Water balance in the huong river basin in context of climate change

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT

THUY LOI UNIVERSITY

WATER BALANCE IN THE HUONG RIVER BASIN IN
CONTEXT OF CLIMATE CHANGE

NONG BAO ANH
MSc Thesis on Integrated Water Resources Management

May 2015


MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT

THUY LOI UNIVERSITY

NONG BAO ANH

WATER BALANCE IN THE HUONG RIVER BASIN IN
CONTEXT OF CLIMATE CHANGE
Major: Integrated Water Resources Management

THESIS OF MASTER DEGREE

Supervisor (s):
1. Assoc. Prof. Nguyen Thu Hien

2. Dr. Ngo Le An

This reseacrch is done for the partial fulfilment of requirement for
Master of Science Degree at Thuy Loi University
(This Mater Programme is supported by NICHE – VNM 106 Project)
May 2015


WATER BALANCE IN THE HUONG RIVER BASIN IN CONTEXT OF CLIMATE CHANGE
MSc Thesis

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT........................................................................................................................... 3
DECLARATION ................................................................................................................... 5
ACKNOWLEDGMENT ....................................................................................................... 6
ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................................... 8
LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................... 9
LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................... 11
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................ 13
1.1. Background ............................................................................................................... 13
1.2. Problem statement..................................................................................................... 14
1.3. Research questions .................................................................................................... 15

1.4. Methodology ............................................................................................................. 16
1.5. Structure of the thesis ............................................................................................... 18
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................ 19
2.1. Water allocation: An overview ................................................................................. 19
2.2. Integrated Water Resources Management ................................................................ 20
2.3. Climate change impacts on water resources ............................................................. 22
2.4. Climate change scenarios.......................................................................................... 24
2.5. Models for IWRM .................................................................................................... 26
CHAPTER 3: DESCRIPTION OF STUDY SITE ............................................................. 32
3.1. Geographical location and topography ..................................................................... 32
3.2. Climate ...................................................................................................................... 33
3.2.1. Temperature ....................................................................................................... 33
3.2.2. Humidity ............................................................................................................ 34
3.2.3. Evaporation ........................................................................................................ 34
3.2.4. Rainfall............................................................................................................... 35
3.2.5. Hydrology conditions ........................................................................................ 37
3.3. Socio-economic development ................................................................................... 40
3.3.1. Population .......................................................................................................... 40
3.3.2. Economy structure ............................................................................................. 41
3.4. River network ........................................................................................................... 41
3.5. Water Storage ........................................................................................................... 41
3.6. Water use activities ................................................................................................... 43

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CHAPTER 4: WATER BALANCE SIMULATION FOR THE HUONG RIVER BASIN
............................................................................................................................................. 46
4.1. Schematization of the Huong River Basin ................................................................ 46
4.2. Data Requirements .................................................................................................... 48
4.2.1. Runoff ................................................................................................................ 48
4.2.2. Water demand .................................................................................................... 54
4.2.3. The return flow .................................................................................................. 58
4.2.4. Reservoirs .......................................................................................................... 59
4.3. The computation of scenarios ................................................................................... 59
CHAPTER 5: RESULTS ANALYSIS ............................................................................... 61
5.1. Water supply and water requirement results............................................................. 61
5.1.1. Water supply ...................................................................................................... 61
5.1.2. Water requirements ............................................................................................ 62
5.2. Results analysis ......................................................................................................... 68
5.2.1. SC1 scenario ...................................................................................................... 68
5.2.3. SC2 scenario ...................................................................................................... 76
5.2.2. SC3 scenario ...................................................................................................... 78
5.2.3. SC4 scenario ...................................................................................................... 80
CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ....................................... 84
6.1. Conclusions............................................................................................................... 84
6.2. Recommendations ..................................................................................................... 85
REFERENCES .................................................................................................................... 86
APPENDICES ..................................................................................................................... 89

