Providing international support for drinking water supply and sanitation programmes

Pursuing collectively the aims of: (a) access to drinking water for everyone; (b) provision of sanitation for everyone within a framework of integrated water-management systems aimed at sustainable use of water resources, ambient water quality which does not endanger human health, and protection of water ecosystems.

This strategy features in the framework of Agenda 21 as formulated at UNCED (Rio de Janeiro, 1992), now coordinated by the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development and implemented through national and local authorities. Agenda 21 recommends international support mechanisms for programme funding, implementation and follow-up.

Article 1 of the 1999 Draft Protocol on Water and Health to the 1992 Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes, states: The objective of this Protocol is to promote at all appropriate levels, nationally as well as in transboundary and international contexts, the protection of human health and well-being, both individual and collective, within a framework of sustainable development, through improving water management, including the protection of water ecosystems, and through preventing, controlling and reducing water-related disease.

Article 14 of the 1999 Draft Protocol on Water and Health to the 1992 Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes, states: the Parties shall, in particular, consider how they can best help to promote: (a) preparation of water-management plans in transboundary, national and/or local contexts and of schemes for improving water supply and sanitation; (b) improved formulation of projects, especially infrastructure projects, in pursuance of such plans and schemes, in order to facilitate access to sources of finance; (c) effective execution of such projects; (d) establishment of systems for surveillance and early-warning systems, contingency plans and response capacities in relation to water-related disease; (e) preparation of legislation needed to support the implementation of this Protocol; (f) education and training of key professional and technical staff; (g) research into, and development of, cost-effective means and techniques for preventing, controlling and reducing water-related disease; (h) operation of effective networks to monitor and assess the provision and quality of water-related services, and development of integrated information systems and databases; (i) achievement of quality assurance for monitoring activities, including inter-laboratory comparability.