1003PLANNING WATER SUPPLY AND SANITATION PROJECTS
IN DEVELOPING NATIONS
INTRODUCTIONIt is estimated that over 1.5 billion people in the world are
without adequate water supply and waste disposal facili-
ties.^1 Waterborne diseases kill an average of 25,000 people
every day, and millions suffer the debilitating effects of the
diseases.^2 Concerned about the need for safe water supply
and sanitation, the United Nations (UN) declared 1981–1990
as the International Water Supply and Sanitation Decade
with the professed goal of supplying potable water for all the
people of the world by 1990, and also of providing all people
with the means to safe disposal of human excreta. This goal
was highly optimistic in view of the fact the nearly 80 percent
of the population in the developing countries does not have
access to piped water supply, and even a large percentage
lacks public sewers and household waste disposal systems. 3,4^
At the end of the International Water and Sanitation
Decade, it was estimated that almost 31 and 44 percent of the
world population was lacking safe water supply and adequate
human waste disposal, respectively. The global population
being 5.28 billions, total population currently having inad-
equate water supply and sanitation is therefore staggering. 5 – 7
Based on an assessment of the successes and failures of the
Decade, it is believed that much has been accomplished, but
progress is needed on all fronts: rehabilitation and operation
of existing systems, training of personnel, financing, and
new construction to achieve the goals of the Decade within
a reasonable time in the future. In this article many factors
that contribute to successes and failures of the Water Decade
goals are reviewed. The discussion is divided into (1) under-
standing of the needs, (2) appropriate technology for water
supply and waste disposal, (3) commitment, (4) financial
resources, (5) training of people to plan, design, build, oper-
ate and maintain water and sanitary projects, and (6) role of
developed nations. 8 – 10UNDERSTANDING THE NEEDSAdequate supply of safe water and basic sanitation are the
foundation of health. Water pollution and poor sanitation
are probably responsible for 80 percent of the morbidity
and mortality in the developing countries. It is estimated
that over 900 million cases of diarrhea related illness occur
each year, resulting in the death of over 3 million chil-
dren. Common diseases associated with polluted water aregrouped in Table 1.^11 Prevention of such diseases depends on
the improvement of the quality of the water supply, personal
hygiene, food handling and preparation; as well as the provi-
sion of adequate sanitation, including sanitary facilities for
human waste disposal.
The importance of personal hygiene specially on the part
of mothers and children is the key to beneficial results in dis-
ease prevention. Therefore, more intensive activities directed
to improve personal hygiene should be emphasized in the
developing countries. Furthermore, a meaningful program
of providing safe water supply in developing countries must
also include safe disposal of human excreta, basic education,
and improvement of sanitary conditions.
The major constraints on the progress of the International
Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade have been
operation and maintenance and rehabilitation of the systems
that were built earlier. Broken-down and poorly functioning
facilities waste money, are a threat to health, and discourage
future investments. Also, inappropriate technology is at the
root of many water supply and waste disposal problems in
the developing countries. 12,14APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGYWater SupplyThe goal of the UN Water Decade was to provide “clean
water and adequate sanitation for all by 1990”. It should be
noted that this did not mean a tap and a flush toilet in every
house. Reasonable access to safe water is usually understood
to be within 500 m of the household; for many developing
countries, adequate sanitation probably refers to some tech-
nology intermediate between the water flush toilet and the
simple pit latrine. The scope of the task of the UN Water
Decade was truly enormous considering that the two pri-
ority areas are the rural population (71%), who often have
to travel long distances for water, and the crowded urban
poor (25%), for whom water supply often is grossly inad-
equate; 87% of rural population and 47% of urban fringe
areas lack adequate sanitation.^12 Naturally, achieving uni-
versal coverage would mean not only supplying almost one
billion people currently without safe water supplies and the
1.7 billion people without sanitation, but matching popula-
tion growth as well. Annual investment is currently in the
range of 15 to 20 billion dollars per year—about 2 to 3 per-
cent of gross investment in developing countries. If the shareC016_008_r03.indd 1003C016_008_r03.indd 1003 11/18/2005 11:01:57 AM11/18/2005 11:01:57 AM