Ecuador : Consolidation of the information system on water resources

With the adoption of a new Water Law in August 2014, the Republic of Ecuador established a new Agency for the Regulation and Control of the Water Sector (ARCA), supervised by the Secretariat of Water Resources (SENAGUA) and the Ministry of Coordination of Strategic Sectors (MICSE).

 

A study of the roadmap of this new agency is being made by the Aigos Consulting Firm on behalf of the Ministry of Coordination of Strategic Sectors.

 

In this context, the International Office for Water was entrusted with a specific analysis of the potential consolidation of the Information System on Water Resources in Ecuador (SIRH).

 

The mission on this topic, carried out in September 2014, was the occasion of meeting with the representatives of organizations involved in the production, management and enhancement of water data (ARCA, SENAGUA, SENPLADES, INHAMI, MAE, IGM, etc.).

 

These exchanges allowed specifying a series of recommendations aiming firstly to organize the establishment of ”ARCA” Information System and secondly to enhance the sharing and integrated management of water data between institutions at the national, regional and local level.

 

The main findings of this study were presented to H.E. the Minister, Mr. Rafael Poveda (MICSE) at the end of the mission, as well as to Mrs. Claudia Otero (ARCA Director) and Mr. Christobal Punina Lazano (Assistant Secretary General for Water) during their visit to IOWater, in Paris on 12 September 2014.