Promoting Water Security and Sustainability with Equity
USAID is working to promote water security and sustainability with equity in
developing countries. Water security and sustainability with equity simultaneously
considers the need for human access to safe and affordable water for health and
well-being, the assurance of economic and political stability, the protection
of human populations from the risks of water-related hazards, the equitable and
cooperative sharing of water resources, the complete and fair valuation of the
resource, and the sustainability of ecosystems at all parts of the hydrologic
cycle.
In order to achieve its vision of promoting water security and sustainability with
equity, USAID implements activities in four main categories. These
include: 1) Water Supply, Sanitation, and Hygiene; 2) Water Resources
Management; 3) Water Productivity; and, 4) Disaster Risk Reduction.
Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (WSSH)
USAID’s water supply projects and related activities specifically address the provision
of clean and adequate supplies of drinking water to rural and urban
communities, and the promotion of practices that protect these supplies from
contamination by improper handling of domestic water and household waste and
inadequate sanitation. Specific water
and sanitation activities include water well development, improvement, or
rehabilitation; water delivery systems; removal of contaminants through both
large-scale water treatment and small-scale or household point-of-use
treatment; and drinking water source protection. In addition, USAID focuses on improving hygiene
behaviors at the community and household-level through activities targeted at
enhancing the knowledge and availability of resources needed for proper hygiene
practices. USAID activities also address
the need to improve the capacity of city governments and both public and
private organizations to deliver potable water and sanitation infrastructure
services in a sustainable, cost-effective, and water-efficient manner.
Water Resources Management (WRM)
Water resources and watershed management activities promote the conservation and
sustainable use of water resources in freshwater and coastal areas, thereby
protecting the quality of surface water and groundwater for drinking,
irrigation, and other uses, while maintaining aquatic ecosystem services
provided by rivers, lakes, aquifers, fisheries, wetlands, and coastal
environments. Water resources management
also addresses a wide array of land uses within watersheds that may cause local
impacts, while also affecting downstream communities and ecosystems. Integrated
water resources management (IWRM), water quality protection, and pollution
prevention and control support the management of ground and surface water and
their watersheds.
Water Productivity and Efficiency (WP)
Economic activities, ranging from agriculture and mining to industrial production,
require a dependable water supply. Food
production is completely dependent on predictable and high-quality supplies of
freshwater or healthy estuarine and marine waters for sustainable fisheries. Approximately 80 percent of all human
freshwater use in the world is devoted to agricultural production, often in
irrigation systems that are inefficient and environmentally unsustainable. Water productivity improvement activities
include irrigation improvement and livestock water supply, and improved
water-related agricultural soil and water management practices, fisheries
management, and aquaculture.
Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR)
Water is a key variable in the causes and impacts of many natural disasters. In fact, 90 percent of disaster events are
caused by water/climate-related hazards, such as floods, droughts, hurricanes,
storm surges, and landslides. Many of
these so-called “natural” disasters, however, are avoidable -- caused or
exacerbated by poor management of land and water resources, or inadequate
disaster planning, preparation, and response. As climate change increases the frequency and
intensity of extreme weather, the number of water-related disasters is expected
to rise. USAID/Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance
(OFDA) works closely with communities, national and local governments,
international and regional organizations, and NGOs to identify, manage, and
strengthen capacity at all levels in order to increase resilience to climate-,
weather-, and water-induced disasters. Hydrometeorological
DRR activities have strong linkages to the management of natural resources,
such as water, thus building resilience to better enable countries and
communities to prepare for and cope with serious events when they occur.
