The social dimensions of water-resources planning

by Douglas H Harris

The book describes a study to establish a framework for incorporating social factors in the water-resources planning-decision process. 388 water-resources concepts from the social domain were identified, collected, screened and grouped to develop 42 social factors. Then from ratings of similarity-dissimilarity by 300 raters (60 social scientists, 60 water-works professionals, and 180 persons who had demonstrated an interest in water-resources issues), five fundamental dimensions were identified through multi-dimensional scaling. The five dimensions were: quality of drinking water, fair allocation and conservation of water, public involvement in water-resources management, natural beauty of bodies of water, and public access to bodies of water. Application of the derived framework of social dimensions and factors in planning-decision process was explored.