Natural Resource Management

Water Resources Sustainability
Ed. Larry W Mays
2006 ISBN: 9780071462303 330 pages, $199.99

This book on the sustainability of water resources is a welcome addition to the literature on the topic. While it is well recognised that water is an important component of the development of civilisations, the first few chapters in this book address the issue of describing the concept of water sustainability. Presented in Chapter One is an Introduction to Water Sustainability while Chapters Two and Three consider historical (Chapter Two) and Ecological-Economic (Chapter Three) perspectives on water sustainability. The current situation in Arizona, USA is presented then in Chapter Four.

The next five chapters focus on approaches to management of available water resources. In the first of these chapters (Chapter Five), the concept of simulation/optimization modelling is presented with the claim that this is an enhancement of normal simulation modelling through the inclusion of optimization approaches for user defined problem resolution rather than sequential simulation with “trial and error” variations to boundary constraints to the simulation. Presented in Chapter Six are multi-objective approaches for planning of water resources with a direct link back to the simulation/optimization approaches discussed in the previous chapter. The topic of concern in the next three chapters is the risk and uncertainties associated with management of water resources. Of particular concern in Chapters Eight and Nine is climate change and its potential impacts on water resources.

Addressed in the remaining five chapters are topics related to particular issues associated with management of water resources. In Chapter Ten, the issue is one of water supply security while Urban Flood Management is the focus of Chapter 11. Regional management of water resources is the focus of Chapter 12. Management of water systems in developing countries using Ghana as a case study is the focus of Chapter 13. The final chapter (Chapter 14) addresses the sustainability of privatization of water utilities using the European experience to highlight good and bad aspects of the privatization approach.

While there are a number of books addressing various issues associated with water sustainability there are few books which attempt to condense all of the issues into one book. In attempting this, the editor should be congratulated. Similar to other attempts to condense a wide body of information, different readers will feel that inadequate emphasis has been given to particular topics with a subsequent over-emphasis on others.

In this reviewer’s opinion, however, the editor has attempted to cover a wide spectrum of information in a coherent form in a manner to introduce the complexities of the topic area. This has been achieved at the expense of detailed explanations of many topics. Consequently, while this book introduces many aspects of water resources management, readers will find it necessary to delve into the cited literature for more details in many areas. 

In summary, the book edited by Larry Mays and prepared by a team of experts from the Water Environment Federation is a good introductory book on the topic of water resources sustainability.

Reviewed by Assoc Prof James E Ball, Faculty of Engineering, University of Technology, Sydney, Editor of Australian Rainfall & Runoff

Water Resources Sustainability is available from EA Books, http://www.engineersmedia.com.au/bookshop