Access to clean & safe drinking water, & access to basic sanitation & hygiene services, can be issues that happen at far higher rates in underdeveloped & developing regions of the world.
In the guide below, we discuss the main aspects of three issues relating to these regions:
– Inadequate access to safely managed and clean drinking water
– Inadequate access to safely managed and basic sanitation and hygiene services
– Open defecation
(*Note – underdeveloped and developing regions can also be more vulnerable to water related natural disasters such as floods, but, natural disasters are outside the scope of this guide.)
Summary – Access To Clean/Safe Drinking Water, & Access To Basic Sanitation & Hygiene Services
Global Water Issues
Some water issues are global, or affect a much greater number of countries and regions in the world
These issues mainly relate to having adequate supplies of water to meet demand (water stress or water scarcity), and adequate water quality
Water & Hygiene/Sanitation Issues Specific To Underdeveloped & Developing Regions
But, other water (and waste) related issues tend to happen at higher rates in developing and underdeveloped regions of the world.
These include:
– Inadequate access to clean and safe drinking water
– Inadequate access to basic sanitation and hygiene services
– Open defecation
For each of these issues, in the guide below we outline what they are, the potential causes, the potential effects, where they mainly happen, how many people might be affected by the issue, recent trends (whether it’s getting better or worse), and potential solutions.
Some Commonalities Between The Issues
– Generally, each issue might result in similar effects, such as a range of health based, social and economic effects.
Children in particular may be vulnerable to from a health and mortality perspective
We list some of the individual effects of each issue in the guide below
Overall, worldometers.info indicates that: ‘Almost 80% of diseases in so called “developing” countries are associated with water, causing some three million early deaths’
– Generally, a main cause of each issue might be a lack of economic development and lower incomes in the affected regions (along with poverty), and therefore, potential solutions may involve increased economic development, and increasing income levels
We list some of the individual causes of each issue in the guide below
– Generally, each issue might have a higher prevalence in rural areas compared to urban areas
Inadequate Access To Clean & Safe Drinking Water
Generally involves not having adequate access to water that is safe and clean to drink in the sense that it meets ‘Safe Water’ standards, and drinking water regulation requirements
Inadequate access might involve little to no access to safe and clean drinking water, or, it might also involve interrupted access to clean and safe drinking water (where supplies may be unavailable for hours or days at a time)
Sub Saharan Africa may have the highest rates of a lack of access to clean and safe drinking water, with East Asia and The Pacific, and South Asia being in second and third
Hundreds of millions of people might still lack access to an improved water source, and over 2 billion might drink water contaminated with faeces
The total number of people with access to an improved water source has increased since 1990
Inadequate Access To Basic Sanitation & Hygiene Services
Involves not having adequate access to basic sanitation and hygiene services and facilities, such as a basic toilet, connection to a waste management point and system, sewer systems or a septic tank, and facilities to wash and clean hands. It may also involve females not having access to female hygiene services
Asia (specifically South Asia), Sub Saharan Africa, and East Asia and Pacific may have the highest rates of inadequate access to improved sanitation facilities
Billions of people worldwide might live without improved sanitation still
Overall, the total number of people without access to improved sanitation might have stayed the same since 1990, however, since the population has increased globally, there’s a higher % of people WITH access to improved sanitation since this time
Open Defecation
Generally involves people defecating in open areas, instead of in contained toilet or human waste disposal facilities
South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa as the regions with the highest rates or prevalence of open defecation
Niger, Chad, South Sudan and Eritrea may have very high prevalence, with India noteworthy too
Roughly a billion people still practice open defecation worldwide
The % of people experiencing this issue appears to be decreasing since 1990
Countries That Might Have The Most Sustainably Managed Water Supplies, & Countries That Might Have The Least Safely Managed Water Supplies
In this guide we list some of the countries that might have some of the most sustainably managed water supplies (when weighing up different indicators)
And, in this guide we list some of the countries that might have the least safely managed water supplies (due to reasons like access to water, availability of water, and contamination of water)
Inadequate Access To Safely Managed & Clean Drinking Water
What It Is
Involves people having inadequate access to protected drinking water services that are safe to drink
It’s worth noting that even improved water sources aren’t always fully clean or safe to drink
So, this problem involves having access to water that is of a quality to drink/consume
Additionally, some regions have no access or very little access to safe and clean drinking water, but some regions may have interrupted or inconsistent access to safe and clean drinking water, which can also come with it’s own issues
Per WHO/UNICEF, via the theguardian.com. In 2015:
In many parts of the world, water isn’t available all day everyday [such as] In some provinces of South Africa, water supply in 60% of households has been interrupted for two days or more
In South Africa in 2014, a fifth of households with municipal piped water had interruptions that lasted for more than two days. This was three times higher in some regions of the country.
