The Ministry of Water Supply and Drainage of Sri Lanka together with Community Water Supply & Sanitation Project (CWSSP), National Water Supply & Drainage Board (NWS&DB) and Lanka Rain Water Harvesting Forum (LRWHF) will organize a 3 day conference under the theme “Community and Water Services - Challenges for Sustainability”

Millennium Development Goals (MDG) are set to halve the world’s population without access to safe water by 2015. Despite Asia’s fast growing market for consumer goods, technology and global investment, the stark fact is that out of the 1.1 billion global population without access to improved water, almost two thirds live in Asia. Many Asian countries are ill equipped to provide the needed safe water and sanitation to their growing population. Many of this un-served population also live in rural areas which are primarily agriculture based. Lack of access to water in an agriculture based rural economy, will inevitably impact adversely on the socio-economic well being of the community and lead to enhanced rural-urban migration. Asia also has fast burgeoning mega-cities with major resource constraints especially for the underprivileged communities

There are economic, environmental, social and cultural constraints associated with the provision of safe water. Women are the most affected from lack of access to safe drinking water since in water scarce situations they spend a large part of their time in accessing water for domestic needs, thereby limiting their involvement on other, especially income generating activities

Sri Lanka has over 15 years of experience promoting community organizations to provide their own water supply and sanitation facilities through community water supply & sanitation projects. Over 3500 community based organizations that were formed to implement the projects are now empowered to manage, operate and maintain these systems.

Our region has had extensive experience over the past three decades in promoting the role of communities and households in deciding, executing and maintaining their own water service systems through community based projects. These achievements greatly contribute to such success stories in water and sanitation in our region.

In view of the urgent need to provide water services for an ever burgeoning Asian population, it is useful to take stock of current status in planning future activities. This conference plans to provide a platform for sharing knowledge, strategies, experiences and best practices of the region’s communities with special reference to the role of women.