Utility Week

18 | 17TH - 23RD MAY 2019 | UTILITY WEEK Policy & Regulation Analysis W hen Environment Agency chief Sir James Bevan spoke recently at a Waterwise conference, he told delegates that the UK was perhaps just 25 years away from not having enough water to meet demand. His warning of an "existential threat" was stark. But while in this country we are used to a plentiful supply of water, much of the rest of the world cannot say the same. Virginia Newton-Lewis, a senior policy analyst at charity WaterAid, welcomes the fact that Bevan's "Jaws of Death" speech has helped to put water efficiency on the agenda. It may even help to raise the charity's profile as it pursues its core mission to help ensure that everyone, everywhere has access to clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene, as outlined in the UN's Sustainable Develop- ment Goals. Enormous challenge The scale of the challenge facing WaterAid is immense. There are 844 million people worldwide – a staggering one in nine – who don't have access to clean water close to home. Depending on the country, the rea- son for this can be competition for scare resources, exacerbated by the impact of cli- mate change, or it could be due to economic factors and a lack of political will. "It's an enormous challenge," Newton- Lewis says. "How do we get people water of adequate quality and quantity so they can carry out their basic daily drinking, cooking, washing, hygiene, and maybe some small- scale kitchen garden watering? It's about reaching the most marginalised groups who are le• behind. They are our priority focus. This is a basic, basic human right. We're not talking about giving them a power shower." WaterAid is an international non-govern- mental organisation set up by the UK water industry in 1981 as a response to the UN International Drinking Water decade (1981- 90), the aim of which was to make access to clean drinking water available across the world. Fast-forward 38 years and today the charity enhances the lives of millions of peo- ple every year, working in 28 countries sup- ported by offices in the UK, US, Australia, Sweden, Canada, Japan and India. "It is an amazing organisation – the things that go on at a country programme level are quite inspiring," she says. But as Newton-Lewis explains, it is sus- tainability and continuity of services that is key, and the charity recognises that suc- cess depends on more than simply building toilets or digging bore wells. It's also about strengthening systems, and supporting and encouraging governments – by naming and shaming where necessary – to work in effec- tive ways. "It's about making sure that with any water supply schemes we put in – whether it's a community management system, a bore well or latrine block – when we go back two, three, four years later, the enabling sys- tems and pieces of infrastructure will still be working in the ways the community need them to." She continues: "In so many of the places where we work, the water or sanitation cri- sis isn't solely a problem of technology. The fundamental issue is whether you have management arrangements in place and whether you have provided something that the community wants and needs and not just something that you think they need. People will o•en say 'we have a water problem or a sanitation problem'. They don't o•en come to us and say 'we've got an accountability problem'." Institutional donors such as the World Bank and the UK government's Department for International Development (Dfid) also recognise that system strengthening and governance is critical to programme suc- cess, Newton-Lewis says. In practical terms, A source of support Utilities are helping WaterAid ensure the poorest people in the world have access to clean water. Rachel Wilcox reports on why it's much more than ticking the CSR box.

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