National Strategy for Water Supply and Sanitation 2014.

The National Strategy for Water Supply and Sanitation 2014 is an integral part of the Sector Development Plan (SDP) 2011-2025 for water and sanitation sector in Bangladesh. The Strategy will be for a period of five years starting from 2014. The Goal of the Strategy is: Safe and sustainable water supply, sanitation and hygiene services for all, leading to better health and well-being. For achieving the sector goal, the objective of the National Strategy is set up: To provide a uniform strategic guideline to the sector stakeholders, including the government institutions, private sector and NGOs.
The Strategy seeks to contribute to reducing rural poverty. The Strategy's guiding principles include: 1. Regard water supply and sanitation as human rights. 2. Consider water as a public good that has economic and social value. 3. Ensure drinking water security through integrated water resource management. 4. Promote water supply, sanitation and hygiene components in all WASH development programs in an integrated manner. 5. Adopt a participatory, demand driven and inclusive approach in all stages of WASH service delivery programs. 6. Recognize importance of gender in all WASH activities. 7. Ensure equity in services by giving priority to arsenic affected areas, hard-to-reach areas, water-stressed areas and vulnerable people. In accordance with the guiding principles, a set of seventeen strategies have been formulated. The are broadly grouped into three themes- (a) WASH Interventions- increasing the coverage and improving the quality of WASH interventions, (b) Emerging challenges- addressing the emerging challenges in the sector, and (c) Sector Governance- strengthening sector governance. Strategies under theme (a) are: 1. Ensure safe drinking water ; 2. Give priority to arsenic mitigation; 3. Undertake specific approaches for hard to reach areas and vulnerable people ; 4: Move ahead on the sanitation ladder; 5. Establish fecal sludge management ; 6.Manage solid waste judiciously ; 7. Improve hygiene promotion; 8. Mainstream gender ; 9. Facilitate private sector participation. The Strategy proposes: Give priority to the extreme poor for services and subsidy in cases of all water supply and sanitation facilities; Establish progressive tariff for piped water supply and sewerage systems and include a lifeline tariff for poor for basic level services; Subsidize the capital cost in cases of vulnerable people, hard to reach areas, arsenic affected areas and in locations where the cost of technologies are high and unaffordable for the common people; etc.
The Strategy also seeks to increase the resilience of livelihoods to disasters. Strategies under the Theme (b) Emerging Challenges are identified such as: Cope with disaster, adapt to climate change and safeguard environment; Adopt integrated water resource management. Strategic directions aiming to protect water supply and sanitation systems from the risks of natural and manmade disasters, climate change and environmental impacts include: Develop a common framework for screening of disaster, climate change and environmental impacts and mainstream adaptation of remedial measures in all development programmes; Strengthen disaster preparedness by proper planning and maintaining stock of emergency water supply and sanitation units, chemicals and spare parts in strategic locations; etc. Strategic directions using ground water through integrated water resources management as well as a shift towards more use of surface water include: Foster a shift away from reliance on groundwater towards surface water for irrigation in groundwater-stressed areas; Investigate, assess and monitor the availability and use of groundwater in water-stressed areas and in the deep aquifer; Consider artificial recharge of groundwater and other technical measures in the waterstressed areas; etc.
As for the Governance, the Strategies are developed under Theme (C) to facilitate improved governance related to WASH activities, including: Undertake integrated and accountable development approach; Recover cost of services while keeping a safety net for the poor; Enhance coordination and monitoring; etc.