Water - Progress on Implementation

Progress on Implementation

Since the start of the Water Resources Sector Strategy (pdf) in 2003, significant progress has been made in implementation. Annual average lending rose dramatically between Financial Years 2000-2003 and 2004-2007:

	Water Supply & Sanitation: US$1.0 billion to US$1.8 billion
	Irrigation & Drainage: US$260 million to US$800 million
	Water Resources Management: US$270 million to US$550 million
	Hydropower: US$206 million to US$350 million

Analytical and advisory activities have grown in line with the lending portfolio. Bank assistance for strategic planning in water has expanded and a dozen country water resources assistance strategies have been completed.

Global programs implemented by the Bank have expanded too. The renewed Bank-Netherlands Water Partnership Program has a US$28 million trust fund program to be administered through June 2009. The Water and Sanitation Program has increased in size, among other through a US$28.5 million donation of the Gates Foundation for piloting the promotion of sanitation and hygiene at scale, in the spirit of the MDGs.

Because of the nature of water resources management, aggregate impact measures of our water resources interventions are not available. However, on-the-ground results can be highlighted in six critical areas:

	Developing policy and legal framework
	Building institutions and capacity
	Transboundary river management
	Increased water efficiency and agricultural yields
	Environmental and social benefits
	Cross-sectoral management

In water supply and sanitation, projects that closed in 2000-04 provided improved WSS services to roughly 40 million people. Several design features have proved important for sustainable service delivery:

	Use of demand-responsive approaches
	Managing services at the lowest appropriate level
	Adherence to cost recovery policies combined with transparent subsidies for the poor
	Use of appropriate technologies and standards to ensure cost effectiveness
	A shift from sewerage to on-site sanitation and hygiene promotion programs
	Tailoring the management models to the country context, including through public-private partnerships
	Recognition that regulation cannot substitute for good governance.

Support for irrigation and drainage is guided by three corporate strategies — for Rural Development, Water Resources Management, and the Environment. In 1994–2004, IDA-supported agricultural water projects directly benefited more than 60 million people. Due to the changing context, interventions have been redirected away from a narrow focus on irrigation and drainage and towards a broader agricultural water management approach. The World Bank has taken the lead in committing to this new approach, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, where improvements in agricultural water management have the greatest potential impact.

Support for hydropower has increased as the Bank makes a deliberate return to more substantial generation projects (new or rehabilitation) and an increased role of the Bank in financial architecture and strengthening project quality and governance, building on the strategic direction set out in the 2003 Water Resources Sector Strategy (pdf). More recently, the Bank’s focus on climate change through the Clean Energy Investment Framework (pdf) has reinforced the role of hydro infrastructure for both clean energy and adaptation.