To face the challenges regarding water management, it is crucial to share responsibilities across different levels of government. Demographic trends and climate change are some of the main factors affecting access and quality of water in our metropolises. Clean and accessible water is an essential part of the world where we want to live. Therefore, our cities should manage water quality from their sources by applying scientific pollution control and measurement methods to develop resilient and sustainable urban water infrastructure. This requires creating public policies within a context of multi-level governance, which was the basis for the Sustainable Water Management Training Course that took place in Seoul from 23 to 30 June.

Clean, accessible water for all is a basic service and an essential part of the urban development. However, due to bad economics or poor infrastructure, many cities have challenges associated with inadequate water supply, sanitation and hygiene. Therefore, cities and local governments should be able to manage the water quality from the water sources by applying scientific pollution control and measurement methods with focus on development of resilient and sustainable urban water infrastructures.

This program organized by SHRDC helped participants to learn about Seoul’s water system–Arisu–which is the world's first water system accredited by the National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) and other major water resource management related policies of Seoul. Also, three of our members, Shanghai, Jakarta, and Bangkok, shared their experiences in terms of sustainable water management.