THE fiscal pressure on Governments at the country, state and local levels
can reduce if opinion leaders in Asia and Pacific countries facilitate
appropriate water tariff and other reforms taking into view water-food-energy
nexus.
This is the obvious message from Asian Development Report’s
(ADB’s) Asian Water Development Outlook 2013 that has made several
recommendations as “key messages for leaders”.
The report says:
“Well-designed tariff structures with effective information, education, and
communication programs can reduce water demand substantially. Cities should
increase investment in reducing non-revenue water, consider the potential to
improve water services by establishing autonomous and accountable providers,
increase price signals to users by improving metering and collection of service
charges, implement tariff structures to support financial sustainability, and
invest in inclusive public awareness programs to highlight water
issues.”
Urging leaders to embrace the challenge of
water-food-energy nexus, the report says: “Energy production is a large user of
water resources, and in turn, the water sector is a large user of energy.
Strategies to promote increased water productivity may include those to control
pumping by charging appropriate tariffs for electricity used to pump groundwater
for irrigation or investing in separate grids to enable power rationing for
agricultural uses.”
Plugging for corporatization of utilities, the report
contends corporatization increases their autonomy and accountability. It says:
“These are key success factors for improving performance through better
water governance and for attracting much needed financing to expand networks and
improve the quality and sustainability of water services.”
It adds:
“Adoption of corporate-style governance and procedures, referred to as
‘corporatization,’ is a key for success in unlocking utility performance to
deliver better water services for customers, with tariffs supporting cost
recovery.”
As regards policy initiatives for financing of water
supply and sanitation services, the report calls for certain initiatives such as
authorizing appropriate user fees, with targeted subsidies for the poor and
integrating financing for water supply and sanitation into national budget and
accounts systems.
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