BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 20. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has received a request from Azerbaijan to support water supply system modernization, Norio Saito, Senior Director of the Water and Urban Development Sector Office of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), said in an exclusive interview with Trend, as he visited Baku.
“I had very good discussions with the ministries of finance, economy, and Azerbaijan State Water Resources Agency. We received a request to strengthen or improve water efficiency, such as rehabilitating existing water treatment plants or refurbishing the existing water transmission pipeline to improve the efficiency of the systems,” he said.
Saito shared that two months ago, the ADB team did a quick field study, and assessed the urgency of those projects.
“We studied seven projects, and all are found really necessary and urgent. Now we are waiting for the final guidance coming from the government regarding ADB’s support. I understand they approached other development partners as well. Once we receive a clear signal, our team will do more diagnostics to identify the needs, update some cost estimates, and agree on a roadmap on how those improvements can take place,” he explained.
Saito also talked about three main aspects of possible support to Azerbaijan in this sphere.
“The first point is efficiency. This is an issue in many Asian countries, including Azerbaijan. Improving the water supply system efficiency will strengthen resilience, because a smaller amount of water can cater to the current needs. The second aspect is inclusivity. In a number of ADB operations, we provide connections to household level for both water supply and sanitation so that everyone can benefit from the system. This is very important when we talk about public health. If some people's public health does not improve, that will affect even other citizens. We want to make sure that inclusive safely managed water supply and sanitation services are given to all citizens,” he added.
Saito noted that the third aspect is about resilience.
“So many cities in the world are now suffering from floods, for example. But actually, rainwater or stormwater is an important water resource. In other countries we support groundwater recharge so that rainwater can be recharged in the groundwater or stored in retention ponds, and then when the rainwater becomes necessary, that can be used. These are some of the lessons that can be applicable to Azerbaijan as well,” he added.
Partnerships with governments and local stakeholders to ensure resilient urban development
Saito pointed out that in the public sector operations, ADB’s main counterpart is the national government.
“But many of the urban infrastructure, the local governments or local authorities, municipalities need to play a key role. They can be executing agency or implementing agency. From the planning stage, we involve the local authorities so that they can be the driver to implement the project. Some projects in countries are implemented by national level ministries, but still assets are often handed over to local authorities or local governments. In that case, it's important to really strengthen the capacity of the local governments so that they can provide sustainable services to the citizens over a long time.
Another aspect is the stakeholder engagement. It's not just about local governments, but the people. ADB has local stakeholder engagement processes from the project preparation stage so that people are informed about the project and then people can have a say about how the project should be designed and implemented. That's incorporated into the project design,” he explained.
Key strategies to help cities manage water resources sustainably
“We need to look at the water resource holistically from source to sea, where the water is coming from, how the water is used, and then how the water is treated safely. Often, in many countries, 80% or more water is actually used for agricultural purposes. And this part is often inefficient. Addressing this part to make the agricultural system, the irrigation system more efficient, is really critical.
We look at the water use efficiency in the city level. So non-revenue water reduction also plays an important role. How the water is utilized, whether it's utilized efficiently and effectively, that's another important aspect,” said Saito.
He pointed out that the last aspect is wastewater treatment: “Water is used and then wastewater needs to be treated. But when the water resources become more and more scarce, it's important to consider how to utilize treated used water for industrial, agricultural purposes, or even for drinking purpose.”
Integrating climate adaptation into urban development projects
Saito noted that ADB conducts upstream climate risk and vulnerability assessment in the very upstream of the project preparation.
“This assessment will identify where the vulnerability is and how this vulnerability can be addressed. It may be a drainage system, it may be some other reasons that cause vulnerability. Then project design incorporates those aspects so that project as a whole, as a system, city as a system, can really strengthen resilience,” he explained.