Corruption in the water sector is a substantial and overlooked threat to environmental sustainability and puts the lives and livelihoods of billions of people at risk. The Global Corruption Report (GCR) 2008 from Transparency International uncovers connections between corruption and the water sector and states that "corruption in the water sector is widespread and makes water undrinkable, inaccessible and unaffordable".

Water affairs are mostly seen as a technical process, and to date, little attention has been paid to the social and political factors that influence decisions about water. Therefore the GCR 2008 is a good start in exploring this pervasive problem and in bringing the issue to public attention.



Within the thematic section of the GCR 2008 report, corruption is divided into four water sub-sectors: water resource management, water and sanitation, water for food and water for energy. Corruption in the water sector comes primarily down to governance problems and is prevalent because current diffuse responsibilities leave the administration of water resources vulnerable to loopholes and co-ordination failures that can be exploited by corrupt activities.



Among the key lessons for fighting corruption in the water sector Transparency International emphasises the need to build pressure for water reforms. To this end the national and local levels need to join forces. The Afghanistan example shows precisely why this is necessary. A 2007 study mentioned in the GCR report, found that the responsible persons for safeguarding and equitable distribution of water abused their position by accepting bribes to deliver additional water to landowners and communities. However, through information exchange, targeted financial support, water user groups or district development assemblies, it remains possible to limit this scope of corruption. Accordingly, the report's recommendations can be reduced to two main factors: transparency and participation. (Meike Westerkamp)



The full report is available under: http://www.transparency.org/publications/gcr/download_gcr

Published in: ECC-Newsletter, August 2008