Information necessary for decision-making
TECHNICAL SEMINAR OF MARCH 28, 1996
The representatives of administrations in charge of water management and of basin organizations -established or in the process of being so- of 40 countries, together with the international cooperation agencies concerned, gathered in Morelia (Mexico) on March 28, 1996, within the framework of INBO's General Assembly. Their aim was an exchange of experiences and a reflection on the best means of access to the "information necessary for decision-making" in the water sector.
INFORMATION NEEDS
In order to attain an overall management of water resources, at river basin level in particular, they emphasized the prime importance for decision-makers to have easy access to complete, representative and reliable information on the following :
the state of surface and groundwater resources, from both a quantitative and a qualitative viewpoint, also seasonal and yearly variations,
the situation of biotopes and aquatic media and their degrees of sensitivity,
water uses (withdrawals), drinking water supply for the population in particular, and pollution sources (discharges) whether point or non-point,
the risks of recurring extreme phenomena such as floods or drought and accidental pollution.
It was established that this information is often dispersed, heterogeneous and incomplete ... and that it is rarely comparable and adapted to the prerequisites for objective decision-making. Moreover, it is a fact that public, para-public and even private organizations can have access to this information but lack of sufficient means for exchanging, gathering, standardizing, summarizing and for capitalizing it amongst them.
PRACTICAL RECOMMENDATIONS
The participants recommended that, in each situation and considering all the national and local characteristics, special reflection should be devoted to the organization of the prime contracting of monitoring networks and data banks, to financing, as well as to a suitable role for specific basin organizations with regard to other possible actors.
It is absolutely necessary to examine the :
nature of useful information (parameters, indexes, integrators, frequency, representativity, standards)
means used for collecting, monitoring and analyzing, as well as for controlling the quality of data produced, of their transmission (in real-time, when necessary, for major risks forecasting) and for their storage,
forms in which information should be made accessible to decision-makers (data banks, reports, maps, diagrams, ...) or to technicians and scientists,
broadcasting and circulating means (tele-processing, publications, diffusion to the general public, ...),
Real and complete "systems" must be designed and used to assess the resource and uses, especially regarding quality, and organized to constitute global observatories.
SETTING UP RIVER BASIN OBSERVATORIES
The exact definition of each actorÕs role as well as the question of financing and its continuity is of prime importance.
Gathering this information, requires a complex and consistent organization of monitoring networks, analyses laboratories, data transmission and their checking and monitoring, management of data banks, their accessibility and their "products". For this, permanent means must be made available and their optimizing ensured, in order to obtain at minimum public cost, all the relevant information, limiting this however, to the strict necessary.
It should be pointed out that if investment costs for obtaining appropriate information (stations, laboratories, tele-transmission, automatization ...) are high, the qualification of intervening experts (training) and the functioning and operating costs are, by far, at medium and long-term, the most important and recurring items of expenditure. Thus, it appears unreasonable to invest without ensuring positive means for optimum and continuous functioning of the systems over a long period of time which, of course, requires substantial, appropriate and unceasing financial resources.
It is important to avoid excessive sophistication by using advanced technologies instead of reflecting on a sound organization and straightforward solutions that usually are the most efficient. Information systems only operate when skilled operators are in charge; satellite links, models, automatic analyzers, etc... are only used to facilitate the tasks of the services not to replace them. Solutions are not found by using technological gadgets.
Moreover, if the information is to be useful, it must not remain in the form of raw data, but be retrieved in the form of easy-to-understand data which can be handled by all the different categories of users.
The information must be organized according to requirements, whether it be for the study of a "white book", masterplans for water management and development, for action programmes, budgetary simulations or the basis for water charges, for delivering administrative authorizations or studying projects, for regulation of public works, warning systems or even for evaluating the results of applied policies and monitoring the environment, finally for informing the general public.
In addition, if the data is to be utilized, it must be made available in the most appropriate forms.
If it is generally considered that Public Authorities must be the contracting authorities for monitoring networks and associated information systems and that from then on, access to them must be open and free for the various users. However, due to additional costs for processing and circulating the information, it would appear quite normal that the processed data be paid for.
Common standards must also be defined to gather the comparable information produced by different actors in order to organize real observatories at the level of national or transboundary river basins and to centralize the summarized information necessary for determining governmental policies.
Information systems for shared rivers and aquifers would be improved by being designed in a global and consistent way on the watershed scale within the framework of agreements between riparian countries.
IN CONCLUSION
The participants of the INBO's General Assembly held in Morelia, recommended that concerned Public Authorities and bi- and multi-lateral cooperation agencies supporting projects related to water resources management and utilization:
consider that setting up complete information systems, corresponding to the above-mentioned specifications, is a prerequisite,
precise clearly which institutional bodies are responsible for the permanent organization and operation of such systems,
guarantee not only sufficient means for corresponding investments, but also the compulsory financial techniques which will secure their long-term continuity,
encourage the development of means and specific engineering proficiency in this field.
support the works that aim at defining common standards and nomenclatures for data administration in order to exchange, compare and summarize the information between partners at all relevant observation levels,
promote the setting up of observatories for water resources and their use at river basin level, should these basins be national or transboundary, and the organization of national and coherent information systems with these basin observatories.
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