Unw Monitoring Report

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Mapping Existing Global Systems & InitiativesBackground Document - August 2006

Prepared by FAO on behalf of the UN-Water Task Force on Monitoring

Stockholm, 21 August 2006

Water Monitoring

Report


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List of UN-Water members and partners

UN-Water is the inter-agency mechanism that promotes coherence and coordination o UN system actions aimed at the

implementation o the agenda deined by the Millennium Declaration and the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Develop-

ment as it relates to its scope o work.

The Members o UN-Water are presented below in alphabetical order

UN members:FAO Food and Agriculture Organization o the United Nations

IAEA International Atomic Energy AgencyIFAD International Fund o Agricultural Development

UNCBD United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity

UNCCD United Nations Convention to Combat Desertiication

UNFCCC United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

UNDESA United Nations Department o Economic and Social Aairs (UN-Water Secretariat)

UNDP United Nations Development Programme

UNECA United Nations Economic Commission or Arica

UNECE United Nations Economic Commission or Europe

UNECLAC United Nations Economic Comm. or Latin America and the Caribbean

UNEP United Nations Environment Programme

UNESCAP United Nations Economic and Social Commission or Asia and the Paciic

UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientiic and Cultural Organization

UNESCWA United Nations Economic and Social Commission or Western Asia

UN-Habitat United Nations Human Settlements Programme

UNHCR United Nations High Commission or Reugees

UNICEF United Nations Childrens Fund

UNIDO United Nations Industrial Development Organization

UNISDR International Strategy or Disaster Reduction

UNU United Nations University

WHO World Health Organization (UN-Water Chair)

WMO World Metrological Organization

World Bank

Partners:GWP Global Water Partnership

IAH International Association o Hydrogeologists

IAHS International Association o Hydrological Sciences

IPTRID International Programme or Technology and Research in Irrigation and Drainage

IWA International water Association

PSI Public Service International

Ramsar Convention on Wetlands

WWC World Water Council


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Contents

Acronyms ii

Acknowledgements iii

Background 5

Monitoring in the mandate o UN-Water 6

The purpose o monitoring 6

Monitoring internationally agreed goals and targets 6

Monitoring the Millenium Development Goals 7

Monitoring the implementation o the JPOI and Agenda 21 7

The call on UN-Water to monitor and report on implementations o CSD-13 7

UN-SD Initiative the System o integrated Environmental and Economic accounting, (SEEA) 8

Terms o reerence o this study 8

Deinitions used in this report 9

Scope and methodology or the mapping exercise 11

Survey results: a map o global monitoring initiatives 12

Main indings and points or discussion 15

Annexes 18

1. Milestones in international water discussions 18

2. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Targets and Indicators 20

3. World Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg Plan o Implementation (JPOI) 22

4. Integrated Water Resources Management approach 23

5. Indicators: uses and limitations 24

Deinition o criteria or choosing water monitoring indicators 26

6. Proposed list o key water indicators or UN-Water 27

6. Proposal or a Federated Water Monitoring System (FWMS) 31

Rationale 31

The Federative principle 32

The uniied business architecture 33

Advantages o web services 33

The principles o service-oriented architecture 33

A gateway to local knowledge 34

7. Water monitoring initiatives and datasets 34

8. Reerence materials 40


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Acronyms

AWDR Arican Water Development Report

CSD Commission in Sustainable Development

CWP Country Water Partnership

Eurostat Statistical Oice o the European Commission (EU)

D/I/A Domestic/Industry/Agriculture

DDP Dams and Development Project (UNEP)

EUWI EU water initiative

FWMS Federated Water Monitoring System

GEF Global Environment Facility

GEO Global Environment OutlookGRID Global Resource Inormation Database (UNEP)

GWP Global Water Partnership

HDRO Human Development Report Oice (UNDP)

HLCP UN High Level Committee on Programmes

HTTP Hypertext Transer Protocol

IMF International Monetary Fund

ISD Indicator o Sustainable Development

ISIC code International Standard o Industrial Classiication code o Economic Activities (UNIDO)

IWG-Env Interagency Working Group on Environment Statistics

IWRM Integrated Water Resource Management

JPOI Johannesburg Plan o Implementation

MDGs Millennium Development Goals

METIS Joint UNECE/Eurostat/OECD work session on statistical metadata

OECD Organisation or Economic Co-operation and Development

RPC Remote procedure call

SOA Service-Oriented architecture

SOAP Simple Object Access Protocol

UNCDB United Nations Common Database (UNDESA)

UNCED United Nations Conerence on Environment and Development

UNDG United Nations Development Group

WEHAB Water, Energy, Health, Agriculture and Biodiversity

WFD Water Framework Directive (EU)

WMA Water Monitoring AllianceWWAP World Water Assessment Programme

WWDR World Water Development Report

WSSD World Summit on Sustainable Development


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Acknowledgements

This document was prepared by Jean Marc Faures, FAO Water Unit, on the basis o a research by Giorgio dAmore, FAO

consultant, and on behal o the UN-Water Task Force on Monitoring. The research beneited rom input rom several UN-

Water partners.


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MAPPING EXISTING GLOBAL SYSTEMS AND INITIATIVES

The long-term sustainability o water is in doubt in many

regions o the world1. Currently, humans use about hal the

water that is readily available. Water use has been growing

at more than twice the population rate, and a number o

regions are already chronically short o water. Both water

quantity and water quality are becoming dominant issues

in many countries. Problems relate to poor water alloca-

tion and pricing, ineicient use, and lack o adequate

integrated management. The major withdrawals o water

are or agriculture, industry, and domestic consumption

2

.Most o the water used by industries and municipalities is

oten returned to watercourses degraded in quality. Irriga-

tion agriculture, responsible or nearly 40% o world ood

production, uses about 70% o total water withdrawals

(90% in the dry tropics).3 Groundwater, which supplies one

third o the worlds population, is increasingly being used

or irrigation. Water tables are being lowered in many areas

making it more expensive to access.

Every day, diarrhoeal diseases rom easily preventable

causes claim the lives o approximately 5000 young children

throughout the world. Suicient and better quality drink-

ing water and basic sanitation can cut this toll dramatically,

and simple, low-cost household water treatment has the

potential to save urther lives.4

Major water quality problems stem rom sewage pol-

lution, the intensive agricultural use o ertilizers and

pesticides, industrial wastes, saltwater intrusion, and soil

erosion. In many developing countries, rivers downstream

o large cities are little cleaner than open sewers.

In calling or integrated water resource management,

the World Summit on Sustainable Development empha-

sized the need to protect water, its quality, and ecosys-

tem unctions through improved assessment and greater

understanding o the impacts o climate change5. Water

or drinking supply, ood production, and sustainable urban

and rural development have been recognized as key priori-

ties by the International Community.

A global concern has progressively emerged during thelast decade, which has translated into numerous actions

aimed at reversing the threats to water and expanding the

access to related services, especially in developing and tran-

sition countries. Various initiatives have been launched by

many actors, such as international donors, national public

bodies, local communities, private companies and research

centres. In some cases, complex sets o tasks and activities

are being conceived and implemented.

Governments and donors are increasingly called to put

in place a uniorm and consistent system to monitor the

impacts o water-related initiatives. Moreover, the decision-

and policy-making bodies need to expand, and other time

to ocus, the sources rom which to draw inormation on

the results o the water strategies. Overall igures are also

required or advocacy and awareness purpose and to ine

tune upcoming strategies and policies.

Crucial in this process is mobilizing the required inancial

resources o donors and lenders, by showing them that the

impact o water-related initiatives in poor countries can be

reliably assessed and that their impact on human develop-

ment and environment sustainability is notable. However,experience shows how diicult is monitoring and report-

ing on the advancements o individual programmes, and

veriying that water sound principles are eectively put into

practices. International coordination in monitoring the state

o the worlds water resources, access to basic services and

progress towards agreed goals and targets is needed, in

order to guide uture investments and eorts in achieving

these goals.

