National Drinking Water Policy 2009.

This Policy is a nation-wide sectoral document, in line with provisions of the National Environment Policy and Vision 2030, aiming at providing a guiding framework to the concerned institutions and authorities to address the key issues and challenges facing Pakistan in the provision of sustainable access to safe drinking water, recognized as a basic human right of every citizen.
The overall goal of the Policy is to improve the quality of life of people of Pakistan by reducing incidence of death and illness caused by water-borne diseases through ensuring provision of adequate quantity of safe drinking water to the entire population at an affordable cost and in an equitable, efficient and sustainable manner. To reach the goal, the following objectives are outlined (i) provide access to safe and sustainable drinking water supply to the entire population by 2025; (ii) ensure protection and conservation of water resources; (iii) promote measures for treatment and safety of drinking water; (iv) encourage community participation; (v) promote cost effective and appropriate technological options for water supply systems; (vi) increase public awareness about water safety, safe hygiene practices and water conservation; (vii) enhance capacity of institutions and authorities at all levels in planning, implementation and monitoring of water supply programs and sustainable maintenance of water supply systems; (viii) promote public-private-partnership for enhancing access of safe drinking water and sustainable operation and maintenance of water supply systems; (ix) promote research and development for enhancing access and sustainability of water supply interventions; and (x) promote inter-sectoral collaboration to maximize the impacts of water supply interventions.
Key principles for the Policy implementation will be (i) right to water for every citizen; (ii) priority given to water allocation for drinking purposes; (iii) equitable access; (iv) women participation in planning, implementation, monitoring and maintenance of water supply, being the main providers of domestic waters supply; and (v) decentralization of responsibilities and resources with regard to provision of safe water supply.
Rural poverty reduction, in relation to the water issue, will be addressed with the establishment of new drinking water supply systems and rehabilitation and upgrading of existing systems in urban as well as rural areas to ensure sustainable access, according priority to un-served and under-served areas.
To enable more inclusive and efficient agricultural systems will be promoted community management of local water resources and integrated management of water resources.
In order of increasing the resilience of livelihoods to disasters will be developed national, provincial, district and local level emergency preparedness and response plans for ensuring provision of safe water to the people affected by emergencies such as floods, earthquake, droughts and conflicts. At the same time, water supply systems will be designed and constructed with due consideration to the natural disasters and emergencies.
As for the Governance, the concerned governments will organize training for their staff on planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of drinking water supply programs. To this effect, they will establish specialized training academies for water and sanitation sector. Furthermore, performance criteria for service providers will be developed to promote performance based service delivery approach. To this end, systems of performance grants will be established to reward institutions and individuals who are able to meet performance milestones and achieve the specific targets. Finally, special focus will be placed on gender training programs for the staff of water supply related institutions at all levels so that they are able to respond in a sensitive manner to the gender differentiated needs in the drinking water sector.