Integrated Urban Water ResourcesManagement (IUWRM) is a participatory planning and implementation process, based on sound science, which brings together stakeholders to determine how to meet society's long-term needs for water and coastal resources while maintaining essential ecologial services and economic benefits.
The principal components of an IURWM system include:
- Supply optimization, including assessments of surface and groundwater supplies, water balances, wastewater reuse, and environmental impacts of distribution and use options.
- Demand management, including cost-recovery policies, water use efficiency technologies, and decentralized water management authority.
- Equitable access to water resources through participatory and transparent management, including support for effective water users association, involvement of marginalized groups, and consideration of gender issues.
- Improved policy, regulatory and institutional frameworks, such as the implementation of the polluter-pays principle, water quality norms and standards, and market-based regulatory mechanisms.
- Intersectoral approach to decision-making, combining authority with responsibility for managing the water resource.
Source: USAID Water Team
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