Second Environmental Performance Review of Albania

Chapter 6: Sustainable management of water resources93important procedures and approaches in integratedwater resources management.There is a lack of an updated and comprehensivewater resources management strategy, including midtermand long-term financial planning andcorresponding prioritization for investments in thedifferent sectors in Albania. As a result, investmentdecisions are made on the basis of a single-sectorconsideration and priority, leading to suboptimalinvestments and lost opportunities for capturingmulti-purpose benefits. In spite of the recentlycompleted Mati River Basin Pilot Management Plan,there is a lack of action plans, especially RBMPs toact as a framework, guideline and schedule for allaction to take place in a river basin. Despite the factthat the Law on Water Resources requests thepreparation of RBMPs, the procedures for drafting,reviewing and approving these plans, have not yetbeen adopted.Recommendation 6.3:The Ministry of Environment, Forests and WaterAdministration should:(a) Finalize and adopt the national strategy forintegrated management of water resources;(b) Implement the following components of theMati River Basin Pilot Management Plan:development of specific quality objectives forall water body types, economic analysis ofwater pollution and water management,stakeholders’ involvement, publicparticipation and awareness;(c) Adopt a special regulation which defines anddescribes the procedures for drafting,reviewing and approving river basinmanagement plans;(d) Develop river basin management plans for allriver basins.Most of the existing water utilities in Albania are notable to cover operating costs. This is linked to aseries of causes: an inadequate and poorly maintainedinfrastructure in each of the water-using sectors, withexorbitant water losses in the supply network, waterabuses due to illegal connections to the mainpipelines, the lack of individual water metering andoperational control, low revenue collection rates,inappropriate pricing of water and the absence ofinstitutional coordination.However, there are water utilities with a positivefinancial balance. Concerning the adaptation andrebuilding of the infrastructure in water supply andsewerage systems, an essential barrier is the lack ofintegrated land-use planning which results in poorlyplanned and regulated construction activity.Recommendation 6.4:The Government should ensure the implementation ofthe 2011 National Strategy of Water Supply andSewerage Services Sector by:(a) Restructuring and reforming the existingwater utilities, which are not able to covercosts, taking the water utilities in Elbasan andKavaja as examples of best practice;(b) Investing in alternative low-cost facilities thatare easy to maintain, extend and upgrade, andhave low energy consumption;(c) Implementing integrated land-use planningwhich takes into account the water supply andsewerage infrastructure system; andconnecting road construction activities withconstruction activities for new water supplyand sewerage systems.