“The Provision of adequate fresh-water resources for people and ecosystems willbe one of the most critical and potentially contentious issues facing society andgovernments at all levels during the 21st century” (American MeteorologicalSociety, 2008).Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) is evolving as a contemporarymeans to address complex and critical issues associated with making the mosteffective and efficient use of water resources. Water resource challenges in theZambezi River Basin include both quality and quantity issues including potentialdiversions from the basin to localities outside the basin and lack of an agreed uponinstitutional framework for the management of the Zambezi River system. In 1972,the United States and Canada signed the first Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement.This agreement committed the two countries who share the trans-boundary waters ofthe Great Lakes to restore and enhance water quality in the Great Lakes System.Amendments in 1987 resulted in establishing the goal to virtually eliminatepersistent toxic substances into the Great Lakes resulting from human activities. In2008, the Great Lakes Compact was approved by all of the eight Great Lakes Statesplus the Provinces of Ontario and Quebec. This compact was subsequently approvedby the Congress of the United States and signed by President Bush on October 3,2008. Both the Zambezi River Basin and the Great Lakes Basin offer valuableinsights into the application of IWRM to critical water resource planning andmanagement challenges in their respective geographical locations.
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