In this, the final installment in the series discussing water infrastructure, the emerging needs of the developing world will be discussed. In the first two parts of this series, the current state of water infrastructure in the developed world was discussed. Additionally, a snapshot of new tools that can be used by planners and water managers to update and maintain those systems was presented. The needs of the developing world present unique challenges, however. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 1.1 billion people lack access to an improved water source as of 2002 and 2.6 billion lacked access to improved sanitation . While the layman may consider an ‘unimproved source’ or ‘ unimproved sanitation’ to be marginally acceptable, what these figures actually say is that 1.1 billion people do not have access to a even a dug well or rainwater collection for their drinking water and 2.6 billion people do not have access to a basic pit latrine.

These figures are startling and alarming, certainly, but they also represent an opportunity; today exists the potential to bring the developing world to a significantly higher standard of living. If gains can be made in providing improved access to water sources and sanitation, more gains will follow; for, inexorably linked to poor sanitation and water supply, are disease and famine; address the first set of problems and gains will be made in the second set. Certainly it will not solve all of the issues, but it will absolutely relieve the stresses that too often prohibit any improvements over the conditions that exist today.

Several barriers prevent these gains from being achieved; first among them is funding. Current spending on water infrastructure in the developing world stands at roughly $80 billion (US) per year and there is a general consensus that an annual investment of roughly $180 billion per is required to adequately address the situation . Beyond that, there are a variety of political issues and a desire to see a return on investment on funds loaned by organizations such as the World Bank. The Camdessus Report on financing water infrastructure addresses many of these challenges and presents appropriate proposals to dismantle these barriers. One area that is lacking in this discussion, in this author’s opinion, is the issue of rural solutions in an appropriate timeframe.

Much of the international discussion is focused on what are the ‘bigger picture’ issues: international disagreements over rights, national sovereignty, identifying funding vehicles and dealing with central governments. While this may ultimately be the path to address long term, sustainable solutions, there exists outside this discussion the opportunity for short-term, high-impact ‘maverick’ solutions at the local level. Examining the issue from an urban vs. rural perspective, it becomes clear that rural solutions are needed to make immediate impacts. In Africa, for example, rural water services lag far behind urban services and of the 1.1 billion people lacking access to improved water sources, nearly 1 billion of those hail from rural areas of Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.

Examining the graph provided by the WHO and UNICEF , it is plainly obvious that rural populations lag far behind urban centers in terms of access to both water and sanitation.

To quickly relieve the stresses on the rural populations of the world, low-cost, local ‘point solutions’ must be considered. These solutions should not be viewed from a one-size-fits-all perspective; instead discrete solutions that fit the local geography and climate and resources may be more appropriate. To some extent there is recognition of this in the broader, international community. The WHO has even gone so far as to issue publications such as A Guide to the Development of On-Site Sanitation, which goes well beyond the basics of construction and discusses the use of local building materials, placement, disposal as well as institutional funding options . While commendable, much more could and should be done.

Creative approaches incorporating local (on site) water supplies or sources, sanitation, power generation and agriculture could be worked from the village or community level. More specifically, these plans might involve on site wells, rainwater harvesting, coastal desalination, small-scale filtering or other supply solutions use locally available water resources (rain, underground sources, rivers, etc.); coupled with this could be everything from locally planned and built latrines to pre-packed latrine construction ‘kits’ or enzymatic solutions for waste disposal. Key to success, however, would be incorporation of on-site power generation to facilitate these solutions, as required, again, using locally available resources (solar in the desert, wind on the coast, etc.). Finally, tie all of this into supporting local cooperative agriculture or cottage industries. This enables the rural communities to generate funds and provides them with the means to self-maintain and update their local water and sanitation solutions. By the time that the national or regional water, road and power infrastructure comes to the distant communities, they could already be well on the way to becoming thriving, healthy populations.

While on the surface such solutions might seem overly complex, there are examples of this approach working well, today. As a case in point, the entire Himalayan region suffers the common problem of technology inadequacy. Technologies for water, energy, communication and the like, are typically only available to those living in the more populated plains. In the far-flung rural areas, there is a severe shortage of these facilities. Pragya, a non-profit, developmental organization, has been engaged in a project for the Himalayas where the group has adapted existing technologies, primarily in the water and energy sectors, to the unique conditions and requirements of the Himalayan region. In addition to selecting and installing demo units of appropriate technologies, the project is also developing local capacity and enterprises for technology sales & service . In this case, especially, only by addressing all the needs at once was an acceptable solution possible.

The drive for increased funding of world water projects is crucial and should continue; this will enable sustained support of populations, urban and rural. But rather than wait for the critical mass of funding to become available and for the infrastructure to reach the distant regions of the Earth, local solutions can fill the gap, now. Individual communities can reap tangible benefits from small-scale, low cost projects that employ novel thinking to address resource issues. Such projects should be encouraged and funded aggressively by world lending organizations, non-profits and charities, worldwide.