Potential Causes
– Low income, and poverty within a region
who.int notes that:
[Low and middle income countries in particular have areas that lack an improved water source, do not not have improved sanitation, or lack water and soap for hand washing]
– Infrastructure not being adequate to protect water sources, to treat water and make it safe and clean to drink, and to provide access to clean/safe drinking water
– Water pollution and contamination
– The price of drinking water and tap water compared to the average disposable income in the area
Per WHO/UNICEF, via the theguardian.com. In 2015: ‘The cost of drinking water and sanitation is different in different countries – In Tanzania, 10% of the population spend more than 5% of their expenditure on drinking water’
– Sometimes there might be inadequate political and institutional management when it comes to drinking water infrastructure and services
Potential Effects
According to a range of reports from ourworldindata.org, who.int, and water.org, potential effects might be:
– Diseases and human health problems
ourworldindata.org goes into this in further detail
Higher rates of malnutrition and higher rates of transmission of infectious diseases may be two examples
theguardian.com outlines (paraphrased) what might constitute as a ‘safe’ source of drinking water (i.e. free from pathogens, high level or harmful substances, etc). They outline that the main health concern for drinking water globally is faecal contamination and the presences of bacteria like E.coli
They give one example: ‘In Nepal, 91% of the population drink from an improved water source, but E.coli has still been detected.’
– Death and higher mortality rates
who.int goes into this in greater detail
Children in particular might be affected
who.int includes estimates of how many deaths children under 5 could have been avoided by addressing water and sanitation risk factors, and also how many diarrhoeal deaths contaminated drinking water might cause
The numbers are in the hundreds of thousands for each
– Public health problems
– Decreased safety
If women and children are walking long distances in unsafe areas to collect water
– Lower education rates
If children are missing school to go collect water at locations further away from where they live or go to school
– Other miscellaneous health, social and economic effects
Water is used for almost everything in society and the economy, so many aspects of society can be affected
There may potentially be slower economic growth, higher poverty (from lower incomes or less employment opportunities, and other effects
water.org notes that ‘Women and children in particular spend 258 million hours every day worldwide collecting water. This is time spent not working, caring for family members or attending school’
Per WHO/UNICEF, via the theguardian.com. In 2015:
… in some regions, especially sub-Saharan Africa, many people spend more than 30 minutes – and some more than an hour – on each trip to collect water. This burden still falls mainly on women and girls – they are responsible for this task in eight in 10 households that don’t have a piped supply [… with] Mongolia [being] the only country where men and boys have primary responsibility for collecting water
What Regions It Happens In The Most
Sub Saharan Africa may have the highest rates of a lack of access to clean and safe drinking water, with East Asia and The Pacific, and South Asia being in second and third
In addition, it may happen more in rural areas than urban areas
According to ourworldindata.org:
[Access to clean drinking water is the lowest in] Sub-Saharan Africa [in 2015] where rates typically range from 40 to 80 percent of households
… almost half of people drinking water from unprotected sources worldwide live in sub-Saharan Africa [and] … eight in 10 live in rural areas
[East Asia and The Pacific, and also South Asia are the second and third regions behind Sub-Saharan Africa]
In regards to rural vs urban areas, ourworldindata.org notes:
[Rural households have improved water sources, compared to 97% for urban households in 2015]
How Many People Are Affected By This Issue?
