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The
POVERTY Millennium Development Goal
What
water, sanitation and hygiene can do
This
Briefing Note presents evidence for the
impact of water supply, sanitation and
improved hygiene on poverty reduction.
Compiled
by Julie Fisher of WEDC, 2004
Content
contributions by Christine van Wijk, IRC
Headline
Facts
The
MDGs are strongly inter-dependent and
programme interventions must reflect
this. Water, sanitation and
hygiene deliver outcomes across the MDGs.
Why
is water, sanitation and hygiene so
important for the poor?
The
Urban and Rural Poor - The poor receive the
least adequate access to safe water, sanitation and
hygiene, but this can be alleviated by allowing them
greater autonomy over service provision.
Willingness
to Pay - Setting differential tariffs and
establishing pro-poor payment systems enables poorer
households to pay for services.
Income
Generation -Appropriate provision of water
and sanitation can lead to income generating
opportunities for the poor.
Health
and Poverty - Access to safe water and
appropriate sanitation and hygiene services leads to
significant health benefits for the poor.
The
Urban and Rural Poor
The
facts
-
In
Tanzania, households below the poverty line are
between twice and six times as likely to use
unprotected water sources as those who are not.
-
Definitions
of 'access' and 'coverage' often mask the
inequity which exists within poor communities.
-
Within
rural communities, not all households are
equally served, with only 40% having reliable
access in one community-managed programme.
Why
water, sanitation and hygiene?
Approaches
have been developed that help alleviate the
hardships related to inadequate water sanitation and
hygiene provision, especially those experienced by
the urban poor. Utilities can give poor
neighbourhoods more autonomy over their services or
can make special provisions for them.
-
The urban water utility of Malawi supplies water through group
connections. Households form a user group,
elect a management committee, and share the
water bill. Evaluations have shown that the
approach works and could be improved.
-
In the urban slums of Bangalore, the Water Supply and Sewerage Board
provide several households with a single yard
tap.
-
In Honduras, the utility established a separate section to serve the
urban poor. Local committees distribute the
water within their neighbourhoods and take
care of the local administration, operation
and management, greatly improving access.
Willingness
to Pay
The Facts
-
Many
poor households already pay more for water than
middle and upper income households. In Mexico,
poor households paid 25 times more for water
than wealthier households.
-
Poor
households are willing to pay for improved water
supplies and sanitation.
-
If
long distances need to be travelled in order to
make a payment, the level of co-operation
reduces.
Why
water, sanitation and hygiene?
Setting differential tariffs and establishing
pro-poor payment systems allow poorer households to
manage metered connections more easily.
-
In Cear.á, Brazil, the poorest farmers are not charged for water,
including women who use it for domestic
consumption and small-scale production. In the
cities, the tariff increases with use, with
smaller amounts used by low-income households
being heavily subsidised.
-
Weighted tariffs based on indicators of poverty, such as type and size of
house, avoid the need for costly metering
systems. These indicators are most effective
when set locally using participatory methods
of welfare ranking and social mapping.
-
Pro-poor payment systems adjust payment frequency, form and location
according to income. In the Philippines,
Kerala (India) and several Latin American
countries, spreading water supply connection
costs by including them in the tariffs made
house connections more affordable. Payments in
kind are also possible.
-
In Santiago de Chile, women pay at a mobile van which visits the slums at
fixed days and times.
-
In peri-urban settlements in Malawi, users pay the local treasurer of the
water users group.
Income
Generation
The Facts
-
The
water and sanitation sector can provide work and
income for poor people.
-
In
African cities, small scale independent
providers are an important alternative to
utilities when it comes to supplying the poor
with water and sanitation.
-
Sanitation
improvements provide income generating
opportunities, including for poor women.
-
Poor
families can benefit considerably when water
projects are also planned and managed for small
scale productive uses by poor people.
Why
water, sanitation and hygiene?
The
following are examples of income generation through
the provision of safe water, sanitation and hygiene.
-
Water vendors are an example of small scale providers. The advantages are
that they generate income, payment is on
delivery, and small quantities can be
delivered daily. Associated problems are the
high variations in tap water in cost per
litre, soaring prices during drought and poor
water quality.
-
In Lesotho, local latrine builders who worked full time in improving
sanitation earned the equivalent of the mean
monthly income in the country. 45% worked
part-time for an additional income. The
programme also boosted local industries such
as brick and block production.
-
The impact of water, sanitation and hygiene provision on micro-enterpreneurs
in Uganda includes reduced costs and improved
reliability of water supply, increased
production and sales, increased demand for the
firm’s goods or services and the possibility
of introducing new water-related goods or
services.
-
A working water supply allowed women entrepreneurs in Gujarat to earn Rs.
750 to Rs. 5500 per year by part-time work.
The enterprises developed were dairying,
crafts, tree nurseries, and salt and gum
production.
Health
and Poverty
The Facts
-
Poor
families suffer worse health conditions than
those with higher incomes.
-
There
is a correlation between water and
sanitation-related disease and poverty.
-
Promoting
better hygiene can greatly improve health,
provided poor families also have access to
affordable water and sanitation.
-
The
means of achieving improved hygiene are less
affordable to poor households.
Why
water, sanitation and hygiene?
Reductions
in water and sanitation related diseases bring
macro-economic benefits as well as reducing
household costs. There are synergies between
water and sanitation-related health impacts, poverty
and benefits of improved services.
-
Waterborne diseases cost the Indian economy 73
million working days each year.
-
A cholera outbreak in Peru in the early 1990s
cost the economy US$1 billion in lost tourism
and agricultural exports in 10 weeks.
-
Illness from diarrhoeas, eye infection and
skin diseases (all hygiene-related) results in
an aggregated cost of US$ 10-11 per person per
year for rural households in Uttar Pradesh,
India.
-
Households in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso who
adopted improved hygiene practices invested $8
per household per year mainly on soap for hand
washing. However, these households will be
saving almost twice as much in medical care
bills and will benefit from higher
productivity.
-
Improved water sanitation and hygiene also has
nutritional and development benefits.
Households with a distant water source cooked
little, and only once a day because of a lack
of water.
-
Projects in Bangladesh, India and Indonesia
which provided free soap found a positive
impact on health but such support was not
sustainable and use of soap decreased.
-
Public-private partnerships between soap
producers and hygiene programmes to promote
soap use are now under way. Women in Dosso,
Niger, learned how to make and market soap as
part of a sanitation and hygiene programme.
Key
references
-
Satterthwaite,
David (2003). The Millennium Development Goals and
poverty reduction. in David Satterthwaite, ed. The
Millennium Development Goals and local processes:
Hitting the target or missing the point? London,
IIED, pp. 7-46.
-
Van
Wijk, C. (1998). Gender in water resources
management, water supply and sanitation: roles and
realities revisited. IRC Technical Paper no. 33, The
Hague, The Netherlands, IRC and World Bank.
Full
list of references for Briefing Note 1 (Word file)
For
further information contact:
WELL
Water,
Engineering and Development Centre (WEDC)
Loughborough
University
Leicestershire
LE11 3TU UK
Email:
well@lboro.ac.uk
Phone:
+44 (0)1509 228304
Fax:
+44 (0)1509 223970
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