Making the most of models

摘要

In a world of increasing comple-tion for limited water supplies, growing water quality challenges and increasing impacts from droughts and floods, those tasked with managing water need all the help they can get. Water resources is one area where such help is needed. Dr Brian Richter, Director of Global Freshwater Strategies at The Nature Conservancy, in his new book 'Chasing Water', proposes seven principles for sustaining water supplies: build a shared vision; set limits on total consumptive use of water; allocate a specific volume to each user then monitor and enforce; invest in water conservation; enable trading of water entitlements; subsidise reductions in consumption if too much water is used; and learn from mistakes and new knowledge. But, when it comes to applying these principles, Richter advocates the use of modelling.'Models can be extremely useful in framing a shared vision for water use and allocation, such as by helping to reveal the basic water budget of a river or aquifer.An impor- tant aspect is understanding how both water availability and use can vary over time (months,years), which is really important in allocating water properly'