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Developing Effective Water Sector Policies

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iii) Policy Issues Developing effective water sector policies in most countries has been a hard task for the policy makers involved. This has been because of its unique physical properties, the complex economic characteristics and the important cultural features that come with the resource that distinguishes it from other natural resources. Other than this, water resource management has continued to present a lot of complicated administrative issues, and this is because it involves many considerations including legal, technological, environmental, economic and political considerations. In most countries, political and economic considerations have dominated a lot of policy decisions on the use of water resources. Its management largely …show more content…

It is important to understand how alternative economic policy instruments have an influence on the water use across different economic sectors and also between local, regional and national levels. The water managers should recognize the existing connections between macroeconomic policies and the impacts they have on other areas. Most of these policies as well as some sectorial policies that are not specifically aimed at the water sectors do have strategic impacts on the resource allocation and the aggregate demand for water in the economy. Respective country 's overall development strategy and its use of macroeconomic policies including monetary, fiscal and trade policies affect, both directly and indirectly, the demand and various investments in activities related to the water resource (Young, Dooge & Rodda, 2004, p.81). Some of the problems associated with water resource management efforts in most countries are its bulkiness and mobility. Its value per unit of its weight tends to be relatively low as compared to other commodities that are considered bulky. The cost of transporting and storing it is high relative to its economic value at its point of use. It is also difficult to identify and measure because unlike other commodities, it flows, evaporates, seeps into the ground and transpires. This evasive nature of water has meant that

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