CAMBODIAN army generals whose home taps have run dry because they have refused to pay their water bills are likely to get angry when asked to make good on what they owe - angry enough to hold a gun to your head.

Ask Mr Ek Sonn Chan, who heads Cambodian capital Phnom Penh's water supply authority.

He has had that done to him twice or thrice in the last 15 years for standing up to these generals and insisting that everyone pay a fair rate for their use of water.

Singapore's ambassador-at-large Professor Tommy Koh on Monday held up Mr Ek's efforts to rebuild the city's war-ravaged water system as an example of good governance.

Prof Koh, who also chairs the Asia-Pacific Water Forum's governing council, was speaking at the launch of a new programme on leadership in water governance organised by the Institute of Water Policy in Bukit Timah.

The two-week programme, attended by 20 officials from public water agencies in 13 countries, will feature discussions on water policy issues; programme participants will also visit the NEWater Research Centre, Changi Water Reclamation Plant and the Marina Barrage.

The participants are expecting to pick up knowledge in areas ranging from the technical to the social - from how to desalinate water more cheaply to how to identify the poor in a community so subsidies can be given to them.

The Institute of Water Policy running the programme was launched by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong five months ago, during the first Singapore International Water Week.

Clean drinking water and proper sanitation is creeping higher up the agenda of many countries now facing ballooning urban populations.

But the problem is often not the availability of water but managing it - as in how to distribute it fairly to all who need it, said Mr Michael Barrow of the Asian Development Bank, which provides loans and technical assistance to Asian and Pacific countries for their development.

Read the full story in Tuesday's edition of The Straits Times.