Integrated water resources management advocates a coordinated approach for managing water resources in a way that balances social and economic needs with concern for the environment. While potentially useful, integrated water management is also controversial. Supporters believe that the multi-dimensional nature of water can only be understood and managed from a holistic perspective, while critics often argue that integrated water management lacks suffi ciently well-defi ned rules for its practical implementation. This book, written by academics, users and practitioners, provides a down-to-earth approach to the ideal of integrated water resources management, drawing from conceptual frameworks and real-life practice to identify the key aspects that are yet to be resolved. As such, it examines the role of water accounting, food trade, environmental externalities and intangible values as key aspects whose consideration may help the water management community move forward. Overall, integrated water resources management is perceived to be a useful utopia, whose value lies more in the steps that need to be taken to make it a reality than in achieving its ever-elusive end goal.
About the Author:

Pedro Martínez-Santos is tenured assistant professor at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain.
He obtained his Bachelor of Civil Engineering (Hon) and Master of Technology Management degrees from The University of New South Wales (Sydney, Australia). He completed PhD in Hydrogeology at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain, where he holds a lecturing post since 2008. He is the co-author of three books and about twenty-five papers in indexed journals, having also tutored two PhD Theses. He has taken part in several international research projects, while collaborating regularly with different private companies and public administrations in the fields of civil engineering and water planning. He has taught several groundwater modeling courses in Spain and Latin America, and served as an international reviewer for research calls from the Argentinian and Romanian governments. Dr. Martínez-Santos currently serves as Technical Director for Geologues Sans Frontières ("Geologists Without Borders", Spanish Chapter), a non-profit organization committed to promoting economic growth and alleviating poverty by granting access to safe water and sanitation in developing regions.

Maite Aldaya is a postdoctoral researcher at the Water Observatory and consultant for the Sustainable Consumption and Production Branch of the Division of Technology, Industry and Economics of the United Nations Environment Programme. Maite has a PhD in Ecology and MSc in Environmental Policy and Regulation from the London School of Economics and Political Science. She has worked in several international organizations such as the Agriculture and Soil Unit of the European Commission or the Land and Water Development Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. She has developed her research on water accounting, footprint and efficiency at different organizations, such as the University of Twente (Netherlands), Complutense University of Madrid (Spain) or Technical University of Madrid (Spain).

Ramón Llamas is an Emeritus Professor from the Complutense University of Madrid, Spain, and a Member of the Royal Academy of Science. He has published more than 100 books and case studies and over 300 articles in scientific magazines. Professor Ramón Llamas has two PhDs in civil engineering and geology from the Complutense and Polytechnic Universities of Madrid, respectively. In 1972 he became the first professor of Hydrogeology in Spain. He held the position of Chairman of the International Association of Hydrogeologists and coordinator of the work group on Ethics in the Use of Water Resources. He has also worked as the Director of the Botín Foundation´s Groundwater Project, which was completed in March 2003 and oficially presented in Osaka (Japan) at the 3rd World Water Forum. He currently presides the Botín Foundation Water Observatory.