At Water 1st, we believe access to water and sanitation is a basic human right. It also makes good economic sense. According to a recent WHO report, the global return on investing in water and sanitation is projected at roughly $10 for every $1 spent for universal coverage.
There are many potential benefits associated with improved water and sanitation, ranging from direct economic benefits of preventing diarrhea, indirect economic benefits related to health improvements (such as fewer missed days at work or school) and non-health benefits related to water and sanitation improvements (such as time-savings from water collection).
The UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set specific targets for access to water and sanitation: to halve, by 2015, the proportion of people who currently lack these facilities. The failure to meet these targets - which only get us halfway to our final goal of universal coverage - will cost $38 billion annually in health care costs and missed economic opportunities for the world’s poorest.
When evaluated separately, sanitation coverage yields even more economic benefits than water. That’s one reason why our projects always combine water, sanitation and hygiene education.
Dr. Stephen Commins, a lecturer at UCLA’s Department of Urban Planning, summed it up very well: “Investments in the provision of sanitation more than pay for themselves. The international community simply can’t afford not to address the global sanitation crisis.”