ABSTRACT
Having presented the main relevant actors involved in global water management, we will now examine, in particular, the role of the World Bank. The World Bank is without doubt one of the most, if not the most important actor in the global water sector, be it in terms of financial aid or in terms of general policy-making in the developing countries. Indeed, ‘by the end of the 1991, more than $19 billion had been lent for irrigation and drainage, $12 billion for water supply and sewerage, and about $9 billion for hydropower projects, the total representing more than 15 percent of total Bank lending’ (World Bank, 1993: 65-6). The World Bank currently supervises eighty-six water and sanitation projects with loans totalling $5.3 billion.1
