The General Assembly,
 
      Recalling its resolution 35/18 of 10 November 1980, by which it
proclaimed the period 1981-1990 as the International Drinking Water Supply and
Sanitation Decade,
 
      Recalling also its resolution 45/181 of 21 December 1990, in which it
expressed its deep concern about the slow rate of progress in the provision of
services in water and sanitation,
 
      Recalling further its resolution 47/193 of 22 December 1992, in which it
declared 22 March of each year World Day for Water,
 
      Bearing in mind that the Second United Nations Conference on the Least
Developed Countries, held in Paris from 3 to 14 September 1990, the World
Summit for Children, held in New York on 29 and 30 September 1990, the Global
Strategy for Shelter to the Year 2000 and the United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development, held at Rio de Janeiro from 3 to 14 June 1992,
reiterated the need to provide, on a sustainable basis, access to safe water
in sufficient quantities and proper sanitation for all,
 
      Deeply concerned that at the current rate of progress the provision of
drinking water will be insufficient to satisfy the needs of a very large
number of people by the year 2000 and that the lack of progress in the
provision of basic sanitation services is likely to have dramatic
environmental and health consequences in the near future,
 
      1.    Takes note with appreciation of the report of the
Secretary-General on progress made in providing safe water supply and
sanitation for all during the first half of the 1990s;
 
      2.    Takes note of the programme strategies in water and environmental
sanitation adopted by the Executive Board of the United Nations Children's
Fund at its annual session for 1995 and of resolution AFR/RC 43/R2 of the
Regional Committee for Africa of the World Health Organization, in which the
Committee endorsed the Africa 2000 initiative for water supply and sanitation
in Africa;
 
      3.    Calls upon Governments to implement fully the provisions
concerning water resources in general and water supply and sanitation in
particular contained in chapter 18 of Agenda 21, and the recommendations made
by the Commission on Sustainable Development at its second and third sessions,
including the recommendations for action contained in the Action Programme of
the Ministerial Conference on Drinking Water and Environmental Sanitation
convened by the Government of the Netherlands on 22 and 23 March 1994, in
particular:
 
      (a)   To develop, review or revise by 1997 and implement, in the context
of a national sustainable development strategy consistent with Agenda 21,
measures for drinking water supply and environmental sanitation, taking into
account the goals set by the World Summit for Children;
 
      (b)   To undertake, as appropriate, legal, regulatory and institutional
reforms designed to bring about the management of water resources at the
lowest appropriate level, including stakeholder participation and the
involvement of the private sector, and to adopt strategies for
capacity-building;
 
      (c)   To assign high priority to programmes designed to provide basic
sanitation and excreta disposal systems to urban and rural areas and to the
treatment of waste waters, with provisions for community involvement;
 
      (d)   To formulate and implement investment strategies and cost-recovery
policies aimed at generating a flow of financial resources commensurate with
needs, taking into account the needs and conditions of the peri-urban and
rural poor;
 
      (e)   To establish or strengthen a nationwide water and sanitation
monitoring system, making full use, as appropriate, of the information support
system developed by the Joint Monitoring Programme of the World Health
Organization and the United Nations Children's Fund;
 
      4.    Calls upon the organizations of the United Nations system and
other relevant organizations to intensify their efforts concerning financial
and technical support for developing countries and countries with economies in
transition;
 
      5.    Urges donor Governments, multilateral financial and development
institutions and non-governmental organizations to give favourable and
appropriate consideration to requests for grants and concessional financing,
particularly with regard to environmental sanitation and sewerage and to
waste- water treatment projects, which are intended to implement programmes
consistent with the provisions and recommendations referred to in paragraph 3
of the present resolution;
 
      6.    Decides to review at its fifty-fifth session the situation at the
end of the 1990s and requests the Secretary-General to submit a report to it,
through the Commission on Sustainable Development and the Economic and Social
Council, containing an assessment of the water supply and sanitation situation
in developing countries, including proposals for action for the ensuing decade
at the national and international levels.