The World Bank Urban, Resilience, and Land Global Practice, through the Tokyo Development Learning Center (TDLC), is organizing a Technical Deep Dive (TDD) on Water Secure Cities from February 26 – March 1, 2024 in Tokyo and Fukuoka, Japan. The TDD will be delivered in collaboration with the World Bank Water Global Practice and the Utilities for Climate (U4C) initiative of the International Finance Corporation.
A secure water supply is an essential service that underpins most of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, we are not on track to meet SDG 6 on universal access to water and sanitation. As of 2022, 2.2 billion people still lacked safely managed drinking water and 3.4 billion lacked safely managed sanitation services. While a large share of the unserved live in rural areas, we are witnessing an increase in the number of unserved people living in urban centers.
Cities and urban water supply are particularly vulnerable to climate shocks due to the growing demand for water, and the challenges to improving and expanding infrastructure coverage. The intersection of urbanization and climate change continues to strain water related services, making water security key for any city. The World Bank has explored a wide range of country experiences in delivering better water supply and sanitation services, including a substantial financing and analytical portfolio in all regions to support national and subnational governments and utilities with policy reforms, investments and technical assistance in urban water supply and sanitation. The IFC, as the private sector arm of the WBG, supports client countries by bringing in much needed private sector financing and expertise in the water sector. Utilities for Climate (U4C), an IFC innovation, seeks to support water utilities in developing and implementing innovative solutions to boost commercial water infrastructure investment opportunities, improve climate resilience, and develop climate-smart utilities. The Government of Japan is the lead donor for U4C.
This TDD serves as a platform for knowledge exchange and structured learning on actions required for the development of water secure cities. The TDD will provide World Bank and IFC urban water and sanitation client delegations with knowledge, best practices, and tools they can use to improve the resilience, sustainability, and efficiency of water and sanitation services in their own countries. The TDD will showcase Japan’s extensive expertise in this field and its solutions from the national ministries and municipalities, with a specific focus on the city of Fukuoka. Key technical topics to be explored: i) Policy, institutional and regulatory frameworks to support an enabling environment for water secure cities; ii) Water resources and resilience for a water secure city; and iii) Innovation and digital solutions for a water secure city.