Help:Preparing A Case Study

Anyone can contribute a new case study. You must be logged in to edit any page.

Criteria for Starting a Case

To decide if a water conflict or problem should be included as a new AquaPedia case, ask yourself the following questions:

• Does this case involve a contentious water management problem between parties including two or more sovereign or federated states or other established territories (i.e., two different states, provinces, counties or cities)?

Examples: Two nations who share a river basin may have issues about water storage and allocation. States or provinces within a nation may have different priorities for water resources they share. Regional governments, or indigenous communities, may disagree with the federal government about how shared water sources should be managed.

• Does this case focus on a problem or issue that hinges on reconciling competing water uses (i.e., across multiple purposes or sectors)?

Examples: Agricultural and industrial interests may have competing needs. Stakeholders such as smallholder farmers and large agribusinesses may be competing for groundwater withdrawals.

• Does this case involve significant scientific or technical uncertainty that cannot be quantified or otherwise satisfactorily addressed given the current state of knowledge?

Example: Stakeholders perceive significant uncertainty regarding future climate, future water availability, estimated water needs, or economic growth.

• Does this case involve decisions that cannot be readily resolved using current regulatory, funding, or technological mechanisms?

Example: Are regulatory changes, public fund allocations, or decisions about building new infrastructure the focus of the conflict?

• Do stakeholders in this conflict have differing views about the issues at the heart of the conflict?

Example: Some stakeholders feel that the allocation of water rights is central to the problem, while others are more concerned about allocation for a specific use. Still others may be more concerned about environmental impacts.

If you can’t answer “yes” to at least three of these questions, your topic of interest probably isn’t a case.

Click for more information about criteria for case study inclusion and what to do when an idea or topic doesn't meet them.

Starting a New Case

Use this form to create a new case by entering a descriptive title for the case. After entering a title, you'll be taken to the online entry form for a new case. You may want to see our guidance on naming cases.

Contributing Content

You can contribute as much (or as little) content to a new case as you want. AquaPedia is a collaborative process and others can also contribute to any new case. Starting a case should not feel like an arduous task. You only need to add what you feel comfortable contributing based upon your knowledge and experiences.

Offline Editing

New cases can be prepared offline and then added via the online form (use cut-and-paste for each appropriate section), or can be prepared offline and emailed to an AquaPedia editor, who will add the content to AquaPedia. All AquaPedia staff are part-time or volunteers to the project, and this method may take a long time to complete. A contributor may also use a hybrid method: submit the content using the online form, but email the completed case to an editor for help with formatting and including images or other more time intensive tasks.

A simplified and annotated word document version of the online template and instructions for emailing it to an editor can be found here.