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Launching today is Paraguay’s first Water Information System (WIS), an online portal designed to make data and information about water quality, water access, and sanitation levels a public good. The project’s aim is to lead to meaningful improvements in people’s lives, in terms of disease prevention, access to potable water, and environmental protection.
The system is the first national effort to bridge the gap among the many organizations that generate information about water in the country. The WIS will also enable Paraguay’s government to report on indicators related to water-related metrics within the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 6 - Clean water and sanitation).
The WIS is the result of joint work between the National Institute of Statistics of Paraguay (INE Paraguay) and the country's water-related institutions, with the support of the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data (the Global Partnership).
Paraguay is a landlocked country with enormous water resources, from the Itaipu hydroelectric power plant, which generates more electricity than any other dam in the world, to the world's largest freshwater aquifer shared with Brazil and Bolivia. But persistent problems in managing these resources have resulted in lost economic opportunities for the country and unmet water and sanitation needs for Paraguayans.
Partners hope that making timely and relevant data publicly available will enable government ministries, non-governmental organizations, and community groups to access information that improves access to water and sanitation services for Paraguayans. Environmental data will also be used by government ministries and private companies to effectively manage Paraguay’s natural resources and hydroelectric power.
In the project’s first stage, the system will house data collected by institutions such as the Regulatory Entity of Sanitation Services (ERSSAN), the Directorate of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DAPSAN) of the Ministry of Public Works and Communications (MOPC); the Binational Entity YACYRETA, the Binational Entity ITAIPU, and the Directorate of Hydrology and Meteorology of the National Directorate of Civil Aeronautics (DINAC). The water data platform is valuable, but its true value will only be unlocked if more data producers join the project and if decision makers use this data.
The Global Partnership supported Paraguay in the three-year process of bringing partners together to develop the data system, design new indicators, and share data through workshops, studies, and consultations with experts in the field. This work is part of our Data for Now initiative, in collaboration with the World Bank, the United Nations Statistics Division, and SDSN TReNDS, to advance the availability and use of timely data to measure the SDGs.
With the Paraguay Water Information System we are laying the foundations for efficient, coordinated and online information management, which will translate into public policies with a greater impact on the well-being of current and future generations, because data has the power to be an engine of positive change in people's lives.
Effective management of water resources in any country requires up-to-date data from a range of partners. Paraguay’s new water information system is an important step to enabling government ministries, companies, and civil society organizations in Paraguay to share and access data to improve people's access to safe water and sanitation services, decrease the incidence of water-related diseases, and effectively manage resources in the country.
The WIS platform will consolidate or make data and indicators that are of importance to everyone available in one location, enabling all the institutions in the sector to collaborate on decisions and speak the same language in terms of standardized and predetermined criteria.
About The Global Partnership
The Global Partnership’s goal is to accelerate progress on sustainable development with better data. The data ecosystem is fragmented, with different actors and sectors working in isolation. As a result, often relevant data is available, but it is not being used by all those who need it. To tackle the increasingly complex development challenges we are facing together, whether it’s the climate crisis, conflicts, or economic recessions, we need to share data and work together to unlock its potential. A network is needed to bring the data for development community together and partnerships are at the heart of all we do.
We have 700 organizations across 35 countries in our network. Our partners include governments, CSOs, private sector companies, intergovernmental and donor institutions, academia and media. Together we broker solutions to the world's biggest problems, exchange capacities, and amplify lessons from our country-level work to advocate for policy change and share learning widely.
About INE Paraguay
The National Statistics Institute of Paraguay (Instituto Nacional de Estadística or INE) governs and leads in the production of official statistics. The agency generates and integrates statistical information, innovating and using state-of-the-art technology, and developing the value of the country's official statistics. More information is available at: https://www.ine.gov.py/.
