The national Water Study (ENA) is a publication of the Institute of Hidrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies (IDEAM) of Colombia, a governmental agency under the ministry of environment. This publication, issued every 4 years, explains the water situation of the country, and for the first time, the Water Footprint Assessment of its 316 watersheds of the country was included. GSI-LAC, jointly with the Centre of Science and Technology of Antioquía (CTA) and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) designed and implemented this work.
The outcomes of this addition really provided an added value to the information given by the study. It is showing, once again, that the water footprint, used in an integrative way, is a powerful tool to engage stakeholders and help in decision making for better water use.
In the following video, Diego Arevalo (GSI-LAC) interviews Nelson Omar Vargas, head of the Hydrology section of IDEAM, who explains the benefits of the inclusion of the Water Footprint Assessment in this study, as well as its future perspectives.