Emerging Asian economies need a new approach to attain water security if they expect to achieve a sustainable and equitable growth in the region, experts here said.
An innovative approach is especially crucial because most countries in Asia and the Pacific are unlikely to meet their Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of reducing by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015.
A new approach is also necessary because in the post-MDG era, there is a need for policy makers in the region to sustain the gains they made to expand access to potable water supply and basic sanitation.
According to Ian Makin, principal water resources specialist at the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the region has to adopt corporate-style governance in managing public water supply and sanitation.
"Many countries still have multiple agencies with responsibilities for water. This often leads to ineffective planning and utilization of available resources, including water, human and financial resources," Makin said.
He added that all countries in the region need to take "a long, hard look at the institutional arrangements for water planning and management."
Amy Leung, ADB's director for Southeast Asia's urban development and water division, is not optimistic that developing Asia will meet all its water-related MDGs in the next two years.
"Many countries in the region will reach their target for water supply but many will also fall short of their target for sanitation," Leung said.
Leung said this is "deeply worrying" since failure to fulfill sanitation MDG means over 690 million people would "suffer the indignity of open-defecation and associated health risks."
Indeed, the latest MDG progress report issued last year by WHO/ UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation revealed that, as of 2010, the global target for drinking water has been met with China and India leading the progress in East Asia and South Asian region, respectively.
Almost half of the 2 billion people who have gained access to drinking water since 1990 live in China or India. That said, these two countries are still home to 216 million people who have no access to improved water supply.
The same report also revealed that four out of 10 people who have gained access to improved sanitation since 1990 live in China or India. Despite this progress, about 2.5 billion people around the world are still living without improved sanitation.
And while China has made significant progress in improving sanitation, and in fact leads the East Asian region in this regard, in India, more than 600 million people still practice open defecation.
The data presented in this report was validated in the Asian Water Development Outlook (AWDO) 2013 released last month and jointly prepared by the ADB and the Asia Pacific-Water Forum (APWF) .
AWDO revealed that 37 out of 49 countries included in the study are facing a water crisis. South Asian and Pacific island countries are "hot spots" with lowest coverage when it comes to water security.
In a region which is home to some of the world's fastest growing economies and with easy access to high-end technology, it seems ironic that millions of people are still living without potable water supply and improved sanitation facilities.
According to AWDO, this is due to rising population, urbanization, lack of public investments, outdated policies and institutions. It estimates that the region needs to invest 59 billion U.S. dollars to expand access to safe drinking water and pour in 71 billion U.S. dollars for improved sanitation.
But more than inadequate funding or urbanization, it's the problem over water governance that continues to keep most countries in the region from improving their sanitation and potable water supply.
"The lack of transparent water governance structures hampers many countries as they seek to advance without reform of the existing complex, overlapping agencies," Leung said.
She said that in order for developing economies to make progress or sustain gains in providing improved sanitation and safe drinking water to a greater number of people, governments in the region need "to get serious about delivering change."
"They need to lead and help stimulate demand for these services, and must create the right enabling environment and governance structures to enable effective delivery of services for all," she said.
Makin said improving water security is a complex task and the priority areas will depend on the local context. "There's no uniform solution for the water crisis that's facing the region," he said.
"What is clear is that the business- as-usual attitude with uncoordinated investments in the sector will not provide for a water secure future," Makin said.
