Muddling Through Water Governance and Water Quality—Comparative Lessons from Three Governance Regimes

This paper addresses water governance in the context of dissolved organic matter emissions into water bodies and cultural eutrophication. Through a comparative interdisciplinary analysis of cases from Norway, the Czech Republic, and China, it seeks to identify core principals of effective water governance and suggest strategies for achieving good ecological and chemical status of raw water. The analysis presents each case by exploring natural and societal processes, emphasising the interdependence between society and nature, and applying a theoretical framework. In this way, the paper contributes to the broader field of water governance studies. The central conclusion is that raw water quality results from “muddling through” processes involving stakeholders with diverse and sometimes conflicting interests. Building the capabilities to manage such contingencies is essential for successful governance. Four critical dimensions are identified as key to this capability: (i) robust environmental knowledge and literacy; (ii) stronger representation of non-human interest; (iii) regulatory measures and economic incentives to enhance raw water quality; and (iv) integrated multi-level governance combining top-down and bottom-up approaches. Strengthening these dimensions can also help mitigate the structural economic pressure driving the exploitation of “cheap nature”.