Reuters
August 22, 2006

Water experts, NGOs and businesses are teaming up in the Water Integrity Network to fight corruption feared to be siphoning off billions of dollars from projects to supply drinking water to the Third World.

Water experts and businesses teamed up on Tuesday to fight corruption feared to be siphoning off billions of dollars from projects to supply drinking water to the Third World. The Water Integrity Network (WIN), launched at a meeting of 1,000 water experts in Stockholm, would combat graft in a sector where huge contracts are needed to meet U.N. goals of halving the proportion of people with no access to clean water by 2015. “Corruption is undermining efforts to bring more people water,” Kenyan Water Minister Mutua Katuku told a news conference with founders of WIN. He said Kenya had made “serious reforms” in 2002 to the water sector to help end graft. WIN includes non-government groups such as Transparency International, the Stockholm International Water Institute and Aquafed, an industry body that says it represents 200 companies including Suez, Veolia and U.S. United Water. … WIN would seek legal and financial reforms to allow greater competition and insight into contracts, and try to inform the public about how corruption was sapping investments. The network would be open to all.