Access to water and sanitation is low in many rural areas across Asia. Cambodia, in partnership with ADB, continually exerts efforts to improve water and sanitation services especially in its rural areas, where 11,530,379 reside and about 50% of village people still practice open defecation. The country, with ADB's assistance, aims to achieve 60% rural access to improved water supply by 2018, and 100% by 2025.

Manila Water is the water and sanitation services concessionaire for Metro Manila’s east zone. The company faces several challenges in providing sanitation services to its area of coverage. These challenges include the provision of land for treatment plants, securing right of way for sewer lines, solid waste and biosolids management, and increasing public awareness and support. This presentation shares how the company strives to overcome these challenges.

In The Netherlands, floods have been a foremost concern as it has claimed the lives of close to a million people since the year 838. Without dikes, 29% of the county is below sea level, 26% are flood plains, and 55% are flood-prone areas. This presentation shares the actions the country has taken to mitigate floods. It also shares the lessons it has gained. Succesful flood mitigation, based on The Netherlands' experience, needs the involvement of stakeholders and science institutes. Building with nature also helps ensure sustainability and support.

This presentation provides a brief situational analysis of the state of fecal sludge management in the municipality of Faridpur in Bangladesh. A business proposal was created to improve the system on a large scale adopting service level agreements with private sector service providers.

Asia and the Pacific shows a positive trend in strengthening water security with the number of water insecure countries dropping to 29 from 38 in 2013, according to this edition of the Asian Water Development Outlook.

The Asia and Pacific region is making progress in strengthening water security, according to a key finding from the Asian Water Development Outlook 2016, a publication of the Asian Development Bank. The report reveals how countries score and compare in the five dimensions of water security.

Kieu Ky, a crafts commune located 18 kilometers downstream of Ha Noi’s city center, is a typical peri-urban area experiencing problems related to urbanization such as rapid population growth and environmental degradation. It is largely left to fend for itself since infrastructure and services are cornered by the city center.

Sanitation is a service sorely lacking in Kieu Ky, and residents bear the burden of managing their wastewater. They rely mainly on septic tanks and dry latrines but both these systems have proven ineffective in treating wastewater.

This presentation provides an overview of the major issues influencing the Government of Viet Nam’s wastewater management program. It also highlights Asian Development Bank’s past achievements and current strategies in accomplishing the government’s objectives and targets.

Note: The language used in the uploaded presentation is Vietnamese.