries, can be as important as value of the ecosystems to local people. environmental flows to freshwater ecosystems. The original plans of OMVS did not allow for Lessons any flow releases below Diama Dam, as it did not recognize these as important. However, the IUCN 1. The structure of OMVS, with its membership studies recommended the release of water through of basin countries, provides an institutional the embankments immediately around Diama framework for managing water resources of to restore the delta ecosystem and its dependent the transboundary Senegal basin. The principle livelihoods, and this was approved by OMVS. followed is one of sharing the benefits (electricity, 5. There are many issues to consider when making a irrigable land, and navigation) rather than the decision about implementation of environmental water itself. It allows for transboundary mitigation flows, such as wider transboundary agreements of ecological impacts, such as releasing water from and distribution of benefits to different members the Manantali Dam in Mali to support the river of society. Research and studies by independent Institutions and Governance Series 151 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 151 4/9/09 12:46:07 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations organizations should be assessed in addition to Valley." Contributing Paper to Thematic Review I.1. those commissioned by a river basin authority. World Commission on Dams. London: Earthscan. OMVS was established to support economic Duvail, S. 2001. Scénarios hydrologiques et modèles development of the Senegal River basin through de développement en avl d'un grand barrage. Les electricity production, intensive irrigation, usages de l'eau et le partage des ressources dans la delta and navigation. It adapted its operational plan mauritanien du fleuve Sénégal. Unpublished PhD (and made environmental flow releases from Thesis. Strasbourg, France: Louis Pasteur University. Manantali) based on its own consultancy reports, Hamerlynck, O., and S. Duvail. 2003. "The but was reluctant to accept results of independent rehabilitation of the delta of the Senegal River in studies as they were considered too radical. Some Mauritania." IUCN Wetlands and Water Programme results--for example, environmental flow releases Blue Series. Gland, Switerland: IUCN. to the delta--were eventually accepted when supported by international organizations such as Hamerlynck, O., S. Duvail, B. Messaoud, and M. Benmergui. 2006. "The restoration of the lower delta IUCN. of the Senegal River in Mauritania." Proceedings of 6. OMVS was organized as a top-down institution the Symposium on Coastal Ecosystems of West Africa, focused on national and regional objectives; the Brussels, Belgium, February 2005. involvement of local communities as stakeholders was not embraced. It was largely through the Hollis, G.E. 1996. "Hydrological inputs to actions of international organizations, such as management policy for the Senegal River and its floodplains." In: M.C. Acreman and G.E. Hollis, eds. IUCN, that impacts on local communities were Hydrological management and wetlands in sub-Saharan considered. Subsequently, the Water Charter Africa. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN. recognized the rights of communities, including those affected by flood flows, and a network of Horowitz, M., and F. Salem-Murdock. 1990. local coordination committees was established to "Senegal River Basin Monitoring Activity Synthesis." Binghampton, New York: Institute for Development represent their views. Anthropology. OMVS/USAID. 1990. Groundwater monitoring Acknowledgments Project. Vol II: "Hydrogeological synthesis of the Senegal river delta." Dakar, Senegal: OMVS. Ousmane Dione of the World Bank provided comments on this case study. Sir Alexander Gibb and Partners. 1987. Etude da la gestion des ouvrages communs de l'OMVS: Rapports Phase 1, vol 1B ­ Optimisation de la crue artificielle References (rapport définitif). Dakar, Sénégal: OMVS. Acreman, M.C. 2003. "Environmental flows: flood World Bank. 1997. "Regional Hydropower flows." In R. Davis and R. Hirji, eds. Water Resources Development Project (Mali-Mauritania-Senegal)." Staff and Environment Technical Note C.3. Washington, Appraisal Report. Washington, DC: World Bank. DC: World Bank. World Bank. 2006. Project Appraisal Document. Adams, A. 2000. "Social Impacts of an African Dam: Senegal River Basin Multi-Purpose Water Resources Equity and Distributional Issues in the Senegal River Development Project. Washington, DC: World Bank. 152 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 152 4/9/09 12:46:07 PM Case Study 17. Tarim Basin Background51 Taklimakan Desert, feeding oases and tributaries that flow into the Tarim River, which runs from west to east Feeding China's population is a continuing challenge across the basin for over 1,300 kilometers. for the government of China (GOC). As of 1998, the annual consumption of grains was about 480 Historically there has been continual expansion of the million tons and was expected