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Flexible framework for assessing water resource sustainability in river basins

As the anthropogenic footprint increases on Earth, the wise use, maintenance, and protection of freshwater resources is a key element in the sustainability of development.  Borne from efforts to promote sustainable development of water resources, Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) was advanced.  Simply put, IWRM promotes efficiency of water resources, equity in water allocation across different social and economic groups, and environmental sustainability.  Methodologies supporting IWRM implementation have largely focused on the overall process, but have had limited attention paid to the evaluation methods for ecologic, economic, and social conditions (aka sustainability criterion (SC)).  Thus, assessment frameworks are needed to support the analysis of water resources and evaluation of sustainable solutions in the IWRM process.