The Water Encyclopedia: Hydrologic Data and Internet Resources - Chapter 2 potx

CHAPTER 2
International Data Collection
Daniel Zell
CONTENTS
2.1 Introduction 2-1
2.2 Data Sources 2-2
2.3 Case Studies 2-3
2.3.1 Latin America 2-3
2.3.2 Central Asia 2-4
2.3.3 South Asia 2-4
2.4 General Process for Data Collection 2-5
2.5 Internet Sources 2-5
In developing countries, dams, irrigation schemes,
watershed management plans, water and wastewater
systems, and flood mitigation works have grown in both
number and complexity. Because these data intensive
approaches, such as river basin planning, are being
embraced worldwide and funded by multilateral and
bilateral organizations, the need for data has increased.
China, for example, has undertaken massive water
resources projects on a scale never seen before, and
vast irrigation rehabilitation projects are underway in
Afghanistan. In many Latin American countries, water
management projects are a top priority. With the demand
for such types of projects comes the need for data,
information, knowledge management, and, in particular,
people who fall under the broad category of water
resources engineers. This need is made sharper given the
imminent retirement of the seasoned professionals of the
post-WWII generation who have spent their lives in
water resources, leaving a younger, less experienced

cohort of engineers to tackle the future.
2.1 INTRODUCTION
When, as often happens, engineers and other technical
professionals in the water resources field are asked to
render a technical judgment, they usually need a large set
of data to analyze the issue. In the United States, general
information such as precipitation, topography, stream-
flow, and other related data is usually readily available
from standard sources: previous studies are usually
on-hand with the implementing agency, e.g., state
government, military, and the private sector. But some-
times, data are harder to find, less reliable, maybe even
lost. This latter case is the normal starting point for water
resources projects in less developed countries. The
engineer will have to invest a good deal of time, effort,
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and sometimes money to get the sort of data that are,
usually, freely available in developed countries. This
chapter gives engineers an idea of what to expect, some
approaches to gathering data, and international internet
data sources.
There has been and always will be a need for rapid
and complete data collection for water resources projects
in the developing world, a process made even more
challenging since data are fragmented among various
government and private organizations. Due to both
varied organizational arrangements and cultural factors,
procedures for data collection vary from region to region
and country to country, and it is not possible within the

confines of this chapter to give a comprehensive step-by-
step method for accomplishing it. Here, we present a
brief picture of the challenges of data collection through
some selected examples, an outline of a brief process,
and a listing of sources of data for international water
resources projects. This chapter, then, will be most useful
for those with little experience in water resources
projects in developing nations.
Now, before getting into the details, a few definitions
and explanations.
1. Less developed countries is a term of conveni-
ence, generally meaning any country except the
United States, the former Soviet Union,
Canada, Western Europe, Australia, New
Zealand, and Japan. But even though such a
simple dichotomy does not really exist—other
countries undoubtedly deserve to be considered
developed and may indeed boast superior data
repositories—this term, because of its wide-
spread acceptance, will be used throughout this
chapter.
2. Engineer is defined here as a person responsible
for technical aspects of a water-related project.
Although the engineer is normally an outsider
to the country or region under study and
perhaps initially unfamiliar with its cultural
norms and practices, he or she engineer
understands not only the data collection need
but also its intended application and eventual
output. In some cases engineers will be

scientists, economists, even policymakers.
The term, again, is chosen out of convenience.
3. To make the chapter as useful as possible to the
widest audience, it generally refers to data in
the generic sense, rather than, for example,
average precipitation and uses illustrative
examples rather than an analytical examination.
Without digressing too much into the world of
development economics, we note that the engineer needs
to understand the stage or level of development. In
general, there is a positive correlation between wealth, or
Gross Domestic Product per capita, and the centraliza-
tion and quality of water resources data. In Afghanistan,
one of the poorest countries in the world, for example,
where data sources are widely scattered, the results are
incomplete, with much historical data, and studies lost in
the warfare over the past few decades. Climate also plays
a factor, as natural disasters, humidity, and even rodents
often destroy hard copies in countries with limited
computerized archives. The overall lesson is that even in
the relatively more developed countries of Central and
South America, the engineer will need to search for
secondary sources of data outside of the government,
such as previous consultants’ reports, private water
companies’ data, and others (see the list of websites at
the end of this chapter). An outside engineer’s local
contacts will be essential in setting appointments,
identifying possible resources, and even collecting data
themselves.
But—a word of caution—it is unlikely that this task

