Availability of water of the right quality, at the right time and place to meet environmental, economic and human needs requires active water resources management. To assist policymakers in addressing this challenge, the OECD is working on policy responses in the following key areas:

• Financing water resources management
• Policy coherence
• Information for water management
• Water pricing
• Water and climate change
  
  

The OECD has published several synthesis reports on water management, and regularly analyses the experience of its member countries in the framework of the OECD programme on Environmental Performance Reviews.

• Meeting the Water Reform Challenge 
• Meeting the Challenge of Financing Water and Sanitation Tools and Approaches 
• Benefits of Investing in Water and Sanitation: An OECD Perspective (2011)
• Managing Water for All: An OECD Perspective on Pricing and Financing (2009)
• OECD Environmental Performance Reviews - Water: The Experience in OECD countries (2006)
• Improving Water Management: Recent OECD Experience (2003)
• OECD Environmental performance reviews – Water (2003)
  
  

Related work can be found under the following policy areas:

• Water governance
• Agriculture water management
• Aid for water
  
  

Financing water resources management

Building on recent OECD experience in the topic of financing drinking water supply and sanitation services, the OECD is currently exploring how best to approach the financial sustainability of the water sector. In 2010, an expert meeting was held on this issue and reviewed two background notes on a reference framework and a number of case studies. (Note that the selected case studies have not been edited by the OECD Secretariat.) A synthesis report is forthcoming.

• Expert Meeting on Water Economics and Financing (March 2010)  
• Background note 1: Financing Water Resources Management
• Background note 2: Economic Instruments for Mobilising Resources

Policy coherence

Water outcomes are often influenced by policies outside the water domain. Increasing policy coherence between water policies and other sectoral policies is thus an important component of an integrated approach to water resources management. The  OECD is currently preparing a report looking at institutional aspects of policy coherence as well as experiences with policy coherence between water, energy and agricultural policies. This report is forthcoming. Past related work has looked at water-based transport and the water environment.

• Inland Waterways and Environmental Protection (2006)

Information for water management

Recent OECD work has highlighted the need for improving the information base on which water policy decisions are made. As part of its broader effort on environmental data and indicators, the OECD regularly collects information on several aspects of water management. 

• Key water indicators (as part of the broader work on OECD Environmental Indicators)
• Water statistics in the OECD Environmental Data Compendium
• Wastewater expenditures (as part of the broader work OECD Pollution Abatement and Control Expenditures)

In addition, the OECD organised in May 2010 a workshop in Zaragoza, Spain, on addressing the information needs of water policymakers.

Water pricing

Pricing is a major tool for managing water resources. Pricing water as a resource act as an incentive for water service providers to contain their demand for water. Similarly, pricing water services provides incentives to final consumers to reduce their consumption of water resources. Past OECD work on water pricing is reflected in the following publications.

• Pricing water resources and water and sanitation services (2010)
• Managing Water for All: An OECD Perspective on Pricing and Financing (2009)
• Social Issues in the Provision and Pricing of Water Service (2003)
• Transition to Full-Cost Pricing of Irrigation Water for Agriculture in OECD Countries (2003)
• The Price of Water: Trends in OECD countries (1999)
  
  

FURTHER READING

• The water challenge: OECD's response