Water supply in rural areas: the first step in poverty alleviation

Access to safe water supply has been one of the top priorities in developing countries over the past three to four decades, and billions of dollars have been invested in pursuit of the goal of “universal service.”

However, recent reports emphasize that the world “is facing a serious water crisis” and that water access and service delivery in the developing world need to be improved dramatically and urgently, especially if we are to make gains in the fight against poverty, hunger, and disease

The definition of safe water needs to include consideration of distance (which is a major factor in time spent collecting water), quantity (including “adequate” consumption), and quality (as reflected by the type of source), explicitly presented and monitored over time.

“Access to water” means “having to walk no further than 1 kilometer in the horizontal sense and no further than 100 meters in the vertical sense to the nearest water-point.”

Water service coverage in Africa is low compared to world figures 62% to 82 %, we have 20 points difference. But checking on rural coverage in Africa compared to world figures, Africa is down about 24 points.

The water needs, which in the past were individual needs, have become communities needs, less easy to meet than in the past, owing to the density of the populations on the same site. 

A key constraint on reducing poverty and promoting economic prosperity in rural areas is the lack, or absence of, sustainable community-based safe water supply and sanitation systems.

The lack of adequate rural water supply and sanitation (RWSS) services impairs rural community health, especially among the poor.

Lack of access to safe water, and inadequate sanitation (e.g., use of common latrines) also disproportionately burden women and children with disease, while rising costs of health services are particularly problematic in poor localities.

Water collection has a particularly high opportunity cost for women and school-age children. For example, especially in mountainous areas, time devoted to water carrying limits opportunities for women (often responsible for household water use and sanitation) to earn income, and depresses children's (particularly girls') enrolment and active participation in schooling.

Even though it has been neglected for a long time by the international community, water supply and sanitation in rural areas have today achieved the importance that is rightly theirs, and from now on, they are among the priority actions for poverty alleviations.

Improved access to safe water and sanitation is critical to achieve the goals for Poverty Alleviation and Development and come within the framework of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to ensure environmental sustainability and aims to halve, by 2015, the proportion of rural people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and sanitation.

The relationship between access to safe water and sanitation, and poverty should be better understood by integrating improved analyses of community priorities and needs into policymaking and implementation, and by delivering increased access to water and sanitation to the poorest people.

International experience has shown that for overall improvement in community health, provision of safe water must be integrated with latrine improvement, health education, and hygiene promotion.

Therefore providing safe RWSS services will help improve rural living standards and reduce incidence rates of water-related diseases and associated medical expenditures. Increased access to convenient and safe drinking water for the rural poor will also translate into increased time for productive activities and long-term human development.

Water supply in Rural Areas can be seen as the first Step in Poverty Alleviation.

The table below shows, how water supply and sanitation have a real impact on each of the 8 Millennium Development Goal.

IMPACT OF WATER SUPPLY AND SANITATION

ON THE ACHIEVEMENT OF MDGs

Goal 1 : Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger	Water is an essential commodity for survival and the improvement of quality of life – for health (drinking, eating and washing) economic development (agro-industry). It increases the production activities by reducing the number of days off sick and through the time saved on the water collection.
Goal 2 : Ensure universal primary education	Access to quality water makes it possible to save time and keep children in good health so they can regularly attend school. A good hygiene of the environment and good water provision facilities foster a safe school environment.
Goal 3 : Promote gender equality and rehabilitate women	The time saved thanks to the reduction of the distance walked and the waiting for the collection of water enables women to undertake productive activities, namely participation in the family life and economic activities. The communities’ water provision constitutes an excellent opportunity for women to participate in the management
Goal 4 : Reduce infant mortality	Potable water, body/house cleanliness and the disposal of excreta make it possible to reduce infant /child mortality and to improve the nutritional status of children and their capacity to get good results at school. The marginal cost of improving hygiene and promoting sanitation make them advantageous health interventions from the cost-efficiency ratio point of view.
Goal 5 : Improve maternal health	Access to WSS makes it possible to reduce physical stress and to improve the health of expectant women and to reduce the number of miscarriages, maternal deaths and risks for the fetus and new-born babies.
Goal 6 : Fight against HIV/AIDS, malaria and the other diseases	Access to WSS makes it possible to prevent water-born diseases (ver de Guinée, onchocerciasis and schistosomiasis) and disease related to water contaminated by excreta and bad hygiene (cholera, typhoid and diarrheal diseases).
Goal 7 : Ensure ecological viability	The competencies acquired in the management of water supply and sanitation strengthens the social capital which can be used to better manage the environment and water resources locally. WSS operations include raising the awareness of the environment and constitutes a means to improve environmental management.
Goal 8 : Establish a worldwide partnership for development	Opportunities are thus created for governments, donators, private NGOs and enterprises to work together toward achieving the MDGs.