Richard Davis

This report comprising a set of case studies by International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) presents how environmental flows is dealt with in water resources policies, plans, and projects. It focuses on the integration of environmental water allocation into integrated water resources management (IWRM) and so fills a major gap in knowledge on IWRM.

It examines the impediments to better governance of groundwater, and explores opportunities for using groundwater to help developing countries adapt to climate change. It attempts to understand the practical issues that arise in establishing robust national governance frameworks for groundwater and in implementing these frameworks at the aquifer level.

The case study focused on the national, state and local levels. At the national and state levels, it analyzed the policy, legal, and institutional arrangements to identify the demand and supply management and incentive structures that have been established for groundwater management. At the local level, it assessed the operations, successes, and constraints facing local institutions in the governance of a number of aquifers within peninsula India, on the coast and on the plain of the Ganges river valley.