Guide to Hydrological Practices, 6th edition, Volume II - Hydrology.nl

II.2-2GUIDE TO HYDROLOGICAL PRACTICESissuing of warnings to the public are pure publicgoods.A National Hydrological Service can provide hydrologicaldata and information at the national level ina cost-effective way. The implications of this are asfollows:(a) Products or public services, such as publicwarnings, can only be provided through publicfunding, because the Hydrological Serviceconcerned cannot easily recover its costs fromthe beneficiaries;(b) To obtain or sustain funding from governmentsources for the provision of both pureand excludable public goods, it is necessary todemonstrate their value or merit to society;(c) Products or services that are excludable publicgoods can be provided on the basis of profitabilityor recovery of costs from the beneficiaries.Authority may be required for such operations.Proper accounting practices, financial transparencyand fair charges will be expected;(d) Boundaries between the management of purepublic goods and excludable public goods mayshift as a result of, for example, evolving technology,contractual arrangements and publicinformation. A Hydrological Service may beable to influence such boundaries, if it is in thenational interest;(e) When lobbying for sources of funding, managersshould review their products and services toensure that they are in line with the mandateand pricing structure of the NHS.2.2.2 Clients of hydrologicalproducts and servicesWho are the clients of a Hydrological Service? Inprinciple, for a National Hydrological Service, theultimate client is the general public, represented byelected officials at the national, state/provincial andlocal levels. This includes the general public of thefuture, who will be the beneficiaries of hydrologicalwork that is being done today.Governmental policies and national developmentgoals, and the information required to supportthem, influence an NHS fundamentally. For example,in many developing countries the beginningof the twenty-first century has seen a growingnational emphasis on poverty alleviation. Themanagement of a Hydrological Service shouldmonitor governmental policies and analyse theimplications of these policies for the individualService. What products and services will theHydrological Service need to provide in order tosupport national policies and goals? Do the Service’scurrent products and services contribute to this? Inother words, the management should ensure thatthe Service’s products and services have the greatestpossible value. This is best done objectively bymeans of cost-benefit, cost-effectiveness andpoverty analyses, among others. The public’s interestmay be varied, so that a Hydrological Servicemay have a variety of clients, in addition to thetraditional ones. A Hydrological Service may alsooffer private services to clients who are prepared topay for them. The range of such clients will varyfrom country to country, depending on the natureof the national economy.The management of a particular HydrologicalService must implement frequent surveys to identifypotential clients. The management shouldcontinually monitor trends in demand for water,national and provincial policies and developmentgoals, political manifestos, trends and events invarious economic sectors, as well as internationalagreements and agreements with donor agenciesand other development partners.Client expectations of all businesses, includingthose in the public sector, are rising continuallyand businesses must continually seek to meet orexceed those expectations. Hydrological Servicesare no exception. To ensure the future of the Service,managers must encourage a client focus amongtheir staff. The single most important client is theperson to whom the director reports, for instance,the Minister for the Environment. The future of aHydrological Service depends on how successfullythe director markets the Service to that person anddemonstrates how the Service can be useful to theclient.A marketing strategy should meet the followingaims:(a) Identify the current and potential clients of theHydrological Service, and maintain and updatea client database;(b) Identify the products and services required bythe clients which the Service can provide;(c) Identify the most suitable mode or place ofdelivery of the product or service to the client,for example, use of the Internet to provideaccess to real-time data, fax warnings andconventional written reports with data annexeson CD-ROM;(d) Determine a pricing policy for different productsand services, and for different clients;(e) Specify the types of people involved in deliveringthe product or service;(f) Characterize the processes of product or servicedelivery according to the needs of the clients;