Water Governance Contribution to Water and Sanitation Access Equality in Developing Countries

Abstract

Access to basic water service and basic sanitation service has been acknowledged as fundamental human rights. It also has been mentioned in UN Sustainable Development Goals 6 to ensure that all people will have equal access to both water and sanitation service, as well as embedded in Goal 10 that aims to reduce inequality and promoting inclusiveness. However, the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme 2017 reported that 844 million people are still living without basic access to water, and 2.3 billion are still excluded from basic sanitation service. In this study, we present quantitative global-scale analysis of inequality of accessing the water and sanitation services from different wealth groups in 82 developing countries. We found that access inequality is rampant among developing countries particularly in terms of accessing basic sanitation service which the poor populations tend to be excluded in accessing the basic service. Based on combined multiple global data sets, we further identify which components of water governance are the key contributors to access inequality in water and sanitation services. We conclude that social and political dimension of water governance, such as government effectiveness, are influencing the occurrence of inequality of access to sanitation service in developing countries, while the inequality of access to basic water service was strongly influenced by the economic aspect of water governance, such as absorption of aid funds.Plain Language Summary Access to basic water service and basic sanitation service has been acknowledged as fundamental human rights, and all people should have equal access to both water and sanitation service. Despite being placed in such important goals, a considerable number of people still facing difficulties from accessing to basic service. We present first analysis of inequality of accessing the water and sanitation services from different wealth groups in developing countries. We found that inequality is rampant among developing countries particularly in term of accessing basic sanitation service which the poor populations tend to be excluded in accessing the basic service. Water governance is the management system that control how water resources are allocated, including basic water and basic sanitation service provision. We conclude that social and political dimension of water governance are influencing the occurrence of inequality of access to sanitation service in developing countries, while the inequality of access to basic water service was strongly influenced by the economic aspect of water governance. These results can help government to understand how different the inequality of access of water and sanitation is, and to help making informed decision to address the issue of access inequality in more suitable approach.

Donors’ Interest in Water and Sanitation Subsectors

“…In view of this exploration, the results in (El Khanji 2018 ) suggest that aid is targeting urban areas while there is a clear evidence that care should be taken for the rural areas, and most of the aid is not targeting places that are really in need. Bayu et al ( 2020 ) found that the inequality in safe access to water and sanitation is driven by different social, political (government effectiveness) and economic aspects (absorption of aid funds) of water governance in the developing countries. Therefore, donors’ motivations, whether they are strategic, economic or political, beat the efficiency of aid and mislead the efficient allocation of aid for different subsectors.…”

Pre-Development of Products: Methodology Applied in a Proposal Oriented to the Sustainable Development Goals

“…The provision of and access to basic water and sanitation services has been recognized as a fundamental right to human survival (Bayu, Kim, & Oki, 2020;Sogbanmu, Aitsegame, Otubanjo, & Odiyo, 2020). According to research conducted by the United Nations (2020) one in three people in the world do not have access to safe drinking water and three in ten do not have access to safely managed drinking water services.…”

Cleaning of Wastewater Using Crosslinked Poly(Acrylamide-co-Acrylic Acid) Hydrogels: Analysis of Rotatable Bonds, Binding Energy and Hydrogen Bonding

“…Water is an important liquid for human beings, the universe, and all life existing on earth [ 1 , 2 ]. This liquid can be easily polluted by different dyes [ 3 , 4 ].…”