Ecology

At present access to sanitation services is markedly less than access to water supply (in both urban and rural areas) and there is a need to focus attention on sanitation provision. The scale of the problem is illustrated by consideration of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and their associated targets for water supply and sanitation, namely to:

halve the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water; and

halve the proportion of people without access to improved sanitation, all by 2015.

Currently this requires access to services for an additional 1.2 billion people for water supplies and 2.4 billion for sanitation.

Whilst the proportion of people having access to sanitation services is considerably greater in urban areas than in rural areas, the problems are exacerbated by the demographic change that is taking place, characterised by rural to urban drift. This drift, which is rapid and uncontrolled, has been fuelled by rural populations' desire for jobs, which they hope will provide a better income and higher standard of life.

In this respect urban services face the greatest overall challenge with an estimated additional 1,085 million people requiring access to sanitation services by 2015 (WHO UNICEF, 2000).

The reality of the situation in urban areas may be masked by reported coverage; this is due to the nature of informal settlement in and around towns and cities. There are large disparities between the "haves" who reside in the formal city and have access to reasonable levels of service often at subsidised rates, and the "have-nots" who have created settlements that are not yet adopted by the city authorities.

Why is urban sanitation important?

The provision of adequate sanitation facilities in urban areas is an important