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ABSTRACT
Water is essential for human, however, is finite and vulnerable (ICWE, 1992). In

recent years, water crisis has been singled out as a major worldwide concern.
World-wide water demand has been reported to increase by over six times during
the last century (Gourbesville, 2008). It is claimed to be the consequence of growth
in world population, which has been tripled during the last century, and speedy
industry enlargement as well as agriculture development. As a result, developing
countries are those who mostly have to face with water scarcity. Moreover, in
recent years, the impacts of climate change on water scarcity have become an
emerging concerned. Extreme weather events, increasing uneven distribution of
seasonal water leading to drought, floods and, for example, are some negative
impacts of climate change, which has been alarmingly threatening the water balance
in developing countries.
This research investigates the water availability and water demand in Huong River
Basin in order to find out appropriate management measure to mitigate the water
shortage problem in dry season.
Huong River Basin which lies within Thu Thien Hue province, located in the
specific monsoon climate area of Central Part of Vietnam with severe hydrological
regime: very long dry season, short rain season but often with very large runoff.
This area usually witnesses water shortage in the long dry season. Bearing the stress
of explosive increase of water demand from excessive population growth and
blossoming economic development, combined with the decrease of water supply in
dry season as a result of climate change impacts, the Huong River Basin’s water
management need to be exquisitely investigated.
The water use activities in this basin include domestic, irrigation, industry, livestock
and aquaculture. The purposes of this study are to analyze the water balance of

Huong River Basin in three scenarios, the current scenario in 2010 and the future
scenario in the future with the projected socio-economic development as well as

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changes in the climate system characteristic according to B2 scenario. To complete
this task, the WEAP model is implemented to simulate the water balance in the
basin with the help of MIKE-NAM model to calculate the water inflow to river
basin from rainfall data and CROPWAT to compute the water requirement for crop.
The research shows there are currently imbalances between water supply and water
demand in the dry season especially in March and April. In 2030, the system cannot
supply sufficient water quantity for the projected growing demand of socioeconomic development scenario in June and July which are in dry season, right after
the periodic flood. The unmet demand is slightly go up compared to the current
scenario. However, the situation is much more severe in the scenario in which the
climate change impacts are considered. The water deficit is about four times bigger
than it was in the scenario which only reflects the socio-economic development.
Moreover, it appears from February to July within different areas.
After analyzing the results of simulation models, several structure and non-structure
solutions are proposed.

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DECLARATION
I hereby certify that the work which is being presented in this thesis entitled, ―Water
balance in the Huong River Basin in context of climate change‖ in partial
fulfillment of the requirement for the award of the Master of Science in Integrated
Water Resource Management, is an authentic record of my own work carried out
under supervision of Associate Professor. Nguyen Thu Hien and Dr. Ngo Le An
The matter embodied in this thesis has not been submitted by me for the award of
any other degree or diploma.

Date:

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ACKNOWLEDGMENT
I would like to express my deep gratitude to many people who helped to complete
this Thesis at its best.
First and foremost I wish to thank to my supervisor, Associate Professor Nguyen
Thu Hien, Dean of Thuyloi University’s Water Resources Engineering Faculty, for
her instruction, understanding and also, patience during the time I conducted this
Thesis. With her considerable guidance and shared experience from many year of

being water resources expert, I am able to bring this research into fruition.
However, it is not only just during this time she is supporting me, but also for all the
way long of seven years I have learnt in this University from my Bachelor Degree
to this Master course, she always be there willing to instruct me about professional
researching skills, turning me into an independence thinker which assists me to
grow as a lecturer, a researcher and a better learner.
I would also wish to express my deeply gratefulness to my second supervisor,
Doctor Ngo Le An, who is the Deputy Head of Thuyloi University’s Hydrology and
Water Resources Division for his tutor and corrections in the application of
simulation models, the field which I had very few experience. His mentorship was
paramount in providing a well rounded experience consistent my long-term career
goals. He was the one to point out for me the importance of balancing the
theoretical knowledge and ability to mastering in models use in Water Engineering
and Water Management, at the same time, was the one enable me to do so. He
encourages me to run all the models used in my thesis on my own but was always
there as a blanket to help me to learn from mistakes. I am not sure many
postgraduate students are given such treasured opportunity like mine.
For everything you have done for me, Assoc. Prof. Hien and Dr. An, I thank you.
I would especially like to thank the Management Board including members from
Thuyloi University, Hanoi University of Natural Resources and Environment

