The World Summit on Sustainable Development held at Johannesburg in 2002 and the earlier Millennium Declaration of the United Nations both laid stress on the global goal of reducing the population without access to water supply and sanitation to half by 2015 A.D. The incomplete mission was further considered worldwide in the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development held in June 2012, where the outcome document described the agreed list of 17 specified goals adopted by member states, under which, Goal 6 stated as follows: ‘Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. To reach ‘all’ and ensure ‘Right to WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene)’, equitable and sustainable approaches along with affordable, accessible and decentralised solutions need to be provided to every individual; across cast, creed, religion, region and poor-rich division.

• An estimated 1.8 billion people – one in four people in the world – use unsafe, faecally contaminated water¹.

• At least 2.5 billion people – one in three people – lack access to an ‘improved’² sanitation facility.

• An estimated 1 billion people defecate in the open. In South Asia - 692 million people, 90% of who live in India - practice open defecation³.

• Around 760,000 children aged under five years die every year – more than 2,000 every day - from diarrhoea caused by unsafe water and poor sanitation⁴.

• Women in the global South walk an average of 6 kms a day carrying an average weight of 20 kg⁵.

• Estimated total economic losses from inadequate water and sanitation supply are USD 260 billion a year⁶

The human right to water and sanitation was first recognised by a 2010 UN General Assembly Resolution⁷. This confirmed it as a human right in itself and a right essential to the realisation of all other rights. Chapter III, Article 21⁸ of the Constitution of India, also talks about ‘Protection of Life and Personal Liberty’ which in turn emphasises the responsibility of the state in providing basic needs such as water and improved sanitation to ‘all’ as a fundamental right.

Innovation is essential to complement and adapt to the changes taking place in the world. We need newer versions of technologies, products, processes and approaches to fulfill the basic needs of people.

It is always better to improvise local technologies, rather than importing from outside as done in Zimbabwe through ‘Elephant Pumps’⁹ and ‘Elephant Toilets’¹⁰. The Elephant Pump uses plant fiber for the rope which lasts about 18 months and can be remade in one afternoon. The Elephant Toilet, on the other hand uses sun-dried mud bricks, a soap plant whose leaves can be used as a soap and reuses liquid waste to fertilise a nutritional garden. Right kind of promotion of these cost effective technologies has ensured programme sustainability providing water and sanitation to ‘all’.

The ‘UV Buckets by NIPARAJA’¹¹ implemented in Mexico, is one of the successful examples of technological innovation in water purification. The UV lamp is germicidal and this helps to successfully eliminate all bacteria, viruses, protozoa and other waterborne pathogens in the one minute that the water spends in the chamber. The ‘Water Kiosk Model’ of Nandi Foundation in India, the ‘Multiple Use Water System Model’ in Nepal and ‘CHUJIO Water Filter’ in Kenya are a few examples of simple technological innovations, which have worked very effectively in ensuring safe water to the bottom of the pyramid.

Development Alternatives has been working for the last three decades to bring innovative WASH solutions to the marginalised sections of the society, in terms of products and processes, such as Aqua+, Jal-TARA Water Testing Kits, Jal-TARA Community Water Filter, Jal-TARA Arsenic Filter, economical and affordable toilet construction process through pre-fabricated concrete slabs etc¹². The affordability in terms of cost of the solution along with cost of production, not only encourages entrepreneurial initiatives, but also ensures scalability of reach to ‘all’.

Clean water and adequate sanitation are essential for the proper health and well-being of the people. Unfortunately, poor governance of water and sanitation systems means that many peri-urban and rural areas lack such services. Where they are available, the quality of services is unsatisfactory. Water may be available only for a few hours a day or a few days a week. Tap water is often unsafe and has to be boiled before it is fit to be consumed. In many water systems, as much as half the water is unaccounted for, lost through illegal connections and excessive leakage.

Corruption is the most serious governance problem in India. Misuse and siphoning of the allocated funds by government officials has distanced our goal of achieving safe water and sanitation for all in spite of all possible efforts. It is the need of the hour to place a strong emphasis on transparency in decision making, enhancing the accountability of public officials and improving the provision of information to the citizens.

It is not possible for the government to ensure ‘Right to WASH’ or to meet the SDGs alone. A great deal of technological expertise, huge manpower and funds are the critical enabling factors. Public-private partnership (PPP) initiatives can go a long way in meeting the goals related to WASH. PPP, unlike the common notion, is not outright privatisation. Tariff and water prices are regulated. The assets and water resources remain in the hands of the public authorities. Hence, under PPP, water is not privatised, but the service (or supply) is put in private hands which in turn helps in reaching out to millions of people. In India, PPP initiatives are very new, exploited far below their potential.

Sustainable development was explicitly popularised and contextualised by the Brundtland Commission in the document ‘Our Common Future’ where it was defined as ‘development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’¹³. Water and sanitation are at the core of sustainable development and are critical for socio-economic development, healthy ecosystems and for human survival itself. The present prioritisation being given to the WATSAN sector in India and globally, creates hope for a better world where everybody can access their fundamental ‘Right to WASH’. q

Endnotes
1 Onda et al (2012), vol. 9, No. 3, p. 880.
2 WHO/Unicef Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation (JMP)
3 Ibid.
4 World Health Organisation factsheet no.330
5 WHO/Unicef Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation (JMP)
6 WHO/HSE/WSH/12.01 (p-5, para 1)
7 http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/64/292
8 http://www.legalserviceindia.com/articles/art222.htm
9 http://www.theafricatrust.org/index.php?nav=whatwedo
10http://www.theafricatrust.org/index.php?nav=whatwedo_toilet
11 www.niparaja.org
12 www.devalt.org
13 UN, 1987

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