Sanitation and water supply : practical lessons from the decade

The goals of the International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade were perhaps too optimistic to be fulfilled in ten years, but many important targets were achieved. Many technical innovations were discovered; now the remaining tasks are focused on financing, organizing, training and motivating the participants in these ongoing programmes to ensure that the goal of improved health is eventually realized. Sanitation coverage advances far more slowly than improvements in water supply. As with most sustainable programmes, these advances are dependent on consumer demand. Effective marketing procedures, strengthened infrastructures, well-developed programmes and simple technologies are necessary. The importance of cost-recovery programmes is becoming more evident; an ability to pay does not necessarily imply a willingness to do so. The Strategic Sanitation Planning (SSP) approach of the UNDP-World Bank Water and Sanitataion Programme was developed out of the lessons learned during the Decade, and takes into account these varying aspects of sanitation planning.