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Water supply and sanitation services for all: global progress during the 1990s
Author(s) -
Neto Frederico,
Tropp Håkan
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
natural resources forum
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.646
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1477-8947
pISSN - 0165-0203
DOI - 10.1111/j.1477-8947.2000.tb00946.x
Subject(s) - sanitation , water supply , business , population , economic growth , developing country , open defecation , socioeconomic status , private sector , millennium development goals , natural resource economics , environmental planning , development economics , geography , environmental health , economics , medicine , environmental engineering , engineering
Abstract The Earth may be largely covered with water, but over one billion people are estimated to be without safe drinking water and almost 2.5 billion (40% of the world's population) without adequate sanitation at the outset of the new millennium. The provision of safe water and sanitation for all poses several serious institutional and economic challenges at international, national and local levels. Despite the various political commitments made from the late 1970s onwards, these commitments have remained largely unfulfilled. Even though some efforts to expand coverage have been made over the past two decades, much of those efforts have been undermined by socioeconomic problems and growing population, particularly in the urban areas of developing countries. The water supply and sanitation sector is actually in acute need of new investments for expansion and maintenance of facilities. Nonetheless, some positive trends can be discerned, such as, for example, the increasing recognition of integrated water resources management, environmental sanitation, public‐private partnerships and women as a key for improvement and expansion of services.