examples abound in the agriculture and energy sectors typically farmers in several oecd and non member countries do not pay the full price of electricity used to pump groundwater reforming those harmful subsidies should also be part of the water financing agenda for instance it could free public financial resources which could then be used for water policies generate more revenues to invest in waterrelated services and infrastructures make water pollution more costly and create markets for waterefficient technologies and practices a set of principles can usefully guide policy decisions for example the polluter pays principle ppp is a basic element of all european environmental policies