Monitoring the advancements in water resources man-

agement is essential i the political commitment is to be

sustained and put into practice. This need has been widely

1 UN DESA, http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/natlino/indicators/isdms2001/

isd-ms2001isd.htm

2 Table presented is extracted rom the FAO Food and Agriculture Statistics

Global Outlook, June 2006; data, however, reers to the year 2000.

http://aostat.ao.org/Portals/_Faostat/documents/pd/world.pd

3 United Nations Economic and Social Council, Comprehensive

Assessment o the Freshwater Resources o the World, Report o the

Secretary-General, Commission on Sustainable Development, Fith

Session, April 1997

4 JMP, Water or Lie: making it happen, 2005 http://www.wssino.org/

pd/JMP_05_text.pd

5 United Nations, Agenda 21, Chapter 18 http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/

documents/agenda21/english/agenda21chapter18.htm

Background


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WATER MONITORING

acknowledged in several occasions. In January 1992, the

UN Dublin Conerence on Water and the Environment

established the main principles o modern water manage-

ment which served as the basis o Chapter 18 o the United

Nations Conerence on Environment and Development(UNCED) Agenda 21 (Rio de Janeiro, June 1992). It includes

the imperative necessity o reliable inormation or water

resources planning and management. This issue has been

reemphasized in a recent series o UN conerences, such

as the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD,

Johannesburg, August-September 2002), the 12th and

13th Session o the Commission on Sustainable Develop-

ment (CSD, New York, April 2004 and April 2005), as well

as other recent international meetings. Moreover, the strat-

egy paper o the European Union Water Initiative (EUWI),

launched in 2002, calls or a monitoring and reportingmechanism or progress and quality control.

Monitoring in the mandate of UN-WaterIn 2003, the UN High Level Committee on Programmes

(HLCP) established UN-Water as the inter-agency mecha-

nism or ollow-up o the WSSD water-related decisions and

the MDGs concerning water. The scope o UN-Waters

work encompasses all aspects o reshwater, including sur-

ace and groundwater resources and the interace between

resh and sea water. It includes reshwater resources, both

in terms o their quality and quantity, their development,

assessment, management, monitoring and use (includ-

ing, or example, domestic uses, agriculture and ecosys-

tems requirements). The scope o work o UN-Water also

includes sanitation - encompassing both access to and use

o sanitation by populations and the interactions between

sanitation and reshwater. It urther includes water-related

disasters, emergencies and other extreme events and their

impact on human security.

UN-Water is the inter-agency mechanism that promotes

coherence in, and coordination o, UN system actions

aimed at the implementation o the agenda deined by theMillennium Declaration and the World Summit on Sustain-

able Development as it relates to its scope o work.

The main purpose o UN-Water is thus to complement

and add value to existing programmes and projects by

acilitating synergies and joint eorts, so as to maximize

system-wide coordinated action and coherence as well as

eectiveness o the support provided to Member States in

their eorts towards achieving the time-bound goals, tar-

gets and actions related to its scope o work as agreed by

the international community, particularly those contained in

the MDGs and the JPOI.

One o UN-Waters tasks is to acilitate inter-agency

inormation exchange, including sharing o experiences and

lessons learned, and serve as a clearing house or policy-

relevant inormation, assessment and advice on status and

trends at global and regional levels, and or providing Mem-

ber States with a collective point o entry to the systems

initiatives and responses in areas within its purview.

The purpose of monitoringSeveral dierent visions o monitoring have gradually

become accepted over the past decades. Some o those

ocus, or example, on the perormance o projects or spe-

ciic institutions. Some have the beneiciaries as reerence

or the analysis, and implement a participatory exercise.

Some others use inance as the sole criterion. Still oth-

ers concentrate on inormation or senior management

decision-making. In recent years the impetus towards

monitoring the advancement towards the MDGs, both atthe national and the global levels, has acquired decisive

prominence.

Measuring the perormance and impact o complex

water-related programmes or initiatives is an essential task.

In this way, it would be possible to track the actual imple-

mentation o all initiatives and promote the integration o

various activities into the overall development rameworks.

Monitoring per se is concerned with the procedures and

activities or collecting data and inormation in the ormula-

tion and implementation stages o an action or a series o

initiatives. It is particularly aimed at providing regular eed-

back to guarantee coherence, eiciency and eectiveness

against the underlying objectives set at the national and

international levels. This will both stimulate support to the

initiatives being implemented, and improve the ormulation

o the subsequent programmes, through a learning circle

inormed by the lessons drawn rom previous and ongoing

activities.

Proper monitoring will ensure that targets are actu-

ally being reached, with disbursements linked to eective

achievements. Such programmatic approach entails a con-tinuous and ongoing process o aligning the programmes

and expenditure allocations with intended outputs and

outcomes, with regular midcourse corrections. Among the

examples o consistent monitoring practices, that o the

European Union emerges as a good practice. Having well

understood the virtues o properly monitoring develop-

ment policies, including in the domestic water sector, the

EU eatures a long-established monitoring methodology

and continuously assesses the results o the whole regional

development policy, which would be worthwhile to adapt

and adopt or use on a larger scale.

Many institutions and organizations at all invest consid-

erable eorts in monitoring water and water-related MDGs.

Eorts are needed to streamline existing initiatives, reduce


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MAPPING EXISTING GLOBAL SYSTEMS AND INITIATIVES

overlaps, enhance coordination along partners and identiy

gaps or urther action in water monitoring.

Monitoring has several possible uses:

As a system o early warning;

To inorm decision, ocus and orient political andpolicy reorms, and to channel inancial resources in

the most eective way;

To track progress toward given objectives.

Monitoring internationally agreed goalsand targetsUN-Waters terms o reerence imply that particular atten-

tion must be given to issues related to internationally agreed

goals. The Millenium Development Goals and associated

targets and indicators, and the programme and associated

indicators o the Johannesburg Plan o Implementation,monitored by the Commission or Sustainable Develop-

ment, are thereore the two primary ocus o the study.

Monitoring the Millenium Development Goals

In its 2000 Millennium Declaration, the United Nations

adopted eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

They have galvanized unprecedented eorts to meet the

needs o the worlds poorest and are a reerence or most

ODA programmes. In support o these goals, the Millen-

nium Project was launched by the Secretary General to rec-

ommend the best strategies or achieving the MDGs. It has

selected a series o indicators to measure progress towards

each goals achievement. The ull set o MDGs and related

target and indicators is presented in Annex.

The Millennium Development Goals Report 2006 is

based on a master set o data that has been compiled by

an Inter-Agency and Expert Group on MDG Indicators led

by DESA. The Group comprises representatives o 25 UN

agencies and international organizations whose activities

include the preparation o one or more o the series o

statistical indicators that were identiied as appropriate ormonitoring progress towards the MDGs.

Monitoring the implementation of the JPOI and

Agenda 21

The Division or Sustainable Development (DSD) within

DESA implemented its Programme o Work on Indicators

on Sustainable Development, mandated by CSD, between

1995 and 2001. The work programme culminated in a set

o 58 indicators, based on a Theme/Sub-theme ramework,

and presented in the publication Indicators o Sustainable

Development (ISD): Guidelines and Methodologies. The

set was adopted by the CSD in 2001 ater extensive consul-

tations and national testing programmes. The main role o

the CSD-ISD is to serve as reerence or countries to develop

national indicators or sustainable development. The

World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002 and

subsequent sessions o the CSD encouraged urther work

on indicators or sustainable development by countries in

line with national conditions and priorities and invited theinternational community to support eorts o developing

countries in this regard.

In December 2005, the DSD decided to review and

update its current set o indicators. An Expert Group Meet-

ing was organized in New York rom 13 15 December

2005, chaired by the Chie, National Inormation, Monitor-

ing and Outreach Branch DESA/DSD.

While they dier in scope, a particular attention was

given to MDG indicators, in order to ensure highest possiblecoherence between the two sets o indicators. In particular,

the meeting endorsed the proposal by WHO to adopt the

same indicators or Water Supply and Sanitation as or the

MDG.

The interim revised CSD-ISD within the reshwater

theme are as ollows (see Table). In addition, DSD is consid-

ering the possibility to develop a water quality index rather

than the proposed three indicators. While there has been

wide consultation with agencies in the process, UN-Water

as such has not been directly involved.

