The provision of water supply, sanitation and wastewater services generates substantial benefits for public health, the economy and the environment. Benefit-to-cost ratios can be as high as 7 to 1 for basic water and sanitation services in developing countries. Wastewater treatment...

The investments needed to deliver sustainable water and sanitation services, including the funds that are needed to operate and maintain the infrastructure, expand their coverage and upgrade service delivery to meet current social and environmental expectations, are huge. Yet, most systems are...

The OECD and the Directorate-General for Environment, the European Commission department responsible for EU policy on the environment, joined forces to examine current and future water-related financing challenges faced by EU member states. These include investments needed to comply with EU...

Water withdrawals, or water abstractions, are defined as freshwater taken from ground or surface water sources, either permanently or temporarily, and conveyed to a place of use. If the water is returned to a surface water source, abstraction of the same water by the downstream user is counted...