The formulation of rules to administer water standards entail a wide range of action, from clarify,'ing legislation to preparing manuals and guidelines. To assure practicality of objective and approach, local entities like NGOs and the public should actively participate in this task. What constitutes a violation and the associated penalties must be clearly stated, widely disseminated, and enforced promptly and uniformly.

Well administered service standards and regulations are as essential to sustaining good water services as the physical facilities themselves. Where comprehensive standards are prepared and enforced, service quality is high and the beneficiaries are more able and willing to pay. Furthermore, the system developed must be capable of providing an acceptable service under reasonable O&M costs.

Administrative rules must also cover institutional arrangements for coordinating mutually agreed upon priorities and policies of different water-related agencies. In many countries, river basin authorities are established to manage individual river basins. Other alternatives used are appointment of coordinating committees, with representatives from major public water agencies.<sup>16</sup> Such committees have responsibility for reviewing and recommending investment and management principles to promote the overall water resource strategy and achieve consistency within the sector.

**Institutions (Organizations):** There are three main participants in water resources development and management: government, non-government entities and the private sector. The appropriate role of the government is to control overall exploitation and management of the resources for the benefit of society (through appropriate laws and regulations), undertake investment programs of a public good nature, and fill-in the gaps caused by market failure. Non-government entities should develop and manage resources for their members' benefits within bounds established by the government. Private sector activities parallel those of the non-governmental entities except for scale and profitability motive.

The implementation of water resource management policies in Bangladesh have many implications for public institutions dealing with water resources. Institutional structure at the national and local level are necessary for formulation and implementation of policies for improved water management and public investment programs. Many countries have utilized river basin management authorities to coordinate all water management functions within a basin. The system prevailing in some of them is described in Box 2.

Bangladesh has the National Water Council, with representations from all water-related ministries, for policy formulation at the highest level of government. It also has the Water Resource Planning Organization (WARPO) for overall planning of water resources and ensuring its optimum utilization among various users such as agriculture, fisheries, navigation, public health, industry etc.'<sup>7</sup> WARPO is also supposed to consolidate data on water collected by various agencies. The organization, however, has not operated

> 16 See Water Resource Management, The World Bank, op cit.

> 17 See FAP 26: Institutional Development Program, Report No.2, Dhaka, February 1995.

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