can be accomplished without the involvement of the
engineer. If you are not willing to travel to the country of
assignment, then you should probably find somebody
else to do the job. Both the credibility and realism of the
outputs will suffer from a lack of field presence. Besides,
as an outsider, typically seen as immune to local politics
and prejudices, the engineer who is willing to travel and
spend enough time in country can surmount obstacles
that an indigenous assistant could not.
2.2 DATA SOURCES
For general purposes, let us consider a simple dichotomy
in terms of data availability:
† Initial Conditions (given data), and
† Needs (data objectives).
Initial data may be given by your client or employer
or may be found through some cursory searching of the
internet resources listed in this chapter. Data needs or
objectives depend on the particular assignment and will
likely evolve throughout the problem solving process. In
any case, it is well worth taking the time to explore most,
if not all, of the websites listed at the end of the chapter
with a high-speed internet connection. You will spend
much less time than trying to find data from alternate
sources, such as government departments, previous
and/or current projects, and well-known experts in the
field. And the websites listed are generally regarded as
reliable.
But website searches are not the only route. I
recommend a variety of methods, especially if the
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country and region are unfamiliar to the engineer.
Before arriving in a country, establish primary contacts
and introductions through the employer or client.
Email, however convenient, is no substitute for phone
calls in building relationships. These contacts may, if
sufficiently motivated, be in a much better position to
collect the required data. Unfortunately, due primarily
to the long and frequently inconclusive history of most
local water resources projects with international
engineers, it will be a difficult task convincing someone
unknown to you, that your cause is worthwhile. This is
yet another reason why you should use your in-country
network, even if it is only your employer or client, as a
foundation for collecting data. The social ties and
relationships that locals have established are a resource
you should not ignore.
A frequent issue when working in an unfamiliar
region and culture is payment. How much do things cost?
From CAD and GIS operators, to internet usage, to maps,
most, if not all, goods and services have a value. In my
experience, the issue is not whether or not to pay, but
rather, “what is the correct price?” This is not to say that
you can not get data for free; indeed, that is how I got
most of mine. The engineer will have to rely on his or her
in-country network and awareness of local social norms
to determine whether or not a payment is required. In
general, if work is required beyond normal hours or
duties, then a payment is more likely to be required.
Another thing to be prepared for is equipment and

procedures that do not work. Copiers, for example, are
usually broken because of a lack of basic supplies and/or
maintenance. Or it may not exist or be available to
anyone except the senior staff. Regulations may not let
you take records from the office for off-site duplication.
Unless you have a penchant for data entry, this is another
case where it may be appropriate to pay the correct fee
for the data to be digitally entered. I suggest offering an
electronic copy of the records by email to both the
department and data entry person. By making them part
of the process, rather than a cog in a wheel, you may use
these people as resources for a long time to come, as I did
with a local hydrologist in Afghanistan months after my
return. (It did, however, take much longer than expected
and required several phone calls and visits by contacts in
Afghanistan.)
2.3 CASE STUDIES
The following case studies will give the engineer a
general perspective of the operational aspects of data
collection in a few developing nations. Let me note at
once, however, the enormous importance of learning
about and paying attention to the unique cultures,
conditions, and particularly the values of each nation or
region. Ignoring them will imperil both the engineer and
the project itself.
2.3.1 Latin America
Overall, although collecting water resources data in Latin
America is like working in developing countries
worldwide,* the relatively higher income in Latin
America can make the work easier, as education level

