Water and Sanitation Program
123 items available
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The Water and Sanitation Program is a multidonor partnership administered by the World Bank to support poor people in obtaining affordable, safe, and sustainable access to water and sanitation services. This collection contains working papers, technical papers, and other informal reports.
Items in this collection
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Publication
Market-Based Models and Public-Private Partnership Options for Non-Sewered Sanitation in Selected Cities and Towns in Kenya
(Washington, DC, 2022-12)This report is part of a broader piece of analytical work referred to as the ‘Identification and Evaluation of Market-Based Models and Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Options for Non-Sewered Sanitation Services (NSS) in Selected Cities/Towns in Kenya’. The report builds on the earlier Market Intelligence Research conducted in Kisumu, Malindi, Nairobi (Eastlands), Naivasha and Wajir as well as the NSS Business Model Report which identified and evaluated promising market-based business models for scaling up NSS across the entire NSS service chain – from containment to emptying & transport to treatment and disposal/reuse. The Market Intelligence Research showed that NSS usage across the 5 cities is 80-100 percent. Furthermore, most faecal sludge is not safely emptied and almost none is safely disposed of. At the same time population is growing in all 5 areas and a significant faecal sludge treatment deficit is projected for 2030. A significant market potential for improved NSS services exists and realizing that potential towards 2030 will benefit (i) the population through reduced health impacts of inadequate sanitation as well as the benefit of improved service quality; (ii) the environment through reduced overflowing of pits during rainy season and reduced unsafe disposal of faecal sludge from pits; (iii) the private operators through business expansion; and (iv) society through reduced health costs and increased employment. -
Publication
Climatic Shocks and Internal Migration: Evidence from 442 Million Personal Records in 64 Countries
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-01-27)This paper examines whether and how climatic shocks influence individual migration decisions. The authors use census microdata across 64 countries over the period 1960 to 2012, covering 442 million individual records, combined with geo-referenced temperature and precipitation data summarized for each origin and destination administrative unit. Migration is identified when an individual changed a place of usual residence one, five, or ten years ago to a new major administrative unit in the same country. Given an exceptionally large number of observations, the authors apply a two-step approach to analyze the relationship between exposure to climatic shocks and migration. First, the authors use random forest models to uncover that in many countries climatic shocks are as important as better-known individual-level covariates in determining migration decisions. This observation serves as a yardstick for the second step of the analysis. For a subset of countries, where rainfall shocks play an important role in migration, the authors compare internal migration patterns across time by examining whether a region experiencing positive or negative rainfall shocks observed higher or lower migration. The authors find that negative rainfall shocks suppress outmigration particularly for low-income countries. The opposite is true for positive rainfall shocks whereby migration is found to increase, especially for lower-income countries. The finding supports the liquidity constraint argument whereby adverse climatic conditions can disrupt migration financing and consequently suppress ability to migrate. -
Publication
Improving Water Supply and Sanitation in Growth Centers in Zambia: Technical Efficiency Analysis
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022)Inefficiency is common in many of the world’s water utilities, especially in developing countries. The problem derives from a range of different causes relating primarily to technical, organizational, and commercial (TOC) factors. Evidence from a World Bank study conducted in 2020 shows that most Zambian commercial utilities (CUs) face inefficiency challenges in their operations. This report details the state of Water Supply and Sanitation (WSS) efficiency in Zambia, focusing on three provinces: Central, Southern, and Luapula. The report is organized into six chapters. Chapter 1 outlines the background and lays out the report's objectives with a brief indication of the approach used for the assessment. Chapter 2 is a review of the state of WSS efficiency in Zambia. In addition to stating the efficiency bottlenecks in WSS delivery, the section highlights the flaws and misconceptions of performance indicators (PIs) that could hinder CUs' efforts to identify the priority areas requiring investment. Chapter 3 describes the method used to assess the technical, operational and commercial efficiency of the three pilot CUs. The section emphasizes i-TOC as an assessment tool that overcomes the flaws of traditional PIs and their application in setting targets. Chapter 4 presents the main findings from the assessment, while chapter 5 summarizes the key findings, and section 6 concludes with interim recommendations, which will be further developed. -
Publication
Utility of the Future 2.0: Taking Water and Sanitation Utilities Beyond the Next Level - A Methodology to Ignite Transformation in Water and Sanitation Utilities
