Grantee Research Project Results
Equity in Water Management
EPA Grant Number: F6C30154Title: Equity in Water Management
Investigators: Balazs, Carolina
Institution: University of California - Berkeley
EPA Project Officer: Lee, Sonja
Project Period: September 1, 2006 through September 1, 2009
Project Amount: $107,782
RFA: STAR Graduate Fellowships (2006) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Pollution Prevention/Sustainable Development , Academic Fellowships , Fellowship - Water Resource Management
Objective:
My research will focus on the Rio Preto Basin, in the Central-Eastern portion of Brazil. The rationale for my research is to better understand how a melding of integrated water resource management and sustainable livelihood frameworks can address environmental and social needs in watershed and water resource planning. My research will address the following questions:
- What is the potential of using water management and planning models to explicitly integrate goals of sustainable livelihoods into IWRM?
- What are the social, ecological and economic outcomes of a water management model that explicitly incorporates such goals?
- How do socially-focused outcomes compare to business-as-usual scenarios and scenarios that consider only environmental needs?
- Extend the application of water management modeling as a decision-making tool that incorporates questions of social equity, defined as meeting sustainable livelihoods.
- Evaluate and analyze a series of water policies that policy makers and water users could face.
Approach:
I will build an integrated water resource management model that allows me to input hydrologic and socioeconomic data so as to test different scenarios and analyze outcomes.
Expected Results:
The comparison of various water use scenarios alongside different water policies will result in a decision-making tool that can highlight how best to meet the needs of the poor and marginalized communities, while still considering water efficiency and environmentally sustainability.
Supplemental Keywords:
integrated water resource management, sustainable livelihoods, equity,, RFA, Scientific Discipline, Water, Watersheds, Water & Watershed, Ecology and Ecosystems, Environmental Monitoring, socioeconomics, water management options, alternative urbanization scenarios, availability of water resources, best management practices, ecology assessment models, ecosystem modeling, water resourcesProgress and Final Reports:
The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.