Small Reservoirs Toolkit for Water Planning and Management

A project beginning in 2005 developed a toolkit of approximately 30 tools and techniques for planning and managing small multi-purpose reservoirs. The toolkit was produced by the Small Reservoirs Project, led by the International Water Management Institute with six partner organizations. It addresses hydrologic, economic, ecological, health, and institutional dimensions to improve water security and livelihoods in arid regions.

Use Cases

• Planning interventions for small reservoir ensembles based on socio-economic and biophysical research.
• Modeling water storage and hydrology impacts of clustered reservoirs.
• Assessing ecosystem and health trade-offs from small reservoir density.
• Analyzing institutional and economic factors for sustainable reservoir operation and maintenance.

Strengths

• Toolkit is structured around four specific topic areas: Intervention Planning; Storage and Hydrology; Ecosystems and Health; Institutions and Economics.
• Developed by a multi-disciplinary team from seven partner organizations, including IWMI.
• Addresses paired objectives at both basin/watershed and local/community levels.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

Small Reservoirs Project of the Challenge Program for Water and Food, led by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI).

Collection Method

A multi-disciplinary team developed a set of tools based on socio-economic and biophysical research.

Time Range

Project began in 2005.

Freshness

Last updated date is unknown.

Geography

Focus on arid areas, with partners including organizations in Brazil, France, Sweden, Netherlands, Zimbabwe, and Ghana.