operation of water supply, storm drainage and sewerage infrastructure, and wastewater treatment plants. climate change poses increased risk to wash systems, particular in sub-saharan africa where access to safely managed basic sanitation is low. in sub-saharan africa poorly managed wash systems and widespread informal settlements with limited access to water and sanitation infrastructure are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change such as more droughts and floods. changes in the frequency and intensity of climate extremes could compound current challenges as water availability becomes uncertain, and health risks increase due to contaminated water sources. the effects of climate change can cause in a decrease of water availability, an increase of water necessity, damage to wash facilities, and increased water contamination from pollutants. in terms of the water cycle, climate change can affect the amounts of soil infiltration, deeper percolation, and hence groundwater recharge. also, rising temperature increases evaporative demand over land, which limits the amount of water to replenish groundwater. climate change adaptation adaptation efforts in the wash sector include for example protection of local water resources (as these resources become source water for drinking water supply) and investigating improvements to the water supply and storage strategy. it might also be necessary to adjust the utility's planning and operation.: 41 climate change adaptation policies need to consider the risks from extreme weather events. the required adaptation measures need to consider measures for droughts and those for floods.: 61 adaptation measures for droughts include for example: reduce leakages in a pro-active manner, communicate restrictions on water use to consumers. adaptation measures for floods include for example: review the siting of the water and wastewater treatment plants in floodplains, minimize the impact of floodwater on operational equipment.: 61 nature-based solutions (nbs) can play an important role for climate change adaptation approaches of water and sanitation services.: 45 this includes ecological restoration (which can improve infiltration and thus reduce flooding), ecological engineering for wastewater treatment, green infrastructure for stormwater management, and measures for natural water retention.: 45 most national adaptation plans published by the un framework convention for climate change include measures to improve sanitation and hygiene. improving climate resilience climate-resilient water services (or climate-resilient wash) are services that provide access to high quality drinking water during all seasons and even during extreme weather events. climate resilience in general is the ability to recover from, or to mitigate vulnerability to, climate-related shocks such as floods and droughts. climate resilient development has become the new paradigm for sustainable development. this concept thus influences theory and practice across all sectors globally. this is particularly true in the water sector, since water security is closely connected to climate change. on every continent, governments are now adopting policies for climate resilient economies. international frameworks such as the paris agreement and the sustainable development goals are drivers for such initiatives. several activities can improve water security and increase resilience to climate risks: carrying out a detailed analysis of climate risk to make climate information relevant to specific users; developing metrics for monitoring climate resilience in water systems (this will help to track progress and guide investments for water security); and using new institutional models that improve water security. climate resilient policies can be useful for allocating water, keeping in mind that less water may be available in future. this requires a good understanding of the current and future hydroclimatic situation. for example, a better understanding of future changes in climate variability leads to a better response to their possible impacts. to build climate resilience into water systems, people need to have access to climate information that is appropriate for their local context.: 59 climate information products are useful if they cover a wide range of temporal and spatial scales, and provide information on regional water-related climate risks.: 58 for example, government staff need easy access to climate information to achieve better water management. four important activities to achieve climate resilient wash services include: first, a risk analysis is performed to look at possible implications of extreme weather events as well as preventive actions.: 4 such preventive actions can include for example elevating the infrastructure to be above expected flood levels. secondly, managers assess the scope for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and put in place suitable options, e.g. using more renewable energy sources. thirdly, the water utilities ensure that water sources and sanitation services are reliable at all times during the year, also during times of droughts and floods. finally, the management and service delivery models are strengthened so that they can withstand a crisis.: 5 to put climate resilience into practice and to engage better with politicians, the following guide questions are useful: "resilience of what, to what, for whom, over what time frame, by whom and at what scale?". for example, "resilience of what?" means thinking beyond infrastructure but to also include resilience of water resources, local institutions and water users. another example is that "resilience for whom?" speaks about reducing vulnerability and preventing negative developments: some top-down interventions that work around power and politics may undermine indigenous knowledge and compromise community resilience. adaptive capacity for climate resilience adaptive capacity in water management systems can help to absorb some of the impacts of climate-related events and increase climate resilience.: 25 stakeholders at various scales, i.e. from small urban utilities to national governments, need to have access to reliable information which details regional climate and climate change. for example, context-specific climate tools can help national policy makers