Sustainability of Rural Water Services: Principles and practice

As a rights-based organization, UNICEF works to ensure the realization of the human right to water for all people, especially the poorest and most vulnerable. Access to safe water can lead to a 25% reduction in diarrhoeal morbidity (Fewtrell et al., 2005). Its impact on child survival, however, goes beyond diarrhoeal effect alone, since it also lowers the risk of malnutrition and the risk of severe infection with other diseases. Access to safe water is at the heart of development as it impacts positively on all the Millennium Development Goals.
Given that 84% of the world‟s population without access to improved drinking-water live in rural areas (WHO/UNICEF, 2010), there is a need to focus on rural water supplies in particular. Provision of safe water to rural populations helps to address inequities between the richest and the poorest, as well as geographical inequities. It also helps empower women and girls, since in almost three-quarters of households they have the main responsibility for collecting water.
In order to ensure that the human right to water is realized in rural areas, it is important not just to increase access but also ensure that water services are sustained. It is estimated that 36% of handpumps in Sub-Saharan Africa are non-operational at any given time (RWSN, 2008). In some countries more than 60% are not functioning.