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University and UNESCO-IHE for organizing this wonderful Master course and

providing me a chance to sharpen my professional knowledge.
Many thanks to my colleagues in the Department of Climate Change and
Sustainable Development, HUNRE where I am working for supporting me in many
way during the time I am busy with my Thesis.
I would also like to acknowledge my friends from Thuyloi University including Ms.
Dao Thi Xuyen, Mr. Nguyen Son Tung and many others for their help with the
preparing input for models.
Finally, words cannot express how grateful I am to my parents and my girlfriend
who is currently staying in England for theirs unwavering support and continuous
encouragement throughout my year of study and through the process of researching
and writing this Thesis. This achievement would not be possible without them,
thank you.

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ABBREVIATIONS
CMS

Cubic Meter per Second

DARD

Department of Agriculture and Rural Development HRB Huong River
Basin

FAO

Food and Agriculture Organization

GWP

Global Water Partnership

HUNRE

Hanoi University of Natural Resources and Environment

IMHEN

Institute of Meteorology, Hydrology and Environment

IWRM

Integrated Water Resources Management

MONRE

Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment

MARD

Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development

MCM

Million Cubic Meter

MW

MegaWatt

NCAP

the Netherlands Climate Assistance Program

NWC

National Water Commission

TLU

ThuyLoi University

UN

United Nation

VNCID

Vietnam National Commission on Irrigation and Drainage

WRS

Water Resources System

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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1.1: The location of Huong River Basin……...…………………………... 13
Figure 2.1: Cycle diagram of climate change impacts……...…………………..... 23
Figure 2.2: The Schematization of Huong River Basin………….……………..... 28
Figure 2.3: The general structure of NAM model (Nielsen & Hansen, 1973)...…. 30
Figure 3.1: Huong River Basin ………………….…………...…..……………… 32
Figure 3.2: The annual average rainfall of observe stations……...………….…... 36
Figure 3.3: Monthly average rainfall of observed stations……...………….……. 37
Figure 3.4: The annual runoff in the period from 1977 to 2010…………………. 38
Figure 3.5: Monthly inflow to the basin in the period 1977-2010……………….. 39
Figure 3.5: Map of cultivated area…………………………………...…………... 44
Figure 4.1: Schematization of Huong River Network………………………….... 48
Figure 4.2: Map of 9 sub-basins in the Huong River Basin………..……………. 49
Figure 4.3: The variance between observed and simulated discharge in Thuong
Nhat Station……………………………...………………………………………... 53
Figure 4.4: The variance between observed and simulated discharge in Binh Dien
Station……………………...……………………………………………………... 54
Figure 4.5: The variance between observed and simulated discharge in Co Bi
Station ………………………………………..……………………………………54
Figure 5.1: The inflow to branches in 2010, SC1 scenario………..…………….. 68
Figure 5.2: Water requirements by sectors in 2010, SC1 scenario……….…..….. 69

Figure 5.3: Unmet demand by months in 2010, SC1 scenario……………..……. 70
Figure 5.4: The monthly inflow to the upstream area of Bo River in SC1 scenario
……………………………………………………………………………………..71

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Figure5.5: The monthly water requirement of upstream Bo River Agriculture area
in SC1 scenario…………………………………………..……………………….. 71
Figure 5.6: Ta Trach Reservoirs Hydropower turbine flow and power generation.
……………………………………………………………………………………...73
Figure 5.7: BinhDien Reservoir hydropower turbine flow and power generation.74
Figure 5.8: Huong Dien Reservoir hydropower turbine flow and power
generation…………………………………………………………………………. 75
Figure 5.9: The total inflow in 2010 in SC2 scenario………………...………….. 76
Figure 5.10: The unmet demand in 2010 in SC2 scenario…………...…………... 77
Figure 5.11: Monthly inflow to region in 2010 in SC2 scenario………...………. 78
Figure 5.12: Monthly unmet demand in 2030, SC3 scenario…………..………... 80
Figure 5.13: The changes in the inflow of SC4 scenario compared to SC3 scenario..
……………………………………………………………………………………...81
Figure 5.14: Monthly unmet demand in 2030, SC4 scenario………………..…... 82
Figure 5.15: Monthly inflow to the area…………...…………………………….. 82

