Presented by IWMI's Ian Makin during a keynote speech at the Central Asia Water Future Forum and Expo held on September 19-23, 2016 at Rixos Hotel in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

1. A New World for Water
Resources Information
Ian W Makin & Herath Manthrithilake
International Water Management Institute
Colombo, Sri Lanka

2. Knowledge is evermore important in
the water sector!
•In many countries, there is a huge
quantity of water data
•But too often data is:
•not collated,
•not analysed and
•not accessible or shared

3. Knowledge is evermore important in
the water sector!
• Knowledge is based on information
• Information is built from data

4. Data collection continually evolving
Manual to
Automatic

5. Data analysis continues to evolve!

6. ADVANCES IN TECHNOLOGY
• Communication technology allow
data to be transmitted from remote
areas cost effectively
• Cloud computing enables data
storage, processing and
dissemination on remote servers -
maintained by a third party with
high availability and secure back-up.

7. • Novel and timely data
collection
• Automatic Transmission
• Real-time Processing
• Storage and access easy
• Timely dissemination
Crowd sourcing & Cloud computing

8. • Water levels monitored continuously
24/7
• Recorded every hour 24/7
• Data transmitted every 12 hours every
day (24/365) from SE Punjab, Pakistan to
cloud servers.
• Level and computed flows available in SE
Punjab – instantly
• Data transmission cost USD5 per month !
Self-powered, on-duty, no-bias, and reliable

9. Knowledge is evermore important in
the water sector!
•Must develop national and local
capacities and tools for
• data collection,
• analysis and
• dissemination
•to better inform policy making and to
empower user communities and
citizens

10. Multiple Aims and Benefits
•Facilitate public participation in decision
making processes
•Efficient and timely operations and
maintenance decisions
•Check compliance with policies
•Enables new applications and analysis
Source: Synthesis and Recommendation, Side Event 5th World Water Forum – Session 6.4.1
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/envaccounting/workshops/wwf2009/sideEvent.ppt

11. Access can be regulated
Completely Open
Anyone can access
metadata and
download files
Public with
Approval
Anyone can access
metadata but need
agree to license or
terms of use to
download data
Data Restricted
All users can
access
metadata, but
files are only
available to
approved users
Data Private
Only selected people
or organizations can
access metadata and
files.

12. Numerous data sharing platforms in use
•World Bank (Spatial Agent etc.)
•FAO - Aquastat
•Google platforms (Google Earth, etc.)
•WRI – Water Data
•UN Water Data
•IWMI – data portal

13. IWMI’s Data Sharing platforms
• Water Data Portal (WDP)
http://waterdata.iwmi.org
• Water Information System for Sri Lanka
(WISSL)
http://wissl.iwmi.org
• Water Information System for Data
Management of Myanmar (WISDM)
http://myanmar-preview.iwmi.org/
• Indus Basin Knowledge Platform (IBKP)
http://www.indusbasin.org

14. Knowledge is evermore important in
the water sector!
Main barriers to making knowledge available include:
• Lack of legal frameworks for reporting/sharing water data
• Lack of resources (human, technical and financial)
• Lack of capacities (reskilling required)

15. Take away messages
• Are formal rules on data sharing for regulation and
enforcement essential or are there incentives for voluntary
use of shared information systems?
• How to ensure effective and efficient coordination between
the various information systems at the national, regional and
global scales that will create synergies and avoid
duplications?
Source: Synthesis and Recommendation, Side Event 5th World Water Forum – Session 6.4.1
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/envaccounting/workshops/wwf2009/sideEvent.ppt

16. Take away messages
• Need to distinguish data, indicators and knowledge: how to
make best use of the data we collect?
• How can agencies secure adequate funding for long-term
sustainable monitoring networks, analysis and
dissemination?
Source: Synthesis and Recommendation, Side Event 5th World Water Forum – Session 6.4.1
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/envaccounting/workshops/wwf2009/sideEvent.ppt

17. A New World for Water Resources Information
Ian W Makin and
Herath Manthrithilake
International Water Management Institute
Visit: www.iwmi.org