Sustainable Management of Water Resources Infrastructure

Annual sedimentation of only one-half of one percent of the total reservoir storage volume in the world can threaten the sustainability this precious water resource. Historical approaches to dam design often did not consider the need to manage sediment in perpetuity, nor did they consider the costs of decommissioning a dam whose reservoir has filled with sediment. As such, intergenerational equity, a concept that requires that natural resources be developed and used in a way that accounts for the interests of all members of society, including future generations, has not been implemented. The life cycle management approach seeks to rectify this problem by considering intergenerational equity of reservoirs and dams. For example, the cost of dam decommissioning after a reservoir has filled with sediment is included in the economic analysis of dam and reservoir management in this approach. To avoid encountering this enormous expense, sustainable use of a reservoir becomes attractive economically. The Reservoir Conservation (RESCON) approach is the World Bank's implementation of the life cycle management concept. RESCON considers technical, economic, social, and environmental aspects of reservoir sustainability in terms of sediment management. The method provides a means to develop pre-feasibility level concepts for management of new or existing reservoir facilities by means of the RESCON computer model. The RESCON approach has been applied in countries including Kenya, Morocco, and Sri Lanka. In the United States, the model has been applied to Strontia Springs Reservoir of Colorado and Lewis and Clark Lake (Gavins Point Reservoir) of Nebraska and South Dakota. The general approach and an example application are discussed.