According to ourworldindata.org (paraphrased), between Sub-Saharan Africa, East Asia and The Pacific, and South Asia, there’s hundreds of millions of people either without access to an improved water source, or over 2 billion that drinking water that is contaminated in some way
who.int notes that:
[71% of the global population used safely managed drinking water services (definition included in report) in 2015]
[85% of the global population used at least a basic services (definition included in report)]
844 million people lack even a basic drinking-water service [and] at least 2 billion people use a drinking water source contaminated with faeces
[who.int also outlines how many people have basic services, limited services, take water from unprotected sources, and collected untreated surface water in their report – the numbers are in the billions or hundreds of millions for these categories]
Per WHO/UNICEF, via the theguardian.com. In 2015:
[1 in 10 people, or 663 million people] still drank water from unprotected sources [that doesn’t protect against contamination]
Trends Over Time
Overall, access to improved water sources is increasing across the world.
[The number of people without access to an improved water source in Sub-Saharan Africa] has increased from 271 million in 2990, to 326 million in 2015 (ourworldindata.org)
Also according to ourworldindata.org:
[Access to improved water improved across the world between 1900 to 2015 and now sits at 91%]
Potential Solutions
Several reports indicate that improved water sources (which ourworldindata.org, and who.is provide a definition of) increase alongside income increasing in a region
Investment, economic growth, employment opportunities, and increased income may lead to investment and development of water infrastructure to protect water sources (from pollution and contamination), extract water, treat it (and make it safe and clean), deliver it to households and the rest of society (so people don’t have to travel long distances to collect water), and make it available for as close to 24 hours a day as possible (and not just intermittently or only for a limited number of hours in the day)
Testing and monitoring can also help make sure water meets a certain quality standard (and water guidelines and regulations) that is safe to drink
Water also needs to be affordable in comparison to the average citizen’s average disposable income
Targeting regions that are lowest income, or that have the highest rates of lack of access to safely managed and clean drinking water, might be one goal
For countries with severe problems, funding and help for emergency responses are sometimes required
Access to improved water sources generally increases with income of the country (ourworldindata.org)
Organisations like UNICEF has help re-establish water reserves, along with helped in providing other emergency water and sanitation services (borgenproject.org)
Inadequate Access To Safely Managed & Basic Sanitation & Hygiene Services
What It Is
A lack of access to improved sanitation (also called basic sanitation) conditions or facilities to dispose of human waste safely and hygienically
Conditions and facilities relate to whether toilets and flushing are available, where waste is flushed to (piped sewer systems, septic tank or pit latrine), whether there’s a slab, open pit, or even no facilities and an open bush or field.
wikiprogress.org provides definitions of both basic sanitation, and on-site sanitation
wikiprogress.org also mentions that ‘sanitation’ can refer to either ‘… the maintenance of hygienic conditions’, or services related to garbage collection and waste water disposal. But, for the purposes of this guide, we are talking about human waste hygiene and sanitation
WHO.int have a good fact sheet on access to sanitation and open defecation
ourworldindata.org also have good charts and data on access to sanitation, and open defecation. They also define what ‘improved sanitation’ is
uniteforsight.org discusses a case study of lack of sanitation in Cape Town settlements
Potential Causes
– Low income, poverty, along with a lack of economic development needed to develop the infrastructure and facilities need for improved sanitation and hygiene conditions and services
– There may sometimes be political and institutional management issues when it coms to the construction and maintenance of water and sanitation/hygiene services
– Sometimes there may be a lack of access to basic water services, which are required for sanitation and hygiene services (for flushing, cleaning, sewer systems, and so on)
Potential Effects
– General Health Effects
Higher rates of transmission of certain infectious diseases from contaminated water, and when there is a lack of proper sanitation.
ourworldindata.org provides more information on this point
– Health & Mortality Effects Specifically For Children
Potentially higher mortality rates, with children in particular.
