Resilient Asset Management and Governance Fordeteriorating Water Services Infrastructure

This paper argues that strategic asset management and a sound regulatory regime are required urgently if we want to change the current paradigm of aging and decaying water services infrastructure and expand the coverage of improved water services in the developing economies. In the OECD countries access to safe water supply and sanitation has largely been ensured through substantial investment over many decades. Yet, significant investments will still be required to rehabilitate the existing infrastructures, to bring them into conformity with more stringent environmental and health regulations, and to maintain service quality in the future. In the non-OECD countries the challenges are more daunting. Large parts of their population have no access and many suffer from unsatisfactory services. Nearly one billion people lack access to clean drinking water and 2.6 billion people lack access to improved sanitation services.Lack of sound economic regulatory frameworks and enforcement regimes, and poor asset management practices, in particular underpricing of water services is a common problem throughout the world.