The call on UN-Water to monitor and report on

implementations of CSD-13

CSD-13, in its inal report, decided ... to call on Govern-

ments, and the UN system, within existing resources and

through voluntary contributions, and invites international

inancial institutions, and other international organizations,

as appropriate, working in partnership with major groups

and other stakeholders, to take action as ollows:

(x) Requests the UN-Water to ...... promote, within its man-

date, system-wide interagency cooperation and coordina-

tion among relevant UN agencies, unds and programs on

these issues, and requests the Secretary General to include

Sub-theme

Water Quantity

Water Quality

Core Indicators

Annual Withdraw-al o Ground andSurace as Percento Total RenewableWater

BOD in WaterBodies

Concentration oFaecal Coliorm inFreshwater

Additional/Second-ary Indicators

Metal contamina-tion o Fresh Water


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WATER MONITORING10

in his report to the CSD the activities o UN Water as they

relate to the aorementioned thematic areas, including the

roles and responsibilities o relevant UN agencies, unds

and programs in implementing and monitoring the water

and sanitation agenda, including identiying duplication,overlap and gaps.

4. Without prejudice to the programme, organization

and methods o work o the Commission adopted at its

eleventh session, decides to devote, in 2008 and 2012, a

separate segment at the end o its review sessions, or a

duration to be determined by the Bureau in advance, using

one to two days as a benchmark, to monitor and ollow-up

the implementation o decisions on water and sanitation,

and their inter-linkages, taken at CSD-13.

The year 2008 is thereore the next concrete oppor-

tunity or UN-Water to show progress in monitoring and

reporting on implementation o the global water agenca in

a coordinated and coherent way.

UN-SD Initiative the System of integratedEnvironmental and Economic accounting,(SEEA)The Un Statistics Division is developing a System o integrat-

ed Environmental and Economic Accounting, (SEEA). The

SEEA can be used as the inormation base or the capital

approach and in particular the derivation o the wealth o

a nation. The SEEA organizes environmental and economic

inormation according to the concepts, classiications and

deinitions o the System o National Accounts (SNA). This

allows or integrated analyses o the interactions between

the economy and the environment as well as ormulation

o policies.

The SEEA encourages the adoption o standards and

improves both economic and environment statistics by

ostering consistency. A number o indicators related to

the environmental and economic aspects o developmentcan be derived rom the SEEA and they have the advantage

o being consistent and coherent. In addition, the under-

lying integrated inormation system allows or in-depth

analyses o the processes behind changes in the indicators

thus acilitating the ormulation o policies. A number o

countries regularly compile environmental accounts and use

the accounting ramework or the derivation o indicators

including sustainable development indicators. The linkage

with CSD indicators is complex.

Terms of reference of this studyThe UN-Water Task-orce on monitoring has been request-

ed to map existing monitoring initiatives and report to

UN-Water at a special UN-Water meeting organised dur-

ing the World Water Week in Stockholm in August 2006.

In preparation or the meeting, FAO, acting on behal o

the Task-orce on monitoring, has accepted to perorm

this exercise in consultation with UN-Water partners. Theterms o reerence or the preparation o this report were

as ollows:

deine the scope o the mapping exercise

perorm a review o major water-related monitor-

ing activities within the UN-System and its partners,

through internet and in direct contact with UN-Water

partners

review concepts and deinitions related to water

monitoring, including databases and indicators

develop criteria and attributes to describe and analyze

the dierent monitoring activities design a ramework or classiying the dierent

monitoring activities

present the results o the review in a report and

indicate major issues or discussion by UN-Water in

relation to optimising and streamlining global water

monitoring eorts and impacts.


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MAPPING EXISTING GLOBAL SYSTEMS AND INITIATIVES 11

Monitoring can be deined as any kind o acquisition or

collection o data on a certain activity or process by means

o a technical device, an observation system or any other

surveying method to assess the current status o the cho-

sen parameters and changes over time. In the case o an

activity, monitoring seeks to establish the extent to which

input deliveries, work schedules, other required actions

and targeted outputs are proceeding according to plan, so

that timely action can be taken to correct the deiciencies

detected. One o the main characteristics o monitoring isthat it is a requent or continuous process. Monitoring can

be considered at two levels. In this report, Target monitor-

ing is highly directed, and provides a way o measuring

progress toward achievement o speciic objectives and

goals (through a set o targets), while System monitoring is

more general and is mostly used to measure conditions o

a given system and to detect changes. Monitoring is oten,

but not systematically associated with reporting.

Evaluation is a process o determining systematically

and objectively the relevance, eiciency, eectiveness and

impact o activities in the light o their objectives. It encom-

passes the gathering o inormation, including but not only

those obtained by monitoring, and the use o such inor-

mation to make judgements and take inormed decisions

about some or all o the aspects o a given process. While

monitoring is a continuous process, evaluation is a task that

takes place at critical times in a given process. Evaluation is

not part o the scope o this study.

Reporting is a category o activities in which data and

inormation are presented to communicate processes, roles,

and results and provide support or decision-making. Whilethe reporting process will vary depending on the target

audience, a main goal is to move towards closer align-

ment o values between stakeholders and decision-makers.

Reporting activities usually have some degree o one-way

inormation transmission. Reporting may be general or

aimed at communicating the results o monitoring proc-

esses or evaluation exercises. Reporting activities need to

rely on inormation available through monitoring activities

but do not necessarily need to be perormed by the institu-

tions in charge o monitoring.

Assessments, and in particular global assessments have

been undertaken by many organisations and individuals

with the past two decades witnessing the advent o multi-

stakeholder and/or multi-lateral global assessments. There

are some common characteristics o the scientiic analysis

components that underpin the outcomes o all assess-

ments. A key point is that an assessment is not a review o

the literature. It can be derived rom a literature review, but

needs to also provide an assessment o the veracity o the

inormation and the uncertainty o the outcomes within the

context o the identiied questions or issues within a speci-

ied authorising environment.

Indicators are a measure or a statistical value expressed

in a meaningul way that provides an indication o the con-

dition or direction over time o perormance o a deined

process or achievement o a deined outcome. An indicator

provides evidence that a certain condition exists or certain

results have or have not been achieved. Indicators enable

decision-makers to assess progress towards the achieve-

ment o intended outputs, objectives and outcomes. Indi-

cators provide objective basis or monitoring progress and

evaluating achievements o a give process, and are there-

ore an inherent part o monitoring and evaluation.

Data Inormation output by a sensing device or organ

representing acts, concepts, or instructions in a ormalized

manner. For the purpose o this study, we distinguish three

types o data:

Primary Data are data obtained directly rom a ield

measurement.

Secondary data are data obtained rom compilation

o lower level data. In the case o international moni-

toring, secondary data will be compiled rom inorma-

tion available at national level

Tertiary data are international data compiled rominternational sources.

For the purpose o this study, our dimensions o monitor-

ing are considered:

Service reers to access to services, in particular water

and sanitation services;

Quantity reers to elements o the water balance,

including water resources, their use etc.;

Quality reers to all aspects o water quality. Water

quality monitoring may be applied to any resh water

body, and may also entail monitoring o associated

sediments; the emphasis is on levels o chemical,

physico-chemical, microbiological and other contami-

nants, mostly caused by human activity;

Governance is a generic term to reer to all aspects

Definitions used in this report


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WATER MONITORING12

related to water governance, including policies, insti-

tutions, management, capacity building, the adop-

tion and proper implementation o international and

national water related law/directives/regulations, such

as the European Unions Water Framework Directive(WFD), adoption o international and/or transbound-

ary treaties, progress o countries towards producing

IWRM etc.


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The scope o the study was voluntarily limited to moni-

toring initiatives which were global in scope and related

to one o the our dimensions considered above: service,

quantity, quality, and governance. In so doing, the mapping

discarded all local, national and even regional monitoring

initiatives unless these were part o a systematic global

monitoring eort.

It is also recognised that, while several initiatives and

programmes exist that promote better capacity to monitorat local level, these initiatives would not be considered in

this study as long as they did not contribute directly, and in

the short-term, to the development o global knowledge.

