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.

systems analysis, which is not unique to systems engineering.The functions that support design, production, and customer support are not being applied, and this calls into question whether systems engineering brings anything new to civil systems. 3e proposition that systems engineering is not being applied to civil systems depends on the definition of what it includes.Systems engineering has a set of standards, and the assumption is that it is a definite method with the functions mentioned above and is not only an umbrella for general methods of the systems approach.For example, simulation modeling by itself cannot be claimed as systems engineering until additional functions through the lifecycle are applied.This distinction is meant to define the unique role and methods of systems engineering and is important for the discussion that follows.
This article addresses the promise and status of applying unique systems engineering methods to water resources systems, which are part of the civil sector.The promise of applying them to water was explained in the first edition of the Journal of Systems Engineering (JSE, 4 but in 25 years of the JSE very few papers about water have appeared.The author of the paper, Brian Mar, was a cofounder of the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE) and he was building on earlier work on the evolving methods in water resources management, which continue to need improvement. 5Additional evidence of lack of application of systems engineering to water issues is that the term does not appear in water sector journals, although applications of systems analysis are reported frequently.
While systems engineering has evolved, the water community has grappled with the complexities of water management and developed a broad paradigm named Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), which includes systems analysis as a management instrument. 6IWRM and systems engineering seem distinctly different, but both claim tools to address broad issues.As evidence of this overlap, both claim the successes of the Singapore Water System as an example of applying its methods. 7,8 clarify the discussion, systems engineering is assumed to have one part for analysis and another part for the implementation phases, which include planning, design, construction, and operation.As systems analysis is already being applied in the water sector, the goal is to assess whether this second part comprising these implementation functions can be used more effectively.Three examples are explained to illustrate the possibilities.The conclusions will explain why, although systems analysis is applied robustly in the water sector, the systems engineering implementation functions are not.This is followed by suggestions of how the professional communities of systems engineering and water resources can cooperate toward advancement in research and practice from both perspectives.

DEFINING WATER RESOURCES SYSTEMS AND THEIR LIFECYCLES
Water resources systems will have defined boundaries, and they align with the definition of a system as "an arrangement of parts or elements that together exhibit behavior or meaning that the individual constituents do not". 9They can be defined with small to large scales and with variable lifecycle stages from initial reconnaissance to conflict resolution during operations.High-profile water issues such as major rivers and serious ecological problems attract global attention, but smaller scale systems are likely better candidates for use of systems methods.

SIGNIFICANCE AND PRACTITIONER POINTS
This communication provides an analysis of the gap between systems engineering and water resources management and how it might be closed to benefit both fields.
In most cases, water resources systems will comprise "engineered systems," such as dams, pipelines, and other infrastructure.They involve different applications, such as for drinking, industry, irrigation, and generation of hydropower.They vary by scale, such as a household, a city, a river basin, or a nation.The perspective of stakeholders leads to other situations, such as the system operator, the regulator, or a citizen advocating solution of a pollution problem in a lake.These dimensions of water problems create multiple degrees of freedom in defining the systems and their operational characteristics.
The definition of a water resources system can include only infrastructure and equipment, or the natural environment and/or social elements can be added.For example, a water distribution system can be modeled as only the infrastructure and control equipment.If the model is to also consider whether failures will affect people and nature, then they can be added as system elements.For example, if the managing utility responds quickly to a failure, losses to people and nature will be less than if they do not respond quickly.
Water systems illustrate why civil systems generally pose different challenges than those with only technical architectures: undefined boundaries, inclusion of the environment, interdependence with user behavior, long lifespans, grafting of new systems on to old ones, political involvement, and large scales, among others. 3,10Water systems exhibit broader and more significant environmental and social impacts than most other civil systems.
The many situations, perspectives, and complexities of water systems lead to different lifecycle management challenges than most technical systems have.Situations may be classified by stage as planning, development, and operations, but the decommissioning stage normally will be reflected as renewal and modification, rather than replacement.The identification of starting and stopping points of water management situations is a special challenge in that some projects and operational issues last for a long time with uncertain decision points.These realities of water resources management have led to a continuing search for a framework for generalizable integrative solution methods.
The concept of IWRM has emerged as the most common generalizable approach to address water issues at different stage of their lifecycles. 11Its explanation involves complex arrays of tools, including systems analysis.Other tools are offered for categories that include the enabling environment, institutions and participation, management instruments, and financial instruments. 6As there are many ways to apply these, the case study approach has been adopted to illustrate them.

