The Dublin principles revisited for WSS

Recent international gatherings such as the second world water forum in the Hague continue to give international backing to Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) as the holistic framework within which the worlds water should be managed. Vision 21 identifies IWRM as a crucial challenge to the drinking water supply and sanitation (WSS) sub-sector (WSSCC, 2000). However, while at the international level agreements are signed and consensus reached, at the local level, and within water subsectors there continues to be much confusion as to what exactly the new paradigm implies, and how it should be addressed. This paper outlines a methodology for participatory self assessment of WSS projects, that by using the 1992 Dublin principles as a basis, helps to initiate a process of inclusion of IWRM principles within WSS projects.