Thereore, the mapping exercise was based on the ollow-

ing principles:

Assume that the most useul data and inormation

will have a more global scope and a more compre-

hensive scale;

Assume that the most commonly used and quoted

systems are the most useul and relevant. Assess

this in part by ollowing the citation requency o

databases in dierent compilations o databases and

monitoring systems;

Allow that combinations o regional-scale or local-

scale, data sources may have relevance when they can

be aggregated;

Concentrate on organizations and agencies that have

a global mandate (e.g. the United Nations agen-

cies involved in the water sector, agencies with a

global mandate such as global climate change, global

remote sensing, etc.) and on the larger scale, regional

organizations.The process ollowed to map and qualiy the dierent

monitoring initiatives was as ollows:

Consult UN-Water partners widely and enquire about

existing monitoring initiatives in which they are

involved or with which they are associated;

Consult existing metadatabases on the subject, in

particular: the Water Monitoring Alliance, maintained

by the World Water Council, and the Assessment o

Global Water Databases Initiatives, report produced

in the ramework o the World Water Assessment

Programme in 2002;

Complement the research with additional internet

searches when necessary.

Once a core listing o initiatives was obtained, it was

screened against the criteria described above or deinition

o monitoring. Several important programmes, classiied

here as reporting rather than monitoring, were main-

tained in the list, either because o their importance or

because o their clear linkages with existing or uture moni-

toring activities. Other initiative o indirect relevance were

also analysed and are presented in the report or inorma-

tion purposes although they are not considered here as part

o the core list o global monitoring initiatives.

An attempt has been made to qualiy the dierent

systems identiied according to a series o parameters.

However, in view o the large heterogeneity o the dier-

ent initiatives, their dierence in scope, methodology, level

o comprehensiveness and complexity, it is oten diicult

to classiy monitoring systems or initiatives in a categorical

way. The classiication and description provided in the result

tables are thereore subject to scrutiny and urther improve-

ment. The ollowing parameters were used to describe the

monitoring initiatives:

Name

Responsible institution

UN Agencies involved

Type: O: Observation, M: Monitoring, R: Reporting, A:

Assessment, Meth: Methodological development

Creation date

Phase: I: Initial; O: Operational

Frequency o measurements and updates: in years, or

Irregular, Permanent or Time-bound

Monitoring target: MDG; WSSD or Water system

Dimensions covered: Service, quantity, quality, gover-

nance

Products: Country data, point data, spatial data,country reports, global reports, others

Keywords

The ollowing section presents the result o the sur-

vey and preliminary analysis based on the above criteria.

It tries to locate and identiy the situation in terms o

water monitoring inormation resource to the maximum

possible extent. At the conclusion an attempt has been

made to detect eventual system (UN-Water) inormation

gap (or weak area, i any) and to identiy potential areas

o improvement that can cover methodological issues,

workload distribution, innovative cost-eective IT and com-

munication and dissemination solutions. The underlaying

strategy remains to support coherence, consistency and

coordination in the UN-Water eorts, and to urther ei-

ciency and eectiveness.

Scope and methodology for themapping exercise


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WATER MONITORING14

The United Nations system is complex. It is not easy to

explain what each agency/programme and initiative does,

since each one has its own priorities and procedures; and

they are o course not invariant over time. Their role within

UN-Water and inormation on their water related activities

is available at WWAP portal hosted at the UNESCO web site

. UN-Water members have agreed to work together - shar-

ing inormation, knowledge and know-how - to improve

the understanding o the policies and practices that encour-

age sustainable use o water resources.

The main global water monitoring initiatives are described

in details in Annex. There are possibly other water-related

dataset held within the UN agencies, which are not public

(i.e. not accessible on-line at present). Some databases

are not held directly within UN institutions, but they are

linked to the UN in various ways. For instance, UNESCO in

particular unds or sponsors numerous programmes within

universities; some o this data is used in UN reports, such as

the World Water Development Report. As such, data is not

under the direct control o the agency which commissions

it. In this case, uncertainty regarding data quality and UN

consistency assessment should be considered.

The Water Monitoring Alliance, an initiative o the

World Water Council rom its portal at www.watermonitor-

ingalliance.net presents a tool to locate water related data

in dierent regions and or dierent themes. Data can be

searched or within a list o monitoring programmes and

related activities, and it is possible to consult the activities

sorted by geographical scope, type o activity, or keyword

and to consult auxiliary inormation such as creation date,

type, and scope. On its side GWP, proposing and present-ing on its orum a list o IWRM websites, also states a value

judgment marking some o them with a quality check.

The UN-Water corporate inormation system has to

provide the oicial and highest-quality data and inorma-

tion that is held by the UN system. It is proposed that the

Survey results: a map of globalmonitoring initiatives

UN-Water embraces only those data sets which are o glo-

bal importance, which obtain data directly rom individual

countries or reliable sources clearly associated to the UN

agency sponsoring them.

In whatever modern inormation system metadata

(literally data about data) , are a crucial kit to allow a

trustworthy use o inormation, in time and space, and not-

blind data quality assessment. An important attribute to

consider a data set or inclusion it will be so the availabilityo related metadata, including source and methodology.

Metadata have to include the inormation on where, when,

by whom and how (using which methodology) data have

been obtained.

Mapping major global water monitoringinitiativesThe next two pages present the results o the survey and

analysis o main global water monitoring initiatives. A total

o 44 initiatives were screened, o which 19 were classiied

as monitoring activities. Thirteen o these 19 initiatives reer

more speciically to a narrower deinition o monitoring

based on compilation o country or point data or country

surveys.

1 http://www.unesco.org/water/wwap/partners/index.shtml#top

2 see http://gwporum.netmasters05.netmasters.nl/en/listowebsitesFrame

_en.html

3 recently (3-7 April 2006) the Joint UNECE/Eurostat/OECD work

session on statistical metadata (METIS) has organized a Work

session on the topic; documentation available at http://www.unece.org/

stats/documents/2006.03.metis.htm


15/45


16/45


17/45


18/45

WATER MONITORING1

use or the international community.

. Several major monitoring programmes suer rom

irregular updating which aect their timely and

regular reporting capacity.

. Some monitoring systems are not easily accessible

and poorly described and thereore probably o little

use or the international community.

10. Data quality is and remains a major issue in assess-

ing the reliability o monitoring systems. While

heterogeneity in the quality o data is intrinsically

related to the nature o the data collection process,

which relies in most cases on country capacities to

collect and handle inormation, the development ometadata, careul cross-checking o inormation and

systematic description o some standard assessment

o quality level can greatly increase understanding

about the reliability o inormation. The UN Statistics

group is developing quality control and reporting

procedures appropriate to country compilations

which should be systematically used or water-

related data.

11. There is tremendous scope for better structuring

of information among the different systems,

with large potential beneits or the users o the

inormation. A potential area o improvement is

related to innovative cost-eective IT and commu-

nication and dissemination solutions. The idea o a

Federated Water Monitoring System (FWMS),

a web services based UNWater corporate inorma-

tion system, is described in details in Annex. The

approach suggested is that, making use o the latest

available technology, while having a single point o

entry (portal), the UNWater corporate inormation

system datasets will stay resident at their respective

domain lead Agency, and evocated and combinedon internet or dissemination at a user request.

Such a solution, other than being o great impact

on timeliness since data recalled will be always the

last update, may permit saving o resources actu-

ally dedicated to replication o secondary data and

permit the ederation partners to concentrate on

their core activity. It will also contribute to enhanc-

ing the coherence and comparability among existing

systems.

12. While the amount o inormation available is impres-

sive, key information is still missing to get a ull

coverage o the water sector. Water productivity

is not available in a systematic way. Gender-related

inormation, or instance time spent by women and

girls to etch water in cities and rural areas dont

seem to be readily available. Inormation on waste-

water production and treatment is still anecdotal,

and very little inormation is available on the role ocivil society. Disputes, a rapidly growing concern,

are not reported in a systematic way, except in the

case o transboundary waters. Global monitoring

o groundwater drawdown remains a problem,

in particular in conceptual terms (how to represent

them). UN-Water may seek to identiy major gaps in

global water inormation and ocus attention and

resources on the development o additional moni-

toring capacities.