to grow to about 700 irrigated agriculture upstream along the tributaries to million tons by the year 2020, partly due to the the Tarim River to meet China's needs for food and increasing population and partly due to the increased fiber without consideration of the ecological balance or consumption of grain for animal feed resulting the needs of other water uses. from increasing meat consumption as incomes rise. To meet these needs, the government's long- The abstraction of water for irrigation in the upper term policies and strategies are designed to support reaches of the Tarim Basin has had severe detrimental increased food production by improving irrigated environmental effects, including soil alkalinity, decline agriculture, increasing incomes and rural employment in downstream water flow, loss of trees, desertification, opportunities, and promoting the development of the and declining downstream agricultural productivity. western region. One particular area the government The reasons for these unsustainable water use practices targeted for increased agriculture production is the included (a) ineffective water-allocation institutions, Tarim River Basin (198,000 km2) in the Xinjiang (b) below-cost water prices, (c) inefficient water Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), China's largest transmission and irrigation systems, (d) inappropriate autonomous region located in northwestern China.52 agricultural practices, and (f) lack of management and information systems for water allocation, water pricing, Despite an average rainfall of just 50 millimeters and crop production at the local level. per year, the basin's farmers produce 80 percent of Xinjiang's cotton, or one-sixth of China's total cotton Flows in the Tarim River, which traditionally flowed production through irrigated agriculture. Other into the terminal Taitema Lake, had progressively agricultural products include grains, fruits, nuts, silk, diminished during the 1960s. The river ceased to flow and wool. The gross regional product is approximately in the lower reaches during the 1970s because of the $4.3 billion, agriculture being the main economic excessive upstream withdrawals of water for irrigation. activity. The key to the basin's productivity lies in the water, which starts as glacier and snowmelt in the high mountain ranges surrounding the basin on three 51This section was drawn from World Bank (1998) and Hou and sides--the Kunlun Mountains to the southwest, the others (2006). Tibet Plateau to the southeast, and the Tien Shan 52In addition to its agricultural importance, the region is strategically important to China because of its transport links Mountains to the north. This water runs into the with Central Asia. Institutions and Governance Series 153 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 153 4/9/09 12:46:07 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations The only agriculturists in the region relying on natural coordination body, while the TRMB was established as systems are the Uygur herders, who free-range their the operational body responsible for operating hydraulic sheep on the over-bank flow areas of the Tarim River. structures, investigating water management options, These areas support a savannah woodland with an and monitoring and controlling water allocations. understory dominated by tough grasses of very low The project was successful in increasing agricultural feed value. The woodlands include a wide range of production. The downstream impacts of the agricultural medicinal herbs and other useful species. The survival water abstractions were addressed in the EIA and of this ecosystem is totally dependent on periodic flood provisions were included to release water to maintain the flows in the Tarim River. Reductions in flows have been downstream vegetation. However, these provisions were directly associated with reductions in the area of the inadequate and the green corridor on the lower reaches riverine forest over the last 40 years. As a consequence, of the Tarim River continued to decline. the natural riverine "green corridor" in the 300 km of the Tarim River upstream of Taitema Lake became The Tarim Basin II Project (1998­2004) addressed ecologically stressed, reducing the vegetative barrier to the environmental issues that had arisen in the basin encroachment of the Taklamakan and Kukule Deserts, by helping establish sustainable water resources which border the river in that area. The advance of development and management. The project's objectives the deserts and the threat that they would link up and were to: sever the transport links was a significant concern to the · increase incomes of poor farmers through irrigated national government. agriculture development Administratively, the management of water in the · establish institutional mechanisms for sustainable Tarim basin is based on a provincial/regional structure. use, development, and management of water The regional water resources bureau (WRB) is located resources and land in the Tarim Basin in the provincial