water governance, policy & law

The importance of water governance, policy and law was emphasized in 2002 when the Global Water Partnership stated ‘The Water Crisis is mainly a crisis of governance’. The water management landscape is dynamic with changing environmental and economic drivers on top of moves towards more multi-levels of governance and changing structures in water and wastewater ownership. These have many cross-sectoral ramifications for the development of coherent and effective policies and laws.

Through various levels of governance, water policies and laws need to address fundamental issues such as:

• Water supply development and demand management
• Managing the extremes of drought and flood
• Land use, agricultural policies and pollution control
• The influence of changing structures of governance/ownership on water supply and wastewater treatment provision
• The changing demands on regulation
• The benefits and constraints to evidence-based policy development

The HYDRA consortium members bring a wealth of experience in these areas as the directory of expertise shows. They have been involved in advising various levels of government in many countries on the development. Further details may be obtained from the directory of expertise or by contacting the champion for this discipline Dr Rachael McDonnell.

Back to expertise home page.