A component of watershed collaboration
Bottom up or top down? Alternate approaches to basin and catchment level management
Catchment level management approaches the users specific catchment with a holistic approach incorporating all aspects of water management. This includes, but is not limited to, availability, demands, stresses, and users. The intersection of these components drives partnerships, innovation, collaborative management, and cooperative governance.
Many examples of catchment level management occur at the grassroots level with local stakeholders. These bottom up approaches drive effective management of typical local water needs. For example, irrigation, recreation, and access. These structures are often highly informal and may or may not have the ability to scale.
Examples of top-down or large scale basin management programs can be found in the Colorado River and the Murray-Darling basins. These programs have experienced various degrees of success. Some academics point to these programs as facilitators of conflict rather than effective collaboration. Often driven by legal requirements and statutes, these top-down programs may impact considerations taken when implementing bottom-up collaboration schemes.
“These conflicts will intensify in the next five years”.
– Australia Government Productivity Commission.
In implementing the Net Water Positive Principles, catchment users and participants are likely to collaborate via various methods which may include both bottom-up and top-down approaches. Users may bring together all interested catchment participants while operating within a larger framework driven by official policy and regulation such as the Colorado River Basin Compact. While these agreements are underpinning new, developing conflicts, they are a reminder of what can be achieved through effective and collaborative governance. The Net Water Positive principles call for cooperative collaboration amongst users in the watershed to best manage basin practices across competing interests. This collaboration should include aspects of quality, demand, fair-use, recreation, and long-term management.