Success Stories & Recent Events

Water Resources Coding - Armenia Piloting in South Caucasus

The development of a national water resources registry and water resources coding system are among the key achievements of USAID’s Program for Institutional and Regulatory Strengthening of Water Management in Armenia.

Launched in 2004, the USAID/Armenia project provides technical assistance, training and equipment to Armenia’s Ministry of Nature Protection and its Water Resources Management Agency (WRMA) to improve water resources management and regulation of the country’s decentralized irrigation and municipal water sectors.

Through USAID’s assistance, WRMA completed the development of the State Water Cadastre Information System (SWCIS) after two years of data entry and coding based on European Union standards.

SWCIS represents a multi-database electronic tool for information management with a geographic information system (GIS) component. The new tool assists WRMA in water resources management, planning and decision-making process by tracking information on water resources quantity and quality, technical data on catchment areas and water intakes, water system use and permits, as well as water storage and wastewater treatment networks.

In addition, SWCIS has allowed WRMA to digitalize Armenia’s water resources based on worldwide digital mapping norms and to assign a unique identifier to every river, significant tributary, lake and reservoir in the country, including corresponding catchments and inter-basins.

The success of this initiative has led neighboring countries Georgia and Azerbaijan to adopt their own water resources coding system, which will enable regional cooperation in the water sector among the South Caucasian states.