Welcome to Samoa’s Water for Life website. The Water for Life initiative is an ongoing process to stimulate the development of Samoa’s water sector through a sector-wide approach. The process builds on a wealth of stakeholder consultations, sector assessments and studies, and water-related documents produced over the past decade. As Water for Life is shaped by and responds to Samoa’s development agenda, the water sector plan and related framework for action is a living document, the latest update covering the period 2008-2013.

Water resource development and management present many challenges not least because no single entity has an overall mandate for water. Coordination and cooperation through partnerships, public and private, local, national and international, is essential and is best achieved through common action based on a sector-wide approach. Therefore, the Water for Life emphasizes the message that “water is everybody’s responsibility”.

Samoa is currently engaged in a number of national and regional water related projects. The Water Sector Support Programme (WASSP), funded by the European Union (EU-EDF) is explicitly aiming to introduce the sector wide approach apart from improvements in sector orientation, water resources, and rural water supply and sanitation in Samoa. The Samoa Sanitation and Drainage Project (SSDP), funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), is specifically targeting improvements in Apia’s drainage, sewerage, sanitation and wastewater treatment.

Regional projects include the SOPAC implemented Sustainable Integrated Water Resources and Wastewater Management (IWRM) in Pacific Island Countries, funded by the Global Environmental Facility (GEF), and the Pacific Hydrological Cycle Observing System (HYCOS), funded by the EU-Water Facility (EU-WF).

The main Samoan organizations active in the water sector include:

· Ministry of Natural Resources, Environment and Meteorology (MNREM)
· Ministry of Health (MOH)
· Ministry of Works, Transport and Infrastructure (MWTI)
· Ministry of Agriculture (MAF)
· Ministry of Women, Community and Social Development (MWCSD)
· Ministry of Finance (MOF)
· Samoa Water Authority (SWA)
· Electric Power Corporation (EPC)
· Samoa Umbrella for Non Governmental Organisations (SUNGO)

Read more here about the organisation of the Water for Life initiative or contact infowassp@mof.gov.ws for more information.