Sustainable Use and Development of Watersheds

John Wesley Powell, U.S. scientist and geographer, put it best when he said that a watershed is: that area of land, a bounded hydrologic system, within which all living things are inextricably linked by their common water course and where, as humans settled, simple logic demanded that they become part of a community. Watersheds come in all shapes and sizes. They cross sectorial boundaries (e.g. county, state/province, and country). No matter where you are, you are in a watershed! World-wide, watersheds supply drinking water, provide r- reation and respite, and sustain life. Watersheds are rich in natural capital, producing goods (agriculture and fisheries products) and services (industry and technology) for broad geographic areas. In many countries, at the base of watersheds where tributaries empty into large water-bodies (e.g. estuaries, seas, oceans) are centers of society and are typically densely populated areas. These areas serve as concentrated centers of the socio-economic system. They also are centers of domestic and international trade, tourism, and c- merce as well as the center of governments (capitals) where local, regional and national legislatures are located. As we all live in a watershed, our individual actions can directly affect it. The cumulative effects of all the individual actions of everyone within a watershed may be, and often are devastating to the quality of water resources and affect the health of living things including humans. Therefore, watershed systems are highly subject to threat to human security and peace.

Multidisciplinary approaches for watershed management Tools and models for watershed management Recommendations for sustainable watershed management The illustration of issues discussed throughout the book with detailed case study

Inhalt
Watershed Management in Various Countries.- Watershed and Water Management System in Algeria.- Advances in Managing Austria's Water Resources.- Problems and Prospects of Water Resources Management in the Azerbaijan Republic.- Water Resources Management System of Kyrgyzstan.- Watershed Management Practices in the Philippines: The Tigum-Aganan Watershed Case.- Watershed Management System in Poland and Its Implications for Environmental Conditions of the Baltic Sea: An Example of the Vistula River Watershed.- Watersheds Management in Romania: Challenges and Opportunities.- Watershed Management in the Russian Federation and Transboundary Issues by Example of Kaliningrad Oblast (Russia).- Overview of Water Management in Turkey: Issues, Constraints, Achievements, Prospect.- Watershed Management in the United States.- Decision Support Tools, Models and Case Studies.- Multilevel Participatory Model for Decision Making on Regional Hydro-System Basis: Serbian Case Study.- Supporting Tools for Decisional Process within Water Framework Directive: From EU Context to Modelkey Perspective.- Application of Water Quality Modelling as a Decision Support System Tool for Planned Buyuk Melen Reservoir and Its Watershed.- The Use of Numerical Modeling in Italian Watershed Management.- Sustainable Development of Watersheds: Using Sturgeon Species as an Indicator in Integrated Transboundary Water Management in the Ural River Basin.- Lagoon Ecosystem Study Trough Two Cases: Oualidia (Atlantic) and Nador (Mediterranean) Morocco.- Coastal Lagoons in the Context of Water Management in Spain and Europe.- Water Framework Directive: Defining the Ecological Quality Status in Transitional and Coastal Waters.- The Role of Ecological Endpoints in Watershed Management.- Bioidentification ofXenobiotics as a Basis of Water Management.- GIS Analysis of Sustainable Development Indicators for Coastal Watersheds in the South-East Baltic.- Combined Use of Watershed Models to Assess the Apportionment of Point and Non Point Load Sources to Surface Waters.- Development of National Action Plan to Address Pollution from Land Based Activities in Turkey.- Reduction of the Land-Based Discharges to the Curonian Lagoon in a View of a Climate Change Perspective.- The Study of Hydro-Mineralogical and Ecological Regime of Kara-Bogaz-Gol Lagoon, Turkmenistan.- Comparative Analysis of Water Management Practices in Mediterranean Countries.- Chesapeake Bay Program A Watershed Approach to Management.- Conclusions and Recommondations.- Decision Support Systems and Tools.- Land-Based Sources, Water Quality and Management.- Decision Making, Policy And Financing.