generally correlates with income. Because hydropower is
a highly developed sector in Latin America, its
organizations often have the best data. However, the
data are often considered proprietary and, being tightly
controlled, take concerted and time-consuming effort by
the engineer and local counterparts to get it.
As in other regions, engineers should rely on their
counterparts, local staff, or client by insisting that
reasonable efforts be expended to gather data in advance.
Due to the culture of Latin America, counterparts can be
relied on quite heavily, and will likely be highly
competent. In this manner, the engineer’s time can be
best and efficiently used to address the remaining
obstacles, like analyzing the data and writing reports.
Still, the engineer should be prepared to complete an
assignment with much less data in both quantity and
quality than is the norm in developed countries. When no
data are found for a specific basin, data for a similar
region—in combination with field interviews, maps, and
surveys—is used to build a model. The uncertainties
resulting from using such data should be plainly and
simply stated in the engineer’s work.
According to Dr Molina, the process of cleaning
data—searching for errors—although time consuming
and tedious, has repeatedly proved itself to be worth the
trouble. Common errors include converting units,
converting gauge readings to flow, and a myriad of
other possibilities. These errors, if unchecked and
corrected, will skew the results of an analysis. On the
other hand, careful advance planning can minimize

delays, for example, by contracting a local firm or
consultants to carefully screen the data for anomalies and
enter it into a useful format.
* According to a June 25, 2004, interview with Dr Medardo
Molina, a Peruvian-born water resources expert who has been
active in water resources since 1965 as an international
consultant and professor. Dr Molina has published numerous
papers in both Spanish and English.
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2.3.2 Central Asia
In Afghanistan, collecting water resources data were
quite complicated, based on my personal experiences in
2003. What little historical data existed was fragmen-
ted and incomplete. Thirty years of instability
destroyed critical records and the hydrological network.
The language barrier, with data sometimes recorded in
Dari, Pashto, or Russian, further complicated data
collection.
The assigned task—to construct a national water
balance and determine water availability for rehabilita-
ting irrigation—necessitated casting a wide net to collect
all sources of data. Before visiting Afghanistan, my
thorough search of libraries and databases yielded only
few results, but one of them, a previous water balance
study, was quite useful. Although I made contacts in
advance, scheduling appointments from outside of
Afghanistan did not work. I now understand that the
local custom is to pay a brief introductory visit,
without an appointment. Then, a later appointment can

be scheduled where the useful work will be
accomplished.
This introductory visit may seem full of pleasantries
and even a bit useless. To the novice it may seem not
along the critical path. Quite to the contrary, the visits are
used to evaluate the engineer, to understand what the
engineer is doing, and to understand if the engineer is
worthy of help. Besides, since data are rarely immedi-
ately available, the first meeting gives the local source
time to prepare.
The team conducted initial and follow-up visits to the
following organizations:
Ministries: Irrigation and Water Resources and
Environment, Rehabilitation and Rural
Development, Agriculture and Animal Husban-
dry, and the Central Statistics Office
United Nations: Food and Agriculture Organi-
zation and World Food Program, in particular
the Vulnerability Analysis Mapping Unit for
socio-economic data, and the Development
Program
Others: ICARDA (International Center for Agri-
cultural Research in the Dry Areas), the U.S.
Agency for International Development, and
various private consultants, firms, and non-
government organizations
From these and subsequent visits over a 12-month
period, the consultant team gathered the hydrological
station data. We hired a local professional consultant to
both construct and digitize a map of the monitoring

stations. More importantly, the team was able to
persuade a wide range of policy makers and water
resources professionals of the report’s thoroughness and
usefulness by conducting follow-up visits to the data
repositories, courtesy calls to government officials to
present the report and findings, and formal
presentations.
The United Nations’ organizations provided the most
accurate satellite and agricultural data, and previous
consultants’ reports were essential in constructing the
overall water balance. Although we still had to do careful
fact checking based on the newly available data, the
efforts of independent and knowledgeable local staff
helped us get data not only more rapidly but also with a
higher degree of reliability than would have otherwise
been possible.
It is important to note that the local staff’s efforts
had to be supplemented with continual phone calls and
emails by the consultants as well as periodic visits to
Afghanistan. As outsiders, foreign consultants can often
bypass the social norms and traditions that hamper local
staff. At the same time, continued communication and
visits let the team more completely understand the
extent of the problem or issues to be addressed and
more importantly, convey the engineers’ recommended
solution to the client as it evolved. This served two
purposes:
1. By avoiding the “parachute in” approach
where a consultant works rapidly and alone,
often behind a closed door, the team won a

