Importance of Integrated Water Resources Management in Flood and Flash Flood Management

Abstract: Water resources management setup and practices in Georgia are relied on administrative approaches. Gradual introduction and implementation of the river basin based Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) will require corresponding legal and institutional adjustment as well as significant capacity building. The IWRM model for Georgia is intended to address prioritized concerns regarding water resource management, based on extensive consultations with stakeholders from a wide range of agencies and institutions related to water issues. Managing water efficiently, balancing conflicting uses of water resources, eliminating the results of catastrophic floods causing loss of human lives and damages to infrastructure and settlements and ensuring environmental stability of the river basins are critical issues which should be solved through ecosystem-based Integrated Water Resource Management approaches. The manuscript briefly reviews why the issue of shifting to IWRM is a priority for Georgia, what actions are needed to be implemented, and what are the sequences of these actions