he way water is managed today is not sustainable; current usages are inefficient and of low perceived value by consumers in most of the developed world (Matsui et al., 2001). The focus needs to be shifted from water as a good to the provision of water as a service. Thus, the emphasis changes from a preoccupation with quantity to considerations of types of use or application and matching quantity and quality with those requirements. For this to happen there will need to be social changes to ensure acceptability and responsibility (SAM, 2004). Current thinking considers water supply, in-house sanitation, water use in agriculture and industry, sewer system, wastewater treatment, and river basin management as parts of an integrated system, although service delivery and regulatory frameworks rarely match this. Thus the integrated overarching system needs to be embedded into the local framework of law and regulation, and into the framework of cultural heritage INFRASTRUCTURE TO 2030: TELECOM, LAND TRANSPORT, WATER AND ELECTRICITY - ISBN 92-64-02398-4 © OECD 2006 5. THE IMPACTS OF CHANGE ON THE LONG-TERM FUTURE DEMAND FOR WATER SECTOR INFRASTRUCTURE and concerns. The solution will be the integrated and transparent management of water resources, balancing demand and supply by water saving, increasing reuse and exploiting new marginal sources (WSSTP, 2005; Sommen, 2006). All of these require sociological change as a prerequisite for the adoption of technical innovations. Globally there is a great deal of diversity in the institutional and organisational forms of water service delivery. Clearly there has been a trend towards the decentralisation of service provision, with central governments gradually delegating operational responsibility downwards, often to the municipal level. The question of the appropriate operational scale is one that depends on context, and there can be no one solution. What is clear is that there is a growing need for effective regulatory oversight however services are provided, and a need for centr