The multilevel stakeholder engagement in hydrological research and development of integrated catchment management tools and policies in the Murrumbidgee catchment in Australia helped it gain the status of reference catchment under the pilot phase (2001-02) of the Hydrology for Environment, Life and Policy (HELP) programme of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The competing water uses and environmental and economic concerns in the Murrumbidgee are typical of other arid catchments in the world. Both completed and ongoing hydrological projects are available that can be used to illustrate how communities, researchers and regulation bodies are involved in catchment management by developing appropriate geographic information system, hydrological, hydrologic-economic and educational models. The approach has been very influential in bringing about change in land and water management and in informing and guiding regional policy.

Subernarekha is an interstate river passing through the Indian states of Jarkhand, Orissa and West Bengal. The Subernarekha River basin is marked by conflicts among the alternative uses of water because of the inadequacy of the total water supply. An increase in water supply and improvement in water quality is felt to be necessary given the water scarcity in this region and because of widespread and extreme poverty. This was the precise objective of the multipurpose project started in the river basin in 1982-83. However, an attempt at simultaneous implementation of all project components has greatly reduced the benefits of the project. The project has also had some adverse consequences for the coastal environment and the quality of water. A careful study of the project and the institutions and policy relating to water lead to some suggestions. First, there is a need to check the over consumption of water through cost-related pricing and greater efficiency in the collection of water charges. Second, the adoption of a project-based engineering approach should be replaced by a comprehensive integrated management approach. Third, more hydromorphological information has to be generated and fed into the planning process. Fourth, good planning requires the inputs of diverse stakeholders.

A framework for urban storm-water management that moves beyond flood control to improve societal and ecological services will maximise the functions and benefits of water resources management. Theoretical constructs for such work originate from the integration of ecological engineering, ecohydrology and service learning paradigms. Implementation consists of simulating, monitoring and reporting how storm-water design decisions to infiltrate or directly discharge runoff result in a complex set of linked adjustments to the dynamics of the water table, soil chemistry concentrations, plant stress/viability, terrestrial habitat, river loads/flows, and aquatic habitat patterns. Coordination of a socio-ecological-based urban storm-water management programme is discussed using a case study in the Onondaga Creek watershed that drains through the City of Syracuse, NY, USA. In Onondaga Creek, service learning-directed research gathered findings on the geomorphological characterization of a healthy stream, flood impacts of storm sewer separation, and channel stability with concrete removal. Unfortunately, linkages between systems will remain unexplored until the development of more tightly coupled channel-watershed simulation models.