Smarter Sanitation

Smarter sanitation—we need to make a fresh start

 

K E Seetharam

 

What is sanitation after all? For decades, development experts have been struggling to find the right word to describe the shameful state of declining living standards resulting from lack of proper sanitation. The UNDP's 2006 Human Development Report (HDR) has finally picked up the "magic wand" to rally political leaders and decision makers, calling it a human right.

    

UNDP 2006 HDR wrote on sanitation gap that "…water and sanitation are basic human rights—and no government should be willing to turn a blind eye to the current level of human rights violation…" The report, which echoes ADB's views, has also offered specific solutions to the fix the gap in sanitation.

 

Why the sanitation deficit is so large? If sanitation is so critical to social and economic progress, why is the deficit so large? And why are many developing countries off-track in achieving this part of the Millennium Development Goal target 10? In my view, three factors contribute. The first is political leadership or, rather, its absence on this subject. Public policies on sanitation are as important as economic management, defense or trade. Nevertheless, sanitation is accorded a backseat in terms of priority. Second, while water is provided by a utility or a municipal corporation, the responsibility for sanitation is still unclear. The responsibility for sanitation is shared by municipal corporations, state level agencies, and even national level line ministries—leading to a situation where no one institution is actually accountable. Third, poverty is a major barrier, as the poor households often lack the financing capacity to purchase sanitation facilities. In addition, other factors also contribute detrimentally, including household demand and gender inequality. While women attach more importance to sanitation than men, priorities of women carry less weight in household budgeting in many developing countries, particularly in the rural areas.

 

The Asia Water Watch 2015, estimated that it will cost at least $8 billion annually for the next 10 years to meet the regional MDG target 10 for water supply and sanitation. These investments will only serve half of the unserved population. Double that amount will be required to cover the entire unserved population. That is a significant investment, but not impossible to finance. The money is available. The problem is so urgent that business as usual is not good enough. It is time to innovate and think outside the box. New ways of doing things have to be tried and, if proven workable, they must be replicated and scaled up.

A new thinking—ADB's multimedia toolkit. "Smarter Sanitation" is ADB's new multimedia toolkit to help national and local governments put their sanitation and wastewater sectors on the MDG success path. More than 30 specialists from developing countries in Asia contributed case studies on new ways of providing sanitation. "Smarter Sanitation" includes a CD and companion booklet that guides users through the main barriers confronting them. It covers four areas: (i) attitudes and misconceptions about what is and is not possible; (ii) getting policies to work; (iii) changing community behavior and awareness levels, and (iv) choosing the most suitable technology. The toolkit includes SANEX™, a high-powered software for assessing and planning sanitation systems in developing countries. The toolkit is ADB's way of doing business unusual itself, and getting its developing member country partners to also think in innovative ways.

 

APANA—a new policy for nations on smarter sanitation. A fresh thinking to sanitation is emerging. Perhaps it is time to coin a new word to define it. "Water is life" has been accepted without any dispute. I suggest redefining Sanitation as "APANA" using the following: (i) Accessbility, (ii) Privacy, (iii) Affordability, (iv) Nature friendly, and (v) Achievability.

 

First, sanitation is characterized first by its easy accessibility. To answer the call of nature, the facility must be within one's reach. Second, the location and construction of the sanitation facility should take into consideration the need for privacy, which is particularly important for women. These two underpin the human dignity aspect of sanitation.

 

Third, sanitation services must be affordable for everyone. Water supply had been suffering from cost recovery problems, due to people's low willingness-to-pay, and more importantly governments' willingness-to-charge, which is even lower. In the case of sanitation, the story is dismal. Even today, developed countries subsidize their citizens for access to sanitation. On the other hand, the investment needed for sanitation, including wastewater management, is almost three times more than for water supply, thus making the challenge of financing much greater. Full sewerage is indeed too expensive for developing member countries (DMCs) to finance. DMCs should consider incremental improvements that can be quickly made. If needed, governments will have to initially subsidize the poor to have access to decent sanitation.

 

Fourth, the big challenge for sanitation is ensuring that the natural and environmental impacts are minimized and mitigated. Several new ideas and technologies, including separation of urine from excrement are now accepted as good practice in developed countries. The specific technologies that meet individual urban and rural conditions may vary form place to place. For example, in dispersed low-income rural areas, the appropriate technology may be a simple pit latrine. In a congested urban slum area with reliable water service, it may be a low-cost sewerage system.

 

Finally, the gap in access to sanitation is so huge—three times the gap in access to safe drinking water—that any solution should be easily achievable. Then only, it can be implemented expeditiously.

 

What is possible in the near future? In my view,
providing sanitation to all citizens is doable. A good household toilet that can last for at least 15 years costs will cost only about $60 per capita. A simple toilet can be built for less than $5 per capita. The one time capital cost is affordable by most DMC governments. What is important to note is the massive economic impact of this investment—at the rate of $4 to $15 for each $1 invested in sanitation—in terms of savings in health, education, and labor costs. Therefore, it is cheaper and efficient for the finance ministries in DMC governments to prioritize funds to improve sanitation for all citizens, than provide funds to the health, education, and social welfare departments to tackle problems emerging from lack of sanitation, such as water borne diseases.

 

Nonetheless, in urban areas, the poor people who do not have proper shelter and live in slums or illegal settlements will be unable to get proper sanitation. Unlike water which can be delivered in bulk at community level, sanitation is not sustainable unless every household is provided with its own facility. Community toilets in slum areas are not sustainable.

 

Let us make a fresh start in support of UNSGAB's campaign to declare the 2008 as the International Year on Sanitation.