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CHAPTER 3. POLICY, INSTITUTIONAL, AND REGULATORY FRAMEWORK

3.2. General Background

Anthropogenic eutrophication of lakes and reservoirs generally results from man's intervention in the watershed environment. The effect of the intervention is increased loadings of nutrients and other pollutants, and/or the alteration of natural physical and biogeochemical conditions of the drainage system. Therefore, eutrophication management is focussed on the prevention and reduction of pollution from point and non-point (diffuse) sources. While end-of-the-pipe technologies may be suitable to locally mitigate point sources, control of non-point sources, as well as the implementation of waste reduction measures, requires a comprehensive approach considering the multiple aspects involved in Water Resources Management.

From the above it is evident that the appropriate approach to eutrophication prevention, remediation, and control involves integrated water management at the watershed level. "Integrated" is used here as a multidimensional concept which calls for the simultaneous consideration of natural resources, social, cultural, institutional, regulatory, economic and political issues in the watershed. These aspects are dealt with by different chapters in this publication.

The various aspects of integrated water management and prevention and control of surface and groundwater pollution have been the focus of chapters on fresh water at international meetings devoted to environment, natural resources, and water management in the recent decades. Concern over the global implications of water problems was voiced as far back as the UN Conference on the Human Environment, Stockholm 1972. The concern has been the focus of a number of meetings, including the UN Water Conference in Mar del Plata, Argentina, 1977, the Global Consultation on Safe Water and Sanitation for the 1990s in New Delhi, 1990, the International Conference on Water and the Environment: Development Issues for the 21st century, in Dublin, Ireland, 1995, and UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992. Since then the Ministerial Conference on Drinking Water and Environmental Sanitation, in Noordwijk, The Netherlands, in 1994 has reinforced these concerns.

Latin America has also been active in joining similar concern with the rest of the world. Although privileged by a substantial share of world water resources availability, development trends in the region follow the usual pattern of urbanization, pollution, and unsustainable use of natural resources resulting in conflictive uses of water and degradation of its quality. Untreated sewage disposal, industrial wastewater, storm runoff, and agricultural residues have been progressively impairing freshwater and aquatic ecosystems health. Eutrophication outbursts are clear indicators of such degradation processes. Thus, a number of regional meetings dealing with environment and water resources have added, during the last decade, to those of international character also held on the continent: Plan of Action of the Summit of the Americas, Miami, United States, 1994; Partnership for Pollution Prevention, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 1995; Conference on Water Resources Assessment and Management in Latin America and the Caribbean, San Jose, Costa Rica, 1996; Second Inter-American Dialogue on Water Management, Buenos Aires, 1996; Plan of Action for Sustainable Development of the Americas, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, 1996.

The outcomes of all these meetings, when seen in perspective, provide a clear picture of relevant issues and recommended courses of action derived from the experiences, lessons, and learning of national and international governmental and civil society organizations and worldwide experts. Thus, they provide invaluable information to define the contents and main structures of the policy, institutional, and regulatory framework which should be progressively installed to make possible those technical, economical, and financial measures to cope with eutrophication of water bodies to be successful and sustainable.

A thorough review of the objectives, recommendations, and initiatives produced at the above mentioned meetings may conclude that the effective installation of sound water management practices for eutrophication control implies simultaneous implementation of top down and bottom up measures in the social system. Top down measures involve the incorporation of environmental concerns into policies, planning, and decision making at the highest level and from there passed downwards to ensure the effective dissemination of said principles and strategies into the institutional and regulatory frameworks of all existing jurisdictions sharing the watershed.

Bottom up measures involve incorporating those same concerns into civil society at community level. Education for sustainable development, public information and public participation should provide the necessary momentum to produce a positive cultural change to support the strengthening of the top down process, ensuring the effectiveness of the institutional and regulatory framework and the achievement of the established goals.

Both approaches should be carried out simultaneously since they are complementary and convergent. Many of these issues have been the objects of specific chapters within this publication. Their mention here is only for the sake of unity, which must orient the conceptual approach to eutrophication control and as a necessary background to the issues specifically addressed in the following sections.

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