Sustainable river basin management: A dynamic model

Beyond tools to support the conceptualization and the operation of systems to respond to water demand in adequate quantity and quality at reasonable costs, what is needed nowadays are tools that include not only these important technical and economical aspects but also consider the social and ecological dimensions of water resources management in a sustainable perspective, within a river basin. A dynamic model able to integrate quantitative and qualitative data and relationships between technical, ecological, economic and social driving forces, typical of water resources management problems, is under development. Knowing how these cause-effect relationships impact water and water-dependent resources, a set of exploratory scenarios may be evaluated. This framework relies upon the active involvement of all affected parties - the stakeholders in a number of workshops and is being applied to the Arade river basin, in the Southwest of Portugal. Such a tool may be a valuable contribution for the implementation of the European Water Framework Directive in Portugal, in particular for the production of management plans for each river basin by 2009. This will support the formulation of sustainable governance strategies for the river basin.