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LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1: The changes in average temperature (0C) compared to the period 19801999 in Thua Thien Hue province by seasons in B2 scenario……………………. 25
Table 2.2: The changes in average rainfall compared to the period 1980-1999 in
Thua Thien Hue province by seasons in B2 scenario ……………………………..26
Table 3.1: Monthly average temperature in Huong River Basin from 2009 to 2012
……………………………………………………………………………………...34
Table 3.2: Average humidity in Huong River Basin from 2009 to 2012………… 34
Table 3.4: Mean evaporation in Huong River Basin from 2009 to 2012 …………34
Table 3.5: Hydrological and hydro-meteorological stations network in the Huong
River Basin…………………………………………………………………………35
Table 3.6: Average population by Gender and by District in 2010……………… 40
Table 3.7: Average population by District from 2009-2012…………………….. 40
Table 3.8: Location and area of industrial zones …………………………………45
Table 4.1: Description of sub-basins ……………………………………………...50
Table 4.2: NAM parameters explanation and boundaries (Shamsudin & Hashim,
2002) ………………………………………………………………………………51
Table 4.3: The reliability of Nash coefficient……………………………………. 52
Table 4.4: Calibrated parameters…………………………………………………. 52
Table 4.5: Nash coefficient ……………………………………………………….53
Table 4.6: Vietnamese standard for domestic water use………………………… 56
Table 4.7: Vietnamese standard for livestock consumption ………………………57
Table 4.8: Water requirement for aquaculture ……………………………………58
Table 4.9: The scenarios development…………………………………………….59

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Table 5.1: Population by District in 2030 ………………………………………...64
Table 5.2: The increasing rate of the amount of livestock ………………………..65
Table 5.3: Monthly water requirement of nodes in SC1 and SC2 scenario……… 67
Table 5.4: Monthly water requirement of nodes in SC3scenario …………………67
Table 5.5: Monthly water requirement of nodes in SC4 scenario………………... 67
Table 5.6: Comparison of water requirement by sectors between SC2 and SC3
scenario…………………………………………………………………………….79
Table 5.7: Comparison of water requirement by sectors between SC1, SC3 and SC4
scenario ……………………………………………………………………………81

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background
Huong River, with its length of 128 km, is the largest river system in Thua Thien
Hue province. The river lies within the province and covers 3/5 of the total area

which is the consist of Nam Dong, Huong Thuy, Huong Tra, Phong Dien District,
part of A luoi, Quang Dien, Phu Vang, Phu Loc District and Hue city. The drainage
area is 3000 km2. In 2010, the population of Huong River Basin is about 1,137,962
people, most of them are living in the rural area which accounted for 92% of the
population. The topography of the river basin is complex including mountainous
area, hills, lagoon, coastal plain and coastal sand dune. Huong River is the main
water source in this province which supplies water for almost all domestic usage
and economic development activities.

Figure 1.1: The location of Huong River Basin

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1.2. Problem statement
Huong River basin lies in Thua Thien Hue Province, which located in the specific
monsoon climate area of Central Part of Vietnam with severe hydrological regime:
very long dry season, short rain season but often with very big flow and discharge.
Every year, this area has to bear number of extreme weather events such as
typhoons, tropical cyclones which bring heavy rain with high density. Moreover,
the topography of the basin changes rapidly from the upstream high mountain zone
down to the plain and large lagoon system, with hardly any transition area. This
results in a high runoff in the rainy season, and large floods and inundations
downstream. The annual average rainfall of this basin is 2800-3200 mm; however,
nearly 80% of rainfall concentrates in the 4 months of rainy season causing uneven

