SBR- Content.pmd - INBO

12 - Domestic water and sanitationAmong the major institutional and structural challenges addressed in various LMB policy papersare the need to: (a) improve the design, implementation and management of water and sanitationservices in both rural and urban areas through identification of affordable, sustainable and equitablesolutions; (b) better integrate domestic water and sanitation within the context of water resourcesmanagement as a whole, with emphasis on quality as well as quantity; (c) enhance the capacity ofcountries to design, mobilise and manage operational support and investment from a wider group ofpartners; (d) match the provision and type of services with the users’ willingness to pay (economicdemand), while at the same time providing initial help to ensure basic services to those who cannotafford to pay the full costs; (e) demonstrate best practices and share information to encourage wideruse of these; and (f) apply, monitor, learn from and adapt new strategies in support of these principles,in accordance with international consensus.The importance of improving domestic water and sanitation in the LMB has been recognised by theMekong River Commission and will be a key consideration as MRC develops its Basin DevelopmentPlan by 2004. MRC also recognises that domestic water and sanitation are important transboundaryconsiderations. Other agencies with Mekong Basin programmes such as ADB’s Greater MekongSubregion initiative, the World Bank Water and Sanitation Program for East Asia and the Pacific(WSP-EAP) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have also made domestic water andsanitation an important focus.3. Country and basin-wide issuesAlongside the strategic issues related to the development and management of the sector alreadypresented in the previous section, there are a number of more specific issues, at both country andbasin level, that also affect domestic water and sanitation in the LMB. Some selected illustrationsare presented, followed by a more-detailed review of what is likely to be a paramount basin-wideissue: water quality.3.1 Some factors impacting on the provision of domestic water and sanitation3.1.1 DroughtDrought is a frequent concern, particularlyin Northeast Thailand. In 1992 and 1994,droughts in this part of the basin seriouslyreduced domestic water supplies in the dryseason. The consequences of droughts in theNortheast could be made worse if plans arefollowed through to divert Mekong waterinto the Chao Praya River system fordomestic, agricultural and industrial use incentral Thailand. 33.1.2 Saline intrusionIn Northeast Thailand, droughts can seriously reducedomestic water supplies in the dry seasonIf dams and irrigation withdrawals upstream and potential drought reduce the volume of waterreaching the Mekong Delta in Viet Nam, the intrusion of saline tidal water could increase significantlyand threaten surface and groundwater sources, as well as agricultural land (Box 3).247