An estimated 1.1Bn people in South Asia lack access to safely managed water supply and sanitation. Those who have access to Water Supply and Sanitation (WSS) services often must cope with intermittent water supply, sewerage system overflows, and poor customer service. In addition, rapid urbanization and climate change further exacerbate the challenge of providing high-quality, sustainable WSS services and make the need to build resilience ever more imminent. 

​In many urban areas worldwide, including the South Asia Region, WSS services are mainly provided by public WSS utilities. While some of these utilities perform well, others suffer from the types of performance issues observed in many public sector entities, such as low operating and investment efficiency. ​Achieving a sustained turnaround requires approaches that promote an increase in a utility’s operational and managerial efficiency, and there are existing good practices and innovations to learn from within the SAR and globally. ​

The purpose of the South Asia WSS Utility Hub is to encourage the adoption of good practices and promote innovation in water utility management through peer-to-peer learning and participation in capacity building programs offered by the Bank's Water Global Practice (GP) and by the GP’s partners. Activities of the SAWUF are housed under two main pillars: (i) analytical services and capacity building and (ii) knowledge exchange and policy dialogue.