Dealing with Uncertainty in Water Systems Management

Managing water systems in a dynamic and highly uncertain environment has become a challenge. Multiple uncertainties have made the management of these systems a relatively difficult task. Technical approaches on their own, do not have the ability to address deep uncertainties in the management of water systems. Deep uncertainty cannot be easily remedied because it is related to high levels of governance and policy-making. In other words, decision makers have little theoretical consensus on the various components of the system. This reveals the necessity of adopting approaches which are capable of taking various types of uncertainties. The purpose of this paper is to explain and analyze the four approaches of resilience, robustness, flexibility, and adaptation in dealing with and managing deep uncertainties and to investigate their application in coupled human-natural water systems. In this article, using the descriptive-comparative method and literature review, the characteristics of the mentioned approaches have been collected and compared with each other. Finally, it was concluded that the adaptation approach, compared to other approaches, has a better ability to be used in water systems governance and management. This does not mean that other approaches are not effective in the management of such systems and, due to their inherent attributes, they can be used in the management of various parts of water systems.