Sustainability of Water and Sanitation

Today, many in developed countries take water and sanitation for granted, while many others in developing countries across the globe are deprived of this basic human right. The impacts of this on human populations are significant, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where access to safe and secure water and sanitation services is often limited. The impacts are so extensive that, according to Montgomery et al. (2009), a ‘lack of universal access to water and sanitation results in well over a million preventable deaths each year.’

However, among the most significant measures to enhance a population’s well-being and health, increase economic prosperity, and decrease high rates of rural and urban poverty is to increase the provision and use of safe water and sanitation services, so far as to say that it is universal. Sustainable development goal (SDG) 6, as formulated by the United Nations, even suggests that access to safe water and sanitation services are two prerequisites for communities to thrive.

So often, however, these vital services do not exist or fail or cater for everybody’s needs. The challenge that remains for actors involved in improving the situation of access to safe water and sanitation services, in countries where provision and use is limited, is to combine efforts to ‘make pro-poor [water and] sanitation a reality and interdisciplinarity the norm’ (Paterson et al., 2007). Together, there is a greater possibility that the critical need for sustainability in both water and sanitation sectors will be met.

Sustainability as a Pragmatic Concept

Sustainability can be defined as ‘whether or not something continues to work over time’ (Carter et al., 1999). With a specific regard to water, sustainability is whether:

1. Water continues to be abstracted at the same rate and quality as when the supply system was designed;
2. The excreta and wastewater disposal systems continue to function and be used as planned; and
3. Environmental quality continues to improve.

The problem in developing countries is that these systems fail to continue to work over time. They are unsustainable. According to Carter et al. (1999), the ‘sustainability of community water supply and sanitation systems involves a chain of four essential links, the failure of any one of which endangers the entire enterprise.’

Sustainability chain. Source: Carter et al. (1999)

Community members might not utilise the improved source of water because the taste might be unfamiliar or there might be a further distance to travel to collect safe water compared to unimproved sources. If there is no community motivation to use the facilities, then sustainability is unmanageable. The second element in the sustainability chain is maintenance. This is a fundamental component, because both water and sanitation systems will become unusable without it. Next in the chain is cost-recovery. Funding for projects should ideally be determined by communities, as they can select a viable technology to improve access to safe water and sanitation facilities. The last element in the sustainability chain is continuing support. The sustainability of both water and sanitation systems in the long-term will be determined by the level of input by local municipalities or non-governmental organisations, as community enthusiasm for projects can begin to fade after two or three years (Carter et al., 1999).

Elements of Sustainability

In their perspective paper, Montgomery et al. (2009) uncover the most important elements of sustainability in both sectors, in order to extract the primary obstacles in meeting these elements, to then comment on the most viable resolutions for disabling and overcoming obstacles within a Sub-Saharan Africa context. Together, they identified and presented three main elements from existing literature that are fundamental to greater sustainability, which include:

1. Effective community demand;
2. Local financing and cost recovery; and
3. Dynamic operation and maintenance.

The basic premise is that the presence of these three elements increases the likelihood of a community gaining a functioning water and sanitation supply for the long-term, while the neglect of these three elements undermines sustainability.

According to Montgomery et al. (2009), ‘effective community demand is the foundation for understanding and prioritizing community and household water and sanitation needs.’ The scholars argue that a demand-responsive approach results in a system founded on the wants of the community members, their financial budget, and what they can sustain. The reason for why they have prioritised demand-responsive approaches over supply-driven approaches is because the latter is often associated with a lack of funds, financial and operational mismanagement, and inequality as it often benefits wealthier community members.

Local financing and cost recovery, as the second element fundamental to greater sustainability, ‘refers to local access to capital and savings’ (Montgomery et al., 2009). Until recently, water and sanitation problems have not often been included in local investment programmes. Lately, however, we have witnessed greater levels of local financing of projects that permit more tolerant repayments schedules, allow for non-monetary forms of repayment (including labour and supplies), and increase business development in rural areas (Fonseca et al., 2007).

Dynamic operation and maintenance, as the third element fundamental to greater sustainability, relates to the level of performance which allows for adjustments and alterations (Montgomery et al., 2009). This element, according to Harvey and Reed (2007), is based on determining certain duties and 'responsibilities that may be held by the community, an external provider, or through a collaborative arrangement.'

Three elements of sustainability. Source: Montgomery et al. (2009)

The next and final blog in this series of posts on water and sanitation in the Sub-Saharan African context will describe the challenges in establishing these elements of sustainability in order to go on to explore how these obstacles can be overcome.