Strategic Thinking to Achieve Water MDGs

Date: March 2006
Type: Papers and Briefs
Subject:
Poverty; Water

Description

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have set the global agenda for fighting poverty, and have put water and sanitation at the center of that discussion. Target 10 of the MDGs calls for halving, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and sanitation.

The Asian Development Bank is committed to helping establish the enabling environment needed to achieve the MDGs. Part of its efforts is to harness and promote critical knowledge that enables its developing member countries to make decisions, formulate policies, and undertake actions. In September 2005, ADB helped prepare the MDG II report entitled "A Future Within Reach," which was presented at the UN General Assembly in New York. In February 2006, ADB—together with partners UNESCAP, UNDP, and WHO—completed a study on the progress and price tag of achieving Target 10 among the different countries in the Asia and Pacific region, dubbed “Asia Water Watch 2015.”

ADB has again embarked on a study focusing on the water supply and sanitation costs and pricing practices that influence the attainment of the MDG Target 10. Development economist Bhanoji Rao, Professor Emeritus at GITAM Institute of Foreign Trade in Visakhapatnam, India, was commissioned to undertake this study.

This report is the outcome of the study. It shows the importance of water and sanitation provision for delivery of MDGs using simple cross-country correlations. It outlines the investment requirements for water and sanitation targets, and argues for a two-pronged strategy toward sustainable human development that includes the provision of drinking water and sanitation:

  • least cost and quick-fix solutions for the medium term, especially regarding the supply of the minimum needed quantity of water for drinking
  • for the longer term, integrated development of housing and water and sanitation, within the framework of an urban development strategy

Contents

  • Abstract
  • Background and Objectives 
  • The Millennium Development Goals 
  • Water, Sanitation, and Other Human Development Indicators: Correlations and Implications 
  • Costs, Pricing, and Investment Needs 
  • Water and Sanitation Provision as Part of Housing Development 
  • A Few Recommendations 
  • References 
  • Annexes