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Sanitation Services (sanitation + services)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Humanities and Social Sciences57%

Selected Abstracts

Restoring sanitation services after an earthquake: field experience in Bam, Iran

DISASTERS, Issue 3 2005
Jean-François Pinera
Abstract A powerful earthquake hit the city of Bam in southeast Iran on 26 December 2003. In its aftermath, a number of international relief agencies, including Oxfam, assisted in providing emergency sanitation services. Oxfam's programme consisted of constructing and repairing toilets and showers in villages located outside of the city. In contrast with other organisations, Oxfam opted for brickwork structures, using local materials and human resources rather than prefabricated cubicles. The choice illustrates the dilemmas faced by agencies involved in emergency sanitation: responding to needs in a manner consistent with international standards and offering assistance in a timely fashion while involving beneficiaries. Following a preliminary survey, Oxfam concluded that the provision of showers and latrines, in addition to utilisation of local materials and human resources, was essential for ensuring well-being, empowerment and dignity among members of the affected population, thereby maximising the benefits. [source]

Past and future sustainability of water policies in Europe

NATURAL RESOURCES FORUM, Issue 3 2003
Bernard Barraqué
The article contributes to a discussion on two global issues on water: water resources management, and water supply and sanitation. Focusing on Europe, it traces the legal roots of current systems in history: as a resource, water is considered as a common property, rather than a market good; while as a public service it is usually a commodity. Public water supply and sanitation technologies and engineering have developed under three main paradigms: quantitative and civil engineering; qualitative and chemical/sanitary engineering (both on the supply side); and the most recent one, environmental engineering and integrated management (on the demand side). The cost of public drinking water is due to rise sharply in view of the two-fold financial challenge of replacing an ageing infrastructure and keeping up with ever-rising environmental and sanitary quality standards. Who will pay? Government subsidies, or water users? The author suggests that apparent successes with privatisation may have relied heavily on hidden government subsidies and/or the healthy state of previously installed water infrastructure: past government subsidies are still felt for as long as the lifetime of the infrastructure. The article stresses the importance of public participation and decentralized local management of water and sanitation services. Informing and involving users in water management decisions is seen as an integral part of the ,ethics' side of the crucial three E's (economics, environment, ethics). The article strongly argues for municipal provision of water services, and hopes that lessons learnt and solutions found in the European experience may serve water services management efforts in other regions of the world. [source]

Government engagement with non-state providers of water and sanitation services

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION & DEVELOPMENT, Issue 3 2006
Kevin SansomArticle first published online: 24 JUL 200
Abstract Increasingly, governments in developing countries recognise that the public sector alone cannot provide adequate water and sanitation services to all. Non-state providers (NSPs) including both formal and informal private providers, as well as civil society institutions, also have important roles to play. There are clear challenges for governments intending to work with NSPs, not least of which is the institutional compatibility between bureaucratic agencies and informal water and sanitation NSPs. However, positive examples of government agencies working effectively with NSPs are emerging in many countries. Government engagement with water and sanitation NSPs can be split into five main types: recognition, dialogue, facilitation/collaboration, contracting and regulation. In many situations, a lack of formal recognition of water or sanitation NSPs is an impediment to more productive forms of engagement. There are a number of potential intervention options within each of the five types of engagement that government agencies should carefully consider when supporting the development of NSP water and sanitation services. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Organization, Management and Delegation in the French Water Industry

ANNALS OF PUBLIC AND COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS, Issue 4 2001
Jihad C. Elnaboulsi
The water industry is largely a natural monopoly. Water distribution and sewerage services are characterized by networks and its natural monopoly derives from the established local networks of drinking water and sewers: they are capital intensive with sunk costs and increasing returns to scale. In France, local communities have a local requirement of providing public services under optimum conditions in terms of techniques and cost-effectiveness, and subject to respect different kind of standards in terms of water quality and level of services. They are responsible for producing and distributing drinking water, and collecting and treating wastewater. Furthermore, the French water utilities are required to be financially self-sufficient. Rate-setting varies across regions and local territories due to a variety of organizational features of services and availability of water resources. The management of these local public services can be public or private: local governments have the right, by the constitution, to delegate water service management to private companies which operate under the oversight of local municipal authorities. Today, nearly 80 per cent of the French population receive private distributed water. Different reasons are responsible for the poor performance and low productivity of most French public water utilities: technical and operational, commercial and financial, human and institutional, and environmental. Thus, many water public utilities have looked for alternative ways to provide water and sanitation services more efficiently, to improve both operational and investment efficiency, and to attract private finance. The purpose of this paper is to present the French organizational system of providing drinking water services, and collecting and treating wastewater services: legal aspects, contracts of delegation, and competition. [source]

Water supply and sanitation in remote Indigenous communities-priorities for health development

AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH, Issue 5 2004
Ross S. Bailie
Objective:To review available national and State/Territory survey data on water supply and sanitation in remote Indigenous Australian communities and to discuss the findings in terms of priorities for health and infrastructure development. Methods:Descriptive analysis of data on relevant variables from available data sources. Results:All relevant published reports arose from only two data sources: the Community Housing and Infrastructure Needs Surveys, and from a Northern Territory-wide survey of community-owned dwellings. The data show that many communities do not have a reliable water supply and experience frequent and prolonged breakdown in sewerage systems. For example, 12% of communities of 50 people or more experienced five or more periods of water restrictions in a one-year period, and 10% of communities experienced sewage overflow or leakage 20 or more times in a one-year period. Items of basic household infrastructure regarded as essential for household hygiene are missing or not functional in many community-owned dwellings. For example, in about one-third of houses bathroom taps and toilet drainage required major repairs. Conclusion and Implications:Given the widely accepted importance of water and sanitation to health, the data support the contention that poor environmental conditions are a major cause of poor health in remote communities and provide some measure at a national level of the magnitude of the problem. Action to ensure easy access to adequate quantities of water and secure sanitation should receive greater priority. There is need for better quality information systems to monitor progress, equity and accountability in the delivery of water and sanitation services. [source]