sense of buy-in and respect from the client,
which ensured that the client would actually
understand the results of the work.
2. By working hand-in-hand with a client who
lacked basic institutional capacity, the con-
sultant team was able to increase the client’s
capacity to use the team’s results.
With so many people interested in the report, the
team decided to circulate a draft copy. The resulting
informal peer review process increased the credibility
of the findings, and although it led to a series of
revisions, in the end, it was the only way to accomplish
the task.
2.3.3 South Asia
In contrast to the situation in Afghanistan, data
availability was relatively high during a 2004 assign-
ment to the Indian State of Orissa. At the state water
resources agency, I saw many rooms with neatly bound
papers stacked literally from floor to ceiling. More
remarkably, when motivated by the department head,
almost everything we asked for was quickly found. And
because the information requested was relatively recent,
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we did not encounter the issue of deteriorating paper
records in a humid environment without climate
control. The main problems were poor database design
and data entry, and resistance to improving quality
control standards.
To make sure that our primary data on average daily

flow from reservoirs were accurate, my team went to one
of the more remote locations to look at primary records.
This entailed a journey across the small rice paddies that
characterize the regions, a courtesy call to the local
supervisor, and even more driving to where the road
literally ended at the reservoir. The water resources
department had told the reservoir about our trip, and the
records were ready. However, local customs dictated a
long, slow, and quite good meal as well as an exchanging
of pleasantries before the ledger was produced. Then, we
asked the data recorders how they recorded the gate
height and translated that measurement into a daily flow.
Spot checking a few calculations for accuracy, we found
no mistakes.
A universal issue when dealing with government
agencies is territorialism. This issue nearly derailed the
entire project in India. An agency insisted that a task
was within their realm of authority but showed neither
the will nor the capacity to perform the work as
required. Rather the agency did the bare minimum and
strongly resisted any efforts at improvement. The
lesson the engineer should take from this is that relying
on someone or some agency out of your control is
risky. In hindsight, the solution would have been to
accept the agency as a partner, then help them, as
cooperatively and diligently as possible, to complete
the project.
2.4 GENERAL PROCESS FOR DATA
COLLECTION
The following process serves as a guideline for engineers

unfamiliar with international water resources engineer-
ing. It is highly likely that additional steps will be needed
in any actual project depending on the requirements and
country.
1. Learn key features of the country’s culture
norms and values by both talking to someone
from the country and reading appropriate
articles and even the literature.
2. Identify the problem.
This step consists of more than simply reading
the terms of reference. The engineer should
plan on conducting one-to-one discussions
with senior and mid-level staff at the local or
client agency.
3. Identify data requirements.
4. Identify local staff requirements such as
cartographers, hydrologists, statisticians,
field surveyors, etc.
5. Contact the client or local agency.
5.1. Contact made well in advance of the
initial visit so that the staff are aware
of the planned work and can plan
accordingly.
5.2. Contact at regular intervals, at least
weekly. Contact by phone and email is
recommended.
6. Make initial visit.
Prearranged visits with organizations should
be conducted. Social outings, while exhaust-
ing, may prove useful for particularly difficult

data collection situations.
7. Collect the data.
8. Review data collected.
Determine what steps need to be taken to
ensure the data are both accurate and in a
usable format.
9. Conduct field validation if required.
10. Make more visits.
These visits will supplement initial data
gatherings and present initial findings.
11. Perform analysis.
12. Prepare and circulate draft report.
13. Incorporate comments as appropriate.
14. Prepare report.
2.5 INTERNET SOURCES
The following addresses give access to a lot of data. The
descriptions of the 2006 websites come directly from the
web pages themselves.
AQUASTAT is the Food and Agricultural
Organization’s (FAO) global information system of
water and agriculture developed by the Land and Water
Development Division of FAO. AQUASTAT is FAO’s
global information system of water and agriculture
developed by the Land and Water Development
Division of FAO. The objective of AQUASTAT is to
provide users with comprehensive information on the
state of agricultural water management across the
world, with emphasis on developing countries and
countries in transition (www.fao.org/WAICENT/
FAOINFO/AGRICULT/AGL/AGLW/aquastat/main/