capital. There are prefecture-level water · partially restore and preserve the "green corridor" resources departments (WRD) located in each of the in the lower reaches of the Tarim River five prefectures (Aksu, Bayingol, Hotan, Kashgar, and Improved environmental sustainability and economic Kisilzu). Each WRD reports to the respective prefecture development could be jointly achieved by an approach government, rather than to the WRB. Management of based on "beneficial consumptive use," where investing the basin's water resources, including the coordinated in improved water use efficiency and reducing management of upstream and downstream areas, nonbeneficial consumption provided water savings has been handicapped by this poorly coordinated that could be allocated for downstream environmental management system. benefit. An estimated 3,400 Mm3 of non-beneficial evapotranspiration occurs in the areas affected by the The Tarim Basin II Project Tarim II project. The intention was that increases in agricultural consumptive use would be more than The Tarim Basin Project (1991­97) (World Bank offset by decreases in non-beneficial evapotranspiration 1991) focused on expansion of the area for irrigated through canal lining, drainage improvements, and crop production, improvement of agricultural services, water management improvements. promotion of livestock development, and the setting up of basin institutions. The Tarim River Committee (TRC) The project also improved management arrangements and Tarim River Management Bureau (TRMB) were for the basin's water by establishing the Tarim Basin established under the project for managing water in the Water Resources Commission (TBWRC) and main stem of the Tarim River. The TRC was a policy and strengthening the TRMB, which was established 154 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 154 4/9/09 12:46:08 PM Tarim Basin during the implementation of Tarim Basin I project. Half of the water saved in the project will be delivered The TBWRC is a participative river basin commission downstream to the green corridor. The remaining comprising regional government water-related water will be consumptively used by grazing land, agencies, the five prefecture-level administrations, forest areas, irrigation, and through non-beneficial and the central government-controlled State Farms evapotranspiration. During the project, 41,462 hectares in the basin, in a partnership (Millington, Olson, of new land were developed; all new land development and McMillan 2006). It has the responsibility for was halted after that. The major production benefits coordinating and managing water across the basin from the project came from increasing yields and the (Radosevich and Olson 1999). value of production per unit of water consumed. The TBWRC was the first multiple prefecture water Environmental flows to restore the riverine ecology resource management agency with recognized authority and Taitema Lake are not required on a continuous to be established within a single province in China. flow basis, but can be delivered in slugs over short Previous cross-jurisdictional river basin agencies, such as periods. This mimics the historical hydrograph that the Yellow River Basin Commission(YRBC), had been only produced flows in the lower reaches of the river established for the major rivers that crossed provincial during annual high-flow months. During project boundaries and had narrow responsibilities. Hence the implementation, the total volume of environmental TBWRC represents a shift toward more integrated and water released to the green corridor was 1,700 Mm3 participatory water management within provinces. from six releases over four years. The TBWRC now has a firm commitment to deliver 300 million cubic meters Water use efficiency and the productivity of irrigation annually to this area. The Taitema Lake, which had water were increased through a mixture of institutional not received water for 30 years, expanded to a surface improvements, on-farm efficiency measures, agricultural area of 200km2. The areas alongside the river with support activities, and engineering means (Davis groundwater levels within 4m of the surface expanded and Hirji 2003). The institutional improvements from 4.7km2 before these flows to 20.5km2 afterwards. included strengthening the TBWRC, improving the Riverine vegetation showed dramatic improvement in monitoring system, forming water user associations growth. Subsequent monitoring studies show that the and decentralizing decision making, and improving the vegetation coverage has increased gradually each year, financial basis of the management. A volumetric quota the desertification area has decreased, some sand areas for water diversions for agriculture was also established have obviously retreated, and the ecology of the lower in 1999 for each prefecture that was less than historical reaches of the Tarim River has improved (Zhenglong diversions. During project implementation, control of and others 2007). water use (based on quotas) was instituted at different levels of water