Interviews planning

The main focus of this research is from a social stance, due to people’s actions, interrelations and conflicts. In a social context, interviews with people involved with river basin management (RBM), and to some extent with the case studies, have the purpose of obtaining the interviewees’ perspective on the concept, trying to capture what they think about the related issues. It was expected that they would provide a relevant contribution for the scope of this study which is the reason why interviews were considered for this research.

This explains the adopted research approaches specified in section 3.3, which are based on interviews (some of them directly supporting the case studies) and document analysis. For this purpose, two case study interviews and five expert interviews were carried out. A structured interview approach was adopted, based on case study interviews and expert interviews.

The two technicians who were interviewed in relation to the case studies were connected with more than one case study. Therefore, they were expected to provide a broad perspective on the desirable features of public participation and a comparison of the different case study events associated with public participation. They were also expected to provide possible differences in interpretation and convergent or divergent perspectives of the same case study and the public participation events.

interviews were also conducted. It was important to carry out interviews with experts in the field because they highlight stakeholders’ perceptions better than the case studies and have expert views on participation which is an important aspect of this research. Two experts who were interviewed were managers at a national level and also one local manager (water authorities). In addition stakeholders from the agricultural and industrial economic sectors were also interviewed. This is clarified in Table 3-6 as given below.

Therefore, the researcher interviewed experts who were senior members of staff and technicians from water authorities related to past participatory events, and stakeholders from within the community and from outside it. Some interviewees were related, in the past, with participatory events in the context of some Portuguese case studies.

In RBM the actors are the managers, stakeholders from agriculture, stakeholders from industry, experts, NGOs and citizens.

The next paragraphs will explain the rationale for case studies interviews, which will later be linked to the managers’ interviews. Following on from this the reasons for conducting stakeholders’ interviews and experts’ interviews will be explained.

For the case study interviews, four case studies were considered, based on the previously defined unit of analysis (river basin context; water supply or wastewater pollution removal; existence of a water resources management authority; any form of public participation). The case studies are the existing Portuguese case studies related to this research. The four case studies have the same scope, as the case study selection criteria required, but had different, specific characteristics.

In the first instance the researcher analysed the official reports on each case study characteristic and the reports about the participation events. To complement the data collection on the participatory events the researcher interviewed technicians who were involved in their planning. The purpose of these interviews was to seek their views on public participation in river basin management and obtain more detailed information on participatory events.

Ave valley pollution removal system (case study 1, as expressed in Table 3-5) was identified as the first type of participatory event to be held. This was based on the findings from written documents about this case study. The implementation of the pollution removal system was spread over more than thirty years, from the first reports of pollution in the River Ave in the 1970s (due to a large number of textile industries discharging wastewater directly into the river), to the final construction, few years ago, of several wastewater treatment plants (and the sewers to reroute wastewater from the textile factories to the treatment plants).

Furthermore, case study interviews were conducted with technicians who coordinated the following projects: Ave valley, integrated water supply system of Carvoeiro/Vouga, Cascais-Guia wastewater collection and treatment system and wastewater treatment plant of West Region (near Lisboa) which comprised the chosen case studies (Table 3-5), to seek their views on public participation events in river basin management.

Additionally, national managers who prepared and conducted previous public participation (PP) events on the relevant issues of River Basin Management (RBM) in all basin districts and covering the river basins of the identified case studies were also interviewed. This supports additional data from the case study interviews and explains the importance of interviewing the experts.

National managers also conducted public participation events on the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) at national level. The findings related to these public meetings sought to bring national issues to the case studies and vice versa, based on published documents that reported these participatory events.

Some official reports published online by the National Water Institute (INAG) about the National Water Plan, Basin Plans and national strategies for the agricultural sector and for the industry sector were analysed by the researcher, and were used as the basis for managers’ interviews. The researcher interviewed those who were responsible for the planning and supervision of public consultation events relating to the issues of implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) and those strategic plans. This entailed three

interviews with managers at local and national level. The purpose of the interviews with managers was to capture additional data on public participation (PP) events which were conducted in the past, beyond those opinions expressed in their official written reports. Additionally, the purpose was to encapsulate the personal view of the interviewees on desirable PP features and stakeholders’ interrelations which arose during those processes. These interviewees were expected to provide more perspectives and add value to the stakeholder participation framework produced in this research.

Two additional expert interviews consulted stakeholders from the economic sector (agriculture and industry), to seek a deeper understanding of their views beyond those expressed in official reports and their relationships with managers and with each other.

Stakeholders’ interviews considered the importance of agricultural sector which is officially reported to be responsible for the higher water consumption and for pollution in some river basins. Industry is considered to be the sector which is often responsible for the major problems of pollution generated by wastewater discharges.

This is a multiple case study approach (covering four case studies) with two interviews to support the case studies and five expert interviews (stakeholders, policy makers and other experts) to further reinforce the case studies.

In Table 3-6, the first column identifies the interviews and the middle column presents the interviewees. The right column addresses the issues for each interview.

The ethical approval process for the interviews is explained in section 3.5.2.3. The Interviews Protocol is presented in the Appendix.

The purpose of these interviews was to capture additional data on public participation (PP) events which were conducted in the past, beyond those opinions expressed in written reports to encapsulate the personal views of the interviewees on the desirable PP features and stakeholders’ interrelations which arose during those processes. The additional interviewees were expected to provide more perspectives and add value to the stakeholder participation framework produced in this research.

Table 3-6 Interviews planning

Interviews Interviews

respondents Addressed issues

Interview 1 _{Manager of case}

studies 1 and 2

Support Case Study 1 (Ave river pollution removal system ) and Case Study 2 (Carvoeiro/Vouga System)

Interview 2 Manager of case

study 3 and Case study 4

Support Case Study 3

(Cascais/Guia system) and Case Study 4 (West Region wastewater treatment plant for treatment of effluent from pig rearing) E1(M) Expert interview 1 (Manager) National manager for planning, stakeholders consultation and policy maker

Reinforce case studies, bringing national strategies on river basin management and participation issues to all the case studies

E2(M)

Expert interview 2 (Manager)

National manager for planning and

stakeholders consultation on

coastal areas management

Reinforce case studies, bringing national river basin

management policy on

coastal areas and

participation issues to the Case Study 3 E3(M) Expert interview 3 (local manager) Basin District Administration manager

Reinforce case studies,

bringing river basin

management and

participation issues to the Case Studies 3 and 4.

E4(SI)

Expert interview 4 (stakeholder,

industry)

Industry stakeholder

Reinforce case studies, bringing industry issues for river basin management by their participation E5(NSA) Expert interview 5 (stakeholder, agriculture) Stakeholder (National agriculture)

Reinforce case studies, bringing agriculture sector issues for river basin

management by their