index.stm).
The following is an excerpt from the AQUASTAT
country profile of Afghanistan
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The tables above are an example of the output
produced by FAO STAT, in this case rural and urban
populations in African Developing Nations from 1993 to
2003. The output is also available in .csv format.
GRDC (Global Runoff Data Center) The GRDC
makes the unique offer to the international research and
science community of easy and universal access to river
flow information on a global scale. On request, data
Production Land use and irrigation Fertilizer and pesticides
Trade Forest products Agricultural machinery
Food balance sheets Fishery products Food aid shipments
Producer prices Population Exports by destination
Forestry trade flow Food quality control
faostat.fao.org/default.jsp?languageZEN.
Year
1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
Population-estimates
rural (1000)
Africa developing 428,145 435,774 443,382 450,948 458,471 465,941 473,370 480,738 488,033 495,224 502,287
AGG_COUNTRIES 428,145 435,774 443,382 450,948 458,471 465,941 473,370 480,738 488,033 495,224 502,287
Population-estimates
urban (1000)
Africa developing 205,568 214,269 223,156 232,235 241,525 251,050 260,846 270,932 281,347 292,111 303,245
AGG_COUNTRIES 205,568 214,269 223,156 232,235 241,525 251,050 260,846 270,932 281,347 292,111 303,245
Water Resources

Based on the hydrographic systems, the country can be divided into four zones:
† the northern basin (24% of the territory) with the Amu Darya and its tributaries (14%), which drain toward the Aral sea,
and the rivers of northern Afghanistan (10%), which disappear within the country before joining the Amu Darya;
† the western region (12%) consisting of the Hari Rud river basin (6%) and the Murgab river basin (6%), both rivers
disappearing in Turkmenistan;
† the south-western basin (52%) with the Helmand river flowing toward the Sistan swamps, located on the border of Iran
and Afghanistan. In 1972, a document was signed between Afghanistan and Iran to allocate a discharge of 26 m/s of
Helmand river water to Iran all year round;
† the eastern Kabul basin (12%), which is the only river system having an outlet to the sea, joining the Indus at Attock in
Pakistan.
Internal renewable water resources are estimated at 55 km
3
yr
K1
. The Kunar river, which originates in Pakistan, crosses the
border with an average annual flow of 10 km
3
and joins the Kabul river at Jalalabad about 180 km further downstream. The
Kabul river flows again into Pakistan 80 km further downstream.
Total water withdrawal was estimated at 26.11 km
3
in 1987, of which 99% for agricultural purposes. Recently, there has been a
large development of groundwater use in some provinces.
In 1986, there were two dams higher than 15 m. The installed capacity of the hydroelectric plants was 281 MW in 1992, which
is about 70% of total installed capacity. There is considerable potential for the generation of hydropower, by both large dams and
microhydropower stations.
FAOSTAT is an on-line and multilingual database
currently containing over 3 million time-series
records covering international statistics in the following
areas:

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products are developed and specialized databases are
assembled for projects on both regional and global scale.
The GRDC serves as a communication platform between
institutions, advisors, and scientists and also transfers
information about other relevant databases with a
hydrological content such as the Global Precipitation
Climatology Centre (GPCC) and the Programme Office of
the Global Environment Monitoring System—Water
(GWPO) of UNEP. It also maintains close ties to the
UNESCO Water project “Flow Regimes from Inter-
national Experimental and Network Data” (FRIEND).
The GRDC contains long-term mean annual
freshwater surface water fluxes into the world oceans.
Estimates are based on 251 discharge stations of
major rivers. Data available include mean, minimum,
maximum monthly discharges, and time series of
mean, minimum, maximum annual discharge for 3035
stations. UNH-GRDC Global Composite Runoff
Fields combines observed river discharge information
with a climate-driven Water Balance Model (http://
grdc.bafg.de).
The following is a sample output:
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CGIAR is a global link to research on agriculture,
hunger, poverty, and the environment. CGIAR (Consulta-
tive Group on International Agricultural Research) is a
good starting point for international water issues related to

