Assessment of Sustainable Water Resources Management Using Water Rights Database System

Abstract

This study examines and assesses Sustainable Water Resource Management (SWRM) using Water Rights Database System (WRDS). It explores the WRDS of the Water Resources Commission (WRC), Ghana, as a case study, for regulating and managing water resource. As an objective, the study examines the functions, strengths and weaknesses of the WRDS of the WRC and the assessment of the assistance of the Invoicing Database Sub-System (IDSS) to the WRDS; and then the need to incorporate Quality Management Assurance (QMA) into the WRDS. Water Resource Management (WRM) has been a bane to most countries, albeit, not excluding the developed ones. The World Bank, therefore, through its International Bank for Reconstruction and Development in 1993, formed a strong Water Resources Management Group (WRMG) to develop a framework for Water Resources Management (WRM). The framework highlighted on the adoption of a comprehensive policy for the treatment of water as an economic good, combined with decentralized management and delivery structures, with greater reliance on pricing, and fuller participation by stakeholders. Then in 2005, the secretariat of the Fourth World Water Forum requested experts in water and economics, to prepare and deliver a working paper on the growth and development of water resource, how to champion the efficient use of the resource, and dynamics of water for growth and poverty alleviation. This was as a sequel to the earlier meeting by the International Conference on Water and the Environment (ICWE) in January 1992 on Agenda 21. At this meeting, water experts meeting in Dublin, Ireland, saw the emerging global WRM picture as critical and initiated plans in 1993 for a framework to contain the myriads of problems associated with Water Resource Management (WRM). The WRDS has been successfully implemented at the WRC, Ghana. It is used for capturing data, regulating and monitoring the water resource of the nation, and generating management reports for decision-making activities.