Sanitation costs and financing – presentations at IRC’s 2010 Symposium

The following papers on sanitation costs and financing were presented at the IRC Symposium 2010, ‘Pumps, Pipes and Promises: Costs, Finances and Accountability for Sustainable WASH Services’, held in The Hague from 16-18 November.

The economics of sanitation initiatives (ESI) for sanitation decision making in Southeast Asia. Author: Guy Hutton

This presentation discusses cost data from 5 Southeast Asian countries in various forms (by technology, by site/project, by hardware/software, by financing source, by timing, and under different infrastructure capacity use levels) to aid decision makers in intervention selection and to draw more general lessons about sanitation financing, efficiency and sustainability. Cost data were triangulated from household surveys, project or provider documents and local market surveys to estimate investment and annualized life cycle costs per household and per individual.

Full paper

Flushing away old ideas about pipes and potties

DESPITE recent progress, more than one billion people still lack decent water supplies, and more than 2 billion go without sanitation services.

But, while we often assume that the benefits of improving water and sanitation systems always outweigh the costs, this is not always true.

Piped water and sanitation networks are expensive. Consumers in most countries don’t realize this, because the true costs are hidden by subsidies.

New research for Copenhagen Consensus reveals that the full cost of piping water to a household is as high as US$80 per month – more than most households in rich countries pay and far beyond the means of most families in developing countries. Spending a large amount of money to do a little amount of good is not a sound investment.

Read More

Philippines – Poor sanitation costs Pinoys P78B yearly

The World Bank on Wednesday said poor sanitation in the Philippines costs the government 77.8 billion a year. In its study “Economic Impacts of Sanitation in the Philippines”, the World Bank said poor sanitation also causes 31 premature deaths a day and reduces income from fishery, tourism and other sectors.

“Healthcare costs account for 71 percent of the total losses due to 38 million cases of diarrhea per year,” it added. For every dollar invested in improved sanitation, the World Health Organization had said, a country can reap up to $9 in benefits.

The World Bank study, which was also funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), will be launched on February 18 in Mandaluyong City under the theme “Sanitasyon ang Solusyon” (Sanitation is the Solution). Expected to attend are the city’s Mayor Benjamin Abalos Jr., Health Secretary Francisco Duque, Environment Secretary Lito Atienza, Rep. Belma Cabilao of Zamboanga Sibugay and Miss Earth Philippines 2007 Jeanne Harn. Cabilao heads the House Committee on Ecology.

Read More – Manila Times, 15 Feb 2008

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Rodriguez UE, Jamora N, Hutton G. (2007). Economic impacts of sanitation in the Philippines. Washington, DC, USA, World Bank, Water and Sanitation Program.
A summary appeared in Economic impacts of sanitation in Southeast Asia

See also: East Asia: leaders vow to increase investments in sanitation and hygiene, Source Weekly, 21 Jan 2008