Hydro-ecological relations in the Delta Waters

IPYBRO-EGOLOOIOAL BELATIONB ZN THE DELTA WATERS 08 TKE SOUTH-WEST
NFm-s
C.W.
Iedema
The Deltii Pruject ha* taught us a great deal abont the ecologied
relations between the individual waters af the Delta and bemen the
waters bf the Delta wd the Earth Sea md the major risers. In a
number of instances the knowledge gained could directly be translated
into terme of allscation and management measurdtr. In other easa
valuable lessaw were learned for preeent ar future -gemant. In dl
cases it became clear that ie the context of compartqentalization,
allocation plm aud management should pr*mily be gewed to
supervising the reaulcing processes of chqe. The object is to make
optislaL use of the porential of the indiskdual systems as chey relate
to one another. This paper pzwidea a brief suldmary of the lessons to
be learned £rose prwious studies.
One of the most important lessons learned from the Belta Project, and
one which has been learned elsewhere too, is that it is fatal to
attempt to fight nature. Victories often turn out to he Pyrrhic. The
battle sgainat the vaters must he waged. but in =&=h a way tbat osture
is on man's aide. b e should learn from nature, rather than try to
teach nature a lesson. Exsmples can he found in the Delta region of
how, in this way, an Sncrease in ssfety can be ~~mhined with the