Globally,
the sanitation Millennium Development Goal target is well off track.
However,
many countries in Southeast Asia have made substantial progress, although
a number of them will not reach the sanitation MDG target by 2015.
Many
countries have recently revised their sanitation strategies in order to rapidly
scale up sanitation and aim for universal access by 2030.
According
to a new study from the Water Global Practices Water and Sanitation Program (WSP), sanitation
has been shown to have significant economic and social returns in the six
countries studied (Cambodia, Yunnan province of China, Indonesia, Lao PDR, the
Philippines, and Vietnam) and benefits in both urban and rural settings exceed
costs in almost all cases.
The Economic Assessment of Sanitation Interventions in
Southeast Asia found that all sanitation interventions examined have
benefits that exceed costs, when compared with “no sanitation facility.”
Economic benefits of sanitation are at least five times higher than economic
costs in rural areas and at least three times higher for urban areas.
Other key
findings include:
-
In rural areas, the most basic sanitation type, the pit latrine, had returns of
at least five times its costs in all but one country, Cambodia. Across both wet
and dry pit latrines, the returns are highest in Lao PDR at over eight times.
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In urban areas, pit latrines remain a feasible, affordable, and efficient
sanitation option in some settings where density is low. Septic tanks were also
found to be economically viable in all countries, with economic returns of
around two or more per unit spent.
In
all countries and for most sanitation technologies, health benefits and time
savings accounted for the majority of the overall benefits.
Some intangible
benefits not quantifiable from the above estimates were also shown to be
important to households, including dignity, comfort, prestige, security, gender
equality, household cleanliness, and aesthetics of the community environment.
Because of inter-personal variation in responses, it was difficult to present
population level averages for these intangible benefits.
The benefits of
reduced water pollution from improved fecal sludge or sewage management were
not fully counted for those interventions that reduced release of fecal matter
into the environment because of the methodological difficulties and data
constraints involved in such valuations.
The
report, which is part of the second phase of the Economics of Sanitation Initiative (ESI)
launched initially in East Asia in 2007, provides sanitation decision makers
with compelling evidence that directly compares the costs and benefits of
alternative sanitation options across multiple contexts and countries.
Read
the blog from Guy Hutton: "Why
choosing the preferred sanitation solution should be more like grocery
shopping."
For more information, please visit www.wsp.org
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