Systems engineering and water resources management: A closer relationship is needed

Systems engineering can be applied in a broad spectrum of sectors, but only its analysis tool has been applied in the field of water resources management. Because systems engineering has a separate community of practice from water resources, there is little crosstalk between the two fields. As a result, the systems engineering functions that support planning, design, production, procurement, and customer support are not being applied to water systems. Meanwhile, water systems exhibit complexities that have generated a separate field named Integrated Water Resources Management that continues to confuse its followers after several decades. Its methods are applied to a broad spectrum of water issues that affect multiple stakeholders with conflicting interests and involve distinct subsystems, such as water supply or hydropower, as well as combinations of them. Use of systems analysis for such water issues began six decades ago, but it is still a work in progress. Evolving methods of systems engineering offer new possibilities to address problems of water resources management, but they must extend beyond systems analysis, which belongs to multiple disciplines. Examples show possibilities to apply systems engineering methods when water issues exhibit attributes of engineered systems and do not involve social and environmental complexities that cannot be included in system boundaries. Collaboration among systems engineering and water resources management would offer a fertile test bed to advance both fields.