A sustainability tool for intrasectoral and intersectoral water resources decision making

The concept of and need for sustainable water resource systems is widely accepted. Organisations at all levels both locally and globally and in all sectors from water resource management to transportation have attempted to define a set of criteria for sustainable systems. An examination of these criteria has revealed that there is a core set of sustainability goals that encapsulate the economic, social and environmental components of a sustainable system within any sector. However, the power of these goals can only be realised when they are used as a tool within a process which measures the effectiveness of different projects and schemes to meet the sustainability objectives, and upon which decisions are made