13. Logically, country-based inormation dominates inexisting water-related monitoring systems. However,

the need exists to start developing inormation by

river basin. WRI has made considerable eorts in

that sense with the development o its database

Watersheds of the world which could serve as

a ramework or the development on a basin-level

monitoring capacity.

14. Impressive progresses were made recently in the

development o global spatial information

through GIS. While data quality remains an issue or

several o these datasets, the development o com-

mon open-sources platorms, like Geonetwork,

are an excellent example o successul inter-agency

collaboration.

15. The number o initiatives classiied as Reporting

or Assessment is impressive and growing. While

this is probably unavoidable, in view o the dier-

ent target audiences o each o these initiatives, it

should be reminded that all these programmes rely

on inormation collected by the monitoring pro-

grammes. In some cases, the useulness and justii-cation or some programmes relying only on other

international sources or their global inormation is

questionable.

16. During the mapping exercise it has been observed

that the most o the data used to compile indica-

tors is collected at national level (i.e. rom national

public administration bodies such as Ministries o

Agriculture, Environment, Water or National Sta-

tistics Institutes) and it seems that this tendency

will be reinorced in the years to come. The need

to reinorce country capacities in setting up per-

orming monitoring systems must be reiterated. In

parallel with the development and improvement


19/45


o global monitoring systems to satisy the needs

o the international community, UN-Water must

work towards strengthening national capacity

to collect water data, especially or developing

countries and countries with economies in transi-tion.1 This includes the development and dissemi-

nation o standard methodologies, best practises,

starting with updated basic classiication, deinitions

and glossaries though all possible means, including

regional workshops, training courses, ad-hoc con-

sultancies, and internet.

1. Related to this point is the ormulation o water ini-

tiatives fundraising campaign to support this insti-

tutional building at global and local level. UN-Water

should promote programmes aimed at enhancingcountry capacity in the long path towards water

data production, sel reliance and sustainability. A

uture tendency could be that critical inormation

(required to compile higher level indicators) orga-

nized in domains could be collected only once (i.e.

in a single survey) at the source (country level) and

be available, ater processing, in the required ormat

everywhere else or domain analysis purposes at

national and global level or many secondary pro-

cessing users.

1 JPOI Chapter IV, paragraph 27 (included in Annex) states: Support

developing countries and countries with economies in transition

in their efforts to monitor and assess the quantity and quality of

water resources, including through the establishment and/or further

development of national monitoring networks and water resources

databases and the development of relevant national indicators.


20/45

WATER MONITORING20

1. Milestones in international waterdiscussions1

1972

UN Conerence on the Human Environment, Stock-

holm

The Stockholm Declaration stressed the responsibility

o humans in preserving their natural surroundings.

This conerence resulted in the creation o the United

Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

1977

UN Conerence on Water, Mar del Plata

The irst UN Conerence on water issues.

1981-90

International Drinking Water and Sanitation Decade

1987

The Brundtland Report, known as Our Common

Future, was published.

It alerted the world to the urgency o making prog-

ress toward economic development that could be

sustained without depleting natural resources or

harming the environment. The Brundtland Report was

primarily concerned with securing a global equity,

redistributing resources towards poorer nations whilst

encouraging their economic growth. In the report,

the term, sustainable development was deined.

1990

Global Consultation on Sae Water and Sanitation or

the 1990s, New Delhi Sae drinking water, environ-

mental sanitation The New Delhi statement conirmed and reinorced

the outcomes o the Stockholm UN Conerence.

The Summit recognized to promote the provision o

clean water in all communities or all their children, as

well as universal access to sanitation.

1990-2000

International Decade or Natural Disaster Reduction

1992

International Conerence on Water and the Environ-

Annexes

1 Main source Japan Water Forum http://www.waterorum.jp/eng/

background01.html

ment, Dublin

Dublin Statement on Water and Sustainable Devel-

opment recognized that resh water is a inite and

vulnerable resource, essential to sustain lie, develop-

ment and the environment.

UN Conerence on environment and Development

(UNCED Earth Summit), Rio de Janeiro Agenda 21,

a comprehensive plan o action to preserve environ-

ment, was established. It calls or preservation o

the level o reshwater quality and quantity and the

necessity or holistic management o reshwater. The United Nations General Assembly declared, 22

March to be World Day or Water

1996

UN Conerence on Human Settlements (Habitat II),

Istanbul

Habitat Agenda and Declaration o Istanbul were

adopted.

Habitat Agenda is to promote healthy living environ-

ments, especially through the provision o adequate

quantities o sae water and eective management o

waste.

Establishment o World Water Council and Global

Water Partnership

World Water Council (WWC) was established as an

international think-tank or water issues through the

initiative o water specialists, the academic commu-

nity and international organizations.

The Global Water Partnership (GWP) was created with

the join support o a number o international unding

organizations, with a mandate to support integrated

water resources management in developing coun-

tries. World Food Summit, Rome

Rome Declaration on World Food Security and World

Food Summit Plan o Action were adopted.

1997

1st World Water Forum, Marrakech

Marrakech Declaration was adopted, which speciied

the importance o recognizing the basic human needs

or accessing clean water and sanitation, establishing

an eective mechanism or management o shared

waters, supporting and preserving ecosystems, and

encouraging the eicient use o water.

WWC was given the mandate to develop a vision or

Water, Lie and the Environment in the 21st Century.


21/45


2000

2nd World Water Forum, the Hague

The Declaration o Hague was adopted in the Ministe-

rial Conerence held during the Forum. It identiied 7major challenges: Meeting basic needs, Securing the

ood supply, Protecting ecosystems, Sharing water

resources, Managing risks, Valuing water, and Gov-

erning water wisely.

During the Forum, the World Water Vision and

Framework or Action were presented.

55th UN General Assembly

The Millennium Assembly o the United Nations

The Millennium Development Goal was declared,

which speciied that By 2015, reduces by hal the

proportion o people without access to sae drinkingwater.

UN General Assembly declared that the Year 2003 will

be International Year o Freshwater .

2001

International Conerence on the Conservation and

Management o Lakes

The Conerence declared the Lake Biwa Declaration

2001; Water is lie; lakes are vital or lie on earth.

Lakes support diverse ecosystems, river systems and

cultures.

International Conerence on Freshwater, Bonn

The conerence recognized that water plays a vital

role in relation to human health, livelihood, economic

growth, as well as sustaining ecosystems.

The conerence recommends priority actions under

the ollowing three headings: Governance, Mobilis-

ing inancial resources, Capacity building and sharing

knowledge

2002

World Summit on Sustainable development, Rio+10,

Johannesburg The summit reairmed the Millennium Development

Goals.

2003

International Year o Freshwater

The 3rd World Water Forum, Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and

Shiga

Under the three principles o Open to all, Created

through participation by all, Translating visions

into concrete actions and commitments, the Forum

brought together more than 24,000 stakeholders

rom all regions and sectors.

G8 (Evian Summit) (Evian: France)

Evian Summit adopted Water G8 Action Plan

to help meet the Millennium Development Goals o

halving the proportion o people without access to

clean water and sanitation by 2015.

Dushanbe International Fresh Water Forum (Dushan-

be: Tajikistan) This Forum, proposed at the 3rd World Water Forum

by H.E. Emomali Rakhmonov, President o the Repub-

lic o Tajikistan, was held to provide an opportunity to

relect on world water issues, mainly those concern-

ing Central Asia, and to create new activities ollow-

ing-up to the 3rd World Water Forum.

The UN General Assembly announced that the decade

between 2005 and 2015 will be the International

Decade or Action, Water or Lie

A new inter-agency Task Force on Gender and Water

was inaugurated on September 10 2003. As part othe activities o the International Year o Freshwater

2003, the Task Force will acilitate gender main-

streaming in policies and programmes and assist in

the implementation o gender-sensitive water and

sanitation activities within and outside the United

Nations system.

UN-Water. The High Level Committee on Programmes

(HLCP) in its meeting held on 18-19 September 2003

established UN-Water as the inter-agency mecha-

nism or ollow-up o the WSSD water-related deci-

sions and the MDGs concerning.

