Meeting on small community water supply management, Reykjavik, Iceland, 24-26 January 2005

Proceedings of a meeting on small community water supply. Participants reviewed a number of technical and management approaches being taken in respect of small community supplies in countries at differing levels of development. They considered whether and how a broader initiative should be started as a means of supporting progress towards the Millennium Development Goals, and in relation to the new UN Water Decade. They established the general context and key principles for work on this topic, and drew up a draft action plan which will be further discussed at a follow-up meeting being held in Alice Springs, Australia, in July 2005. At the outset of the new UN Decade "Water for Life" (2005-2015) it is essential to learn from the lessons of the previous Decade (1980-1990) and to put in place a variety of context and culture-specific measures suitable to deliver safe water to small or remote communities worldwide. These measures will need to integrate technical and managerial approaches with educational and behaviour change strategies. At its conclusion, the meeting had come to an agreement on a number of key themes and issues. These are divided into three sections: factors relevant to the overall context of small community water supplies worldwide; a number of key principles relevant to small supplies worldwide and at all levels of development; and a series of specific actions to be accomplished in the short to medium-term, and in the context of an emerging initiative on community supplies.