Water for people.pdf - WHO Thailand Digital Repository

5 1 4 / F I T T I N G T H E P I E C E S T O G E T H E RThe World’s Water Crisis: Fitting the Pieces Togetherpopulation, the region is characterized by problems typically faced bysmall island states: these include the risks associated with climatechange, an abundance of fragile ecosystems and vulnerability to watershortages at certain times of the year.Country situationsIt is beyond the scope of this first World Water Development Reportto assess the state of water in individual countries. We note onlythat sources do exist, which may be explored in more depth infuture assessment exercises.First and foremost, there are the offices of national statistics ineach country. Also, over 100 national water ministries maintainhomepages on the Internet.Second, there are the publicly available reports that memberstates have submitted to the United Nations system, and particularlyto the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD). Agenda 21recommended that countries consider preparing national reports onimplementation of Agenda 21 and communicate this information tothe CSD. Governments began submitting reports as early as 1993(see table 23.1).Third, there is much national information available within the UNsystem. For example, at the end of each challenge area, we havepresented links to web sites where further information may besourced by those with Internet access. Further, country reports onparticular thematic issues have been produced by the UN system inconcert with member states. Two series in particular stand out: first,the region reports in support of the Water Supply and SanitationSector Assessment, under the auspices of the World HealthOrganization (WHO), (the generic contents of the country reports arepresented in box 23.3), and, second, the regional ‘irrigation’ reportsproduced by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Theselatter cover geography and population, climate and water resources,irrigation and drainage development, institutional environment, andtrends in water resources management for each region.Looking at the situation as it now stands, the balance sheet ismixed and largely biased towards developed regions of the world interms of all the challenges that must be faced. Although efforts arebeing made on all levels and at all scales, how far have we reallycome? And how far still do we still have to go?Box 23.3: Generic content of water supply and sanitation sector country profiles1. Background1.1 General1.2 Water resources1.3 Health and hygiene education2. Coverage2.1 Current water supply and sanitation coverage (brokendown by urban/rural and type of coverage)2.2 Operational aspects (water systems providing intermittentsupplies, use of disinfectants, rural system functioning,treatment of wastewater from public sewers)2.3 Water quality standards and effectiveness2.4 Population projection2.5 Coverage trends2.6 Coverage targets3. Largest city (population, growth, water production,metering, Unaccounted-for-Water and otheroperational aspects)4. Costs and investment4.1 Costs and tariffs (average water production cost,water tariff, sewage tariff)4.2 User charges (water supply and sanitation)4.3 Construction costs (water supply and sanitation)5. Policy, planning and institutions5.1 Water supply and sanitation policy5.2 Existence of national water supply and sanitation plan5.3 Key sector institutions5.4 External support organizations6. Collaboration and coordination7. New approaches8. Major constraints to sector development9. Contact point/agency for further information