5.3 Drainage Management
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• water sources, floodplains and dependent ecosystems (including groundwater and wetlands)
should be protected and restored and, where possible, land should not be degraded, and
• habitats, animals and plants that benefit from water or are potentially affected by managed
activities should be protected and (in the case of habitats) restored, and
• the water quality of all water sources should be protected and, wherever possible, enhanced,
and
• the cumulative impacts of water management licenses and approvals and other activities on
water sources and their dependent ecosystems, should be considered and minimized, and
• geographical and other features of indigenous significance should be protected, and
• geographical and other features of major cultural, heritage or spiritual significance should
be protected, and
• the social and economic benefits to the community should be maximized, and
• the principles of adaptive management should be applied, which should be responsive to
monitoring and improvements in understanding of ecological water requirements.
Further on, the Australian definition focuses on specific items with regard to water issues
such as water sharing, water use, drainage and flood plain management. All of these items
contain the pretension to avoid or to minimize the degradation of water bodies and to
preserve or improve the functionality of adjacent marsh lands by anthropogenic measures.
As an example the intension on aquifer management is highlighted where “interference
activities must avoid or minimize land degradation, including soil erosion, compaction,
geomorphic instability, contamination, acidity, water-logging, decline of native vegetation
or, where appropriate, salinity and, where possible, land must be rehabilitated, and the
impacts of the carrying out of aquifer interference activities on other water users must be
avoided or minimized”.
Definition in Germany
In Germany the term water management is translated as Wasserwirtschaft and is defined
in the German DIN standards (DIN 4049) as follows: “Water management is the goaloriented order of all human interactions on surface and subsurface water bodies.” According to §1a of the German Water Management law shall all water bodies be managed for
the collective good and in consistent with the individual use, and that every avoidable interference shall be omitted. Since the German Environmental Program from 1971 the aim
of water management is
• to preserve or re-establish the ecological equilibrium of the water bodies
• to ensure the water supply of the population and the economy, and
• in parallel, to enable all other utilizations of the water
10 for the common welfare in the
long run.
10 Explanation for all other utilizations: the use of water for leisure and recreation, for fishery, for
energy production (to impound and to lower the water level), for the irrigation of agricultural areas
and the discharge of sewage water.
85
• water sources, floodplains and dependent ecosystems (including groundwater and wetlands)
should be protected and restored and, where possible, land should not be degraded, and
• habitats, animals and plants that benefit from water or are potentially affected by managed
activities should be protected and (in the case of habitats) restored, and
• the water quality of all water sources should be protected and, wherever possible, enhanced,
and
• the cumulative impacts of water management licenses and approvals and other activities on
water sources and their dependent ecosystems, should be considered and minimized, and
• geographical and other features of indigenous significance should be protected, and
• geographical and other features of major cultural, heritage or spiritual significance should
be protected, and
• the social and economic benefits to the community should be maximized, and
• the principles of adaptive management should be applied, which should be responsive to
monitoring and improvements in understanding of ecological water requirements.
Further on, the Australian definition focuses on specific items with regard to water issues
such as water sharing, water use, drainage and flood plain management. All of these items
contain the pretension to avoid or to minimize the degradation of water bodies and to
preserve or improve the functionality of adjacent marsh lands by anthropogenic measures.
As an example the intension on aquifer management is highlighted where “interference
activities must avoid or minimize land degradation, including soil erosion, compaction,
geomorphic instability, contamination, acidity, water-logging, decline of native vegetation
or, where appropriate, salinity and, where possible, land must be rehabilitated, and the
impacts of the carrying out of aquifer interference activities on other water users must be
avoided or minimized”.
Definition in Germany
In Germany the term water management is translated as Wasserwirtschaft and is defined
in the German DIN standards (DIN 4049) as follows: “Water management is the goaloriented order of all human interactions on surface and subsurface water bodies.” According to §1a of the German Water Management law shall all water bodies be managed for
the collective good and in consistent with the individual use, and that every avoidable interference shall be omitted. Since the German Environmental Program from 1971 the aim
of water management is
• to preserve or re-establish the ecological equilibrium of the water bodies
• to ensure the water supply of the population and the economy, and
• in parallel, to enable all other utilizations of the water
10 for the common welfare in the
long run.
10 Explanation for all other utilizations: the use of water for leisure and recreation, for fishery, for
energy production (to impound and to lower the water level), for the irrigation of agricultural areas
and the discharge of sewage water.