Water resources and water management.

Abstract

New scientific methods for the solution of the contemporary problems in water management include analogy, operation research, system analysis and cybernetics. The distinctive features of these methods are their emphasis on measurement and on the use of conceptual models described in quantiative terms, the verification of their theoretical predictions, and their awareness that concepts are conditional and subject to growth and continuous change. These water management activities should at the same time ensure an optimum living environment, above all through protection of water resources against deterioration and exhaustion as well as through the protection of society against the harmful effects of water. This monograph deals with the fundamental interdisciplinary problems of this complex sphere, an understanding of which is indispensable for successful water resources management in the widest sense of its social functions and environmental consequences.-from Publisher