2004

United Nations Secretary-General Koi Annan estab-

lished an Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation

in 2004 to galvanize global action on these issues.

Former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto o Japan

agreed to serve as Chair o the Board.

The Commission on Sustainable Development, at its

twelth session (2004) reviewed and assessed imple-

mentation o thematic issues, including water and

sanitation.

2005

Water or Lie Decade: The Water or Lie Decade

was launched on 22 March 2005, on World Water

Day. The Decade aims to promote eorts to ul-

ill international commitments made on water and

water-related issues by 2015, placing special empha-

sis on the involvement and participation o women in

these eorts.

At its thirteenth session, the CSD explored policy

options or urthering implementation on the issues

o water and sanitation as well as on human settle-

ments as relected in its decision.


22/45

WATER MONITORING22

2006

4th World Water Forum, Mexico.

Local Actions or a Global Challenge

A novel local ocus has been developed as a means

to conront global water problems. A space will bedesigned or the participation o local actors, so they

may contribute with experiences and knowledge.

The UNDP Human Development Report in the next

issue that will be launched in November 2006 will

ocus on Water and Human Development.

2. The Millennium Development Goals(MDGs), Targets and Indicators

Goal 1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hungerTarget 1.

Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion o people

whose income is less than one dollar a day

Indicators.

1. Proportion o population below $1 (PPP) per day

2. Poverty gap ratio [incidence x depth o poverty]

3. Share o poorest quintile in national consumption

Target 2.

Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion o people

who suer rom hunger

Indicators.

4. Prevalence o underweight children under ive years o

age

5. Proportion o population below minimum level o

dietary energy consumption

Goal 2. Achieve universal primary education

Target 3.

Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls

alike, will be able to complete a ull course o primaryschooling

Indicators.

6. Net enrolment ratio in primary education

7. Proportion o pupils starting grade 1 who reach grade 5

8. Literacy rate o 15-24 year-olds

Goal 3. Promote gender equality and empower

women

Target 4.

Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary educa-

tion, preerably by 2005, and in all levels o education no

later than 2015

Indicators.

9. Ratio o girls to boys in primary, secondary and tertiary

education

10. Ratio o literate women to men, 15-24 years old11. Share o women in wage employment in the non-agri-

cultural sector

12. Proportion o seats held by women in national parlia-

ment

Goal 4. Reduce child mortality

Target 5.

Reduce by two thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-

ive mortality rate

Indicators.13. Under-ive mortality rate

14. Inant mortality rate

15. Proportion o 1 year-old children immunized against

measles

Goal 4. Reduce child mortality

Target 5.

Reduce by two thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-

ive mortality rate

Indicators.

13. Under-ive mortality rate

14. Inant mortality rate

15. Proportion o 1 year-old children immunized against

measles

Goal 5. Improve maternal health

Target 6.

Reduce by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the

maternal mortality ratio

Indicators.

16. Maternal mortality ratio17.Proportion o births attended by skilled health person-

nel

Goal 6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases

Target 7.

Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread o

HIV/AIDS

Indicators.

18. HIV prevalence among pregnant women aged 15-24

years

19.Condom use rate o the contraceptive prevalence rate

19a.Condom use at last high-risk sex

19b.Percentage o population aged 15-24 years with


23/45


comprehensive correct knowledge o HIV/AIDS

19c.Contraception prevalence rate

20.Ratio o school attendance o orphans to school atten-

dance o non-orphans aged 10-14 years

Target 8.

Integrate the principles o sustainable development into

country policies and programmes and reverse the loss o

environmental resources

Indicators.

21. Prevalence and death rates associated with malaria

22.Proportion o population in malaria-risk areas using

eective malaria prevention and treatment measures

23.Prevalence and death rates associated with tuberculosis

24.Proportion o tuberculosis cases detected and curedunder DOTS (internationally recommended TB control

strategy)

Goal . Ensure environmental sustainability

Target 9.

Integrate the principles o sustainable development into

country policies and programmes and reverse the loss o

environmental resources

Indicators.

25. Proportion o land area covered by orest

26.Ratio o area protected to maintain biological diversity

to surace area

27.Energy use (kg oil equivalent) per $1 GDP (PPP)

28.Carbon dioxide emissions per capita and consumption

o ozone-depleting CFCs (ODP tons)

29.Proportion o population using solid uels

Target 10.

Halve, by 2015, the proportion o people without sustain-

able access to sae drinking water and sanitation

Indicators.30. Proportion o population with sustainable access to an

improved water source, urban and rural

31.Proportion o population with access to improved sani-

tation, urban and rural

Target 11.

By 2020, to have achieved a signiicant improvement in the

lives o at least 100 million slum dwellers

Indicators.

32. Proportion o households with access to secure tenure

Goal . Develop a global partnership for

development. Indicators for targets 12-13 are given

below in a combined list.

Target 12.

Develop urther an open, rule-based, predictable, non-dis-

criminatory trading and inancial system.

Includes a commitment to good governance, developmentand poverty reduction - both nationally and internationally

Target 13.

Address the special needs o the least developed coun-

tries.

Indicators.

33.Net ODA, total and to LDCs, as percentage o OECD/

DAC donors gross national income

34.Proportion o total bilateral, sectoral-allocable ODA o

OECD/DAC donors to basic social services (basic edu-cation, primary health care, nutrition, sae water and

sanitation)

35.Proportion o bilateral ODA o OECD/DAC donors that

is united

36.ODA received in landlocked countries as proportion o

their GNIs

37.ODA received in small island developing States as pro-

portion o their GNIs

Target 14.

Address the special needs o landlocked developing coun-

tries and small island developing States (through the

Programme o Action or the Sustainable Development

o Small Island Developing States and the outcome o the

twenty-second special session o the General Assembly)

Indicators.

38.Proportion o total developed country imports (by value

and excluding arms) rom developing countries and rom

LDCs, admitted ree o duty

39.Average taris imposed by developed countries on

agricultural products and textiles and clothing rom

developing countries40.Agricultural support estimate or OECD countries as

percentage o their GDP

41.Proportion o ODA provided to help build trade capac-

ity

Target 15.

Deal comprehensively with the debt problems o develop-

ing countries through national and international measures

in order to make debt sustainable in the long term

Indicators.

44.Debt service as a percentage o exports o goods and

services


24/45

WATER MONITORING24

Target 16.

In cooperation with developing countries, develop and

implement strategies or decent and productive work or

youth

Indicators.

45.Unemployment rate o young people aged 15-24 years,

each sex and total

Target 17.

In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide

access to aordable essential drugs in developing coun-

tries

Indicators.

46.Proportion o population with access to aordableessential drugs on a sustainable basis

Target 18.

In cooperation with the private sector, make available the

beneits o new technologies, especially inormation and

communications

Indicators.

47.Telephone lines and cellular subscribers per 100 popula-

tion

48.Personal computers in use per 100 population and Inter-

net users per 100 population

3. World Summit on SustainableDevelopment, Johannesburg Plan ofImplementation (JPOI)

At the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Develop-

ment (WSSD) held in Johannesburg, delegates concluding

that integrated water resources management and water

eiciency planning should be an essential element in all

national or regional development strategies by 2005 addedthis target to the list o Millennium Development Goals

(MDGs)1 . Indeed, over the years it has been shown that

an integrated approach to water resources management

(IWRM) will be critical or achieving many o the MDGs,

including not only those related to health, but also to pov-

erty and hunger eradication, education, womens empow-

erment, environmental sustainability and global partnership

or development. It is now recognized that inherent in the

concept o IWRM are the principles o water-use eiciency,

equity o access, a balance o competing uses, the applica-

tion o all appropriate environmentally sound technology,

and participatory planning and implementation to include

all sectors o the economy and all segments o society.

For easy o reerence ollowing are the relevant Chapter IV

paragraphs2:

IV. Protecting and managing the natural resource

base of economic and social development

24. Human activities are having an increasing impact onthe integrity o ecosystems that provide essential resources

and services or human well-being and economic activities.

Managing the natural resources base in a sustainable and

integrated manner is essential or sustainable develop-

ment. In this regard, to reverse the current trend in natural

resource degradation as soon as possible, it is necessary to

implement strategies which should include targets adopted

at the national and, where appropriate, regional levels to

protect ecosystems and to achieve integrated management

o land, water and living resources, while strengthening

regional, national and local capacities. This would includeactions at all levels as set out below.

