ECOLOGICALLY SUSTAINABLE WATER MANAGEMENT: MANAGING RIVER FLOWS FOR ECOLOGICAL INTEGRITY

Human demands on the world's available freshwater supplies continue to grow as the global population increases. In the endeavor to manage water to meet human needs, the needs of freshwater species and ecosystems have largely been neglected, and the ecological consequences have been tragic. Healthy freshwater ecosystems provide a wealth of goods and services for society, but our appropriation of freshwater flows must be better managed if we hope to sustain these benefits and freshwater biodiversity. We offer a framework for developing an ecologically sustainable water management program, in which human needs for water are met by storing and diverting water in a manner that can sustain or restore the ecological…

• DO
  Department of Water Resources
• SF
  South Florida Water Management District
• NC
  Nature Conservancy
• UA
  U.S. Army Corps of Engineers