Sustainable water management in the Anthropocene

Much discussion about water management focuses on conserving a natural or good aquatic environment, but a good environmental condition is a social construct. Where populations and economies are growing rapidly, the hydrocentric goal of conserving a stationary natural environment is unreachable and unreasonable. The construction of a sustainable Anthropocene environment sees resilient socioecological systems move to new equilibria rather than return to pre-existing states. In this ecological modernisation paradigm, societies adapt to change through environmental design that moves them to acceptable and functional new equilibria. In water resource management, this approach can be characterised as hydrosupportive, seeking to engineer the environment in ways that meet societies’ water needs in a sustainable manner. It recognises that choices must be made in the context of broader societal objectives, and it engages with water users rather than convening them to participate in hydrocentric processes. A sustainable hydrosupportive approach still requires traditional water resource managers to go beyond the current practice. Southern African cases show how hydrosupportive management, structured to support a range of social and economic scenarios, may more effectively produce sustainable outcomes than hydrocentric approaches, which focus on conserving the water environment and protecting it from human activity.