#65: Catchment Management Agency

Catchment Management Agencies (CMAs) are organisations set up at the catchment level with the aim of decentralising the responsibility for managing water resources.

A core responsibility of authorities such as CMAs is the development of the Catchment Management Strategy (CMS) that regulates

Water management refers to the activities of analysing and monitoring water resources, as well as developing and implementing measures to keep the state of a water resource within what has been negotiated as desirable bounds (Pahl-Wostl, 2015).

Pahl-Wostl, C. (2015). Water Governance in the Face of Global Change—From Understanding to Transformation. Wiesbaden: Springer International Publishing.

in the respective catchment.

Catchment management agencies can be responsible for setting up the regulatory framework for water use licenses (water-related activities that require licensing, available volume of water to licensed entities, etc.). They also hold overarching prerogatives in the scope of water use and have the faculty to establish water user associations.