The structure and organisational framework are dependent on the national policies. Normally a river basin organisation (RBO) has regulatory functions as discussed in Section 2. Regulatory responsibilities related to the water resources management functions may, however, also be given to other institution than to the regional water authorities. Examples are pollution control that may be the responsibility of the Ministry of Environment or flood and drought management that may be within a general disaster management framework run by Local Government.
For an RBO it is therefore important to avoid dual responsibilities. If other institutions have the regulatory responsibility the RBO should act as a stakeholder and interact with these institutions in the best way possible.
As indicated in Figure 2.3 there are also related management areas, which directly influence the water resources but which are not part of the basic water resources management functions. An example is land management guiding agricultural fertilizer usage and soil conservation measures, both of which affect quality of the water resources. Also in this case the RBO must act as a strong stakeholder and interact with the relevant ministry or institution.
5. Stepwise Approach to Conduct the Functions
As a first step to establish an institutional arrangement for performing the water resources management functions, the roles and responsibilities of the different local institutions must be defined. Which institution has the responsibility for each function and how should the other organisations support the responsible institution.
As the second step each institution, e.g. the RBO, must define clear water management objectives for the functions it is responsible for and how they should interact with other responsible organisations. These water management objectives should preferably be presented, discussed and clarified in a process involving the major stakeholders of the river basin. This will create ownership and acceptance of the functions and objectives. The water management objectives should be part of the River Basin Plan so that they are clearly recognised and adopted at appropriate levels. As a third step the institutions should identify the activities and necessary institutional capacity to meet the water management objectives and to conduct the functions set in the statutes. To conduct the third step a simple activity and capacity matrix approach can be used (Figure 2.4). Such matrix can be used to analyse