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Sectors and Themes Water Library Books Tracking Progress in Asia and the Pacific
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Comparative Analysis of Water Sector Reforms
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The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will help develop comprehensive water policies in the DMCs.
Assistance for undertaking water sector assessments will be provided to ensure that policy formulation and sector reforms are well grounded.
Because project planning and implementation are commonly fragmented among many institutions, ADB will support the optimization of agency functions for planning and implementation. It will also focus on the development of effective cross-sector coordination mechanisms, such as a neutral sector apex body that can oversee the policy formulation and sector reform process.
Support will be provided for the review and revision of water legislation particularly in the areas of water rights and allocation among competing uses, water quality standards, groundwater use, demand management, resource conservation, private participation, and institutional responsibilities for water sector functions at national, regional or basin, local, and community levels.
ADB will help the DMCs introduce integrated water resources management (IWRM) and undertake comprehensive water resources assessments in river basins as a basis for future water investment projects
To implement IWRM, ADB will support the establishment of river basin organizations (both formal and informal) to facilitate stakeholder consultation and participation, and to help improve planning, information gathering, monitoring, and advisory services to local and national authorities.
ADB will encourage the DMCs to adopt participatory and negotiated approaches for water allocation.
ADB will adopt a cautious approach to large water resources projects?particularly those involving dams and storage?given the record of environmental and social hazards associated with such projects. All such projects will need to be justified in the public interest, and all government and nongovernment stakeholders in the country must agree on the justification.
Where the risks are acceptable and ADB's involvement necessary, ADB will ensure that its environmental and social impact assessment procedures are rigorously applied. Any adverse environmental effects will be properly mitigated, the number of affected people in the project area will be minimized, and those adversely affected will be adequately compensated in accordance with ADB's policy on involuntary resettlement.
In line with its energy sector policy, ADB will continue to extend its support for technically and economically feasible hydropower projects that form part of a country's least-cost energy development plan, provided that their environmental (including impact on fisheries) and social effects can be satisfactorily managed in accordance with ADB policies.
To help stakeholders address water quality issues, ADB will support water quality investment programs that focus on four existing gaps: (i) knowledge development of the impact of human activities on water quality, and of water quality requirements for ecosystems, including determination of water quality thresholds; (ii) management of land conversion, including protection of catchments and wetlands, which are the natural filters in many aquatic systems, and pollution prevention at source; (iii) improving water management to reduce the inefficient use of water, excessive water abstraction, and groundwater pumping leading to salinization; and (iv) reducing pollution by urban and industrial users, through on-site or combined wastewater treatment and reuse, and improved farming practices.
The introduction of wastewater discharge permits and effluent charges as part of water rights administration will be encouraged.
ADB will pursue the protection and rehabilitation of degraded forestlands. To rehabilitate watersheds, ADB encourages the involvement of local communities and nongovernment organizations (NGOs).
Wetlands have important functions in the river basin, including flood alleviation, groundwater recharge, water quality improvement, ecosystem maintenance, and biodiversity conservation. ADB will promote wetland conservation and improvement in a river basin context.
ADB will continue to help the DMCs reduce economic losses from floods and rapidly restore economic infrastructure and social services after such disasters.
ADB will seek to increase its understanding of the effects of periodic El Niņo and La Niņa events on climatic patterns, and share its knowledge and experience with the DMCs.
ADB will adopt a proactive approach to reduce the severe economic and social costs of natural disasters by promoting the use of combined structural and nonstructural approaches to flood protection, including flood-risk insurance.
Poverty reduction will be targeted by carefully formulating flood management projects, and negative impacts will be eliminated by ensuring compensation for loss of assets or livelihoods and assistance in reestablishing productive activities.
ADB's sector strategies within countries will identify the need for introducing phased programs to increase the autonomy and accountability of service providers, either as new enterprises or by reorganizing existing agencies.
ADB will develop modalities for public-private partnerships in the management of physical infrastructure.
User participation will also be supported to (i) make services and service providers more responsive and accountable to beneficiaries; (ii) align the provision of services with users' needs and ability to pay, thereby improving cost recovery and sustainability; and (iii) tailor institutional arrangements for water service management to local practices. Participation will be the cornerstone of ADB's country water sector strategies; institutional arrangements for participation, particularly at the community level, will be strengthened.
The autonomy of service providers, especially in terms of staffing and tariffs, but not privatization, is typically the central issue in urban water supply and sanitation systems. ADB will support the upgrading of existing systems in physical and managerial terms.
ADB will help develop contracting modalities that allow potential investors to participate in the expansion and improvement of services. In particular, contracts that address social equity concerns and improve water and sanitation services to the poor will be developed.
Subsidies for operating and maintaining public irrigation and drainage systems will be phased out.
The phased turnover of responsibilities for distribution system operation and maintenance to farmer groups will improve system sustainability. Correspondingly, the collective and individual rights and responsibilities of water users (including poor and marginal farmers at the tail end of irrigation systems), service providers, and public agencies will be clarified and agreed.
ADB will seek to initiate monitoring and benchmarking exercises for irrigation and drainage service providers to track value and performance parameters.
ADB will promote tariff reforms through water-related projects and programs to modify structures and rates so that they reward conservation and penalize waste.
ADB will consistently advise governments of the need to adopt cost recovery principles in their water policies and strategies.
ADB will continue to press for and support policies that provide for explicit participation of the poor in water-related projects; simultaneously, it will promote the phased elimination of direct subsidies to the poor for accessing basic water services in line with an increase in affordability levels.
ADB will promote the establishment of regulatory systems through policy dialogue with the DMCs and by leveraging loan and technical assistance programs to this end.
In its water-related projects and programs, ADB will incorporate components that educate the industry on the efficient use of water, and the need for higher prices for both water use and effluent treatment and discharge.
By assisting with water sector assessments in riparian countries, and helping with the exchange of data, ADB will promote awareness and understanding of water resources issues and needs within each country.
Based on joint requests from riparian countries, ADB will support joint projects for the planning, development, and management of shared water resources, including the mapping of physical and institutional resources, information sharing, and establishment of a regional legal regime encompassing dispute resolution mechanisms.
Given its ability, neutrality, and comparative advantage in providing assistance of this nature, ADB will assist governments to develop collaborative frameworks with riparian stakeholders. These will include an assessment of the downstream impact of any ADB-financed water project, in a river basin context.
Strategically, ADB will accord higher priority to the optimization of existing systems. In line with this approach, and subject to joint requests made by governments concerned, ADB will be prepared to help operationalize international arrangements to manage river systems.
ADB will promote participation in the management of water resources at all levels and collaborate in fashioning partnerships between governments, private agencies, NGOs, and communities.
Water projects supported by ADB will incorporate carefully designed components that promote the participation of civil society in identifying needs and issues, designing solutions, and establishing mechanisms for monitoring and dispute resolution.
The key elements in a gender approach to planning, implementing, and evaluating of water sector activities are (i) including a gender analysis at the design stage, (ii) incorporating explicit gender equity provisions in the objectives and scope of the activity, and (iii) disaggregating data in monitoring and management information systems along gender lines. These elements will be incorporated in ADB's water sector operations.
ADB will promote the development of sustainable plans for capacity building; these will include the establishment of indigenous institutional arrangements for skills development at basic and advanced levels. The plans will incorporate processes that allow the sharing of subregional or regional experiences.
To optimize the work of knowledge and skills development institutions, and to promote regional self-help, a regional research and capacity-building network among these institutions would provide a cost-effective approach. ADB will continue dialogue with its development partners to jointly establish the network as a complementary capacity-building ingredient in the water sector.
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