In this context, institutional reform becomes imperative, especially given the changing climate and increasingly scarce water resources. However, in the MENA, as elsewhere, water is among the sectors most resistant to comprehensive reform. Many are working to update or establish a national water agenda and to take water policy initiatives, although government action has remained mainly focused on investment to develop networks and build infrastructure such as dams, irrigation systems, urban water treatment and sanitation plants. These investments have moved the region’s countries closer to achieving the 2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for water, i.e. reducing by half the population without access to clean drinking water and sanitation systems by 2015. Governments have used education and other tools to raise efficiency and have instituted system improvements to develop networks, reduce losses and enhance groundwater management.