Scale of water resources development and sustainability: Small is beautiful, large is great (Invited)

D. Koutsoyiannis, Scale of water resources development and sustainability: Small is beautiful, large is great (Invited), LATSIS Symposium 2010: Ecohydrology, Lausanne, doi:10.13140/RG.2.2.20564.40320, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, 2010.

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[English]

In our postmodern culture, political correctness, in which “green” political views dominate, has become a euphemism, if not a synonym of irrationality. Engineering means for the development of water resources and prevention of flood disasters have been severely criticized as “offensive” to the environment and damaging to ecosystems—as if people did not matter and their habitats were not part of the ecosystems. In particular, large scale projects such as dams, large hydropower projects, interbasin water transfer projects and irrigation systems are regarded as evil constructions and are virtually prohibited in many countries, including most of Europe. Only small-scale constructions, such as small hydropower projects and waters tanks, are regarded as politically correct. On the other hand, our societies supposedly seek sustainability, which includes investing in renewable energy, sufficiency of, and equity in, food and water supply, and quality of life and of the environment. These pose a dilemma on whether water resources development should be undertaken or not in areas of the world not already developed, as well as some questions about the appropriate scale of development. Some facts may help study these questions:

Based on these facts, the discussion of the questions is illustrated with some examples from the world with particular focus on Greece, whose water resources are only partly developed.

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See also: http://latsis2010.epfl.ch/

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Tagged under: Course bibliography: Water Resources Management, Hydrosystems