use down to individual water users. The on-farm improvements included improved crop Drivers types, extension services land leveling, improvements The central government's desire to solve the to on-farm irrigation systems, and mechanization. desertification problem--with its threat to transport The water supply canals were concrete lined with an links and attendant production and health costs--was underlying waterproof geomembrane to reduce leakage the principal driver for the release of water to the lower that contributed to high water tables and non-beneficial reaches of the Tarim River. One of the objectives of water consumption from capillary flux. As a result of the the Tarim Basin II project was to "partially restore canal lining, seepage losses are estimated to have been and preserve the `green corridor' in the lower reaches reduced by between 600 and 800 Mm3 per annum. of the Tarim River." Environmental flows were not Institutions and Governance Series 155 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 155 4/9/09 12:46:08 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations an activity added to the project to remediate impacts Once it was clear that the TWBRC was serious about of development activities within the project; rather enforcing the quotas,53 there was a change in attitude they were a central objective, along with improved leading to a genuine understanding and commitment by productivity of the project. Environmental flows irrigators and government officials within the basin to achieved this centrality because the environmental controlling water use and an acceptance that water must degradation of the lower Tarim River was leading to be allocated both for productive and environmental obvious and costly impacts. purposes. Water users have learned to increase yields and the value of production with less water consumption. While the project objective of restoring the downstream The introduction of a transparent system of volumetric environments was consistent with the 1998 National quotas and volumetric-based irrigation water charges Water law (revised in 2002), which requires effective helped considerably in changing farmer attitudes. measures to protect and preserve water resources and Accurate and transparent water measurement at all levels the environment with specific reference to arid areas for the point of diversion through to the farmer level (Radosevich and Olson 1999), it was not driven by this was a key success factor. legal requirement. Not all government institutions were supportive of the Neither international NGOs nor the growing project at the beginning. There had been considerable international environmental awareness were major confusion over responsibilities under the institutional influences on the provincial officials. The restoration of structure established in the Tarim I project. The TRC the green corridor was basically a provincial government was not taken seriously by the decision makers of the objective, strongly driven by the central government. province; it had no clear link with the TRMB and The major international influence arose indirectly neither had any legal standing for managing water through Australian-funded technical assistance from the allocation. The TRMB was responsible only for the Murray Darling Basin Commission. Provincial officials mainstream of the Tarim River. Most importantly, and key staff carried out a number of study tours to they had been set up in parallel to the provincial water Australia that influenced their thinking on IWRM and resources bureau (WRB) which, by law, was responsible environmentally sound river basin management. for water management (Xie, Jiang and Spencer 2006). Assessment The general approach followed in the Tarim II project was to expand the TRMB and the TRC from "river" to Recognition. The importance of re-establishing flows "basin" institutions and to clarify the confusion of water in the lower Tarim River was recognized by the management responsibilities. In 1997, the Xinjiang XUAR government prior to the project commencing. People's Congress passed "Regulations for Tarim They specifically sought a mechanism to restore the Basin Water Resources Management" to establish the downstream riverine environments in the Tarim TBWRC as the sole authority for water management in Basin II project while also improving the productivity the entire basin. The previous TRMB was changed to of irrigation within the basin. However, the WRBs and irrigation professions and irrigators initially saw the project, especially the quotas on diversions, as 53The enforcement was through both fines and rewards. The a regulatory measure that would result in decreased monetary value of the fines and rewards was quite low; however, productivity and production potential. This resulted the publicity accompanying them was the main inducement as in considerable tension at the beginning of the there was considerable prestige in being publicly acknowledged for achieving the quota or public humiliation in being identified project. as not