25. Launch a programme o actions, with inancial and

technical assistance, to achieve the Millennium develop-

ment goal on sae drinking water. In this respect, we agree

to halve, by the year 2015, the proportion o people who

are unable to reach or to aord sae drinking water, as

outlined in the Millennium Declaration, and the proportion

o people without access to basic sanitation, which would

include actions at all levels to:

(a) Mobilize international and domestic inancial resourc-

es at all levels, transer technology, promote best practice

and support capacity-building or water and sanitation

inrastructure and services development, ensuring that such

inrastructure and services meet the needs o the poor and

are gender-sensitive;

(b) Facilitate access to public inormation and participa-

tion, including by women, at all levels in support o policy

and decision-making related to water resources manage-

ment and project implementation;

(c) Promote priority action by Governments, with the

support o all stakeholders, in water management and

capacity-building at the national level and, where appropri-

ate, at the regional level, and promote and provide new

and additional inancial resources and innovative technolo-

gies to implement chapter 18 o Agenda 21;

(d) Intensiy water pollution prevention to reduce health

hazards and protect ecosystems by introducing technolo-

1 Report rom the 4th World Water Forum Theme, Implementing

Integrated Water Resources Management, March 18, 2006

2 Johannesburg Plan o Implementation , CSD http://www.un.org/esa/sust

dev/documents/WSSD_POI_PD/English/POIChapter4.htm


25/45


gies or aordable sanitation and industrial and domestic

wastewater treatment, by mitigating the eects o ground-

water contamination and by establishing, at the national

level, monitoring systems and eective legal rameworks;

(e) Adopt prevention and protection measures to pro-

mote sustainable water use and to address water short-

ages.

26. Develop integrated water resources management and

water eiciency plans by 2005, with support to developing

countries, through actions at all levels to:

(a) Develop and implement national/regional strategies,

plans and programmes with regard to integrated river basin,

watershed and groundwater management and introducemeasures to improve the eiciency o water inrastructure

to reduce losses and increase recycling o water;

(b) Employ the ull range o policy instruments, includ-

ing regulation, monitoring, voluntary measures, market and

inormation-based tools, land-use management and cost

recovery o water services, without cost recovery objectives

becoming a barrier to access to sae water by poor people,

and adopt an integrated water basin approach;

(c) Improve the eicient use o water resources and

promote their allocation among competing uses in a way

that gives priority to the satisaction o basic human needs

and balances the requirement o preserving or restoring

ecosystems and their unctions, in particular in ragile envi-

ronments, with human domestic, industrial and agriculture

needs, including saeguarding drinking water quality;

(d) Develop programmes or mitigating the eects o

extreme water-related events;

(e) Support the diusion o technology and capacity-

building or non-conventional water resources and conser-vation technologies, to developing countries and regions

acing water scarcity conditions or subject to drought and

desertiication, through technical and inancial support and

capacity-building;

() Support, where appropriate, eorts and programmes

or energy-eicient, sustainable and cost-eective desalina-

tion o seawater, water recycling and water harvesting rom

coastal ogs in developing countries, through such meas-

ures as technological, technical and inancial assistance and

other modalities;

(g) Facilitate the establishment o public-private partner-

ships and other orms o partnership that give priority to the

needs o the poor, within stable and transparent national

regulatory rameworks provided by Governments, while

respecting local conditions, involving all concerned stake-

holders, and monitoring the perormance and improving

accountability o public institutions and private companies.

27. Support developing countries and countries with econ-

omies in transition in their eorts to monitor and assess the

quantity and quality o water resources, including through

the establishment and/or urther development o national

monitoring networks and water resources databases and

the development o relevant national indicators.

28. Improve water resource management and scientiic

understanding o the water cycle through cooperation in

joint observation and research, and or this purpose encour-age and promote knowledge-sharing and provide capac-

ity-building and the transer o technology, as mutually

agreed, including remote-sensing and satellite technolo-

gies, particularly to developing countries and countries with

economies in transition.

29. Promote eective coordination among the various

international and intergovernmental bodies and processes

working on water-related issues, both within the United

Nations system and between the United Nations and inter-

national inancial institutions, drawing on the contributions

o other international institutions and civil society to inorm

intergovernmental decision-making; closer coordination

should also be promoted to elaborate and support propos-

als and undertake activities related to the International Year

o Freshwater, 2003 and beyond.

4. Integrated Water ResourcesManagement approach

Agenda 21, Chapter 18 states that Integrated water

resources management is based on the perception o wateras an integral part o the ecosystem, a natural resource and

a social and economic good, whose quantity and quality

determine the nature o its utilization1.

GWP2 deines IWRM as a process that promotes the

coordinated development and management o water, land

and related resources, in order to maximize the resultant

economic and social welare in an equitable manner with-

out compromising the sustainability o vital ecosystems.

1 http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/documents/agenda21/english/

agenda21chapter18.htm

2 the GWPs IWRM defnition and graph presented are taken by Setting

the stage or change, GWP Feb 2006


26/45

WATER MONITORING26

This approach promotes more coordinated development

and management o:

land and water

surace water and groundwater, the river basin and its adjacent coastal and marine

environment, and

upstream and downstream interests.

IWRM is also about reorming human systems to enable

people to obtain sustainable and equitable beneits rom

those resources. For policy-making and planning, taking an

IWRM approach requires that:

water development and management takes into

account the various uses o water and the range o

peoples water needs; stakeholders are given a voice in water planning and

management, with particular attention to securing

the involvement o women and the poor;

policies and priorities consider water resources impli-

cations, including the two-way relationship between

macroeconomic policies and water development,

management, and use;

water-related decisions made at local and basin levels

are along the lines o, or at least do not conlict with,

the achievement o broader national objectives; and

water planning and strategies are incorporated into

broader social, economic, and environmental goals.

An IWRM approach ocuses on three basic pillars and

explicitly aims at avoiding a ragmented approach o

water resources management by considering the ollowing

aspects:

1) an enabling environment o suitable policies, strate-

gies and legislation or sustainable water resources

development and management

2) putting in place the institutional ramework through

which to put into practice the policies, strategies and

legislation1) setting up the management instruments required by

these institutions to do their job.

5. Indicators: uses and limitations

Indicators help to simpliy complex inormation so that it is

quantiiable, in order that inormation can be understood

and communicated. They help to explain how things are

changing over time; analysis o consistent time series indi-

cators may suggest predictions o uture perormance.

Indicators should be well deined and easily understood

so that the inormation they are attempting to explain is

implicit. Because good indicators are easy to understand,

they oer a tool or raising awareness about water

issues that cuts across every social and political group.

Developing good indicators is not an easy task, how-

ever, and involves collection, collation and systemati-

zation of data.

The need or clarity and ease o understanding means

that indicators often condense large volumes of data

into brief overviews and reduce the complexities of

the world into simple and unambiguous messages.

The need or scientiic validity, on the other hand,

requires that indicators must simpliy without distorting

the underlying patterns or losing the vital connections

and interdependencies that govern the real world.

The data or indicator development is drawn rom

diverse sources. Now more than at anytime in the past

researchers have the ability to access vast amounts o inor-mation in a knowledge base that spans the world1.

Indicators are thereore important in helping to ocus on

the main issues and highlighting some signiicant trends.

However, care needs to be taken when utilising the inor-

mation provided because Indicators simpliying complex

1 World Water Assessment Programme, 2002. The term knowledge base

has come to mean almost any collection o inormation or knowledge in

a searchable orm.

