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The European Union has established a Programme for Water Governance (PfWG), for three regions, Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. A successful Pacific region submission in 2002 by the South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC) proposed three pilot studies in Fiji Islands, Kiribati, and the Solomon Islands for water governance at different scales: national, major utility and local village, island or catchment based. Increasing demographic trends, hydrogeology, climatic variation and change, urbanisation and the impacts of human activities all combine to impose significant risks to water resources in small island nations. The challenges faced in the water and sanitation sector in small island states are amongst the most difficult in the world. They require a strategic, coordinated whole-of-government approach, in partnership with island communities, that incorporates the existing expertise and experience throughout the government and community sectors and which represents the hopes and needs of communities for adequate water and sanitation.

The Solomon Islands is characterised by scattered islands that vary considerably in size, physical and hydrologic characteristics. The types of islands range from high volcanic to tiny low coral atolls. The higher islands have river systems whilst the low coral atolls have no natural surface water systems and are completely dependent upon rainwater catchments and groundwater.

Water is essential for human, faunal and floral physiology. Water sustains life and is essential for climatic equilibrium, the maintenance of ecosystems, agriculture, industrial processing and hydropower. In many countries, increasing population, natural resource extraction, food production, industrial activity and other land uses are producing diffuse and point source discharges which carry a wide range of contaminants into water bodies and affect the quality and quantity of water for other uses. This situation is caused by ineffective assessment, planning, utilisation and management of water by water resources management authorities, water supply and sewage disposal service providers and other sectoral users of water resources. There is an immediate and critical need for Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) in a catchment unit in order to ensure the sustainable use of the available water resources.