water distribution in the research area. Additionally, the high temperature in dry
season also increases the chance of losing water through evaporation. Many
reservoirs had been built to mitigate the water shortage in dry season by storing
water from the rainy season. Nevertheless, water shortage in dry season is still
appeared as an emerging issue.
Besides, the population growth and the development of water demand in every
sector in this area leading to extremely high competing requirements of different
stakeholder which exaggerate the water shortage status and intensify the pressure on
water management tasks. Also, Tran Thuc (2010) proved in his project ―Impact of
climate change on water resources in the Huong River basin and adaptation
measures‖ that the decrease of rainfall results in the decline of river flow in dry
season and the increase of evapotranspiration due to higher temperature is appeared
in most of the climate change scenarios.
All of the water use activities in Thua Thien Hue province, consisting irrigation,
aquaculture, domestic, livestock, and industry as well as power generation depend
mainly on Huong River. There are currently large imbalances between water
availability and water demand in this region as the existing system cannot supply

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sufficient water for all stakeholders in dry season; as well as the exaggerated
situation might appear in the future under the pressure of increasing demand and
negatively influences on water supply due to climate change impacts. To deal with
this set of troubles and moving toward a sustainable society, there is a new

paradigm which was proved its effectiveness in many regions with the similar
situation such as South Africa, Myanmar, etc… with its own holistic approach,
Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM). As there are inter-links between
all sectors to the Water Resources System (WRS) (Arnell, 1999), as well as the
close interaction from the three components of WRS itself, the holistic approach of
IWRM offers an ultimate solution to ease the increasing water scarcity for
developing countries. However, before drawing any optimal solutions and specific
strategy for planning, IWRM requires huge numbers of exquisite analysis of WRS
components. Therefore, this study was brought out in order to contribute to IWRM
planning with an insight of the balance between water availability and water
demand among different stakeholder at the present as well as in projected future
scenarios under climate change context. Then, management measures will be
proposed after considering changes within problems. To achieve this goal,
hydrological model MIKE11-NAM, Crop water requirement simulation model
CROPWAT 8.0 and river basin simulation model (WEAP) are employed to address
the impacts of changing water availability and water demands under different
scenarios.

1.3. Research questions
Several main questions have to be answered in order to clarify the issue for the
purpose of bringing out water management measures:
1. What is the water shortage in each region of the river basin currently and
why?
2. How social-economic development can affect water shortage status in the
river basin?

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3. How climate change impacts can affect the water shortage status in the
river basin?
4. What are the recommended solutions to mitigate the water shortage in dry
season with the consideration of climate change scenario in 2030?

1.4. Methodology
In order to carry out this research, relevant data and information in the study area
must be collected, analyzed and simulated. Basically, the data collection comprises
(1) time series of the river discharge; (2) water demands of all water use activities in
each region, including agriculture, aquaculture, domestic, livestock, industry and
environment in the present and the forecast of those water use activities in the future
under Climate Change Scenarios; (3) the characteristics of the infrastructures in the
basin such as reservoirs (initial water level, operational rule curves, stage-areavolume curve, time series of rainfall and evaporation, linkages to users, priority of
delivery, linkages to upstream). The set of information included the potential
proposed measures that can be implemented to mitigate water shortage status in dry
season of research area. The methodology applied to conduct the Thesis can be
summary in the following framework.

Collecting data

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Data analysis
and simulation

Devoloping

scenarios

Proposing
management
measure

Result analysis

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The approach of the study is using models to simulate the water status in Huong
River Basin, therefore, a conceptual framework of basic step to apply models was
developed.