2 Working Group Assessment o quality in statistics, Sixth meeting

Luxembourg, 2-3 October 2003, item 4.2: Methodological Documents

- Defnition o Quality in Statistics

http://epp.eurostat.cec.eu.int/pls/portal/docs/page/pgp_ds_quality/

tab47141301/defnition_2.pd

EcomomicEfficiency

ManagementInstruments

Assessment

Information

AllocationInstruments

>

>

EnablingEnvironment

Policies

Legislation

>

>

InstitutionalFramework

Central/Local

River Basin

Public-Private

>

>

>>

EnvironmentalSustainability

Equity

Balance water for livelihoodand water as a resource

EcomomicEfficiency

ManagementInstruments

Assessment

Information

AllocationInstruments

>

>

EnablingEnvironment

Policies

Legislation

>

>

InstitutionalFramework

Central/Local

River Basin

Public-Private

>

>

>>

EnvironmentalSustainability

Equity

Balance water for livelihoodand water as a resource

The three pilars of Integrated Water Resources Mangement


27/45


inormation do not provide the ull picture.

Definition of quality in statistics

A useul deinition o Quality is ound in the ISO 8402

1986 as: the totality o eatures and characteristics o aproduct or service that bear on its ability to satisy stated or

implied needs. Derived rom this, Eurostat the Statistical

Oice o the European Commission - has proposed the ol-

lowing six criteria2 to deine Quality o Statistics: relevance,

accuracy, timeliness, accessibility and clarity, comparability

and coherence. This set o criteria is being adopted also

outside EU and it could be worthy to consider it or adop-

tion while assessing water monitoring data and indicators.

Relevance

Relevance is the degree to which statistics meet current andpotential users needs. It reers to whether statistics that

are needed are produced and the extent to which concepts

used (deinitions, classiications, indicators etc.) relects user

needs.

Accuracy

Accuracy in the general statistical sense denotes the close-

ness o computations or estimates to the exact or true

values.

Timeliness

Timeliness o inormation relects the elapsed time between

its availability and the event or phenomenon it describes.

Accessibility and clarity

Accessibility reers to the physical conditions in which users

can obtain data: where to go, how to order, delivery time,

pricing policy, marketing conditions (copyright, etc.), avail-

ability o micro or macro data, various ormats (paper, iles,

CD-ROM, Internet), etc.

Clarity reers to the datas inormation environment,

whether data are accompanied with appropriate metadata,illustrations such as graphs and maps, whether inorma-

tion on their quality is also available (including limitation

in use).

Comparability

Comparability aims at measuring the impact o dierences

in applied statistical concepts and measurement tools/pro-

cedures when statistics are compared between geographi-

cal areas, non geographical domains, or over time.

The geographical component o comparability empha-

sises the comparison o data between countries and/

or regions in order to ascertain also the meaning o

aggregated statistics world wide or at regional level.

Comparability between domains reers to non-geo-

graphical domains, or instance between dierent

sectors (i.e. industry Vs agriculture), between dierent

types o observed units (i.e. urban households, rural

areas etc.).

Comparability over time reers to comparison oresults, derived normally rom the same observation,

at dierent times.

Coherence

Coherence o statistics is thereore their adequacy to be reli-

ably combined in dierent ways and or various uses. When

originating rom a single source, statistics are normally

coherent in the sense that elementary results derived rom

the concerned survey can be reliably combined in numerous

ways to produce more complex results.

When originating rom dierent sources, rom surveys

o dierent nature and/or requencies, statistics may not be

completely coherent in the sense that they may be based

on dierent approaches, classiications and methodological

standards. Conveying neighbouring results, they may also

convey not completely coherent messages, the possible

eects o which, users should be clearly inormed o.

There is a trade-o between the dierent components

o quality, especially: timeliness/accuracy, accuracy/geo-

graphic comparability, relevance/comparability over time,

relevance/accuracy, coherence or large domains/relevance

or sub-domains, etc.

Although not a measure o quality, the costs involved

in the production o statistics as well as the burden on

respondents act as a constraint on quality.

The above breakdown o quality into components is not

unique neither invariant over time. Other organisations use

slightly dierent sets o quality dimensions. For instance:

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has developed

its own ramework1

with six components: Integrity,Methodological Soundness, Accuracy and Reliability,

Serviceability, Accessibility and Prerequisites o Qual-

ity.

The OECD has developed a quality ramework with

eight components: Relevance, Accuracy, Credibility,

1 Carson, Carol S., February 2001, Toward a Framework or Assessing

Data Quality, IMF Working Paper, WP/01/25

2 Quality dimensions, core values or OECD statistics and procedures or

planning and evaluating statistical activities, http://www.oecd.org/datao

ecd/26/38/21687665.pd

3 rom Statistics Canada, 2002, Statistics Canadas Quality Assurance

Framework, Catalogue nr. 12-586-XIE, http://www.statcan.ca/english/

reepub/12-586-XIE/12-586-XIE02001.pd ;


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WATER MONITORING2

Timeliness, Accessibility, Interpretability, Coherence

and Cost Eiciency2.

Statistics Canada uses six dimensions: relevance,

accuracy, timeliness, accessibility, interpretability, and

coherence3. Statistics Sweden uses ive: content, accuracy, timeli-

ness, comparability/ coherence, and availability/clar-

ity1.

Definition of criteria for choosing water

monitoring indicators

Following are the proposed criteria or choosing and dein-

ing UN-Water monitoring indicators:

policy-relevance

responsiveness

analytical soundness

measurability

accessibility

ease of

interpretation

cost effectiveness

address a key issues

change suiciently quickly in

response to varied input

based on sound science

realistic in terms o current or

orthcoming data availability

usable by as many users as

possible without modiication

communicate essential inor-

mation in a way that is unam-

biguous and easy to under-

stand

limited costs in proportion

to the value o inormation

derived

1 rom Rosn, B., and Elvers, E., 1999, Quality Concept or Oicial

Statistics pp. 621-629 in S. Kotz, C.B. Read, and D.L. Banks (eds.),

Encyclopedia o Statistical Science, Update Vol. 3, Wiley, New York).


29/45


Proposed list of key water indicators for UN-Water

The ollowing list is based on work previously done in the ramework o the World Water Assessment Programme. It

contains a large number o indicators which are already available within UN-Water member databases, some o which are

currently under development, and ew newly proposed ones. They could serve as a base or discussion are submitted hereor discussion.

Note

Csd

Csd

Csd

Mdg

Mdg

Jpoi

jpoi

jpoi

Proposed Indicator

Target Monitoring

Sustainable Development

Water development index

weighted composite average; to be deined, may be in

contact with UNDP Human Development Report Oice

(HDRO)

Annual Withdrawal o Ground and Surace Water as a

Percent o Total Renewable Water

Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) in Water Bodies

Concentration o Faecal Coliorm in Freshwater

Millennium Development Goals

Water, percentage o population with access to

improved drinking water sources (total, urban and

rural)

Proportion o population with access to improved sanita-

tion

(total, urban and rural)

IWRM and water governance

IWRM planning process stage

IWRM inancial process stage (sel inance and donor

support)

national governments Portolio o Water Actions (PWA)

Unit o

Measure

%

mg/l

%

%

%

scale

scale

descriptive

Initiative

WWAP/

HDRO?

AQUASTAT

GEMS - Water

JMP

JMP

JMP

GWP

UCC

CSD WAND

Responsible or

sponsoring Agency

FAO/UNDP ?

FAO

UNEP

WHO/UNICEF

WHO/UNICEF

WHO/UNICEF

UNDP

UNEP

UN


30/45

WATER MONITORING30

N

new

System Monitoring

Resources

Annual precipitation quantity

Annual rain days

Annual renewable water resources rom snow and ice

Annual internally produced groundwater

Desalinated water produced annually

Treated wastewater reused annually

Stocks and use

Total groundwater resources renewable and non-renew-

able

Total annual renewable water resources (surace and

groundwater)

Surace Water levels (River, lakes water level)

Water stress index (renewable water resource per capita)

Wetlands

Water storage: actual capacity

Water storage: actual as % o potential capacity

Water storage: per capita water storage capacity

Dams

Other Sustainability

National water scarcity indicator

Country dependency on external sources (as % o total

renewable water resources)

Water distribution and delivery eiciency:

Water consumption at the served clients (D/I/A) over water eec-

tively put in the water pipe network by Specialized Units (a rate

ar rom 100% denotes high water leakages/evotraspiration in the

distribution network).

mm/year and

km3/year

number

km3/year

km3/year

km3/year

km3/year

km3

km3/year

% o normal

value

m3/capit