Executive summary

The need to reform water policies is as urgent as ever. Yet governments around the world face significant challenges in managing their water resources effectively. The problems are multiple and complex: billions of people are still without access to safe water and adequate sanitation competition for water is increasing among the different uses and users and major investment is required to maintain and improve water infrastructure in OECD and non-OECD countries. Population growth, urbanisation, and changing lifestyles as a result of economic growth are key drivers of these challenges, while increasing spatial and temporal water variability resulting from climate change will exacerbate these pressures. Despite progress on many fronts, including on reaching the Millennium Development Goals on water and sanitation, in 2008 an estimated 141 million city dwellers and 743 million rural dwellers remained without access to an improved water source, and an estimated 2.6 billion people without access to sanitation.