Water supply
-Mike-Nam: runoff

Simulating water balance in
Huong river basin

WEAP

Water demand
-

Irrigation: CROPWAT 8.0

Domestic
Livestock
Industry
Aquaculture

Alternative supply and demand
scenarios:
- SC1 (current)
- SC2 (dry year)
- SC3 (projected socio-economic
development in 2030)
- SC4 (projected socio-economic
development in 2030 + B2 Climate
change scenario)

The focus is on WEAP model’s simulation; however, it is possible only when the
input data of water supply and water demand are carefully evaluated. The water
supply input is the runoff calculated by MIKE-NAM. The water demand input is the
combination of the requirement of five main water use sectors, including irrigation
requirement which was computed by CROPWAT 8.0 as well as domestic, livestock,
industry, aquaculture which were evaluated based on Vietnamese statistic yearbook
and Vietnam standard. After that, WEAP was applied to examine the current water
status in 2010 as well as alternative projected situation in 2030 based on developed
scenarios both with and without the changes of climate system.

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1.5. Structure of the thesis
This thesis is divided into six main chapters including the introduction, literature
review, the description of study area, the simulation of water balance in Huong
River Basin, the result analysis, and finally, the conclusions and recommendations.
Chapter 1: The chapter provides a brief overview of the physical characteristic of
Huong River Basin as well as brings out the problem statement about water
resources management in the basin. In addition, a set of research questions which
objectify the purpose of the research and the methodology are also mentioned.
Chapter 2: The literature review shows an overview of ―water allocation‖,
―Integrated water resources management‖, ―climate change impacts on water
resources‖, ―Climate change scenarios‖ and ―Models for IWRM‖
Chapter 3: This chapter gives a closer look into the characteristics of Huong River
Basin with regard to the Geographical location and topography, the climate
conditions, the socio-economic development, the illustration of river network, the
current water use activities, and the water storage.
Chapter 4: In this chapter, the simulation of models in Huong River Basin is
described. The schematization of the basin is brought out; the data requirements for
applying WEAP model are demonstrated. Moreover, this chapter also defines three
main scenarios.
Chapter 5: The results of the three scenarios with respect to the water supply and
water requirement will be brought out and analyzed in this chapter. It illustrates and
compares the water shortage in of each water user node corresponding to each
scenario.
Chapter 6: Conclusions and recommendations will be shown in this chapter.

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Water allocation: An overview
Water access entitlement was defined under the National Water Initiative as the
exclusive right to access an amount of water from the executive water supplier,
which fitted in water master plan (National water commission, 2011). The water
access entitlement is determined through an allocation process which basically aims
for satisfying the needs of different individual consumers. The requirement for
achieving an effective water allocation plan in any country all over the world
initiated from the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development where
water was asserted as a vulnerable resource that can be vanished over time by the
excessive use without conservation of human’s activities.
Water allocation plan is created based on the water allocation system which is the
set of policies and rules for maintaining the equilibrium between water availability
and water demand without disrupting the sustainable development process of a
country and its environment. Fundamentally, there are two approaches of water
allocation system, the non-volumetric systems and volumetric systems (NWC,
2011). The non-volumetric systems control the use of water based on the input and
output of water rather than the particular amount of water for each sectors. On the
other hand, the volumetric systems, which are the mostly used one, relied on
quantity of water used through some methods such as block tariff, market-based
pricing, single rate or multi rates (Tsur, Dinar and Doukkali, 2002). Recently, it is
proved that the water allocation process shows its highest efficiency when it is
evolved in basin level. However, allocation focuses on basin level still need to take
in to account the national level water allocation plan and variety of stake-holders’

agreements (Speed, 2013). The objective of water allocation lies under the umbrella
term ―balancing water supply and demand‖, within this concept, there are four main
focus including equity, environment protection, development priorities and
promoting efficiency use of water (Speed, 2013).

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According to the National Report on Water Resources in 2012, Vietnam has rick
sources of water considering the total amount of surface water. However, among
eight main basins over the country, only four of them have enough water to satisfy
demands in dry season. That fact raises a challenge for water resources planning
task to balancing the uneven seasonal rainfall, then to achieve maximum efficient
water use. Water allocation systems in Vietnam are created based on volumetric
systems varies within sectors. The institutional arrangement in Vietnam is referred
to a hierarchical organization structure, with the centralized Government. Therefore,
the water resource are managed by the Government, at highest level, then, at the
lower level, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the Ministry of
Agriculture and Rural Development are cooperated to building the overall water
resources planning to propose to the Government. The subordinate level of Ministry
is the provincial local authorities including provincial People’s committees, the
Departments which are directly under Ministries (VNCID, 2010). The overlay of
authorities is also a challenge while applying Integrated water resources
management.

