Household Water Security Index in Urban and Rural Settlements

Household Water Security Index in Urban and Rural Settlements Dr. Kulwant Singh Regional Advisor Urban Basic Services Branch, UN-Habitat Technical Workshop on Household Water Security in Asia and the Pacific Saturday, 18th May 2013, 13:30 to 16:30 hrs Meeting Room: C (18 Doa-rueng)

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Household Water Security • Household Water Security is one of the Five Key Dimensions of Water Security Framework – the other four being Economic Water Security, Urban Water Security, Environmental Water Security and Resilience to WaterRelated Disasters. • The Foundation and cornerstone of water security is what happens at the household level. • Household Water Security – an essential foundation for efforts to eradicate poverty and support economic development. • Therefore, Providing all people with reliable, safe water and sanitation services should be the top priority of Asia’s Leaders 2

Vision for Household Water Security “Societies can enjoy household water security when they successfully manage their water resources and services to satisfy household water and sanitation needs in all communities.”

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Household Water Security Index Household Water Security Index measures the achievement of a higher standard of services including piped water supply, acess to improved sanitation and hygiene. It provides an assessment of the extent to which countries are satisfying their household water and sanitation needs and improving hygiene for public health in all communities. The household water security index is a composite of three subindexes: • Access to piped water supply (%); • Access to improved sanitation (%); and • Hygiene (age-standardized disability-adjusted life years per 100,000 people for the incidence of diarrhea). 4

Household Water Security Index by Subregion (population-weighted)

Note: Data for the following countries were not available, because they are not included in the UN monitoring system for the Millennium Development Goals, and therefore are not reflected in their respective subregions: Brunei Darussalam (Southeast Asia); Taipei, China and Hong Kong, China(East Asia); and Turkmenistan (Central and West Asia). 5

Source: Based on data sources reported in the AWDO 2013 background paper “Water Security Key Dimension 1: Satisfying Household Needs for Water and Sanitation,” available on the AWDO 2013 supplementary DVD.

Household Water Security by Subregion (population-weighted)

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Access to Improved Water Supply Piped and Non-Piped (%)

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Source: United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and World Health Organization (WHO). 2012. Progress on Drinking Water and sanitation—2012 Update. WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water supply and Sanitation. New York.

Access to Improved Sanitation (%)

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Source: United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and World Health Organization (WHO). 2012. Progress on Drinking Water and sanitation—2012 Update. WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water supply and Sanitation. New York.

Household Water Security and Per Capita Gross Domestic Product

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Household Water Security: Challenges in Asia and the Pacific • Without increased investment and maintenance of facilities, modest gains over the past 15 years will be lost. • Failure to overcome the inertia in sanitation investments will cancel out the benefits from increased access to safe drinking water. • The region needs $59 billion in investments for water supply and $71 billion for improved sanitation in the near future.

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Actions required to achieve sustainable Household Water Security • Integrate financing for water and sanitation into national accounts and planning. Each dollar invested in water and sanitation is likely to return $5–$46 in reduced health care costs and increased economic productivity. • Give agencies and service providers the autonomy and resources (financial and technical) to succeed, with accountability. • Double the current rates of investment in sanitation. Just $25 per person will finance basic access to safe drinking water and improved sanitation and hygiene.

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Policy Levers to Increase Household Water Security Strategy

Supporting Policies

Financing

Integrate financing for water supply and sanitation into national budget and accounts systems. Explore microfinance for affordable water connections, sanitation facilities, and livelihood generation. Package water supply, sanitation, and wastewater treatment investments together.

Management

Promote demand-side management through water-saving household technologies, industry regulations, and recycle & reuse technologies. Minimize non-revenue water to potentially increase availability, reserves, and resilience of systems and services. Promote increased decentralization and financial, technical, and management autonomy for service providers.

Social

Prioritize demand-driven, community-managed systems for rural water supply. Promote community-led total sanitation programs. Support zero open defecation programs.

Technology

Available technology is adequate for supply and demand over the next 20 years. Support community-managed sources and services, which need some government support.

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Thanks for your attention!!!

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