Page 156 - CIWA Water Data Revolution Overview Report

Annex 3.3. Dashboard user manual for the Volta Basin - English

Water Accounting (WA) Dashboard
A User Manual
August, 2024
1.What is a WA dashboard?

The water accounting dashboard provides detailed multi-year water accounts of a basin’s
water resources including inflows, outflows, water use patterns and availability, to establish
baseline conditions. It can also compare baseline and future water accounts (where
available), to provide stakeholders with an understanding of the current and potential future
water resources status.
The platform leverages advanced data visualization tools to offer user-friendly access to
complex information, empowering stakeholders to understand the dynamics between
various water-balance parameters. In addition, the dashboard was designed to ensure that it
caters to stakeholders of diverse backgrounds and expertise, from policymakers to scientists.
Stakeholder feedback was incorporated to enrich the platform's accessibility and user
experience to enable active participation and engagement.
This web-based dashboard represents one of the tools that could be used in promoting
effective stakeholder deliberation of water balance information for sustainable water
resource management.

2.Why do we need a WA dashboard?

Water resource management is an essential global challenge, necessitating a comprehensive
and inclusive approach to address the diverse needs of the stakeholders involved.
Stakeholder deliberation is crucial in fostering cooperation and informed decision-making for
sustainable water management. However, lack of hydrometeorological observations often
limits our understanding on the complex interlinkages between competing demands for
water in the basin or a country. To overcome the challenges of water data scarcity in