COMMUNITY-BASED WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES

Aquatic environments are ecosystems linked to rivers wetlands marshes or lakes. They are made up of plant and animal species and their living areas (habitats). Their management scale is the watershed. The quality of the watercourses being essential for all the riparians have rights but also duties registered in the Environment Code. Access to water and sanitation is one of the main challenges of the 21st century. Today more than one billion people do not have access to safe drinking water and more than two billion people do not have access to sanitation facilities. As a result these disastrous living conditions cause the death of nearly 10000 people a day the vast majority of whom are children. Access to water is not only an important factor in public health it also conditions the socio-economic development of populations: agriculture livestock industry commerce and daily household life are dependent on access to water in sufficient quantity and quality. Lack of water also results in poverty and delayed development.