GRIGG
While substantial international efforts have been invested in developing and exploring IWRM, it is still confusing, and the search for better integrative methods continues.There is a need to improve water resources systems analysis as well, as its methods seem to fall short during the implementation phase of improving water systems. 12As an example of the need to improve these situations, a recent visioning group probed ways to improve water resources management. 13Their findings addressed core issues of IWRM and systems engineering, but they did not acknowledge either method.Recommendations included to "improve data gathering and analysis and leverage predictive modeling and data-informed operations," and "develop, test, and implement a water management framework that considers the nexus between engineered, natural, and human systems."

EXAMPLES OF WATER RESOURCES SYSTEMS
The examples that follow illustrate different types of water resources systems and lifecycle management issues.They include a watershed with a multipurpose surface reservoir, an aquifer system with groundwater quality issues, and a smart integrated urban water supply system.In terms of lifecycle, none of the cases involve creating an original system, but each involves operating and modifying an existing system.
The multipurpose reservoir stores water from tributary streams in a watershed.The dam was constructed years ago, and the current operating system comprises sensors, actuators, and decision logic that are managed by one set of stakeholders.Another set of stakeholders that is impacted by the reservoirs includes cities, farmers, and wildlife interests, among others.Scenarios involving the reservoir system will range from operational conflicts involving floods and droughts to planning for modifications, and even to later choices about decommissioning the dam.Dam removal is a very complex operation involving many environmental issues.
A second example involves an aquifer system in a dry region that serves irrigation systems which divert, apply, and return water to streams in the watershed via drainage systems.More water is applied to the crops than they need for plant growth so that salts can be leached back into the aquifers and not be left on the surface to cause excessive salt buildup that harms the soils.Enough water is needed for this leaching purpose to drive the salts down the valley and eventually to be discharged via the stream networks; otherwise, there will be salt buildup on the land and in the groundwaters.
Pumping of the aquifer system began decades ago, and has varied over the years, depending on climate, growth and development, and regulation.
The other example is a smart urban water supply system that diverts raw water from natural sources, processes it through a treatment plant, and distributes it to customers.The reservoir, treatment plant, and distribution system comprise the infrastructure, the operating system provides information and controls, and the human system includes both system operators and water users.To provide the needed urban water supply service, the system has been in place for decades, with periodic modifications.It can experience shifting demands, rate increase conflicts, failures, and additional scenarios.
In each example, defining the system and its elements is critical to a successful use of systems engineering.To analyze the lifecycle stage, data are needed to assess condition, performance, and development status.Current needs for asset renewal and/or operating changes must be known.The physical reservoir system could extend to the environment and include additional infrastructure for water storage and distribution to serve user groups.If flood risk management is involved, downstream risks must be included.The complexity of the aquifer system will depend on the detail included.The geologic structure of the aquifers introduces uncertainties, and data on pumping and return flows will be critical.Farmers depending on the water comprise a critical stakeholder group.How to define the physical parts of the smart urban system will be clear because water supply systems have been modeled extensively and are similar in their basic structures.The lifecycle stage will depend on obsolescence factors and needs for expansion and renewal.
Defining the social elements will be challenging in each case.The issue is addressed in the SEBok with this question: "How are social features becoming more tightly connected to technical features of systems, and how is the modeling of socio-technical systems infusing into practice?". 14Each example has one group of social elements responsible for operation and regulation of the system and another group of stakeholders who are impacted.For example, the reservoir system has human operators and water users affected by their decisions.The aquifer system has regulators and farmers and communities affected by changes in groundwater quantity and quality.The urban system has operators and customers for the water supplies.None of these systems have comprehensive modeling of sociotechnical elements because they are too complex.Agent-based models are used sometimes, and they are still evolving.
Of the three examples, the smart system is most amenable to the implementation tools of systems engineering because the boundaries can be defined, and the utility has more management control than is the case with the reservoir or aquifer system.The reservoir system may be under unified management, but the stakeholder categories can be diverse and difficult to manage.The aquifer system will likely lack institutional arrangements that lend themselves to a solution.In all three cases, the systems engineering implementation functions of design, production, and customer support do not synchronize very well with the realities of how the water systems are managed.This will be discussed further, and it seems to be the major challenge facing application of the full range of systems engineering functions to water systems management.