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022)The sustainable development goal for water and sanitation - to ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all is a lofty one. Worldwide, 2.4 billion people remain without access to improved sanitation, and nearly 0.7 billion remain without access to improved drinking water sources. Those who have access to water supply and sanitation (WSS) services often must cope with intermittent water supply, sewerage system overflows, and poor customer service. Poor service frequently stems from a vicious cycle of dysfunctional political environments and inefficient practices. Global forces - including climate change, water scarcity, population growth, and rapid urbanization - exacerbate these challenges to providing high-quality, sustainable WSS service delivery. Therefore, WSS utilities require a new approach to planning and sequencing reforms to provide WSS services in a sustainable manner. The utility of the future (UoF) program provides this new approach, building on an extensive body of knowledge on utility performance improvement. This methodological document provides a practical guide to implementing the UoF program. Reflecting the program’s practical nature, this document and the accompanying UoF toolkit are intended to be living documents. As the implementation of the program evolves, and new best practices and zoom-in lenses emerge, lessons learned, and new developments will inform updates to the methodology and toolkit. Chapter one gives introduction. Chapter two defines the UoF concept, determinants of success, and the analytical basis of the program. Chapter three presents the methodology developed to guide the process of becoming a UoF. -
Publication
From City to Sea: Integrated Management of Litter and Plastics and Their Effects on Waterways - A Guide for Municipalities
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-10-21)This Guide for Municipalities is intended for use by municipal officers and service providers concerned with: (a) policies and programs that influence waste generation and management; (b) the urban environment in which litter is generated, accumulated, and transported; and (c) the waterways they affect, this includes those in charge of policy, municipal planning, urban planning, public works, and solid waste management. The guide was created to help municipal decision makers, service providers, and municipal planners understand the potentially critical consequences of litter in their cities and develop comprehensive, interdisciplinary approaches to managing litter flows. It introduces an array of management measures and describes when they would be appropriate based on local circumstances. To strengthen the case for taking an integrated litter management approach, it provides background information on the social and environmental challenges posed by litter and how these have been tackled in some cities. -
Publication
Utility of the Future: Taking Water and Sanitation Utilities Beyond the Next Level
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-03-23)The sustainable development goal for water and sanitation to ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all is a lofty goal. Worldwide, 2.4 billion people remain without access to improved sanitation and nearly 0.7 billion remain without access to improved drinking water sources. Those who have access to water supply and sanitation (WSS) services often must cope with intermittent water supply, sewerage system overflows, and poor customer service. Poor service frequently stems from a vicious cycle of dysfunctional political environments and inefficient practices. Global forces - including climate change, water scarcity, population growth, and rapid urbanization - exacerbate these challenges in providing high-quality, sustainable WSS service delivery. Therefore, WSS utilities require a new approach to planning and sequencing reforms to provide WSS services in a sustainable manner. The utility of the future (UoF) program provides this new approach and was designed in a way that builds on the extensive body of knowledge on utility performance improvement. Chapter one gives introduction. Chapter two defines the UoF concept, the determinants of success, and the analytical basis of the program. Chapter three presents the methodology developed specifically to conduct the diagnostic assessment and determine the utility’s desired maturity level. Chapter four presents a 15-step approach to translating the results of the diagnostic assessment into a prioritized and sequenced action plan. -
Publication
Monsoons, Rivers, and Tides: A Water Sector Diagnostic of Bangladesh
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-05-12)Water has always been at the heart of Bangladesh’s remarkable development story. Avoiding flood-induced famines and attaining food security were the defining motives in Bangladesh’s water management since the pre-independent days.1 These helped expand flood-control and modernize irrigation, strengthening its agro-based economy. Later in the century, catastrophic cholera epidemics and the growing irrigation demand pushed extensive investments in shallow tube wells, which remain the primary water source across the country. Today, water-intensive industries such as ready-made garments and textiles make up more than 85 percent of its exports, steering the nation’s job market and rapid economic growth. These structural changes, combined with the pressures from high population growth and climate change uncertainties, have now become key factors shaping Bangladesh’s approach to water management. With the Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 (BDP), the country has begun an ambitious and holistic water management strategy. The plan puts water at its center for economic development and poverty reduction, and offers an adaptive approach for devising investment plans under climate uncertainties.2 Its implementation is not without challenges, because it would require strong interagency coordination, capacity building, and vast financial resources. This report documents the role of water in Bangladesh’s economy and the major water-related challenges. It aims to help develop a common approach in the sector among the Government of Bangladesh (GoB), the World Bank Group, and development partners in alignment with the BDP goals, the GoB’s Eighth Five-Year Plan (8FYP), and the World Bank Country Partnership Framework. The diagnostic assesses evidence from data, literature, and official documents to produce a synthesis of water-related challenges, and concludes with a set of priorities for enabling growth and tackling poverty for the next decade. Each challenge or priority area may be cross-cutting or relevant to one or several BDP areas (hotspots). -