and sub-national practitioners to make informed decisions to improve climate resilience. a global research program called reach (led by the university of oxford and funded by the uk government's foreign, commonwealth & development office) is developing and using such climate tools for kenya, ethiopia and bangladesh during 2015 to 2024. planning approaches distributing jerrycans to help people store clean drinking water in the philippines national wash plans and monitoring un-water carries out the global analysis and assessment of sanitation and drinking-water (glaas) initiative. this work examines the "extent to which countries develop and implement national policies and plans for wash, conduct regular monitoring, regulate and take corrective action as needed, and coordinate these parallel processes with sufficient financial resources and support from strong national institutions." many countries' wash plans are not supported by the necessary financial and human resources. this hinders their implementation and intended outcomes for wash service delivery. as of 2022, it is becoming more common for countries to include "climate change preparedness approaches" in their national wash plans. preparedness in this context means working on mitigation, adaptation and resilience of wash systems.: 11 still, most national policies on wash services do not set out how to address climate risks and how to increase the resilience of infrastructure and management.: vii families collecting water from a water well in niger. gender mainstreaming the dublin statement on water and sustainable development in 1992 included "women play a central part in the provision management and safeguarding of water" as one of four principles. in 1996, worldbank published a toolkit on gender in water and sanitation. gender-sensitive approaches to water and sanitation have proven to be cost effective. water supply schemes in developing nations have shown higher success when planned and run with full participation of women in the affected communities. the united nations interagency network on women and gender equality (ianwge) established the gender and water task force in 2003. the task force became a un-water task force and took responsibility for the gender component of international water for life decade (2005-1015). the task force's mandate ended in 2015. history further information: history of water supply and sanitation the history of water supply and sanitation is the topic of a separate article. the abbreviation wash was used from the year 1988 onwards as an acronym for the water and sanitation for health project of the united states agency for international development. at that time, the letter "h" stood for health, not hygiene. similarly, in zambia the term washe was used in a report in 1987 and stood for water sanitation health education. an even older usaid wash project report dates back to as early as 1981. from about 2001 onwards, international organizations active in the area of water supply and sanitation advocacy, such as the water supply and sanitation collaborative council and the international water and sanitation centre (irc) in the netherlands began to use wash as an umbrella term for water, sanitation and hygiene. wash has since then been broadly adopted as a handy acronym for water, sanitation and hygiene in the international development context. the term watsan was also used for a while, especially in the emergency response sector such as with ifrc and unhcr, but has not proven as popular as wash. society and culture awards important awards for individuals or organizations working on wash include: the stockholm water prize since 1991, with a wide-ranging view of water-related activities, along with the stockholm junior water prize and the stockholm industry water award. the sarphati sanitation awards since 2013, for sanitation entrepreneurship. united nations organs unicef - unicef's declared strategy is "to achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all". unicef includes wash initiatives in their work with schools in over 30 countries. un-water - an interagency mechanism which "coordinates the efforts of un entities and international organizations working on water and sanitation issues". global handwashing day celebrations in indonesia awareness raising through observance days the united nation's international year of sanitation in 2008 helped to increase attention for funding of sanitation in wash programs of many donors. for example, the bill and melinda gates foundation has increased their funding for sanitation projects since 2009, with a strong focus on reuse of excreta. awareness raising for the importance of wash takes place through several united nations international observance days, namely world water day, menstrual hygiene day, world toilet day and global handwashing day. by country water supply and sanitation by countryafrica algeria angola botswana benin burkina faso burundi cameroon democratic republic of the congo egypt eswatini ethiopia ghana ivory coast kenya lesotho liberia libya malawi mali morocco mozambique namibia nigeria rwanda senegal sierra leone south africa south sudan sudan tanzania tunisia uganda zambia zimbabwe asia afghanistan azerbaijan bangladesh cambodia china hong kong macau georgia india indonesia israel iran iraq japan jordan kazakhstan kuwait kyrgyzstan laos lebanon malaysia oman pakistan palestine philippines russia saudi arabia singapore south korea sri lanka syria taiwan thailand united arab emirates vietnam yemen australasia australia east timor new zealand papua new guinea europe albania armenia austria belgium bosnia and herzegovina bulgaria croatia czech republic denmark estonia finland france germany greece hungary iceland italy latvia lithuania netherlands north macedonia norway serbia poland portugal republic of ireland romania russia slovakia slovenia spain sweden switzerland turkey ukraine united kingdom england northern ireland scotland wales north america belize canada costa rica cuba dominican republic el salvador guatemala haiti honduras jamaica mexico nicaragua panama united states south america argentina bolivia brazil chile colombia ecuador guyana paraguay peru trinidad and tobago uruguay venezuela european union latin america sub-saharan africa responsibilities in latin america and the caribbean