Pursuing water and sanitation targets

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Pursuing water and sanitation targets in the
urban centers of low income countries
Gordon McGranahan Human Settlements
Programme International Institute for Environment
and Development
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Structure of Presentation

• Water, sanitation and Millennium Development
  Goals

Key Message Shift in focus back from water
resources to access and health (how to tackle
both resource and access issues?)

• Indicators of urban WatSan provisioning

Key Messages Conditions are worse than the
indicators imply Global statistics do not
support local action

• Narratives of water crisis

Key Messages Narratives overstate role of water
resource scarcity - detract attention from
sanitation

• Solutions to urban WatSan problems

Key Message Neither IWRM nor PSP will hit the
target
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• Goal 7 Ensure environmental sustainability
• Indicators
• (World Bank Website)
• Change in land area covered by forest
• Land area protected to maintain biological
  diversity
• GDP per unit of energy use
• Carbon dioxide emissions (per capita)
• Proportion of population with sustainable access
  to an improved water source
• Proportion of population with access to improved
  sanitation
• Proportion of population with secure tenure

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Goal 7 Ensure environmental sustainability Targets
(World Bank Website)
Halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without
sustainable access to safe drinking water
Have achieved, by 2020, a significant improvement
in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers
Related targets added or endorsed at the World
Summit for Sustainable Development
we agree to halve, by the year 2015, the
proportion of people who are unable to reach or
afford safe drinking water (as outlined in the
Millennium Declaration) and the proportion of
people who do not have access to basic sanitation
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Share of Urban Population with Access to Improved
Water Supplies and Sanitation
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But is access to improved WATSAN adequate?
New international water and sanitation statistics
are more evidence based
But Internationally comparable evidence on
safety / adequacy is lacking Local evidence
indicates improved is often unsafe or
inadequate
Also Internationally comparable evidence
unlikely to drive local action Local evidence on
adequacy unlikely to be comparable
Conclusion If action is the goal, local evidence
on adequacy is key
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Questionable indicators for Africa - could this
mean adequate provision? -
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How adequate are improved water statistics?
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Global Water Crisis Narrative The World is
Running out of Water
Increasing water stress
Increasing difficulties accessing clean water
Increasing ill health
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Evidence on the global water crisis
Freshwater is becoming increasingly scarce -
demand has increased sixfold in past century - by
2025 35 of world to live in water stressed areas
Already X billion people do not have access to
safe/improved drinking water
Already Y million children a year are dying of
water borne diseases
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(No Transcript)
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But where is the evidence that addressing water
stress improves urban household access?
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Water Solution 1 Private Sector Participation

• Claim 1 Public utilities were/are failing to
  deliver
• Political pressures ? underpricing ?
  underfinance ? bad service
• No commercial incentives ? inefficient, not
  demand responsive
• Lack of technical capacity ? poor maintenance ?
  leakage

• Claim 2 Private sector participation can
  correct public failures
• Even the urban poor are willing to pay for water
  (CVM studies)
• Competitive bidding for the market introduces
  market pressures
• Independent regulation ensures public interest
  is served

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But Private Sector Participation is No Panacea

• Consider history
• PSP and even PPPs are nothing new to water
  sector
• (Chase Manhattan Bank used to be a water utility
  - and was initially presented to New Yorkers as
  a public interest private utility, to be owned
  by New Yorkers, etc.)
• In USA utilities private in small towns, public
  in large cities
• (why new private operators largely limited to
  large cities?)
• Past private failures led to public utilities
• (why assume private operators will correct
  public failures?)

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Cannot compare reality of public utilities with
ideal private utilities
Actual experiences with PSP are mixed
- Rapid shifts in PSP not conducive to pro-poor
negotiation
- No evidence of large injections of private
finance
- Private companies not very interested in
serving poorest
- PSP has not depoliticised water and sanitation
provision
On the other hand, it is also important not to
compare private developments with ideal public
utilities
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Governance and regulatory environment leading to
public failure is also likely to lead to private
failure
Examples of obstacles that persist Politicisatio
n Land tenure and service delivery
issues Corruption Lack of long term regulatory
vision Lack of pro-poor measures
(Most pro-poor measures for PSP also apply to
public utilities)
In any case Public utilities can be regulated
to be demand-responsive Privately operated
utilities are not necessarily demand
responsive DEPENDS ON REGULATION AND GOVERNANCE
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Water Solution 2Integrated Water Resource
Management
Upstream management integrated with
downstream -so downstream impacts are considered -
Supply management integrated with demand
management -so costly supplies not favoured over
cheap demand reductions-
Meeting demands balanced against costs of not
meeting others -so water is allocated
efficiently and equitably-
Environmental demands balanced against human
demands -so ecological sustainability is ensured-
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Combining Demand-Side Management Themes
Demand-Side Management for Water Conservation -
Lack of information and incentives for saving
water
Demand-Side Management for Economic Efficiency -
Underpricing of scarce water
Demand-Side Management for Health - Lack of
information and incentives for hygiene
Demand-Side Management for Empowering Deprived
Groups - Lack of local collective action for
water and sanitation
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A Pessimistic View of Millennium Water and
Sanitation Goals

• Overoptimistic indicators that wont drive local
  action
• Crisis narratives that misinterpret the reasons
  for inadequate water and sanitation provision
• Solutions that dont target those who have
  inadequate water and sanitation
• Tension between resource and access goals
  unresolved

The Optimistic View The Goals can help improve
the indicators, narratives and actions
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Three Final Thoughts on Solutions
Integrated Water Resource Management extends to
resources
BUT RARELY EXTENDS TO URBAN POOR
PSP is grounded in the urban poors willingness
and ability to pay
BUT INGORES THEIR WILLINGNESS AND ABILITY TO
ORGANISE
Better local governance might provide solutions
BUT RAISES MORE QUESTIONS THAN IT ANSWERS