The Growing Challenge
More than 1 billion people live in poor urban communities. More than 300 million do not have access to safe water and more than 400 million do not have access to adequate sanitation.
Most are in Asia (about 60%) and sub – Saharan Africa (about 22%) and reside in slums1, defined by the UN as communities in which there is no security of tenure, no access to improved water and sanitation, or where dwellings are made of non-durable materials or are overcrowded (more than 3 people per room). A community that meets any one of these conditions is deemed a “slum” and in reality many slum dwellers live with all or most of these conditions.
The number of urban population without access to improved sanitation will increase from 661 million (2006) to 898 million (2015). The majority of these people will be living in slums and peri-urban settlements which, globally, are growing by over a million people a week.
Urban population in developing countries without access to improved water and sanitation
Water and sanitation coverage has failed to match urban population growth; service levels have declined
While access to water and sanitation has expanded during the past two decades it has failed to keep pace with urban population growth and service levels have declined in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa – a lower percentage now have access to household pipe connections and more use shared water sources, such as tap stands.
The best estimates of current urban WASH coverage gaps for South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, the regions of focus for WSUP, are:
- 78 million not using improved water source and 327 million without access to safe water
- 373 million not using an improved latrine and 410 million without adequate sanitation
Residents of slums have the worst health and live in the most polluted environment
Even where slum dwellers have access to water and sanitation, this does not mean adequate services; water supplies are often intermittent, low pressure, insufficient, expensive or of poor quality. In some communities, water supplies are controlled by a mafia who make illegal connections to the public network, charge exorbitant prices and use violence to discourage other providers. Slum dwellers, especially women and girls, waste hours of their time every day to fetch small volumes. Significant proportions of slum dwellers meet their sanitation needs using shared public or community latrines – often poorly managed and filthy – or by using plastic bags then disposed of on waste sites or in open drains.
In addition to overcrowding and inadequate water and sanitation, there are heavy waste and toxicity burdens resulting in high levels of water, air and soil pollution.
Urban areas of developing countries are among the worst
polluted and disease–ridden habitats of the world.
S Esrey et al, SIDA, 1998
Urban residents have a right to water and sanitation
Many Governments2 as well as various UN declarations3 confirm that all people have a right to a basic amount of affordable water and access to basic sanitation. WSUP and its members share this conviction and believe that Water Utilities and municipalities have an obligation to provide universal services or encourage others to do so; two key approaches are policies of social inclusion that explicitly provide services to poor people and building the capacity of Local Service Providers and Community Organizations.
Adequate water and sanitation as well as hygiene promotion are the most cost-effective means of improving health
An authoritative study in 2006 by the World Bank reviewed dozens of public health interventions and concluded that hygiene promotion, sanitation and water services were among the most cost – effective, measured by the cost to avert premature death or disability.
Traditional approaches cannot keep pace
The combined efforts of governments, civil society, the development sector and philanthropists are not expected to keep pace with the growing problem of urban water and sanitation and new approaches and large investment is needed. See the need for new approaches »
1 See http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Metadata.aspx? IndicatorId=0&SeriesId=710
2 For example, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Madagascar and Uganda have included the right to water and sanitation in their constitution or relevant legislation.
3 The UN International Convention of Economic Social and Cultural Rights has been signed by many countries. The related General Comment No. 15 on the right to water and sanitation, clarifies government responsibilities relating to access to water for domestic use.
