Water in the 21st Century - Elements of a Water Strategy - Basic Human Rights and Environmental Renewal

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Emerging Global Water Issues

Water Quality, Pollution, and the Environment

A Double-Edged Sword: Flood and Droughts

Geographical Variability in Water Resources

Shared Waters

Heightened Awareness of Water Issues

Elements of a Water Strategy

Basic Human Rights and Environmental Renewal

Water for Poverty Reduction

Water for Food Production

Water as a Finite and Economic Good

Imperatives for Wise Water Management

ADB's Evolving Role in the Changing Context

Water in the 21st Century : Elements of a Water Strategy

Basic Human Rights and Environmental Renewal

The Dublin Principles recognize that freshwater is an input to which every human has the right to claim an essential minimum amount-the amount necessary to sustain life and meet basic sanitation needs. For human survival, the absolute minimum daily water requirement is only about 5 liters per day, whereas the daily requirement for sanitation, bathing, and cooking needs, as well as for assuring survival, is about 50 liters per person (equivalent to about 20 m³ per year).⁴ Despite concerted efforts made during the 1980s (the International Drinking Water and Sanitation Decade), even this minimal amount was not provided in 55 countries (representing close to 1 billion people) by 1990.

One in five people living today does not have access to safe drinking water, and half the world's population does not have adequate sanitation. This is most acute in Asia where the majority of the world's poor people live. Not surprisingly, water- and sanitation-related diseases are widespread and increasing. Almost 250 million cases are reported each year, with about 10 million deaths. Diarrhea alone kills more than 2 million children in developing countries. A recent UN report⁵ notes that "at any given time, 50 percent of the population in developing countries is suffering from water-related diseases caused either by infection, or indirectly by disease-carrying organisms." The global imperative is to ensure that at least 95 percent of human beings have safe water and sanitation by 2025 (World Water Council 1999).

ADB's Second Water Utilities Data Book (1997), which presents illustrative data on water use in 42 cities across the region, shows that water supply and sanitation investments are not keeping pace with population growth. In ADB's DMCs, an estimated 737 million people in rural areas and 93 million in urban areas still have no access to safe drinking water. Access to sanitation is denied to 1.74 billion in rural areas and 298 million in urban areas. This is a major human tragedy; provision of such services to all people should be one of the highest priorities of all governments. The box on pages 14 and 15 provides a discussion of the issues affecting water supply and sanitation in ADB's DMCs.

At the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, the rights of all human beings to basic daily water requirements were expanded to include environmental water needs. This was reinforced in a statement issued by the UN in 1997: "... it is essential for water planning to secure basic human and environmental needs for water [and]... develop sustainable water strategies that address basic human needs, as well as preservation of ecosystems."

Water Supply and Sanitation in the Region

In terms of human needs, water availability highly variable across Asia and the Pacific. In Singapore, affordable high-quality water is available to all, 24 hours a day. In rural Nepal, fetching water for basic needs occupies up to four hours a day. Most people in the region do not have access in their homes to a 24-hour supply and are forced to boil or filter the water they obtain to make it potable.

In urban areas, unaccounted-for water averages 35 percent of production. Leakage (especially from house connections) probably accounts for half of this. Illegal connections, inadequate metering, and slack meter reading account for the rest. Where tariffs are too low, excessive water consumption (more than 150 liters per capita per day) is common. By contrast, power bills are normally about four times those for water. Low tariffs mean that utilities are always struggling with financial viability and cannot contribute to capital investments.

Sewerage exists for less than 5 percent of our regional population, and only about 20 percent have on-site septic tanks. Basic latrines are available for about 50 percent, but as many as 25 percent have no formal sanitation at all. In urban areas, building controls are lax, and industries are often allowed to discharge effluents without treatment.

Competition for water has become intense and, because prior claim to a large portion of the resource has often been established (particularly by irrigators), urban suppliers are obliged to tap sources remote from the users. An example is the $400 million Melamchi Water Supply Project in Nepal, which will draw water from three river basins outside the Kathmandu Valley to serve urban areas within the valley.

The three main problems facing the sector are financial sustainability, water resource availability, and equitable access. Planning for the long term is now critical. Water rights for domestic and industrial water supplies should be secured for at least 50 years. Tariffs need to be set to reflect the financial costs (and preferably the economic costs) of water. For example, in the water-scarce Maldives, consumers in the capital of Malé pay the equivalent of $5 per cubic meter for desalinated piped water. Distortions in tariffs, where one part of a community cross-subsidizes another, need to be smoothed out, and all schemes should make adequate supplies available in poor areas. The poor can, and are willing, to pay for water.

In rural areas, special efforts are needed to reduce the distance to water supplies wherever possible and to encourage conservation approaches, such as rainwater harvesting. Based on ADB's evaluation of many water supply and sanitation projects, it is essential to include complementary education in hygiene to derive the full health benefits of improvements in infrastructure.

Privatization of urban water supplies has not so far achieved a remarkably high success rate. Independent regulatory bodies are needed to reduce political interference and ensure accountable management and efficient delivery of water. The challenges in future are to (i) open up competition, (ii) allow domestic privatization, (iii) allow existing utilities to operate with transparent cost recovery policies and independent regulatory bodies, (iv) greatly increase tariffs to affordable limits, and (v) introduce performance benchmarking in all utilities. An urgent need exists to reduce nonrevenue water.

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A daily water supply of 300 liters per person (the level of use achieved in many developed countries) is considered an appropriate design standard for modern urban water supply schemes.
United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development. 1997. Overall Progress Achieved Since the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. Report of the Secretary General, UN: New York.

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Elements of a Water Strategy

Water for Poverty Reduction

Catalog

Basic Human Rights and Environmental Renewal

Water Supply and Sanitation in the Region