ABSTRACT
Important aspects to be dealt with are: water availability and water use, stakeholders, physical conditions, socio economic conditions, legal framework, institutional framework, policies and trends and the financial situation. The assessment of the physical conditions concentrates on the temporal and spacial availability and use of water (quantitative and qualitative). It requires information on the climate and meteorology, hydro(geo)logy, aquatic eco-systems, abstractions and influents and the availability and capacity of storage facilities. As in Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) water is managed on basin or sub-basin level, use of water resources, water distribution per sector and the resulting water balance have to be identified per sub-basin. In most of the countries water is considered a public good, but individuals can obtain private rights over water by tradition. Existing water rights are often a main constraint and a source of many problems in the optimization and introduction of IWRM.
