A basin plan for a shared watercourse must envisage future development possibilities and seek to meet the objective of advancing equitable, sustainable and reasonable utilisation of the resources. Where a significant infrastructural development is envisaged in a basin, but is not on the shared part of the watercourse, the Member State promoting the project is to consult with the other basin States and provide an opportunity for non-objection by these States. When the project is on the shared part of the watercourse, the planning, development and management is to be undertaken jointly. The equitable sharing of the costs and benefits of the development is a matter for negotiation, within the framework provided by the Protocol. 8.3 Water Demand Management 8.3.1. Policy: When planning the development of water infrastructure and services, Member States or river basin organisations shall aim to utilise existing capacities more efficiently as part of the process of augmenting water supply. The reorientation of water resource management from the supply-oriented approach to an emphasis on water demand management has shown that the cheapest water for tomorrow may be the water that is being wasted today. Inefficient water use is not just unsustainable under a situation of water scarcity, but also imposes significant costs on the economies of the region. This underscores the dire need for ensuring that an options analysis is undertaken prior to embarking on infrastructural development projects e.g. construction of dams and inter-basin transfer schemes. However, it must also be recognised that the majority of the people in SADC region are not using adequate water for basic needs or for local productive use and are highly vulnerable to drought. In many cases the most appropriate option is to develop small localised water storage facilities in support of local poverty eradication. In all SADC countries, there are large inefficiencies of water use in irrigated agriculture, industries and households, high percentages of unaccounted for water in urban water supply systems and losses, even at point sources, in rural areas. All these require audits and critical assessment to determine where efficiencies can be improved, so as to maximise outputs from existing sources. This will involve a wide range of interventions, including changing the behaviour of consumers, disseminating water efficient technologies, introducing efficiency-inducing pricing structures, reducing leakages in distribution networks and improving operating rules in supply systems. The reallocation of water within sectors (for example by changing from growing low value, high water-demand crops to high value, low water-demand crops) and between sectors (for example from irrigated agriculture to mining and industry) are also important strategies for making better use of existing water resources before investing to expand supply capacities. - 39 -