in france municipalities and intermunicipal bodies are the primary actors for drinking water supply and sanitation while regional and departmental bodies as well as irrigation groups are in charge of aquifer and river management who implements central government water policies at the subnational level a first category includes countries where implementation of water policies at the subnational level essentially relies on a single type of actors ie representatives of central government in regions and a second category includes countries with a combination of several subnational authorities responsibilities in the implementation stage this often if not invariably reflects how decentralised water policies have become across oecd countries