J. C. Rodda: On The Problems Of Assessing The World's Water Resources
29
1 . to eliminate the costs of poor quality control;
2. to ensure that the product meets the user's needs - that the data are
confidently usable;
3. to demonstrate to users that the Institute is meeting and anticipating
their needs.
The approach incorporates adherence to manuals and procedures and includes
certification by an independent body accredited to carry out the inspection work.
NIW A implemented new procedures and upgraded instruments and equipment to
meet the necessary requirements in order to achieve the standards of quality
claimed for them.
8 CONCLUSION
The errors in the majority of assessments of water resources, at virtually every
scale, are usually disregarded. The sizes of these errors are unknown for most
national assessments, except where total quality management has been
implemented, such as in New Zealand.
Although several global systems for hydrological data management have been
established, they suffer from a number of problems which may be overcome with
the advent of WHYCOS. WHYCOS, when fully implemented, should provide
quality assured data with a global coverage.
Without such an approach, future assessments of the water balance are
handicapped by the unknown errors that they contain. This is not a desirable
position to be in when a world water crisis is looming. In 1997 the United Nations
should recognize that reliable data are the key to the sustainable development and
management of water resources and endorse the steps being taken to provide
them.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author would like to express his considerable thanks to his colleagues in the
WMO Hydrology and Water Resources Department for their help in the
preparation of this paper. He would also like to thank the observers and others
who, over many years, have made available the data on which this paper is based.
KEYWORDS
Water balance, global water resources, groundwater resources, hydrological cycle,
hydrogeological data, quality control, management, WMO activities, decisionmaking, anthropogenic effect.
29
1 . to eliminate the costs of poor quality control;
2. to ensure that the product meets the user's needs - that the data are
confidently usable;
3. to demonstrate to users that the Institute is meeting and anticipating
their needs.
The approach incorporates adherence to manuals and procedures and includes
certification by an independent body accredited to carry out the inspection work.
NIW A implemented new procedures and upgraded instruments and equipment to
meet the necessary requirements in order to achieve the standards of quality
claimed for them.
8 CONCLUSION
The errors in the majority of assessments of water resources, at virtually every
scale, are usually disregarded. The sizes of these errors are unknown for most
national assessments, except where total quality management has been
implemented, such as in New Zealand.
Although several global systems for hydrological data management have been
established, they suffer from a number of problems which may be overcome with
the advent of WHYCOS. WHYCOS, when fully implemented, should provide
quality assured data with a global coverage.
Without such an approach, future assessments of the water balance are
handicapped by the unknown errors that they contain. This is not a desirable
position to be in when a world water crisis is looming. In 1997 the United Nations
should recognize that reliable data are the key to the sustainable development and
management of water resources and endorse the steps being taken to provide
them.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author would like to express his considerable thanks to his colleagues in the
WMO Hydrology and Water Resources Department for their help in the
preparation of this paper. He would also like to thank the observers and others
who, over many years, have made available the data on which this paper is based.
KEYWORDS
Water balance, global water resources, groundwater resources, hydrological cycle,
hydrogeological data, quality control, management, WMO activities, decisionmaking, anthropogenic effect.