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, non-governmental organisations, 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.

id21 Research Highlight: 10 March 2003

Further Information:
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
Contact the contributor: HeikeGloeckner@WaterAid.org.uk

WaterAid

Other related links:
'New roles, new rules: does private sector participation benefit the poor?'

'Politics and provision On-the-ground realities of water and sanitation development'

'Soap: the missing ingredient in the water and sanitation mix'

'Transforming with technology in India'

'Transforming with technology in India'

'Can social marketing increase demand and uptake of sanitation?'

'Subsidy or self-respect? Lessons from Bangladesh'