Water data andinformation system in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Improving knowledge of a country's water resource is indispensable for the well being of its people and environment. Reliable information on the state and trends of water resources is a perquisite for sound decisions on the sustainable management of water resources. Probably since the beginning of human life on earth it would have been common knowledge that water is of great importance. Clusters of human habitats would have had water data and information systems built into their lives though there may not have been a necessity to document or structure them due to the abundance of the resource both in sufficient quantities and acceptable quality. However with the increasing growth and competition it has become a necessity for various management or administrative units to optimally manage the water available for such units. Accordingly water data and information systems have to be put in place so that the available resource could be understood and sustainable managed. Accurate and comprehensive water data are critical to engineers, planners and decision makers at all levels of government, researchers, developers, and the business community. Increasing demand for water, the associated need to rationally manage water, forecasting challenges which increase with the pressure of population growth and requirements of sustaining the environment, are demanding improvements in hydrologic analysis and predictions together with outputs with lesser uncertainties. This makes water data more important than in the past. Quantifiable spatial and temporal data and information on how much water is available in the country's river basins is required to provide a sound scientific basis to these assessments. Knowledge on the quality and distribution of the resource in space and time is also an important equirement. In Sri Lanka it had been identified that water data and information management is a key component in the sound assessment, planning and engineering of water resources and other water based activities and this is reflected in the report' which has highlighted areas where water data information activities within Government agencies could be improved. If the quest to acquire knowledge about water is to be successful then it is important to use data of correct temporal and spatial resolution and desired quality. Data resolution varies depending on whether the use is for water balance, flood assessment, rainfall predictions, urban drainage, detention and retention storage designs etc. Some sensitive data requires high accuracies while some data may not be demanding in terms of quality. As such it is important to note that appropriate water data and information are of extreme importance to carryout productive and contributory water assessments. On the other hand high resource demand makes it extremely expensive for a data and information system to capture, process and store all water and water related data at very fine spatial and temporal resolutions. This is due to the large requirement of staff and equipment for data capturing and the necessity of high speed, high capacity computers, servers, networks, associated equipment, capable staff and tools for processing etc., when handling large amounts of data. As such there should be research on data capture, storage, analysis and retrievals to make sure that optimal resources are used 207 180 for data and information management. Therefore research on how water data and information are to be captured. stored. analyzed and retrieved is of prime importance to ensure rational use and management of water resources.