achieving it. 156 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 156 4/9/09 12:46:09 PM Tarim Basin the Tarim Basin Management Bureau (TBMB), which made available from the upstream institutional reforms, became the technical secretariat for the commission. on-farm practices, and engineering improvements to restore the environment. The delivery of water was Participation. The establishment of water user made experimentally during implementation and the associations (WUAs) was a fundamental part of the results evaluated to determine how much water should institutional reform component of the Tarim II project be delivered downstream in future to achieve beneficial and provided a focal point for communication and ecological outcomes. The TBWRC developed specific understanding by the farmers of their individual water-share quotas for each of the five prefectures within and collective responsibilities in efficiently using and the basin, on the basis that, over the long term, if annual managing water for irrigation. The WUAs encouraged diversions were held at these levels, the level of water farmer participation in local irrigation management, flowing to downstream areas would restore the green and demonstrated the functions and roles to the corridor to an acceptable level of health. In this way, the participatory management for development of irrigated situation was changed from an unsustainable continually agriculture. The WUAs were responsible for water decreasing downstream water delivery to a sustainable delivery and measurement within the established management system based on enforced water quotas. quotas, water charge calculation and collection, representing the views of irrigators in the planning One legacy of the previous fragmented approach to and management processes, and providing incentives water management is that there was not an effective and information for improving water-use efficiency basin-wide monitoring program. The TBWRC has and water conservation. The WUAs, in turn, were established a data collection and monitoring plan represented on the TBWRC through irrigation district (Radosevich and Olson 1999). The Tarim Management committees, which had been established under the Bureau now has in place an effective basin-wide Tarim II project. monitoring program that is used to monitor and report to the TBWRC on how well the prefectures have stayed Data and Science. During project preparation, within their quotas. In this way, the TBWRC is able to preliminary modeling studies were carried out to enforce the quotas. There is also at the prefecture level assess whether the project development activities a system of monitoring and delivery of water down would adversely affect the commitments to deliver to individual farmers, although the amounts in many water to downstream areas, to select the development cases are estimated based on rudimentary measurement alternatives with minimal impact on river flows, and systems. to develop models for future use in evaluating different developments and strategies. These models included In addition, there has been monitoring of the surface and groundwater models and salinity models effectiveness of the increased flows to the downstream within the irrigation areas. The modeling showed parts of the basin. Changes in vegetation responses have that the development components of the project will been established through tree ring analysis of riparian improve water management and would not adversely vegetation, water table levels have been monitored, affect the flow deliveries in the Tarim River. and the response of birds and other wild life have been assessed. These models did not extend to the river downstream of the irrigation areas and so the project did not use any Integration. The Tarim Basin II project established scientific assessment technique to estimate the water integrated water resources management through both needed for restoring the environment in the lower "top-down" and "bottom-up" activities. The top- reaches of Tarim Basin. Instead, sufficient water was down aspects included (a) establishing policies, laws, Institutions and Governance Series 157 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 157 4/9/09 12:46:09 PM Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects -- Findings and Recommendations organizations, and regulations for managing water; use efficiency, acceptance of the importance of (b) defining the availability of water and determining downstream flows, and responsibility for operations broad water allocations within river basins and aquifers and maintenance. People now largely accept that for different sectors and political administrative entities; an ecology- and equity-based approach that decrees (c) setting water quality standards; and (d) establishing limits on water use through quotas does not have to an effective forum for cross-sectoral cooperation and compromise production and incomes. coordination. The "bottom-up" approach involved the participation and empowerment of water users and The project has led