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Water delivery's poor cousins
Sanitation and hygiene in urban environments
The development and delivery of sanitation services and hygiene promotion
remain poor cousins to water supply, being neither 'clean' nor as politically
useful as the delivery of water. However, they are as important in reducing
preventable diseases and with the new target agreed last summer at Johannesburg,
sanitation at least will hopefully become more of a development priority.
This article from WaterAid highlights some of its experiences in finding
appropriate ways of delivering water, sanitation and hygiene to urban
areas. However, there is still a long way to go in finding solutions that
are appropriate in all cases, and these examples serve to show not just
the possible solutions but also the many barriers which exist in the delivery
of essential services.
The four main barriers to the delivery of sanitation services in urban
areas are:
- Physical; unplanned settlements with high concentrations of people
are typically some distance from existing services.
- Financial; conventional water and sewerage systems tend to be expensive
to install and poorer settlements are unable to pay for them up-front
(although they frequently pay more per litre for water services and
the health costs from lack of sanitation facilities can be considerable).
- Political; a lack of willingness to deliver essential services to
residents of informal settlements where they have limited legal rights.
- Cultural; the taboos and unsafe practices often associated with sanitation
and hygiene.
Although it has worked in urban areas for a relatively short time, WaterAid
has been overcoming these barriers by developing appropriate technologies
and carefully considered social solutions for a range of high-population
situations. Some of its successes include:
- In Mozambique, the town of Maua has decided that every resident must
build a safe form of sanitation before a water system is installed.
Many people are opting for ecological sanitation which yields invaluable
soil enhancers and fertiliser.
- Working with government and communities in India to build communal
toilets, managed by local residents, including child-friendly open latrines
that encourage children to defecate safely and learn good hygiene habits
early on.
- Collaborating with engineers and local communities in Dhaka, Bangladesh,
to develop the Vacutug (a safe mechanised way of communal and household
latrine sewage disposal) and training those who used to empty latrines
by hand to operate and manage the machine.
- Also in Dhaka, working with local non-governmental organisations,
communities and the municipal government to secure access to water and
sanitation services for many informal settlements.
- Joining forces with the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative
Council's WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for All) campaign to raise
the profile of hygiene and sanitation in Madagascar using creative communication
methods, radio and drama and participatory approaches.
Based on its experience, WaterAid makes the following recommendations
for policy-makers:
- Consider a range of solutions that are local and context-specific,
to suit both the pocket and the wishes of the people who are going to
use them. In Tamil Nadu, India, for example, residents are able to choose
between having their own household toilet or using the communal latrine.
- Let communities lead development so that solutions are relevant,
appropriate and affordable. Creating federations of communities, as
experienced in Dar es Salaam, can enable groups to share experiences
and help the poor to be heard by policy-makers.
- Encourage and support the partnerships between communities, NGOs,
local municipalities and the private sector that are vital for the success
of development projects. By this means, residents of slum communities
in Dhaka have influenced how municipalities deliver essential services
to illegal settlements.
- Consider creative ways to promote sanitation and hygiene. For example,
in Madagascar, the WASH campaign will use the 'sanitation ladder' to
enable individuals or households to choose the type of latrine that
most suits their ability to build and maintain, according to cost and
technology. The sanitation ladder presents different options for latrines
from the most basic hole in the ground, through to the most technically
advanced sewerage system.
- Include options that meet the needs of the most vulnerable groups
in settlements, specifically women and children. Women often culturally
need more privacy than men in order to use a latrine, while the child-friendly
latrines in India benefit children who are often scared of, or unable
to use adult latrines for cultural and physical reasons.
Virginia Roaf or Heike Gloeckner
WaterAid
Prince Consort House
27-29 Albert Embankment
London SE1 7UB
UK
Tel: +44 (0) 207 793 4500
Fax: +44 (0) 207 793 4545
HeikeGloeckner@WaterAid.org.uk
www.wateraid.org.uk
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