In the Madagascan capital Antananarivo (Tana), community groups are using revenues from water kiosks and other local sources to finance a drainage canal cleaning programme, critical to public health. This practice note argues that the Tana experience may provide a sustainable and scalable model for cross financing environmental health improvements.

La pérennité financière est essentielle aux modèles durables de l’assainissement urbain et de l’hygiène environnementale. A Antananarivo (Tana), capitale malgache, les communautés utilisent les recettes des kiosques à eau pour financer le curage de canaux, une action essentielle pour la santé publique.

This Topic Brief explores the viability of communal or public toilets as an alternative to individual household toilets, noting the challenges of financing and sustainable management arrangements. It argues that communal or public toilets may be the most appropriate medium-term solution in some specific situations: notably in high-density slums with a high proportion of tenants and/or frequent flooding and water-logging.

This Topic Brief describes a business model for delegated management of local water services, recently developed with WSUP support in the Kenyan Rift Valley town of Naivasha. The model is designed to ensure affordable but high-quality services for consumers, profitability for the operators, and sufficient revenues for sustainable asset maintenance.

This report evaluates the impacts of climate change on water and sanitation technologies in the informal and peri-urban areas in Antananarivo and considers the potential adaptations required to mitigate the impacts. The vulnerabilities and adaptations were determined based upon a field visit, a vulnerability assessment and a literature review. Under current forecasts for Antananarivo mean temperatures, rainfall and rainfall intensity are predicted to increase. There will be more frequent storms and cyclones will decrease in frequency but increase in intensity. This is likely to increase the volume of runoff, raise river levels and increase the speed of flood onset; resulting in an increase in flooding from both the river and the drains.

This report is based upon a 10 month project assessing the vulnerability of WSUP (Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor) projects to climate change, converting climate change predictions into recommended adaptations. The findings are based on a literature review and field work in Kenya, Madagascar and Zambia, undertaking focus groups, stakeholder interviews and observations. This report synthesises the science of climate change, the impacts of climate change on drinking water and sanitation, how to climate proof water and sanitation services and how to adapt.