But today I want to focus on Water and Health (my fellow FPA blogger, Bill Hewitt, has something to say on the environmental front as well). The UN has dubbed March 22nd World Water Day, and in my reading I stumbled upon a pretty amazing statistic. According to the World Health Organization, each $1 that we invest in clean water access gets returned to us 3-34 times in time savings, productivity, improved education and reduced healthcare costs. Compared to the majority of social investments – which often achieve only a 1:1 return, and very frequently, less – this is phenomenal. In terms of “social return”, improved access to clean water is clearly a sound investment.
But what does it mean to invest in clean water? The world is actually on track to achieve or exceed the drinking water part of the Millennium Development Goal concerning water and sanitation (see Goal #7). Currently 87% of the world has access to clean water, but that still leaves close to 900 million people without access. Inadequate access to clean water accounts for more worldwide deaths annually than war. It’s the most vulnerable populations who face the most critical challenges–1.5 million children die each year because of waterborne diseases. Solutions are cost effective and available, but political will and legislation are key.
At the same time, more needs to be done to achieve the goal of halving the proportion of people without access to safe sanitation. This means toilets, and lots of them. Fortunately, there are some great organizations with some pretty interesting toilet innovations—PeePoo bag, anyone?. (There has been some recent celebrity buzz around toilets, but that’s a different story.)
But it is opportunity cost that drives the phenomenal social return on investment for water. Women and girls bear the brunt of lack of access to clean water since, in most countries, this is who exerts enormous effort collecting and carrying water. Time spent carrying water is time not spent in school, meaning lost opportunities to expand education for girls and lost economic productivity for women and families. Maybe Indian brides have got it right: in some villages, women are demanding toilets as a pre-condition for marriage. Quite the pre-nup!