Some estimates (from ourworldindata.org and who.int) indicate that hundreds of thousands of children under 5 years old could have avoided death by avoiding certain water and sanitation risks.
In addition to water and sanitation risks, nutrition, healthcare and living standards (as separate causes) may contribute to child mortality
From worldvision.com.au:
Poor water and sanitation is the leading cause of diarrhoea, which is the second biggest cause of death among children under five, killing 760,000 each year
80% of childhood disease is related in some way to unsafe drinking water, inadequate hygiene and poor sanitation
– Negatively Impacts Education & Workforce Participation
From worldvision.com.au:
Illness and time spent collecting water also reduces school attendance and adults’ capacity to work and earn income.
– Economic Impact
Including potential GDP loss due to poor sanitation
From worldvision.com.au:
A 2012 World Bank study of 18 African countries found they lose 1-2.5 percent of GDP – around US$5.5 billion – every year due to poor sanitation
What Regions It Happens In The Most
Asia (specifically South Asia), Sub Saharan Africa, and East Asia and Pacific may have the highest rates of inadequate access to improved sanitation facilities
From ourworldindata.org:
… over 90 percent of those without access [to improved sanitation facilities] in 2015 resided in Asia, the Pacific or Sub-Saharan Africa.
The largest region share was from South Asia, accounting for 40 percent and nearly one billion without access. This was followed by Sub-Saharan Africa with nearly 30 percent (706 million), and East Asia & Pacific with around 22 percent (520 million).
[On a region level, ourworldindata.org lists the regions with the highest rates of access to improved sanitation facilities]
[On a country level …] In South Sudan, only 6-7 percent of the population had improved sanitation in 2015.
[Within each country, rural areas generally have less access to sanitation than urban areas]
How Many People Are Affected By This Issue?
Billions of people worldwide might live without improved sanitation still
From Worldvision.com.au: ‘844 million people lack access to safe water, while 2.5 billion people live without improved sanitation’
In 2018, according to WHO.int: ‘In low- and middle-income countries, 19% do not have improved sanitation, and 35% lack water and soap for hand washing’
Trends Over Time
Overall, the total number of people without access to improved sanitation might have stayed the same since 1990, however, since the population has increased globally, there’s a higher % of people WITH access to improved sanitation since this time
From ourworldindata.org:
The total number of people without access to improved sanitation has remained almost constant from 1990 to 2015: in 1990 this figure was 2.49 billion, and in 2015 it reduced to 2.39 billion.
[However, because the total world population has increased in this time, the % of people without access has decreased]
This population growth also means the total number with access to improved sanitation has increased from 2.8 billion in 1990 to nearly 5 billion in 2015.
Potential Solutions
The solution for improved sanitation and hygiene services, is similar to the solution outlined for access to clean and safe drinking water.
Economic development and increasing incomes might be the main solutions.
Specifically, installing more protected individual household toilets instead of shared toilets, development of sewer and waste systems (with sewage connection to toilets) and/or installation of septic tanks, and facilities to clean and wash hands (with soap or a cleaning product) might be some solutions.
Providing feminine hygiene services would also be part of sanitation and hygiene services, along with waste collection and management services
Maintaining these services is also key
There may be a specific focus on regions that currently lack basic hygiene and sanitation services, and rural areas.
Some reports indicate the amount needed to eradicate lack of access to improved sanitation could be a challenge to seeing progress in the near future
Similarly to improved water access, the provision of sanitation facilities tends to increase with income (ourworldindata.org)
According to the United Nations World Health Organization (2014), every dollar invested in water and sanitation results in a $4.30 return in the form of reduced healthcare costs (Worldvision.com.au)
Worldbank.org indicates:
[Achieving] access to safely managed water and sanitation services by 2030 will require countries to spend $150 billion per year. A fourfold increase in water supply, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) investments compared to what is spent today, this is out of reach for many countries, threatening progress on poverty eradication.
