International Water Association

Toespraak | 08-10-2007

Ladies and gentlemen,

Let me offer you a very warm welcome on behalf of the Dutch government. In the coming days, you will be discussing how this extensive and essential global water network sees its future. As members of the global water community, where todays new developments are tomorrows history, you have to look to the future. If you stand still, youll soon be moving backwards.
Before I came here, I visited your very informative website. It confirmed for me that the International Water Association is one of the key players in the global water community, with ten thousand individual and four hundred corporate members spread across a hundred and thirty countries.

More than anything, the Netherlands is a nation of water. So Im delighted that the IWA is about to open an office in The Hague. We are proud that the Netherlands is now linked to your association as a global water reference point. I am sure that this will encourage further Dutch involvement in the IWA network.
In this way, the Netherlands can boost its contribution to three major goals:

• searching for solutions to the enormous challenge of providing everyone in the world with clean drinking water and sanitation;
• encouraging international cooperation aimed at sharing knowledge and experience; and
• promoting long-term innovation in water management.

Ladies and gentlemen,

The Dutch water sector is strong. It has access to the latest technology and an effective organisational structure. The quality of the water supply is very high: everyone in the Netherlands is connected to the supply network and sewerage system, and all urban wastewater is treated before being recycled.
The Dutch water companies produce high quality drinking water and breaches of standards are extremely rare. The companies use the latest in treatment technology, such as nanofiltration, as well as tried and tested methods like artificial dune infiltration. This process was introduced some fifty years ago to boost the water supply to Amsterdam and The Hague.

The high standard of water treatment in the Netherlands means that we can even extract clean drinking water from the Rhine and the Maas, which are unfortunately still very polluted. And we have eliminated chlorine from disinfection processes, so the water we drink is microbiologically reliable without tasting unpleasant. An ambitious challenge, but as it turned out, a realistic one too.
The strength of the Dutch water sector is partly thanks to its innovative approach, but also to strict legislation, capable water companies, and the close cooperation between water companies and government. In the Netherlands, the government plays an important supervisory role, via bodies such as my ministrys Inspectorate.

The Netherlands has long had an overarching Water Supply Act. A bill is now before Parliament to introduce an entirely new Drinking Water Act. This new legislation states that the government is responsible for ensuring that the supply of drinking water is secure and sustainable. And that the water supply is a matter of compelling public interest. The water companies will be charged with implementing the Drinking Water Act. Which means that they will have a wider remit than just supplying drinking water. They will also have to contribute to the protection of drinking water sources.
Of course, the Drinking Water Act will include requirements for the quality of drinking water. But it will also cover issues such as:

• security of supply;
• crisis management;
• emergency water supply;
• water safety plans as promoted by the WHO and IWA; and
• efficiency through performance benchmarking in the areas of quality, the environment, service, and cost efficiency.

Where this last is concerned, the Dutch water companies have anticipated the legislation and are voluntarily building up experience of benchmarking. Benchmarking is receiving more and more attention, both at national and global level. The IWA has also devoted attention to it, as was evident at the IWA conference on benchmarking in water supply here in Amsterdam last year.

Last week, I received the water sector report for 2006, which contains the results of the fourth benchmarking exercise. And I have congratulated the sector on its impressive results. The report showed that, over a period of ten years, efficiency improved by twenty-three per cent. This has made the water companies financially stronger and has led to lower charges for customers. The report also showed that customers were satisfied about the price/quality ratio as well as the level of service. And the already high quality of drinking water has risen further, especially in terms of water softening.
I can only conclude that benchmarking works! But we should not forget that public health and security of supply are the water sectors key priorities. These must never be allowed to suffer because of efforts to reduce costs.

In the Netherlands, different companies provide drinking water, sewerage, and wastewater treatment. The one exception is Amsterdam, with its all-in-one company, Waternet. I believe that close cooperation in the water supply chain brings benefits of synergy. So a few months ago, I introduced a governance agreement between the three sectors, aimed at increasing efficiency and transparency.
The three main elements of the agreement are as follows:

• the practice of performance benchmarking of sewerage providers (usually the municipalities) and water treatment providers (usually the water boards);
• promoting innovative projects aimed at cooperation between these providers;
• providing information to customers on costs within the water supply chain and how consumers can influence the size of their bills.

Ladies and gentlemen,

This brings me to the enormous contrasts that unfortunately exist between the supply of drinking water and sanitation in different parts of the world. It is a major problem. And being part of the solution is an important task for the developed countries. Just look at the Millennium Development Goals. Next year is the United Nations Year of Sanitation. Why? Because every fifteen seconds, a child somewhere in the world dies of diarrhoea or some other water-borne disease. That's two million children per year. Worldwide, two point six billion people still lack toilet facilities. And as things stand we will not reach our 2015 target on sanitation until 2026. In Sub-Saharan Africa, it will take another hundred years. Which means that, if nothing changes, a hundred and thirty-three million African children will die needlessly.

In a speech at the UN Water Seminar in Sweden last month, the Prince of Orange chair of the UN Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation put it like this: All of us understand that investing in sanitation will improve public health and that will drive economic growth. We all believe that extending sanitation facilities to the four out of ten people who currently do without is essential to meeting all the Millennium Development Goals.

Ladies and gentlemen,

The Netherlands is working tirelessly to help achieve the Millennium Development Goals. But in the water community, too, we can still use the old adage: Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, but teach him to fish and he will eat for a lifetime. Access to clean drinking water and modern sanitation are essential issues that demand solutions.

The questions now facing us are: how can the Netherlands intensify knowledge transfer in the area of drinking water and sanitation? And what sort of role can the water sector perform? Nationally and internationally, we know the problems, but there is too little sense of urgency. Or to quote the UN Task Force on Water and Sanitation: Without strong champions to raise public awareness and generate concern, the sanitation crisis has not been met with anything resembling the kind of response necessary to make substantial and sustainable gains.

Dutch water companies have long concerned themselves with international water problems. The question is whether they might do so on a larger scale. One obstacle is their position as public bodies or state-run companies. The Dutch government is seeking ways of helping the water companies increase their scope to operate internationally. Within the existing formal parameters, of course. The government is currently discussing the possibilities with the water sector.

Ladies and gentlemen,

A network meeting is intended for networking and not for lengthy speeches. So, let me conclude:

The Netherlands is keen to become a hub in the global water network. This is true of our water professionals, our government bodies, the water companies, and the market sector. And it is evident from the International Water Association conference in the Netherlands this week and the Vewin Water Hub. Because water flows through our national genes. Because over the centuries, we have gained an enormous wealth of knowledge. And we want to share that knowledge with the rest of the world, especially with countries whose water problems are the most serious.

I wish you all, and the international water community, a very successful conference.

Thank you.