Integrated water resources management in Uruguay within the international context

Abstract

The need to protect the environment and especially the quantity and quality of the freshwater sources against natural and anthropic pressures has become more and more relevant at a global level. To do so, it is not enough to apply effective water abstraction and depuration technologies, but also to implement participatory management systems to align human activities towards sustainable development. The best fit tool to do so is the Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), because it generates information on which equitable environmental management and water provision policies can be set, taking into consideration the opinions of all stakeholders. In Uruguay, the Constitution of the Republic mandates to respect the right of all of the inhabitants in the country to water and sanitation access. The process of implementation of the IWRM in Uruguay initiated by allowing citizens to participate through a referendum, and then the experts in the field belonging to every sector in society advised at a parliament level, ending in the regulation of the Water Law. A management structure based on hydrographic basins and the hydrological cycle was consolidated. Its current degree of development reflects the continuous improvement of the institutional character of water governance. In this work, the development of these processes both at a national and at a global level is reviewed and a set of strategies and tolls to make it more efficient are proposed.