A new model for water access : a global blueprint for innovation

This whitepaper is the report of the Global Agenda Council on Water 2014 -2016. It reveals that $310 billion a year is wasted on bad water and sanitation services and proposes steps to reverse the cycle of decline. These steps are:

1. It begins with a social contract: water and sanitation are human rights, but they don’t happen without commitment. The first step is to bring together the stakeholders to identify the benefits they will receive as a result of improved access, and to commit to the actions required to deliver the results.

2. The second step is a local design: water is an intimately local resource. There is no one solution for every community. Each one has to map its own pathway to better access.

3. Decentralise to cut the up-front capital costs: water kiosks, franchised water distribution services, micro-utilities, and neighbourhood wastewater treatment facilities may not offer the perfect solution, but they do offer a better and more affordable solution in the interim.

4. Spread costs to make each payment affordable: low income households struggle to save up large lump sums, so use micro-credit and short billing cycles to make utility services and private toilet investments affordable.

5. Innovate to drive down the overall cost: mobile phones, waste-to-energy systems, the internet of things, and new approaches to water and wastewater treatment can dramatically cut the cost of water and sanitation systems. We need to be at the cutting edge of innovation.