Catalog

Urban Water
ADB Review [ December 2006 - January 2007 ]

Water supply. Sanitation.

BUSINESS UNUSUAL An example of Manila's small piped water networks

If cities are the engines of a country's economic growth, then water is the oil that keeps those engines running. Common among many Asian cities, though, is the fact that water shortage and pollution are stunting growth, making it more expensive to do business and do it efficiently.

This is true for the employer and the employee. The productivity and efficiency of the labor force suffer just as much as industries and services when water services are poor. Like businesses, people mitigate these circumstances by investing their own time and money into the problem-time and money that could be better spent if the proper water services were in place.

Water could also be helping raise urban economic standards of living. Inside the miserable housing conditions of city slums are the bulk of the city's workforce. Yet they are the ones often faced with the worst domestic water and sanitation conditions. Their ability to live healthy, productive, and efficient lives must be secured and preserved for their own sake as well the economy's.

From anyone's perspective—the industrialist, the taxi driver, the hotel manager, or restaurant waiter—water is important for the urban economy, for urban livelihoods, and overall quality of city life.

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