UNICEF.org outlines how UNICEF helps different regions worldwide improve their water and sanitation services, and basic hygiene practices (such as clean water and basic toilets)
Open Defecation
What It Is
Involves defecating in open spaces like fields, forests, beaches, bodies of water like rivers and lakes, and not using managed waste devices like toilets
Potential Causes
One of the main cause of open defecation is not having access to basic waste disposal facilities and services for human waste, such as basic toilets
Potential Effects
There’s obviously the human health risks of coming into close range or close contact with human waste (and this waste may contaminate water sources too)
There’s also the potential spread of pathogens, nitrates and phosphates from human waste to various parts of the environment and ecosystem
What Regions It Happens In The Most
ourworldindata.org outlines (paraphrased) South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa as the regions with the highest rates or prevalence of open defecation
Niger, Chad, South Sudan and Eritrea have a prevalence between 60% to 80%
India has a rate at about 45%
Rural areas may also have higher rates of the population practicing open defecation than urban areas
How Many People Are Affected By This Issue?
Roughly a billion people still practice open defecation worldwide
A billion people, or 15% of the world’s population might still practice open defecation
According to UN.org, in 2011, 1.04 billion people still practiced open defecation.
In 2015, 15 percent of the world’s population were still practicing open defecation … (ourworldindata.org)
ourworldindata.org also outlines (paraphrased) the rates of people practicing open defecation in South Asia (36%), India (45%), Sub Saharan Africa (23%), along with how Niger, Chad, South Sudan and Eritrea have a prevalence between 60 to 80%.
Trends Over Time
The % of people experiencing this issue appears to be decreasing over time
The number of people practicing open defecation fell from 20 percent in 2000 to 12 percent in 2015 (wikipedia.org)
[Open defecation %’s have approximately halved in 2015, from what they were in 1990] (ourworldindata.org)
Potential Solutions
Providing basic sanitations and hygiene services and facilities would address open defecation
We outlined the potential solutions to this issue further up in this guide
Sources
1. Hannah Ritchie and Max Roser (2018) – “Water Access, Resources & Sanitation”. Published online at OurWorldInData.org.Retrieved from: ‘https://ourworldindata.org/water-access-resources-sanitation’ [Online Resource]
2. http://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/drinking-water
3. https://water.org/our-impact/water-crisis/
4. http://www.who.int/news-room/detail/12-07-2017-2-1-billion-people-lack-safe-drinking-water-at-home-more-than-twice-as-many-lack-safe-sanitation
5. https://data.unicef.org/topic/water-and-sanitation/drinking-water/
6. https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2009/mar/03/access-water
7. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2017/mar/17/access-to-drinking-water-world-six-infographics
8. https://thewaterproject.org/water-scarcity/water_stats
9. https://washdata.org/
10. https://washdata.org/sites/default/files/documents/reports/2018-01/JMP-2017-report-final.pdf
11. https://ourworldindata.org/sanitation
12. https://ourworldindata.org/water-access
13. https://www.worldvision.com.au/global-issues/work-we-do/water-sanitation
14. http://wikiprogress.org/articles/health/access-to-sanitation/
15. http://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/sanitation.shtml
16. http://www.who.int/topics/sanitation/en/
17. https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2017/08/28/millions-around-the-world-held-back-by-poor-sanitation-and-lack-of-access-to-clean-water
18. https://www.unicef.org/wash/
19. http://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/sanitation
20. http://www.uniteforsight.org/urban-health/module4#_ftn2
21. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_defecation#Prevalence_and_trends
22. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_issues_in_developing_countries
23. https://borgenproject.org/most-water-scarce-countries/
24. https://www.worldometers.info/water/
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