The Stream Quality Assessment Tool is a certified product developed by the US Forest Service (USFS), a federal executive agency under the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). This instrument helps communities and researchers, through a preliminary assessment of the state of water courses and their banks, to alert the relevant authorities on cases of pollution impacts. It helps involve communities in decision-making processes related to the management and good governance of water resources at the local level.

In the municipalities and regions where the project is being implemented, the focus of discussions has been the management of numerous water resources, as well as the communities’ access to these resources. In this aspect, equipping these communities, which are in direct contact with the responsible structures of the local administration, with such an instrument, constitutes a necessary and complementary element of our experience, especially after the activities for building the capacities and skills of Local environmental CSOs, to assess the financial value of natural assets, as well as well-administer water resources. River pollution is a constant concern, not only because they represent a natural resource on which the local economy depends, but also for the quality of water ecosystems and the services they provide, as an integral part of the country’s natural resources.

The most appropriate model for a good water management is the administration based on the river’s watershed, which is its natural geographical and hydrological unit and not on the management according to the administrative or political boundaries of the units through which it passes or there is a water source.