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CHAPTER 3. POLICY, INSTITUTIONAL, AND REGULATORY FRAMEWORK

3.5. Institutional Framework

3.5.2. Institutional Organization for Water Resources Management

The traditional institutional organization for Water Resources Management implemented in a central system of administration, a Ministry or Secretary of Water Resources at federal or country level, and regional or sub-regional administrative officer. This centralized approach was also linked with the need to improve the water availability - mainly the construction of channels and reservoirs that increased the quantity of water. Thus, water quantity was the main objective of several engineering approaches to water resources. Water quantity was managed at the national level by a central authority and was related mainly to national strategic objectives, such as hydropower, navigation, or large-scale irrigation projects.

In the beginning of 1970s, a centralized administrative system of water quality management started to be implemented due, to a great extent, to the example of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA). Local or regional agencies for water management appeared later. In several countries of Latin America, Africa, and South East Asia, hydroelectric power companies, fisheries departments, and institutes for irrigation, had their sectoral policy for water management. This institutional organization often favoured waste and produced several conflicts with frequently the wrong allocation of water and less attention to water quality.

The positive relatively recent changes in institutional organization are based on the following concepts:

• A decentralized system with national/federal, state and municipal responsibilities and a networking integrated process.
• Strategic actions based on the local demands for water and the participation of local users.
• Strong participation of the community and stakeholders organizations.

Thus the role of governments is to guide and encourage this decentralized organization with different cultural and social backgrounds. The decentralization process with the participation of the community, places the focus on water quality and quantity at the local level. It also provides adequate arrangements for partnerships of public-private sector. As an example, the National Water Resources Management System in Brazil is organized in five institutions:

• The National Council on Water Resources
• The State Council on Water Resources
• The River Watershed Communities
• Agencies at the Federal, State, and Municipal levels
• The Water Agencies, the executive boards of the basin communities

The administration and management of federal rivers will be made by participation of the states sharing the river watershed, the federal government, state and organized associations in the water resources field. The share of government and other organizations in the committee is 50% each. This invigorated institutional arrangement is now being implemented in several countries with configurations that are proximate to the ones discussed above. In general, the institutional changes in the water administration stressed the following conditions:

• Integration of water resources with environmental management.
• Conditions of planning at the local users sectors with planning at regional, state and national levels.
• Coordination of Water Resources Management with that of land use and industrial use.

Considering these problems the introduction of a watershed quality index by the Environmental Protection Agency at federal, state, and municipal levels is an important qualitative advancement. The preparation of an index of water quality for the watershed quality index is much stronger if local or regional components are added.

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