Informe del Grupo de Trabajo Intersecretarial sobre Recursos Hídricos en América Latina = Report of the Inter-Secretariat Working Group on Water Resources in Latin America

Informe de la reunion sobre recursos hidricos cuyos puntos principales fueron: el examen y coordinacion de las actividades desarrolladas en el terreno y de las realizadas de acuerdo al programa ordinario en la esfera de los recursos hidricos, y arreglos para examinar la marcha de la aplicacion del Plan de Accion de Mar del Plata. Incluye temario, resumen de los debates, lista de participantes y de documentos.

La administración de los recursos hídricos en América Latina y el Caribe = The administration of water resources in Latin America and the Caribbean

Incluye Bibliografía

A guide to water resources administration in the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean

Includes bibliography

Progresos en América Latina y el Caribe en materia de implementación de las recomendaciones contenidas en el Capítulo 18 del Programa 21 sobre gestión integral de los recursos hídricos = Progress achieved by the Latin American and Caribbean countries in the implementation of the recommendations made in Chapter 18 of Agenda 21 on integrated water resources management

Incluye Bibliografía

Herbicides in the upper Poxim River, Sergipe, and the risk of contamination of water resources

Increased agricultural activity in watershed areas has been causing concern over contamination by herbicides in agricultural areas. The problem becomes more important when contamination can affect water for human consumption, as happens with water from the Poxim river, which supplies the city of Aracaju, capital of the State of Sergipe. The aim of this study was to evaluate the risk of contamination by herbicides to both surface and groundwater in the upper sub-basin of the Poxim River, and to detect the presence of the active ingredients Diuron and Ametrine up-river from the sugar-cane plantations. Risk analysis was carried out using criteria from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the GUS index, and the GOSS method. It was observed that several active ingredients are at risk of leaching, demonstrating the importance of monitoring the river to control both the quality of water and the frequency and volume of herbicides used in the region. Based on the results, monitoring was carried out bi-monthly from July 2009 to July 2010 at two sampling points. Water samples were analyzed in the laboratory, where the presence of Diuron and Ametrine was noted. Water quality in the Sub-basin of the Rio Poxim is being influenced by the use of herbicides in the region. There was an increase in herbicide concentration in the surface water during the rainy season, possibly caused by soil runoff.

Managing water resources in dynamic settings: A multi-level, multi-stakeholder perspective

The aim of the present article is to contribute to the debate on the role of research in sustainable management of water and related resources, based on experiences in the Upper Ewaso Ng’iro and Pangani river basins in East Africa. Both basins are characterised by humid, resource-rich highlands and extensive semi-arid lowlands, by growing demand for water and related resources, and by numerous conflicting stakeholder interests. Issues of scale and level, on the one hand, and the normative dimension of sustainability, on the other hand, are identified as key challenges for research that seeks to produce relevant and applicable results for informed decision-making. A multi-level and multi-stakeholder perspective, defined on the basis of three minimal principles, is proposed here as an approach to research for informed decision-making. Key lessons learnt from applying these principles in the two river basins are presented and discussed in the light of current debate.

Impacts of environmental change on water resources in the Mount Kenya Region

Water resources are becoming increasingly scarce in the Mt. Kenya region. Land use and climate change may pose additional challenges to water management in the future. In order to assess the impacts of environmental change, the NRM3 Streamflow Model, a simple, semi-distributed, grid-based water balance model, is evaluated as a tool for discharge prediction in six meso-scale catchments on the western slopes of Mt. Kenya, and used to analyse the impact of land use and climate change scenarios on water resources.