Sanitation and Wastewater Management - The Way Forward Workshop

Sanitation and Wastewater Management - The Way Forward Workshop
Advancing Sanitation and Wastewater Management Agenda in Asia and Pacific Region

Keynote Speech By:

Dr. Bindu N. Lohani
Director-General
Regional and Sustainable Development Department
Asian Development Bank

19-20 September 2005
Manila, Philippines

Partners in the water and sanitation sector, ladies and gentlemen, good morning. It is my pleasure to welcome you to the Asian Development Bank headquarters to share experiences and ideas for improving sanitation and wastewater management in the Asia and Pacific Region.

Five years ago, world leaders committed to the Millennium Development Goals, or MDGs, with 18 measurable, time-bound targets to reduce global poverty, promote health and education, reduce hunger, increase income and improve living standards for the urban poor. It does not take much imagination to see that all of these depend heavily on the achievement of target 10 – reducing by half the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water and improved sanitation.

Let me cite the MDG target on education as a good illustration. Studies show that girls’ school attendance is increased through improved sanitation. For example, in Bangladesh, a school sanitation program has increased the enrollment of girls by 11 per cent every year since it began in 1990 (WaterAid website)¹. Improving water and sanitation will immediately improve health, and when coupled with education, will help reduce poverty, which is the overarching goal of ADB.

These goals come into stark perspective when we realize that: for 700 million of the region’s people, finding safe water is a daily obsession or an unattainable dream. And, even more challenging, for two billion (almost 3 times as many), life without adequate sanitation is a grim reality and a major cause of energy-draining diseases that tighten the shackles of poverty. The need for sanitation and wastewater infrastructure and services is urgent and immense.

In many of Asia’s major cities and metropolitan areas, years of under-investment and growing populations have led to acute strains on existing water infrastructure and supply. Yet, the situation is far worse in sanitation and wastewater because this sector has not received the same focus or investment as water supply. In fact, some might argue that providing water supply without sanitation or wastewater services may worsen the living environment because water almost always creates wastewater.

For the past 25 years, development of sanitation and wastewater management in the developing countries of Asia and the Pacific has generally lagged far behind the development in water supplies, despite the fact they are connected issues. This is partly due to a lack of funding and partly due to a lack of prioritization on government agendas. Exceptions include Korea in the mid1980s and the People’s Republic of China in the late 1990s.

The results of improved hygiene due to good water supply are undermined if complementary sanitation and wastewater management is not also provided. It is time to make an assessment of what has been and what can be done. Business as usual is not an option for ADB, or for most of its developing member countries.

Historically, over one-fifth of ADB’s overall lending has been in the water sector. Over the last 3 years², our lending for water supply, sanitation and wastewater management totaled over $1.5 billion. And we expect this figure to rise by about 50% - to more than $2.3 billion – over the next three years³. Of these amounts, roughly 21 per cent goes to wastewater management – that is $231 million for 2003-2995 and $603 million for 2006-2008.

Clearly much more is needed. In a recent study, we estimate that it will cost $8 billion a year until 2015 to meet the regional MDG targets for water supply and sanitation; double that amount to cover all the unserved population. That is a significant number, but not an impossible figure.

Considering that the investment needed for wastewater management is almost three times more than for water supply, the financing challenge is much greater. Then we must ask the question – how can we advance wastewater management without being too constrained by the huge investment requirement? If full sewerage is indeed too expensive for our developing member countries to finance, are there incremental improvements that can be considered?

We should keep in mind that the Millennium Development Task Force defines basic sanitation as “the lowest-cost option for securing sustainable access to safe, hygienic, and convenient facilities and services for excreta and sullage disposal that provide privacy and dignity, while at the same time ensuring a clean and healthful living environment both at home and in the neighborhood of users.” Thus, we can ask ourselves: are there low-cost options that we can adopt while governments build their capacity to finance full sewerage? What options are applicable in urban areas only and what are those that we can do in rural areas?

The specific technologies that meet specific urban and rural conditions may vary form place to place: in dispersed, low-income rural areas, the appropriate technology may be a simple pit latrine; whereas in a congested urban slum area with reliable water service, it may be a low-cost sewerage system.

How about the issue of consumer’s willingness to pay for wastewater management? As we are all aware, consumers may be generally willing to pay for water supply but not for wastewater. Is this also a question of “sequenced approach,” meaning that we have to address the water supply first before we even begin to talk about sanitation and wastewater?

All these are questions that you and I will discuss during this workshop. While there are various collections of material ranging from consultant reports, to Internet sites, to regional and international publications, to proceedings of conferences dealing with this subject, what is needed now is something which wraps the issue up in a nutshell and puts it in the hands of those who can take action to move this agenda forward.

The problem is so urgent that business as usual is not good enough. It’s time to innovate and think outside the box. New and innovative ways of doing things have to be tried and, if proven workable, must be replicated and scaled up.

Today, this challenge brings us together in this workshop. You and I are here to contribute to yet another initiative – to consider what works and what doesn’t in sanitation and wastewater; to contribute your ideas; to recommend approaches and strategies for ADB’s Way Forward in sanitation and wastewater management.

Closing

Ladies and gentlemen, time is of the essence. We cannot continue to defer, much less ignore, the urgent need to put in place a workable sanitation and wastewater management agenda. We can and we should do something about it NOW.

Workable is the operative word – it has to be one that ADB and its developing member countries can move forward with in an expeditious and replicable fashion.

Ladies and gentlemen, before I close, let me sincerely thank each and every one of you for taking your precious time to contribute to this effort. We truly appreciate your interest and dedication.

Thank you and good day.

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1 Health, Dignity and Development: What Will it Take? UN Millennium Project Task Force on Water and Sanitation, 2005
2 2003 – 2005
3 2006 – 2008

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