The Senegal River is the lifeline of the westernmost part of the Sahelian zone in Africa. This zone has extreme problems with high population growth, rapid and uncontrolled urbanization, climate changes, widespread poverty, growing inequity, ethnic confrontations and stagnant economic development. This paper analyses the management system of Lac de Guiers -one of the largest lakes in West Africa- which is among the Senegal River's key management entities. A Bayesian network model is used to study the conflicting interests among the various stakeholders, the environmental and social concerns in the region and the viability of a series of policy options for water resources development.

Spain has old and complex legislation with regard to water, which has recently undergone some modification (the 1999 Act). The water market has been introduced, with emphasis on environmental protection aspects, while continuing traditional management through hydro basins. The current state of evolution in water law is one of vagueness, with contrasting lines of tension; in some, the old type of focus predominates but there are others in which the so-called new water culture can be detected. The National Hydrological Plan (with its proposal for a major inter-basin transfer) and the application of European Community law (water framework directive) are going to set the trail for development over the next few years, and this will resolve the above-mentioned lines of tension.

This paper discusses comprehensive development in reservoir watersheds, the most important aspect relating to dam construction in Japan. The discussion of the subject deals with reliably obtaining the understanding of the residents unavoidably relocated by the reservoir, with measures to rehabilitate and resettle people and with comprehensive development within the reservoir area. The Act on Special Measures for Reservoir Area Development, which was enacted to guarantee the smooth completion of dam projects, played an important role in this scheme. Details are explained by introducing examples encountered in Japan.

The feasibility and applicability of the 26 guidelines proposed by the Dams and Development report of the World Commission on Dams are examined. There is much room to enhance these guidelines in order to make them an operational blueprint, in particular for the following major issues: (1) clarification of the background; (2) clarification of the role; (3) examination of the maturity of methodologies; (4) provision of technical standards; (5) clarifications of relations between guidelines; (6) consideration of enforcement; and (7) consideration of the independence of the impact assessments. Only six of the guidelines are considered to be ready (or ready in certain countries) for implementation as they stand

Although many researchers have claimed that the Middle East faces a desperate situation with regard to future water use, few have provided detailed analyses as to why this should be the case. In this paper it is claimed that with the changing nature of the economies of the countries of the region, together with rapid population growth, new water policies are required which recognize the growing significance of the service sector of the economy and the importance of urban communities. These policies should focus on the importance of commercial/industrial systems as the main wealth providers in the 21st century. Detailed analyses of the available water resources reveal that most of the countries of the Middle East will be able to meet the water needs of their citizens up to 2025 without too much difficulty. To achieve this the reallocation of at least some irrigation water to other uses will be necessary. However, the volumes of water needed are in many cases not huge. Three countries, Jordan, Oman and Tunisia, will experience major problems of water supply, but only Jordan can be regarded as approaching a crisis situation. Even here desalinated water could at least alleviate the situation for urban dwellers, though costs would be high.

The quantitative and qualitative evaluation of water, land and biotic resources in the inland river basins is important in the arid zone. Analysis of the exploitation potential of water resources and the environmental changes through water development can help people in the sustainable development and management of water resources within the basin. Water resources development has affected the scale of oasis establishment in the middle reaches and the existence of lower-reach oases in the Hei River basin. Exploitation and utilization of water resources at the present stage should bring about a harmonic relation between economic development and the ecological environment in the whole basin. The whole area should be considered as an entirety to adopt feasible engineering and administrative measures such as strengthening the protection of water resources in upper streams, macro-control of water consumption and implementing water-saving measures in middle and lower reaches, quantitatively managing and allotting water resources in accordance with regional conditions and adherence to comprehensive rehabilitation. Thus, economic, environmental and social benefits of water resources can be enhanced.

Water pricing in Israel led the water situation to become almost disastrous. This was true for both quantity and quality issues. This paper deals with a proposed price reform and its implication for two issues. The first is the optimal timing to switch to a backstop technology -desalinating water in this case. Economic analysis shows that combining both demand and supply management can postpone desalinization projects by more than 20 years. The second issue deals with changing the price block schedule in order to compensate farmers for a given price change. Increasing the marginal price of water to its real value damages the marginal users. The paper tries to calculate and proposes a new price block schedule that will leave the farmers as well off as they were before the change.