Challenges for developing countries for water and sanitation

The problem of water scarcity in urban areas of developing countries is a major concern. It is estimated that by 2050, half of India’s population will be living in urban areas and will face acute water problems (Singh, 2000). It was reported in 2002 that about 1.1 billion people were still using water from unimproved sources, and two thirds of these people live in Asia. The number of people without improved water sources in China alone is equal to the number of un-served in all of Africa (UNICEF/ WHO, 2004). The quality of water that people receive is also questionable. In India, eighty-five per cent of urban population has access to drinking water but only 20 per cent of the available drinking water meets the health and quality standards set by the world health organisation (WHO)(Singh, 2000)

neglect of hygiene promotion, and people from rural settlements suffer a lot, yes, there is climate change also!there should be mass awarness of water/ sanitation hygiene issues!

Upcoming challenges – well, many…, especially bringing water and sanitation to the countless poor people who will need it most.
Solutions? Yes, limiting climate change; yes, technologies; yes, private sector investment; yes, NGOs’ activities; and yes, donor funded projects – but there is an urgent need for one thing that brings all this together: political awareness and will.
I had the privilege to work for donor funded rural water and sanitation projects in Indonesia for a few years – community empowerment, appropriate technology, CLTS, hygiene behavior change and all. We achieved reasonable results in more than a thousand villages – out of some 80.000 in the country. There were and are some similar projects assisting a few hundred or thousand more villages, but I am afraid I will not live to see the day when more projects have reached the remaining ones.
Also, as in many other developing countries, funding for water and sanitation still ranks appallingly low on the government’s priority list. Nevertheless there are attempts to improve the situation: a national policy for community based water supply and sanitation, the establishment of multi-stakeholder WSES working groups at the central, province and district level, networking, communication and cooperation. Unfortunately there is little documentation about these initiatives available in English. However, Wikipedia gives a fairly well informed overview and provides numerous useful references:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_supply_and_sanitation_in_Indonesia.
To reemphasize the point I am trying to make: carbon emission reduction, hand or solar powered water pumps and CLTs latrines alone won’t do the trick – the key is political awareness and will.

I feel that one of the greatest challenges for water and sanitation is the neglect of hygiene promotion. According to the Val Curtis, Director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), hygiene promotion is the most cost-effective intervention for improving public health, and without improved hygiene we get none of the benefits of improved water or sanitation. Despite the evidence in support of this hygiene continues to be neglected.

You can listen to Val discussing this issue at last year’s Brisbane WASH conference here http://whp.org.in/#About-us

mark@whp.org.in

Yes , climate changes is one of the major issue for developing countries.
There are number of issues which relate to policy makers , stakeholders themselves like , during drought period start completion of drilling deep tub wells, excessive pumping , during drilling time drillers use polluted soil instead bantonite , which pulloted groundwater . Field data is not reliable also no coordination of relevant organization . Should be mass awerness of water and solar energy conservation in developing countries .
Dr.jalal. Email : iwses@live.com