PROSPECTS TO APPLY SYSTEMS ENGINEERING TO WATER SYSTEMS
Each of the examples involves an existing system that has been developed incrementally and must be operated and renewed periodically.
In some cases, reservoir situations might involve planning and design of an entirely new structure, but most water situations are about systems already in existence.In these cases, if systems engineering is to be applied, there is a need to identify starting points for a project where its implementation functions are needed.Such starting points are found in ongoing management activities such as operations, asset management, and system modification.For one of these to have a starting point, the right time would be at a performance review and initiation of planning to improve the activity.Progressive water organizations conduct such periodic reviews and planning projects, and they are often capped with a report that provides recommendations for improvement.These may occur in the context of the strategic planning process.Developing recommendations within these plans for improvement of water systems can be discrete activities with starting and stopping points and the systems engineering process can be applied.
The phases of the systems engineering process involving analysis followed by implementation steps align with ongoing engineering processes beginning with recognition of a need and ending with a product that address that need. 15In these, the first step will be development of the functional and physical requirements of the system, based on its goals.For the reservoir system, the goals would respond to the multiple objectives established for it.For the aquifer system, they would be to sustain the availability and water quality in the groundwater at acceptable levels.The smart water supply system would have goals to distribute safe, adequate, and reliable water supply to customers at affordable prices.These types of goals are well known among water planners.
After requirements are established, alternative approaches are identified and evaluated based on criteria from the value systems involved, and after decision analysis is complete, the system architecture and operational program would be set and put into motion.
In the case of existing systems, these might be modifications of past arrangements or new management programs.
The emerging method of Model Based Systems Engineering 16 might help with visualization of system architectures and identifying stakeholders who will be affected by changes.It can be implemented using tools provided by the diagrams of the System Modeling Language. 17ese diagrams seem applicable to issues of water systems, but they are not being used.There is a need for a research study to demonstrate which diagrams are needed and how they can be used in performance improvement studies of existing water systems.

CONCLUSIONS
Systems analysis is being used in the water resources sector, but the systems engineering implementation functions of planning, design, and procurement are not.These functions are well-established in the practice of civil engineering, but not identified with systems engineering.
Among them, the least well-structured function in the water sector is planning, which attracts its own research literature and uses systems analysis and sociopolitical tools to address many types of problems.
If the structured methods of systems engineering could be used successfully in water resources planning, they might offer a way to address the limits of systems analysis, which has a strong community of practice but seems has not bridged the analysis-to-application gap very well.This problem stems from the complexity and fractious nature of water issues, with the confusion about IWRM being evidence of their difficulty.The IWRM concept has evolved for decades, but the discussions continue and more case studies are published without much convergence about the concepts.These problems with IWRM offer an apparent opportunity for systems engineering to take on the parts of water issues that can be defined as engineered systems and not address social and governance elements that are beyond its scope.
For systems engineering to be used in water resources planning, it must show improvement in how the steps of problem identification, establishment of goals, formulation of alternatives, evaluation, and implementation are conducted.This will be difficult because the situations are diverse and often unique, but case studies can be used for recurring problems, which can be identified as archetypes.By isolating them from the general class of water resources issues, those with engineered systems features that are amenable to systems engineering can be identified.In addition to the three examples given, optimum operation of engineered systems like treatment plants or buried pipe networks will work.
It is well to be cautious about how rapidly more use of systems engineering can occur in the water sector.Educators and researchers in the systems engineering discipline can take note of the nature of water resources systems and begin to address water issues and use their tools to improve management situations.Civil engineering educators can follow systems engineering developments and look for ways to extend their work beyond analysis to take on implementation problems though the lifecycles of water resources systems.
Whether the problem at hand is to develop a new operating strategy or to modify the physical elements of a system, formal decision-making structures are needed if the systems engineering process is to be applied.These will require management and/or policy decisions to initiate change processes.Normally, these decisions will occur in the context of established planning procedures within organizations.In the case of water systems, multiple ownership and stakeholder categories make establishment of such established procedures more complex than in many other systems engineering applications.
Even if improvements in planning methods by use of systems engineering are demonstrated, it will take additional measures to convince water sector leaders to embrace and support systems engineering as an important toolset.One step would be adoption of the terminology of systems engineering in water resources management practice.This would require an explanation of the differences between systems analysis and the full practice of systems engineering that also addresses planning, design, and procurement.
The prospects of applying systems engineering to water systems have not been discussed much because there is little interaction among the two communities of practice involved.This is due to the separate trajectories of the disciplines of systems engineering with its roots in the military and industry and water resources management with its roots in a multidisciplinary community dominated by civil engineers but with other disciplines.Incentives to collaborate are weak because each community has its own journals, conferences, and stakeholder groups.
To explore the possibilities of collaboration, a joint committee could be organized between INCOSE and a technical group such as within the water constituencies of the American Society of Civil Engineers.
Collaboration among the practitioners of systems engineering and of water resources management would seem to create a fertile test bed that might advance both fields.Things change slowly in the worlds of engineering practice, research, and education, but extending systems engineering to civil sector problems such as water resources would be worth the effort and the benefits would accrue to practitioners, future students, and the public.