Experience has shown that development can be more deeply rooted in systems where governments, private firms and civil society can work together in various constellations. There needs to be an improved water trialogue between governments, civil society and the private sector. The enhancement of governance, coupled with an integrated management approach, can be a vehicle for increased transparency, participation...aimed at increasing negotiation and minimizing differences within the water sector.

....A society that claims to attack water problems must make serious efforts to address differences and be able to come up with legitimate institutions and processes that can mediate disputes, or at least minimize their impacts. It has been demonstrated that governance matters for the equitable, efficient and sustainable management of water resources and related services and contributes to achieving international water development targets.

Governance systems are intrinsically linked to political processes and power. Therefore, the road to improved governance cannot avoid politics and manoeuvring in highly politicized contexts. Addressing improved water governance is challenging, since it needs to take place within a larger context of reform....

Metropolitan, city and municipal governments have critical roles...to ensure adequate provision for water and sanitation within their boundaries. International agencies need to recognize the key role of local processes...in meeting the water-and sanitation-related millennium development goals and in better water management ? and the involvement within this of local governments and civil society. The institutional framework through which national governments and international agencies support these local processes has to change in most low- and middle-income nations.

More attention is needed to generate the information base to support the improvement and extension of provision for water and sanitation to those who are unserved or inadequately served. This information base is often weakest in... large rural settlements... where much of the unserved urban population live. Details are needed for each household and housing unit of the quality and extent of provision combined with maps...which show... existing water pipes, sewers and drains, and paths and roads.

....The role of planning for the water needs of human settlements becomes... pressing in an increasingly urbanized world where water provision for urban centres represents an increasing proportion of total freshwater use.

Human settlements provide a concrete context for action. The struggle to achieve the MDGs for water and sanitation will have to be achieved in our cities, towns and villages....It is at this level that policy initiatives become an operational reality and need both political and administrative support....