National Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Policy 2009.

The National Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Policy is a national policy with a cross-sectoral approach. The goal of the National Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Policy is to ensure sustainable water supply and sanitation services and protection of the environment, in order to improve health status and quality of life for all and ensure the socio‐economic development.
The formation of water users' groups will be promoted and the participation of the water users, especially women and the vulnerable groups will be encouraged in decision-making at all levels. The rights and needs of poor and marginalised groups, and especially of women, will be protected primarily through their statutory and proportional representation and their role in decision making will be enhanced by adoption of effective capacity building measures at both program and project levels. A needs map will be developed in all urban water supply and sanitation projects through the assessment of urban poor and vulnerable groups requiring special assistance.
Water supply systems will be augmented and developed to ensure that all urban populations have access to a reliable and potable drinking water services. The new and upgraded water treatment plants will be installed to produce and distribute water in accordance to the standards and principles set out by the National Drinking Water Supply Guidelines. The water supply systems and distribution system capacity will be improved to provide safe, reliable and continuous water supply under acceptable pressure. The conjunctive use of ground and surface water supplies will be promoted to balance the dry and the wet season capacities. The collection and utilization of rainwater harvesting and other appropriate technologies will be promoted at the domestic and communal level. Consumer awareness will be raised towards demand management and household level of treatment. Capacity of the water utilities will be developed to regularly monitor water quality by testing of samples to comply with the physical, chemical and biological parameters. A systematic process of monitoring, publication and dissemination of water quality data for public consumption will be initiated. Surface and ground water sources serving urban centres will be protected and managed in an environmentally sustainable manner. The existing legal framework will be developed to address the protection and improvement of water sources and catchments, EIA, groundwater re‐charge, environmental sanitation and water conservation. Environmentally friendly technologies such as rainwater harvesting will be promoted. All environmental standards and regulations will be complied with in all water supply and sanitation schemes. The institutional and operational capacity at local levels will be enhanced for effective operation and maintenance of water supply and sanitation services. Appropriate on and off site sanitation and sewer systems will be developed in an environmentally friendly manner. Hygienic requirements will be met in water storage, handling and waste related practices in order to protect the public health. A rapid response team will be mobilized in consultation with the Ministry of Health and Population’s Epidemiology and Disease Control Division for containment, in case of a water-borne disease. Demand surveys will be conducted to determine water consumption rates and allowance made for population growth and economic development.
WASH coordination activities will be implemented by the District Disaster Relief Committee at the local level when a disaster may occur. The WASH cluster at the district level shall be led by the Water Supply and Sanitation Division Office in communication with the Department of Water Supply and Sewerage.