2.2. Integrated Water Resources Management
Date back to the past, where the water management approaches only consider about
separate sectors such as water supply, irrigation, sanitation, and energy generation.
In 1977, attention of international experts was still pay in the water supply and
sanitation in UN Conference in Mar de Plata; the water related issue was
pronounced in Brundtland Report of the World Commission on Environment and
Development in 1987 is about pollution and water supply (Savenije& Van Der
Zaag, 2008). Until 1992, when the UN Conference on Environment and
Development was held in Rio de Janerio and the International Conference on Water
and Environment was held in Dublin, the concepts of IWRM as well as its key
principles were widely discussed. The principles of IWRM are based on the Dublin
Principles which emphasized that water is finite, vulnerable, and essential for
sustainable development and affirmed the vital role of woman in water

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MSc Thesis

management. Moreover, it is stated that participatory approach is crucial in water
management as well as the consideration of water as social economic good has to be
added in water management plans. The prevalent use of term ―Integrated Water
Resources Management‖ was appeared in the late 1990s by the promotion of it uses
by the Global Water Partnership (Biwas, 2008). In 2002, at the Johannesburg World
Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), The Technical Advisory Committee
of the Global Water Partnership defined Integrated Water Resources Management
―as a process, which promotes the coordinated development and management of

water, land and related resources in order to maximize the resultant economic and
social welfare in an equitable manner without compromising the sustainability of
vital ecosystems‖ (GWP, 2000).
As the new challenges in the new era put pressure on every aspects of water
resources, IWRM with it holistic system view approach is widely accepted by many
scholars and practitioners due to several reasons: it provide a comprehensive crosscutting approach through all types of resources and sectors; it creates a connection
between livelihood of the catchment and resources perspective; it also focus on the
collaboration between elements of good government as well as stakeholders (Gain
& Schwab, 2012). From that perspective, IWRM itself specifically enhances the
traditional water resources management in three ways: cross-sectoral of goals and
objectives, the spatial focus on river basin instead of on administrative boundary,
the participation of stakeholders in decision-making process (Cap-net, 2009). In
particular, Gooch and Stalnacke (2003) indicated that the distinction between
IWRM or Integrated River Basin Management (IRBM) and ―Traditional‖ Water
Resources Management relies on the scope and sphere of operation of the two. The
―traditional‖ one only focused on satisfying the perceived demand with sectororiented approach while the ―integrated‖ one attempts to bring out water resource
management on the demand, supply, and use of water with a cross-sectoral
approach. This new paradigm was applied to many river basins in South Africa,
Australia, Europe, and Mozambique.

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WATER BALANCE IN THE HUONG RIVER BASIN IN CONTEXT OF CLIMATE CHANGE
MSc Thesis

However, the concept of integrated water management considering climate change
has not been well discussed and reported in literature (Lin et al., 2010). Further, due

attention has not been given to such practices in developing countries (Qin and Xu,
2011). A few attempts have been made to address the water resources management
issues considering one or another issue of climate change (Ragab and Prudhomme,
2002; Mitchell et al., 2007). However, integrated water management considering
integration of various possible water sources to satisfy the demands of different
users, environment protection, land and urban planning have not been considered.

2.3. Climate change impacts on water resources
On the Global scale, among various environment factors influenced by climate
change, water resources are of the major concern (Frederick and Major, 1997).
Global warming due to the increase of greenhouse concentration is likely to have
significant effects on the hydrological cycle (IPCC, 1996). In the researching of the
relationship between climate change and water resources, especially the impacts of
climate change, Yang Nan, Bao-Hui and Chun-Kun emphasized that the
hydrological cycle is the theoretical basis; they also sum up the relationship into a
cycle diagram of climate change impacts:

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