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W3. SOCIAL, POLITICAL AND INSTITUTIONAL ASPECTS OF WATER ENGINEERING
(KUL-code: I792)
Lecturer: PETERS J.J.
Contact hours: 30 hrs. of practical
Prerequisites: No
Time and place: 2nd semester, 5 sessions of 3 hours each, K.U. Leuven
Course syllabus: Some reference work and few lecture notes
Evaluation: Through an oral presentation of a case study, preferably situated in the student’s home
country
Comparable handbook: No comparable handbook available
Additional information:
Learning objectives:
The aim of the workshop is to make the students better aware about the variety of problems and issues related to
the social, political and socio-economic aspects of water resources development projects and of water resources
management, including the institutional aspects. Purely financial and economic aspects are not included.
Course description:
The course orientation is based on the lecturer’s experience in a large variety of water resources projects,
showing how, why and when the approach to these aspects has failed or succeeded. The workshop aims at
developing the consciousness of the students about the role of the various “actors” in relation to water resources
systems development and management. It also aims at showing how politics may affect the so much needed
sustainable, integrated WR management, and the implementation of WR development projects. It should make
the students aware of the social implications of WR engineering projects, either the direct or the indirect ones,
eventually through an environmental impact. It is important for the student to realise that it is not possible to
dissociate the various aspects: social, political, socio-economic, and institutional.
The workshop starts with descriptions, with the following:
1. Definitions: What is a water resource (WR)? How to define a WR system on which to work/engineer
(description, limits)? What do we call engineering, management, development?
The accent is put on the way each society is having its own view, its own approach, depending on the 3
factors: availability of water resources, of financial resources and awareness about the water issue.
2. Presentation by the lecturer and discussion of some results, conclusions and recommendations by
international organisations (Mar del Plata 1977, Rio de Janeiro 1991, EU-SAST 6 - 1992, 1991 WMO-
UNESCO report on Water Resources Assessment Activities, etc.), all which he contributed to, but the first.
3. Presentation and discussion by the lecturer of case studies in Asia, Africa and South America. These cover
a large variety of situations, such as lakes, coastal areas, large and small rivers, master plan studies, floods
and droughts, fluvial problems, water development, irrigation schemes, conjunctive use projects, etc.
Special attention is paid to aspects such as correct problem definition, setting up relevant Terms of
Reference, multi-disciplinary approach. For this part, he illustrates with slides, photographs and video,
among which “After the Floods” (BBC Horizon). He personally contributed to this last video by inviting
the BBC to a workshop he organised in 1993 in Bangladesh.
4. Presentation by the students of projects or case studies, preferably case studies in which they have been
actively involved. All presentations are short, and always followed by lively discussions and possibly
confrontations.
19 / Course syllabi