Water for people.pdf - WHO Thailand Digital Repository

3 2 6 / M A N A G E M E N T C H A L L E N G E S : S T E W A R D S H I P A N D G O V E R N A N C ERecognizing and Valuing the Many Faces of WaterTHE FOURTH GUIDING PRINCIPLE of the Dublin Statement 1 , that ‘water has an economic value in all its competing usesand should be recognized as an economic good’, is immediately followed by an important qualifier: ‘it is vital torecognize the basic right of all human beings to have access to clean water and sanitation at an affordable cost’.Although this principle is not directly quoted in Agenda 21 (UN, 1992), it is however detailed in Chapter 18 on FreshwaterResources (see box 13.1), with emphasis placed on the drinking water supply and sanitation subsector. Both the DublinStatement and Agenda 21 wittingly or unwittingly tried to revise the conventional wisdom on the right of usage through‘prior appropriation’ in order to take into account the social, economic and environmental values of water. The term‘economic value of water’ was commonly referred to as the value imputed to its use in the productive process to emphasizethat water should have a price. Because of this misunderstanding, several controversies have emerged in different parts ofthe world. This situation makes all the more clear the need for strategic approaches to freshwater management to be basedon a set of well-defined principles so that they may progressively work towards the goals of equity and sustainability.The equity concept in water use and management has beenrecognized as a central theme in the current debate on water issuesdiscussed at the global level, notably in the sixth edition of theUnited Nations Commission for Sustainable Development (UNCSD,1998), in the Ministerial Declarations of the Hague (2000) and Bonn(2001), and in the definition of the Millennium Development Goals(UN, 2000). This concept provides a direction towards maximizingthe value of water among its various uses, while promoting‘equitable access and adequate supplies’. This chapter gives dueBox 13.1: Water valuation and Agenda 21Chapter 18 of Agenda 21 recommends the followingeconomic measures for water management:consideration to these goals while reporting on progress made inthe area of valuing water.In recent international forums, it has been more clearly acceptedthat different users perceive the value of water differently. From autility perspective, the same quality and quantity of water providedistinctly different values to consumers in different parts of theworld. The value of water to people for domestic purposes is linkedto their ability to pay, the use of the water (drinking, bathing,laundry, toilet flushing, garden watering), the availability ofchanging perception and attitude so that ‘some for all ratherthan more for some’ be fully reflected in valuing water.■ Promoting schemes for rational water use through levyingof water tariffs and other economic instruments, includingthe need for evaluation/testing of charging options thatreflect true costs and ability to pay and for undertakingstudies on willingness to pay.■ Charging mechanisms should reflect true cost and abilityto pay.■ Developing transparent and participative planning effortsreflecting benefits, investment, protection, operation andmaintenance (O&M) costs, and opportunity costs of themost valuable alternative use.■ Managing demand be based on conservation/reusemeasures, resource assessment and financial instruments;■ Developing sound financial practices, achieved throughbetter management of existing assets, and widespread useof appropriate technologies are necessary to improveaccess to safe water and sanitation for all.■ In urban areas, for efficient and equitable allocation ofwater resources, introducing water tariffs, taking intoaccount different circumstances and, where affordable,reflecting the marginal and opportunity cost of water,especially for productive activities.■ In rural areas, providing access to water supply andsanitation for the unserved rural poor will require suitablecost recovery mechanisms, taking into account efficiencyand equity through demand management.1. The International Conference on Water and the Environment (ICWE), from which emerged the Dublin Statement, provided the major input for water to the United NationsConference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992.