Water Information Management System

GEF CReW+ has been partnering with the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH ) to enhance water and  wastewater management in the Wider Caribbean Region (WCR).

The overall goal of this collaboration is to incorporate existing databases and other water sector stakeholders to inform national decision-making using WIMS. WIMS is a web-based open data portal where water-related data and information can be discovered and analyzed, making it easier for the users to store, manage, find, access, and use spatial and non-spatial water-related data and information. WIMS is designed using an open-source technology stack to ensure the data portals' cost-effectiveness, ease of use, interoperability, and sustainability.

Costa Rica, Jamaica, Guyana, Saint Lucia, and  Trinidad and Tobago have developed water management systems to improve evidence-based decision making using WIMS. The system also enables information sharing between national agencies to facilitate reporting on regional and global commitments.

Water Information Management System
Water Information Management System (WIMS) in six Caribbean countries

This document details the implementation of the Water Information Management System (WIMS) in the Caribbean under the GEF CReW+ project, an initiative led by UNU-INWEH to enhance water data-driven decision-making. The project established operational platforms in Costa Rica, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago, utilizing the open-source GeoNode system to manage geospatial data and technical documents. In addition to the technological deployment—which included a specialized mobile application for fieldwork in Costa Rica—the report highlights the creation of a Data Governance Framework and a comprehensive capacity-building program to ensure sustainability and transparency in the region's water resource management.