Perspectives from a water research institute on Knowledge Management for Sustainable Water Management

Abstract

A sizeable, and sometimes overwhelming, array of knowledge is available and relevant to Sustainable Water Management (SWM). This knowledge derives not only from the natural, social and engineering sciences but also from practical experiences in water management, which is defined broadly to include all forms of water use as well as the protection of water resources and reduction of risk from water-related hazards. As a publically-funded water research institute, Eawag (the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology) faces the challenges of integrating and synthesizing available knowledge, creating new knowledge through research projects and making knowledge available in an accessible form to support engineering practice, water resources management and related policy-making. This chapter examines these challenges from an organizational perspective, discussing measures taken within Eawag to meet them and identifying remaining gaps and possible ways to address them.

Implementation Science for the Environment

“…Cross-referencing across these various problem areas and their associated research and stakeholder communities is not common. Data and information sharing and reuse across application and platform boundaries are hindered by the lack of interoperability and open access that would support data-mining and machine-learning . These impediments should be easily overcome with recent and ongoing advances in information technology.…”