Problem Archetypes as Common Ground for Water Resources Management Education

As a broad field, water resources management can have a blurry focus without a mechanism to coordinate the perspectives of its disciplines and sectors. If these can be harmonized, the result might be clearer explanations and improved outcomes. The paper probes whether identification of common problem archetypes can help to harmonize perspectives and improve education through more consistent treatment of recurring issues in case studies. An analysis of variables is presented to create a classification system to describe the architecture of water resources management problems, with emphasis on scale and management functions. The feasibility of using them is explored by an analysis of six sources of case studies, with a focus on those posted by the Global Water Partnership. From the analysis, it was evident that more emphasis was on policy and management than on technical tools. Most policy-level cases had a development focus and addressed multiple issues. Management–level cases addressed efficiency, productivity, reforms, and problem-solving. Technical discussions involved analysis methods partitioned by disciplines. The results show that cases can be identified primarily by management functions, with secondary classifiers such as scale, sectors, and number of authorities involved. A set of problem archetypes was assembled from the basic classification system and are available for educational experimentation to address cross-sector problems by explaining the big picture while keeping the field of analysis uncluttered. Their use is expected to be limited in the fragmented field of water resources management education due to the focus on disciplinary tools and most use may be capacity-building programs with a focus on problem-solving.