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Water for All:
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Water is essential to life.
Yet poor management of this precious resource has brought about poverty, disease, environmental degradation, and conflict.
In the Asia and Pacific region, the problems are especially dire, where the supply of freshwater is among the lowest in the world.
One in three Asians lacks access to safe drinking water within 200 meters of home, and half the people living in Asia do not have basic sanitation. Until these needs are met, productivity, income, and health continue to be at risk.
Water use and wastewater discharge are increasing, raising competition for existing and new supplies and degrading the resource base. The poor are hardest hit by water scarcity, lack of access, pollution, and flooding — all of which further marginalize their existence.
To address these challenges in its developing member countries - DMCs, ADB approved its water policy, “Water for All,” in January 2001. The policy reflects the extensive consultative process that helped create it.
The dialogue continued over several years and included three international workshops involving government officials, water policy experts, nongovernment organization representatives, and other stakeholders.
All water subsectors contributed to the policy, including urban and rural water supply and sanitation, wastewater management, irrigation and agriculture, as well as the broader environment sector.
A clear message from stakeholders during these discussions was that the only way to meet human needs for water use and also avoid a crisis of scarcity, pollution, and severe environmental degradation would be to adopt a holistic approach to water management.
ADB’s “Water for All” policy provides a comprehensive framework to address water within such a holistic vision. It balances the need for improved service delivery with economic development and sustainable management of the resource, both of which are necessary to achieve a reduction in the incidence of poverty.
The water policy is built around the following seven elements to assist DMCs in meeting the water challenges they face. These elements also provide guidance for ADB lending and nonlending assistance in the water sector to DMCs.
Promote a National Focus on Water Sector Reform. ADB will help its DMCs adopt effective national water policies and laws, support the strengthening of their institutional capacity, and assist in developing a national water policy agenda for the water sector.
The needs of the poor will be recognized in the legal, institutional, and administrative frameworks throughout all reform and policy development activities.
Foster Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM). IWRM, which embodies the holistic view of water management, aims to ensure the coordinated development and management of water, land, and related resources to maximize economic and social welfare, without compromising the sustainability of vital economic systems.
ADB will promote IWRM in its DMCs by supporting comprehensive water resources assessments and using a basin approach to water resources planning and development.
Improve and Expand the Delivery of Water Services. Social upliftment from the drudgery of poverty can be achieved by improving the health and livelihood opportunities of the poor. One way to accomplish this is by improving delivery of services such as water supply, sanitation, and irrigation.
The water policy seeks to improve performance by increasing the autonomy and accountability of water service providers. This can often be achieved by enlarging the role of the private sector and introducing competition. A critical concern of ADB’s policy for expanded and improved service delivery is to ensure that the poor benefit from these activities.
Foster the Conservation of Water and Increase System Efficiencies. Prudent and efficient use of existing water supplies is an integral part of the water policy. ADB will encourage peak systems performance in projects aimed at recovering costs and will work with developing member partners to raise awareness of the value and importance of conserving water.
Promote Regional Cooperation and Increase the Mutually Beneficial Use of Shared Water Resources Within and Among Countries. The policy includes a commitment to work toward heightening awareness of the benefits of shared water resources. ADB also pledges to help its DMCs create sound hydrologic, social, and environmental databases that will improve the management of transboundary water resources. ADB will encourage DMCs with shared water resources to implement joint projects for mutual benefit.
Facilitate Exchange of Water Sector Information and Experience Among Stakeholders. Improvements in water service delivery and management of water resources affect all stakeholders. Thus, consultation, participation, and building partnerships at all levels are vital elements of the policy. These activities are critical to ensure access to water by the poor, as well as their representation in water resources management and development decisions.
Improve Governance. Improving governance over water resources is a crosscutting theme in all aspects of water management and water service delivery. Decentralization, devolution, capacity development, strengthening institutions, improving monitoring, and fostering learning and research at all levels are important activities that ADB will support through its lending and technical assistance programs.
ADB launched three initiatives in 2002 to facilitate the implementation of the policy.
A Water Sector Committee was created under the newly reorganized ADB. The committee is made up of ADB staff members and gives strategic guidance and other support to help mainstream the water policy objectives into ADB operations.
A Water Sector Network was initiated in 2002 to stimulate knowledge management and make it easier for ADB’s water staff members to draw on each other’s resources and link to external knowledge centers and networks.
ADB established a Cooperation Fund for the Water Sector, a multidonor facility to promote effective water management policy and practices at the regional, subregional, and country levels of ADB DMCs and help catalyze the implementation of ADB’s water policy. The fund has six categories of activities that it supports to achieve its goals: promotion and public awareness; knowledge base and capacity building; pilot demonstration; water partnerships; regional events and initiatives; and program coordination, monitoring, and evaluation. Initial contributions to the fund have come from the Government of the Netherlands, with other countries now considering making contributions.
The water focal point in the Regional and Sustainable Development Department, with oversight from the Water Sector Committee, directs the use of the fund to manage a program that supports implementation of the water policy’s objectives. The principal goal of these activities is to move from policy to practice and implementation— from rhetoric to action—to ensure that there will truly be clean water for all poor people in ADB’s DMCs.
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