Vanuatu National Water Strategy 2018 – 2030.

The Vanuatu National Water Strategy is a national policy with a sectoral approach and has been developed to follow the end of National Water Strategy 2008 - 2018 within the policy priorities established in the Vanuatu National Water Policy 2017 - 2030. The timeframe of the Strategy is 12 years between 2018 and 2030. This Strategy sets forth strategic actions to achieve the national policy objective, which is to strengthen the accountability of the institutions necessary to secure a safe and sufficient, accessible and affordable, reliable and sustainable source of water for all.
The Rural Water Committees as legal not-for-profit entities with the ability to own water assets and the associated liabilities will be supported by the Government to obtain the necessary permissions.
Drinking water safety risks will be prevented through the development of national Drinking Water Safety and Security Planning guidelines, institutional capacity building, strengthened cooperation between all Provincial Governments and Rural Water Committees, and consumer awareness-raising. National Drinking Water Quality Standards will be developed by the Department of Water Resources. Access to drinking water testing and treatment services will be improved for all significant public, private and community providers of drinking water. Furthermore, national water policies and strategies will be developed by the Department of Water Resources in cooperation with the National Water Resources Advisory Committees. Water resource data management will be strengthened to identify the priority areas to invest in the diversification, storage and regulation of water resources. To this end, a national surface and ground water resource inventory will be developed. Water protection zones will be identified and enforced to ensure the safety and security of water catchment areas. A state-owned Water Company will be established with the ability to own public urban water assets and retain revenues or cost savings. In addition to that, the private sector will be engaged to establish modern corporate systems. Efficient management systems will be developed by the Rural Water Committees for the operation and maintenance, billing and collection, replacement and expansion of public funded rural water assets. Access to high quality water market services will be strengthened by extending support to vocational and professional training in water disciplines, by lowering the local barriers to market entry, and by facilitating the entry of private sector innovations. Permit application procedures will be developed for waterworks and water use to prevent overexploitation of quality and quantity of water. The cooperation between the Department of Water Resources and the Provincial Governments will be strengthened to ensure compliance against national water construction and safety standards, waterworks and water use permits. The water quality database will be linked to the water use and waterworks databases and drinking and environmental water quality will be monitored on a routine basis. Land rights will be secured to ensure that the ‘rights of the pipes’ of public water assets are secured against tampering, safety risks and denial of access. Institutional capacity building will be enhanced to regulate at the central level, to license at the provincial level, and to provide services at the urban level.
Disaster risk reduction and management will be strengthened for the diversification of water resources and increasing of water storage capacity through the development of comprehensive databases and models combining ground, surface and rain water resources. Awareness will be raised to improve the protection of water supplies, strengthen response in coordination with other sectors and partners through improved data management, and improve recovery through lesson learning and sharing knowledge.