Chemical Technology July 2016

Chemical Technology • July 2016

ASH is fundamentally important to lives and liveli-

hoods, and underpins poverty alleviation and sus-

tainable development. At a basic level, everyone

needs access to safe water in adequate quantities for drink-

ing, cooking and personal hygiene, and sanitation facilities

that do not compromise health or dignity. lack of WASH

takes a huge toll on health and well-being and comes at a

large financial cost, including a sizeable loss of economic ac-

tivity in many countries, not just least developed countries.

While the impacts are most pronounced in lower income

countries, challenges remain in wealthier nations where

concerns regarding water safety and environmental sustain-

ability persist alongside inequalities. Many of the broader

implications of inadequate WASH – for education, cognitive

development and nutrition – are not fully documented, and

inadequate WASH is one of many deprivations suffered by

the world’s poorest and most marginalised populations.

Access to water and sanitation is recognized as a hu-

man right and has long been a central aim of international

development policies and targets [1]. The MDG’s (Millen-

nium Development Goals) sought to “halve the proportion

of the population without access to safe drinking water and

basic sanitation” between 1990 and 201 5 [2]. The WHO

and UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water supply

and sanitation (JMP) reports impressive gains made over

the last two decades with 2,3 billion people gaining access

to an improved drinking water source and 1,9 billion to an

improved sanitation facility [3]. Of those gaining access to

drinking water, 1,6 billion now use a higher level of service:

a piped water supply on premises. However, much still

needs to be done – 748 million do not use an improved

source of drinking water and 2,5 billion do not use an im-

proved sanitation facility. Moreover, not all of those using

improved facilities have fulfilled their rights; for example, an

estimated 1,8 billion people drink water contaminated with

Escherichia coli

, an indicator of faecal contamination [4].

Hand washing with soap is one of the important elements

of hygiene in WASH, although it did not form part of MDG

monitoring. Globally, the prevalence of hand washing with

soap is very low with some estimates suggesting four out

of five people do not wash their hands after contact with

excreta [5]. Moreover, many challenges remain in address-

ing concerns about the adequacy of WASH services and

ensuring their sustainability.

Return on WASH investments

Investments in water and sanitation services result in

substantial economic gains. in developing region;, the

return on investment has been estimated at USD$5 to

USD$28 per dollar invested [6]. Overall, USD$53 billion

per year over a five-year period would be needed to achieve

universal coverage [7] – a small sum given this represented

less than 0,1% of global world product in 2010 and since

the return on investment is many times higher.

Despite the potential for sizeable returns on investment,

sustainable financing has not yet been attained in many

settings, raising questions about who should pay and what

the barriers to investment are. In many cases, capital invest-

ments are made without adequate financial planning or

investment in maintenance, operations and monitoring [8]

which leads to poor levels of service (eg, quality, reliability,

acceptability), lower usage and, in some cases, permanent

failure. Such unsustainable financing not only reduces the

benefits but also wastes available capital, resulting in lower

coverage per dollar spent.

From the user’s perspective, the affordability of WASH

services is of utmost importance and may influence access,

especially for the poor. The financing of water and sanita-

tion, including the proportion contributed by households,

varies greatly [9] as does willingness to pay for water and

sanitation services. Data on household contributions

are few and generally available at the national level,

This article reflects on the role of water,

sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in

achieving sustainable development, and

outlines key challenges that need to be

addressed in order to achieve and sustain

universal coverage.

Water,

sanitation and hygiene

by Robert Bain, Richard Johnston, Cecilia Scharp, Rifat Hossain, Bruce Gordon and

Sanjay Wijesekera, all of either UNICEF or WHO