Publication
Health, Safety and Dignity of Sanitation Workers: An Initial Assessment
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2019-11-01)The global sanitation workforce bridges the gap between sanitation infrastructure and the provision of sanitation services. Sanitation workers provide an essential public service but often at the cost of their dignity, safety, health, and living conditions. They are some of the most vulnerable workers. They are far too often invisible, unquantified, and ostracized, and many of the challenges they face stem from this fundamental lack of acknowledgment. Sanitation workers are exposed to serious occupational and environmental health hazards risking illness, injury, and death. This report presents the findings of a study that examined nine case studies of sanitation workers in low- and middle-income countries, predominantly focusing on emptying pits and tanks, providing transportation of fecal sludge, and performing sewer maintenance. It is an initial analysis into a growing body of work on sanitation workers, but already the findings highlight several action areas to ensure that efforts in reaching Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 6.2 and 6.3 do not compromise the dignity, health, and rights of the workforce. Collecting data from literature and key informant interviews, the nine cases provide an overview of the key challenges sanitation workers face. The report also addresses good practices and suggests areas for action. -
Publication
The Use of Performance-Based Contracts for Nonrevenue Water Reduction: Output of the Global Program on Developing Good PBC Practices for Managing NRW
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2018-09)This operational manual describes the process for planning and implementing performance-based contracts (PBCs) for nonrevenue water (NRW) reduction. An NRW-PBC is a contract for outsourcing technical, commercial, and construction activities related to NRW reduction, while providing the contractor with incentives to achieve the desired results. Unlike conventional NRW reduction contracts in which contractors are paid based on inputs (for example, number of connections replaced), NRW-PBCs pay the contractor for outputs, such as amount of water saved, number of illegal connections detected, or number of customers receiving 24/7 service. NRW-PBCs differ from management contracts, concessions, leases, or other forms of private sector participation, in that the utility retains control of utility operations and assets. The PBC allows the utility to take advantage of the expertise and incentivized performance of specialized private sector firms to reduce NRW. NRW-PBCs do not entail privatization of management, operations, or assets. This manual can be read in its entirety for general knowledge of NRW-PBCs and the NRW-PBC preparation process. Practitioners can also reference individual sections of the guide during the NRW-PBC preparation process. The primary users of this manual are those involved in assessing, preparing, and implementing NRW-PBCs. This includes governments, water utilities, regulators, consultants, contractors, and international finance institutions. -
Publication
A Review of Rural Water and Sanitation Services in Seven Countries of the Danube Region
(World Bank, Vienna, 2018-05)Governments of countries of the Danube region face the double challenge of meeting their citizens demand for quality and sustainable water services, while catching up with the environmental requirements of the European Union. In general, the bulk of public investments have targeted urban areas, resulting in the improvement of drinking water systems and the development of wastewater collection and treatment infrastructure. This process is largely driven by EU accession and compliance targets and in several countries involves the regionalization of service providers. However, rural areas are lagging and significant service access gaps exist in comparison with urban areas. Approximately 28.5 million people remain without access to piped water supply and 22 million remain without flush toilet access in the region, of which at least eight out of 10 reside in rural areas. Goal 6 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) underlines the countries' commitment to achieving universal access to safe and affordable drinking water and safe sanitation and hygiene for all by 2030. Understanding how to effectively reach the rural population with "safely managed services" is paramount from the social inclusion as well as the human rights perspective. Given that the significant access gaps are a major barrier to fulfilling the SDGs, this study was launched to increase awareness and knowledge on how rural service provision is organized, to understand whether and how the aggregation through regional water utilities has effectively reached rural areas, and to present lessons and recommendations for expanding and improving the provision of services for rural populations. Seven countries— Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Moldova, Romania, and Ukraine—were selected because they represent a wide range of rural water outcomes, different challenges, and sector reform contexts.