Improved Sanitation in South Asia Accelerating Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals Atsushi Kaneko Asian Development Bank 17 February 2012
Outline 1. Assessment of Status: Access to Improved Sanitation in South Asia 2. Constraints to Expanding Sanitation Coverage 3. New Sanitation Agenda : Increase in Sanitation Coverage is not Enough 4. ADB Operations in India and Lessons Learnt: Key Challenges and Way Forward 2
Assessment of Status: Need to do much more on sanitation MDG target 10 (Goal 7): halve, by 2015, proportion of people without sustainable access to basic sanitation. Over 2.6 billion people word wide do not use improved sanitation. About 1.1 billion do not have access to any facility and practice open defecation. Targets for 2015: coverage 63% for South Asia and 57% for India only 36% and 28% respectively achieved by 2008. Inadequate sanitation costs India US$53.8 billion annually or 6.4% of annual GDP. (Of the amount, US$38.5 billion loss from health-related costs.) (Source: Water and Sanitation Program) 3
Improved Sanitation Coverage (%) Assessment of Status: Sanitation Coverage in the Regions 120 100 80 South Asia 1990 South Asian countries are lagging behind in achieving the targets. 60 1995 40 2000 20 2005 0 2009 TARGET BY 2015 Source: World Bank. Global Data Monitoring Information System 4
Assessment of Status: Current Status and Target Percentages among South Asia Countries Sri Lanka Nepal Maldives India Bhutan Bangladesh South Asia 0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0 70.0 80.0 90.0 100.0 Target 1990 2009 5
1.1 billion people still defecate in the open as of 2008. This is cited from Progress on Sanitation and Drinking-water 2010 Update, WHO and UNICEF (2010) 6
Constraints to expanding Sanitation Coverage More investment is required, but slow progress has been recorded. Why? Lack of Awareness: Low priority and weak linkage with public health. Social and Occupational Aspects: Open defecation and manual scavenging. Fragmented Institutional Roles and Responsibilities: Gaps and overlaps at the national, state, and city levels. Lack of an Integrated City-wide Approach: Need of City Sanitation Plan (CSP) to avoid a piece-meal approach. Limited Technology Choices: Not always cost-effective or affordable. Reaching the Poor: See the next slide. Source: National Urban Sanitation Policy, Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India 7
Percentage of households with toilets Target the poor Sanitation services for the lowest income group and illiterate households improved the least. Much of the advances have been enjoyed by the middle and uppermiddle classes. Rural sanitation lags behind urban sanitation. 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Wealth-based differentials in the progress of households with toilets (%) Poorest Qunitile 2nd Poorest Middle 2nd Richest 94 94 38 14 Richest Quintile 57 22 4 1 2 1992-93 1998-99 2005-06 Year 9 98 74 34 15 5 Source: National Family Health Surveys of India, 1992-1993; 1998-1999; and 2005-2006
New Sanitation Agenda: Increase in sanitation coverage is not enough Each country in South Asia has made significant efforts to increase sanitation coverage, which is still a valid agenda. Disparity between urban and rural has been an issue for access to improved sanitation. Centralized, advanced engineering solutions for wastewater is still prioritized while decentralized and/or low-cost sanitation has been recently perceived as one of the options, to increase the coverage. While substantial portion of urban households are connected to sewerage systems or on-site sanitation such as a septic tank or latrines, 85% of South Asia s wastewater is discharged untreated - polluting groundwater, rivers and coasts. 9
ADB Operations in India and Lessons Learnt Operations at Glance Outputs of ADB funded projects starting from 1995 with cumulative 22 loans (+US$2,500 M) are: 641MLD capacity of sewerage treatment plants and 3121 km sewerage pipelines. (4.7 million people have been benefitted) ADB has focused on sanitation systems including collection pipelines, treatment (STP), and disposal (sludge TP), while the investment included delivery of low-cost sanitation facility services to the urban poor. More attention, however, is required to the policy level issues of the DMCs. ADB approved in 2011 a Technical Assistance on septage management to support urban local bodies (ULBs) to prepare locally-customized septage management plans. 10
ADB Operations in India and Lessons Learnt Key Challenges and Way Forward (1) WSP estimates that US$97 billion will be required for sanitation infrastructure for India alone during 2007 2020. Poor implementation capacity, however, has resulted in poor investment. New approaches such as Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) are essential, in addition to capacity development of relevant stakeholders. Operation and maintenance costs, and manpower constraints are an issue for local authorities. Sector reform is essential as for water supply. 11
ADB Operations in India and Lessons Learnt Key Challenges and Way Forward (2) Conventional sewerage system seems attractive; but the development has proven to be a greater challenge and also requires longer periods to deliver benefits. Hence on-site sanitation including low-cost sanitation should be more explored. Recent CPS is likely to consider on-site sanitation as an option. Inappropriate management is however causing pollution to water environment, especially from on-site sanitation systems. It is often difficult to find an appropriate disposal site for sludge. 12
ADB: Wastewater Management Revolution Knowledge drive: compilation of successful and sustainable sanitation case studies Technology drive: promote cost effective and/or innovative technologies for various end-users Financing and incentives drive: business briefs and pre-feasibility studies with financing mechanisms to fast-track wastewater investment projects; encourage extraction of resources from wastewater (e.g., water, energy, nutrients) Awareness and advocacy drive: dissemination of knowledge products
We know that we have a problem but we also seem to be a minority who sees it this way. There are many others who do not. We need to change mindsets and start a wastewater revolution. What will this entail? Components of the Wastewater Management Revolution: Knowledge drive will involve compilation of case studies and working models of sanitation and wastewater and sludge management to share experiences and lessons learned, and influence the policy- and decision-makers on the range of solution options that can be adopted. Technology drive will focus on: least cost and appropriateness; mosaic of treatment options; new cities installations and refits of older systems designed around the cascading, modular system; sewage harvested for energy and/or nutrients, then cleaned enough for agricultural, industrial or environmental use. Financing and incentives drive will incorporate: (a) development of business and investment opportunity briefs based on prefeasibility studies demonstrating financial viability of sanitation solution options and dissemination for use by utilities, agencies, and other service providers and investors; (b) innovative financing for new solutions and to fast-track investment projects; (c) financial mechanisms to encourage the extraction of resources from wastewater. When wastewater is seen as a resource, the incentive package changes. Awareness and advocacy drive will comprise of: (a) subregional and in-country conferences; investment roundtables; and capacity development workshops to trigger the use of technology and financing options, and move forward on the identified business and investment opportunities; (b) advocacy product development and dissemination, e.g., policy briefs, multimedia, articles, brochures, among others; and (c) knowledge product development and dissemination, e.g., toolkits on a range of technology options and financing arrangements, and other training and instructive materials. 14
Sewage Treatment Facility (STP) in Rajasthan and Karnataka 15
Sewerage pipe (Kolkata) 16
Low cost sanitation in Karnataka and Slum improvement including toilets in Kolkata 17
Promote Reuse and Extraction of Resources Tourism: Eco-lagoon for 12 hotels, Bali, Indonesia Recycling of treated domestic wastewater for industrial and agricultural use: augments water supply; revenue-earner (Rajasthan case) Duckweed-based wastewater treatment pond: low cost treatment; high net revenues from sale of duckweeds as feeds Toilets connected to biogas digesters: source of cheap energy for lighting and cooking Methane capture from wastewater and septage treatment: carbon credits Agriculture Excreta Fertilizer Cooking gas Power
Thank you Atsushi Kaneko akaneko@adb.org