to tangible improvements in the their representation on the TBWRC through irrigation environment of the downstream parts of the river basin, district committees. leading to an improved buffer against desertification and dust storms without penalizing upstream water Consequently, the environmental water provisions were users. A number of delegations, including one fully integrated with the changes in the consumptive from Pakistan, have visited the Tarim Basin and are water provisions and the changes in responsibilities for considering similar programs. water management. Cost effective. The economic analysis for the project Lessons demonstrated that the agricultural project benefits 1. The national importance of arresting the spread of justified all of the project costs without taking into the desert and its threat to strategically important account the environmental benefits. However, it transport links acted as a powerful driver for the is difficult to estimate the costs and benefits of return of environmental flows to the lower Tarim the environmental aspects of the project. The two River. project components that contributed to the water 2. The project illustrates the importance of savings (water conservation and environmental integrating technical (e.g. geomembrane) improvements--$133.7million) and the delivery of improvements with institutional and social water to the downstream areas also resulted in other improvements in order to deliver water for local benefits, which confound the measurement. In downstream environmental benefit. addition, the environmental benefits should include 3. The project's success in providing environmental intangibles such as increases in national security flows was largely due to the delivery of both through maintenance of strategic links between China tangible benefits to the irrigators, in terms of and Central Asia. improved productivity, and benefits to downstream Influential. The institutional arrangements have populations. provided a precedent within China in forming basin- 4. Well-designed institutional structures, backed wide water resource management organizations. The by legislation, need to be established for major TBWRC is the first to include responsibility for all changes in water management to be effective in aspects of integrated river basin management and to providing the river flows needed for downstream have broader responsibilities than just specific tasks environmental benefits. such as flood control or pollution abatement found in 5. When the environmental benefits are readily other Chinese river basin commissions. apparent and integrated into the project objectives, the term "environmental flows" with Within the basin, the project has successfully changed its connotations of remedial actions, does not the attitude of different stakeholders toward water need to be used. 158 Environment Department Papers Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 158 4/9/09 12:46:10 PM Tarim Basin 6. Rules without enforcement are of little use. The Tarim River Basin and the Tarim Basin Water Resources rules to limit consumptive water use and ensure Commission, People's Republic of China." Washington, environmental allocations need to be backed up by DC: World Bank. a monitoring program and a willingness to reward Radosevich, G.E., and D.C. Olson. 1999. "Existing and punish transgressors. and emerging basin arrangements in Asia: Tarim Basin Water Resources Commission case study." Third Acknowledgments Workshop on River Basin Institutional Development. Washington, DC: World Bank. Doug Olson, Geoff Spencer, and Mei Xie of the World World Bank. 1991. "Staff Appraisal Report. Tarim Bank reviewed the case study. Basin Project, China." Washington, DC: World Bank. World Bank. 1998. "Project Appraisal Document: Tarim References Basin II Project, China." (P046563). Washington, DC: Davis, R. and R. Hirji, eds. 2003. "Irrigation and World Bank. Drainage Development." Water Resources and Environment Technical Note E.1. Washington, DC: Xie M., L. Jiang, and G. Spencer. 2006. "Case Studies World Bank. on Integrated Water Resources Management. China: Water Management in the Tarim Basin." Training Hou, P., R.J.S. Beeton, R.W. Carter, X.G. Dong, and material. Washington, DC: World Bank Institute. X. Li. 2006. "Responses to environmental flows in the lower Tarim River, Xinjiang, China: Groundwater." Zhenglong, Y., H. Qiang, T. Huifang, and J. Xiaochun. Journal of Environmental Management 83(4): 371­382. 2007. "Remote sensing analyses of spatio-temporal changes of the ecological environment in the lower Millington P., D. Olson, and S. McMillan. 2006. reaches of the Tarim River." New Zealand Journal of "Integrated River Basin management. Case Study 3 Agricultural Research 50: 679­687. Institutions and Governance Series 159 Environmental flow 4-9-09.indd 159 4/9/09 12:46:11 PM Environment Department T H E W O R L D B A N K 1818 H Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20433 Telephone: 202-473-3641 Facsimile: 202-477-0565 Printed on recycled paper stock, using soy inks.