High level education on integrated water resources management for sustainable development

Abstract

Water, is in Spain a scarce commodity and although we have an age-old water culture, with an emblematic Court, such as the “Tribunal de las Aguas de Valencia”, hydraulic infrastructure, hydrological basin plans, legislation and hydraulic administration since the 20th Century, there are problems of scarcity, water quality and extreme events that often lead to conflicts between users and also among the responsible administrations for their management. Within this framework, it is of a great interest the training of technicians in matters related to planning, quality and integrated water resources management for sustainable development.

In Argentina (especially in the NOA) and until a few years ago, water has not been considered as a scarce commodity. In addition to this, they do not have the history and culture of Spain on issues related to their management, planning and governance. Now, they have begun to establish laws and regulations, as well as, an Association of Consortia of Public Water Users, needing external advice. Therefore, it is necessary, to train technicians in water resources capable of working in areas related to their planning and sustainable management, with knowledge related to the quality required by users. These technicians could be integrated, both in the responsible water administrations’, as well as, in private companies.

The project that is the object of this paper is based on preparing a double master's degree, in which the training needs of the students graduated of Spanish and Argentina Engineering Schools are taken into account.