domestic and industrial consumption, waste discharge, 

 transportation, recreation, and fish and wildlife 

 production — and maintaining related natural resources 

 such as soils, forests, and rangelands. All these uses 

 are interrelated. In Chapter 4, for example, the point 

 is made that long-term agricultural purposes cannot be 

 effectively served unless water and soil on surrounding 

 nonagricultural lands are appropriately managed: 



Where upstream and adjacent lands are managed 

 under conservation systems, such as national 

 forests, national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, 

 and similar types of reserves, food production 

 can benefit from more stable water supplies, 

 minimum erosion and flooding, and reduced 

 loads of sediment. 



Water resource planning should thus be integrated into 

 a comprehensive river basin plan in order to mitigate 

 problems of drought, floods, erosion, pollution of 

 drinking water, and damage to agricultural land, 

 vegetation, and wildlife. Because rivers often define 

 and cross international boundaries, this planning and 

 development process is perforce freguently 

 international. 



Rationale for Selecting this Topic 



In many countries, water has traditionally teen 

 considered a free good (much like air) and, as a 

 result, has been used and abused in a variety of ways. 

 For example, water quality has been affected by 

 economic development activities, and the construction 

 of dams and irrigation systems in many developing 

 countries has led to the increased transmission of 

 water-associated diseases, destruction of downstream 

 fisheries, and increases in soil salinity. 



The developing countries • interest in addressing 

 these problems was evidenced by their participation in 

 the U.N. Water Conference. The Conference Plan of 

 Action (United Nations 1977), approved by 117 

 countries, stressed the need to identify the extent of 

 national water resources, to draw up plans to iranage 

 them, and especially to consider the supplies of water 

 needed for drinking and agricultural development. 



The United States is in a particularly strong 

 position to provide scientific and technological 

 assistance, including data acquisition, processing, and 

 analysis in certain areas of planning, management, and 

 water-use technology. Recent scientific advances in 

 understanding the dynamics of watersheds and hydrologic 

 cycles provide a new framework for these activities. 



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