about of the turkmen population is supplied with water through centralised water supply systems of the urban population and of the rural population therefore increasing access to safe potable water has been officially recognised as a national priority water supply coverage in rural areas is estimated to be as low as and these are usually settlements benefiting from neighbouring urban wss infrastructure the rest of the population draws water from individual wells or irrigation canals in some rural settlements communitybased organisations play a role in managing the provision of wss services