agriculture (www.cigar.org).
To access any of CGIARs publications published by
the 15 research centers, go to the CGIAR Library
Gateway (www.cgiar.org/publications/library/index.
html).
CGIAR Reefbase—ReefBase is the world’s premier
online information system on coral reefs, and provides
information services to coral reef professionals involved
in management, research, monitoring, conservation, and
education. Its goal is to facilitate sustainable manage-
ment of coral reefs and related coastal/marine environ-
ments, in order to benefit poor people in developing
countries whose livelihoods depend on these natural
resources. ReefBase’s Online Geographic Information
System (GIS) allows you to display coral reef related
data and information on interactive maps. You can zoom,
search, and query datalayers, and save or bookmark the
map (www.reefbase.org).
ICARDA (International Center for Research in the
Dry Areas) is one of the research centers of CGIAR,
whose mission is to improve and integrate the manage-
ment of soil, water, nutrients, plants, and animals in ways
that optimize sustainable agricultural production. There
are many relevant articles, publications, and datasets on
on-farm water use and water efficiency (www.icarda.
cgiar.org).
IWMI’s (International Water Management Institute)
on-line publication section contains several thousand
pages of peer reviewed research on water management.
All research outputs and publications produced by IWMI

are international public goods, freely available to
partners in developing countries and to members of the
international development, academic and research com-
munities (www.iwmi.cgiar.org/pubs/mindex.htm).
The Remote Sensing and GIS Unit (RS GIS Unit)
of the International Water Management Institute
(IWMI), is a centralized facility for all spatial data-
related activities of IWMI at the headquarters in Sri
Lanka and Regional Offices located in different parts
of the world.
Currently, the RS GIS Unit holds over 1 terabyte of
data. Although the emphasis is on IWMI benchmark
river basins, large volumes of data are also available at
National, Regional, and Global levels. These data are
catalogued, streamlined, and released to the public
through the IWMI Data Storehouse Pathway (DSP).
Much of the river basin and other datasets are composed
as single mega files of hundreds or sometimes thousands
of bands consisting of continuous streams of 8-day or
monthly time series data in several wavebands and/or
indices.
Large volumes of multitemporal data from multiple
satellite sensors are used in several IWMI research
projects. These projects include: (a) Global Irrigated
Area Mapping (GIAM) at global to local scales, (b) the
Wetland project in the Limpopo river basin of four
Southern African Nations, (c) the Krishna river basin
project in India, (d) the Indo-Gangetic river basin project
in India and Pakistan, (e) the Drought Assessment and
Mitigation project in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and parts of

India, and (f) the biodiversity project in Sri Lanka.
More information on the RS GIS Unit and its
activities can be found in several areas of this web site
(www.iwmidsp.org/iwmi/info/centerprofile.asp).
Hydrological Processes is a relevant international
journal with abstracts freely accessible on the web. Of
particular interest are the past articles on mathematical
and methodological aspects of hydrological processes
and modeling.
Accessed through Wiley Intersciences (www.
interscience.wiley.com).
Although traditionally thought of as a repository of
United States data sets only, the United States Geological
Survey (USGS) has a notably thorough database on
selected countries that will likely grow over time. In
particular, datasets for Jordan and Israel can be found
through their project websites (www.watercare.org and
www.exact-me.org).
Also on USGS, a general homepage with linkages to
Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, Bangladesh, and Cyprus
(international.usgs.gov/disciplines/water.htm).
Winrock Water is both a discussion forum and data
clearinghouse that includes an annotated bibliography.
Winrock water has selected leading reference materials,
research and discussions of major issues in the water
resources field through the internet. The links section is
of particular interest to those in data collection (www.
winrockwater.org).
Sakia.org is an information and communication
service in the area of “land and water”. Sakia.org hosts

several services such as the email discussion list
IRRIGATION-L the WWW Virtual Library Irrigation
& Hydrology (content filling stage), the WWW Database
on Irrigation & Hydrology Software—IRRISOFT (under
revision), the e-Journal of Land and Water, an open
access and peer reviewed international scientific journal
for research and developments and the Journal of
Applied Irrigation Science. Sakia.org is fostering the
open and free access to knowledge in support of the “land
and water” community (www.sakia.org).
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