The objective of the situational assessment step is get a good insight into the current and projected future situation of water resources, water infrastructure (hardware and software), water demand and water use of different social and economic groups, at household, community, system and / or basin level. This will inform the development of realistic strategic plans.
In this phase, a more elaborate and detailed assessment and analysis is undertaken on water resources, water infrastructure and institutions, current and projected future demand for water and actual water use by different users (by wealth group, gender, etc.). This is done with the full participation of water users, service providers and the service authority, where possible. It builds on the activities related to data and information collection and analysis done in Phase 1. The depth of this phase can vary from once-off simple participatory drawings to regularly updated databases and sophisticated valuation of the different uses.
The objective of the situational assessment step is get a good insight into the current and projected future situation of water resources, water infrastructure (hardware and software), water demand and water use of different social and economic groups, at household, community, system and / or basin level. This will inform the development of realistic strategic plans in Phase 3.
ASSESSMENT OF WATER RESOURCES
Do an assessment of the availability of rain water, surface water and ground water resources in terms of quantity, quality, reliability and accessibility at different sites throughout the year. Ideally, this should include an assessment of current water resources, as well as a projection of availability of future water resources.
This can be done though a mix of secondary data collection, mapping of water sources (see Tool 14), modelling and key-informant interviews.
ASSESSMENT OF WATER INFRASTRUCTURE
Map the water infrastructure and the services that this infrastructure can provide (in terms of water quantity, quality, reliability and accessibility). The assessment of the water infrastructure should not be limited to the physical systems, but should include a mapping of the managerial and governance arrangements related to the management of the infrastructure. In cases where infrastructural improvements outside the intervention have been planned, these should be assessed as well.
This can be done through secondary data collection and a review of project documents, the mapping of water infrastructure (see Tool 14), key-informant interviews, household surveys (see Tool 12) and village walks (Tool 8).
ASSESSMENT OF OPTIMAL WATER DEMAND
Assess the demands for water services in terms of quality, quantity, reliability and accessibility, for different uses of water (domestic use, irrigation, livestock watering, small industrial water uses, such as brick making etc.) and for different users. This should be done for both the current situation, as well as for possible future situations. This will require making projections of future water demands.
This can be done through focus group discussions (see Tool 2); key-informant interviews and household surveys (see Tool 12).
ASSESSMENT OF ACTUAL WATER USE AND BARRIERS TO ACCESSING WATER SERVICES
Assess the actual use of water from different sources, for different uses needs. Also the barriers for accessing and using water have to be assessed: who has access to which water sources and who is excluded? Who has right to which sources and when? Are there arrangements in place to regulate this (for instance water rights)? What are the costs of accessing water services and benefits of water use?
This can be done through focus group discussions (see Tool 2 and Tool 15); key-informant interviews and household surveys (see Tool 12).
ANALYSIS OF WATER RESOURCES, INFRASTRUCTURE, DEMAND AND ACCESS
Analyse the links between the water resources, infrastructure, demand and access (see Tool 9):
- Is water demand for multiple uses being met? What are the barriers to meeting the demand, now and in the future?
- Is there potential to enhance multiple-use water services, taking into account the current and future water resources, infrastructure and demand?
- What are the main barriers to implement MUS?
- What are the potential productive water uses given the socio-economic context, for instance market niches, and what other accompanying measures may be needed to enhance the benefits?
DATA STORAGE AND PRESENTATION
Information collected during this step should ideally be stored in a transparent, public information base, for instance with local government, most likely consisting of spread sheets and/or layers of information in a geographic information system (GIS layers).
- It is crucial that in this phase both planned, as well as the unplanned uses of water, including communities’ informal self-supplies, are identified.
- Involving local stakeholders as much as possible in the assessment procedure is key.
- The assessment process is at the same time an important part of awareness raising. The key point is that people understand the full chain of resources, hardware and institutions, uses and users involved in providing and receiving water services.
- The ‘area of interest’ of the assessment may start with the village where demand and access are being assessed, but it must follow the logic of the multiple water sources and infrastructure to identify problems and opportunities to meet that demand, which could lead to considering a watershed or an entire district or much larger supply infrastructure and drainage of which it is part.
- Structuring analytical tools (such as models) and reports helps to bring stakeholders from different levels and interested in different elements together in a joint analysis.
The following tools can be useful to support the activities within this phase:
- Tool 1 Community meeting to raise interest in multiple use water services
- Tool 2 Getting in-depth information and lots of good ideas: focus group discussion
- Tool 3 Water user categorisation: Livelihood groups and wealth ranking
- Tool 4 Identification of water services and users
- Tool 5 Rapid Appraisal Procedure for MUS system
- Tool 6 Identification of user representation
- Tool 7 Community mapping
- Tool 8 Seeing is also learning: village walk
- Tool 9 RIDA: Analysis of water resources, infrastructure, demand and access
- Tool 10 Village water resources assessment
- Tool 11 Assessing demand for water for different uses
- Tool 12 Household questionnaire on water resources, infrastructure, water demand and use
- Tool 13 Water quantity measurements from water resources and infrastructure
- Tool 14 Surveying water resources and infrastructure
- Tool 15 Identification of water access constraints
- Tool 16 Data collection on Life-Cycle Costs
- Tool 17 Estimating the benefits of services