Since the Millennium Summit in 2000, countries and international agencies have been compiling data to monitor progress towards the MDGs. The availability and quality of the data at the international and national levels is however not the same. The UN Statistical Commission has called attention to the need of reducing these discrepancies, and countries worldwide have pointed out the importance of assessing progress at sub-national levels and better explore national sources.

The international community has been seeking to establish legal frameworks for improving the management of shared water resources. For instance, the Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in May 1997 (but not yet in force), and the draft articles of the Law of Transboundary Aquifers, which were reviewed by the UNGA in December 2008, propose legal frameworks for managing shared surface and groundwater resources based on international water law principles.