From 8 to 11 November, technical experts from the Ebro River Basin Authority (CHE) delivered the module “Water governance instruments: allocation of uses and water resource planning” in the International Master on Sustainable Water Management and Governance in Natural and Agricultural Environments. The experts from the CHE Planning Office and the automated hydrological information system (SAIH in Spanish) explained the key aspects of water planning in the Ebro River Basin, that in turn are representative of water planning in a European catchment.
Miguel Ángel García Vera, head of the Water Planning Office of the CHE, stated that the course programme “provides a good reference of the basic elements in water planning”. Our Master students visited the CHE headquarters and the SAIH automated water information system to learn more about how a Spanish river basin authority operated. This part of the programme addressed the following aspects:
- Norms, procedures, terms and institutions for water resource planning
- Assessing and projecting social needs for water
- Allocating resources in water planning
- Action programmes and environmental objectives
- Strategic environmental assessment in water planning
- Administrative monitoring of commitments undertaken in water plans
- Stakeholder involvement and public participation in water planning
- Water planning and the right to appeal
- Use of GIS in the Ebro River Basin plans