Water, sanitation, health - for all? Prospects for the International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade, 1980-90.

The International Institute for Environment and Development published a book reviewing the possibility of everyone having access to potable water and adequate sanitation and thus improved health. The book is dedicated it to a late lobbyist to the UN (Barbara Ward) for the establishment of the 1980s as the International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade. The book begins with a discontinuation of the reason for this theme including who did not have clean water an adequate sanitation and projected targets and costs. The authors also looked at water and sanitation's links with disease especially during rainy seasons and the economic and social costs of transporting water. Some of the problems with water supply and sanitation programs, including maintenance, repair, and construction are addressed. The authors also emphasized the importance of health education which can be integrated in to existing public health programs. They stressed that clean water without concomitant sanitation efforts are fruitless, thus they provided lessons learned and obstacles to avoid to reach decade goals. The authors presented 3 case studies from Colombia, India, and Kenya. In Colombia, in 1980, 936 towns had a water supply, but only 217 had water treatment plants. Water pollution came from sewage, industry, and coffee wastes. The President of Colombia planned to invest US $190 million in water and sanitation projects, but the government invested only US $24 million in 1980. 33% of the world's people without clean water and sanitation lived in India in 1980. 53% of the Indian urban population had no sanitation facilities in all. India was able to produce its own water supply systems, however, (e.g., in India Mark II pump). Arid Kenya continued having considerable with providing an accessible water supply and adequate sanitation to residents. The authors concluded the book with a chapter on the expectations and prospects for the Decade.