The Minister of Natural Resources, Stanislas Kamanzi, has called on communities to work together to improve water resources management.He made the remarks on Thursday during an event to launch the national policy on water resources management and to mark the 19th World Water Day.The policy seeks to ensure protection, conservation, restoration and rational use of water resources to meet the country’s medium and long term social economic development.“The challenges our country is facing in water resources are simply too complex for individual institutions to tackle alone. We need everybody in this process to improve appropriate water resource management in order to support national development,” he said.The International World Water Day, held annually on March 22 under the auspices of the United Nations, aims at focusing the world’s attention on the importance of fresh water and advocates for the sustainable management of fresh water resources.Kamanzi stated that the government’s political will to address challenges in water resource management is clear as elaborated in the national policy and its five year strategic plan. “Water-related issues are emerging as some of the most challenging national and trans-boundary trends in our country,” he noted.“As the government embarks on the process of developing the next phase of the Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS II), I call upon all of us that are involved in the process to seriously give due consideration to the importance of preserving our water in meeting our various development objectives.” He mentioned that as the country progresses to achieve the vision 2020 target of becoming a middle-income country, where urbanisation will intensify, average daily water consumption per person is expected to double from about 50 litres per day to 100 litres. According to Vincent de Paul Kabalisa, the Deputy Director General of Water Resources at Rwanda Natural Resources Authority (RNRA), improved water management is very critical because the country is developing very fast and industries are being set up which places significant new demands on the scarce water resources.“We need to conserve our water sources, reservoirs and allocate water appropriately to different users,” he noted.Kabalisa stated that over 70 percent of Rwandans have access to clean water adding that the country is committed to enabling all Rwandans access clean water.Todd Gartner from the World Resources Institute in the US said: “Water is an absolutely critical asset for our business so it is essential that we continue to invest in improving how we manage it”.
