Worldwide, science–policy integration across jurisdictional boundaries is emerging as a major challenge to sustainable water management. The Australian national water reforms require statutory provision for environmental outcomes in water plans, informed by the best available science. Assessments of progress towards this goal of scientifically rigorous environmental water provision indicate that, despite a multiplicity of effort in aquatic research and management, the pace of reform has been too slow for adequate protection of aquatic ecosystems. Although there are significant knowledge gaps, these are not the only obstacles to effective application of aquatic science in water plans. Progress on environmental water reform can be enhanced by recognising the cultural differences between science and policy, and by integrating communication and policy development activities from the outset of every applied science research program. Cross-jurisdictional progress in sustainable water management requires a comprehensive water research and policy development strategy using a toolbox of techniques to harness the considerable expertise and knowledge of aquatic scientists, policy makers and water planners in an integrated program to deliver the aquatic science applications called for by the national water reforms.

Appendix 1 Water and Climate Change instruments reviewed ii LIST OF BOXES Box 1.1-Economic Cost of Climate Change in South Asia Box 1.2-Groundwater and Drought and Climate Resilience Box 2.1-The IGB aquifer has immense natural storage Box 2.2-Climate Variability and Climate Change Box 3.1-Seasonal Estimates of Irrigation Water Demand in South Asia Box 3.2-South Asia is the world's top exporter of groundwater Box 4.1-Seasonal Estimates of Irrigation Water Demand in South Asia Box 4.2-Bangladesh flooding Box 5.1-The main elements of South Asia's water resources management strategy Box 5.2-Some of the key features of IWRM Box 5.3-Possible IWRM Activities to Respond to Climate Change Box 6.1-Informing Change in the Indus Basin Box 6.2-ICIMOD and Climate Change Box 7.1-Regional cooperation is a critical element in adaptation Box 8.1-The Decision Tree Approach and application to Upper Arun Hydropower project Box 9.1-The Rufiji Basin Plan, Tanzania Box 9.2-Adaptation Options for Groundwater Box 9.3-Improving Flood preparedness Box 12.1-Improving resilience to droughts iii ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ADB Asian Development Bank

Metaldehyde is recognised as an emerging contaminant. It is a powerful molluscicide and is the active compound in many types of slug pellets used for the protection of crops. The application of pellets to land generally takes place between August and December when slugs thrive. Due to its high use and physico-chemical properties, metaldehyde can be present in the aquatic environment at concentrations above the EU Drinking Water Directive limit of 100 ng L−1 for a single pesticide. Such high concentrations are problematic when these waters are used in the production of drinking water. Being able to effectively monitor this pollutant of concern is important. We compared four different monitoring techniques (spot and automated bottle sampling, on-line gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) and passive sampling) to estimate the concentration of metaldehyde. Trials were undertaken in the Mimmshall Brook catchment (Hertfordshire, UK) and in a feed in a drinking water treatment plant for differing periods between 17th October and 31st December 2017. This period coincided with the agricultural application of metaldehyde. Overall, there was a good agreement between the concentrations measured by the four techniques, each providing complementary information. The highest resolution data was obtained using the on-line GC/MS. During the study, there was a large exceedance (500 ng L−1) of metaldehyde that entered the treatment plant; but this was not related to rainfall in the area. Each monitoring method had its own advantages and disadvantages for monitoring investigations, particularly in terms of cost and turn-a-round time of data.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s10661-019-7221-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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This background paper is one of three papers commissioned by the World Bank and jointly implemented with the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) as part of the first phase of a two-phase Technical Assistance (TA) project to assess the opportunities for adaptation to climate change in the