Many countries are confronted with problems associated with inadequate supplies of drinking water, wastewater management and basic sanitation. More than half of the world’s population will suffer from water shortages by the year 2015 if this problem is not dealt with. The consequences of this will be disease, poverty, environmental degradation and economic stagnation.

With the Millennium Development Goals, the international community has committed itself to halving the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015. This requires a number of actions on all levels of development cooperation right up to the international political arena.

The task of the international political level is to establish the institutional framework for worldwide action. On a national level, it is necessary to implement modern water policy principles, to create adequate institutional and legal frameworks as well as efficient organisations and effective administrative structures.

On behalf of the German Government, GTZ contributes to achieving these aims. Various recent success can be highlighted: assisting Jordan to develop a master plan for water, support provided in Bolivia in the democratic election of supervisory representatives for water companies or the organisation of the International Conference on Freshwater in Bonn.