Literature review working group on costs and economics of sustainable sanitation

Presented here is a preliminary summary of more than 90 publications on economic aspects of sanitation compiled by the staff of the gtz-ecosan programme. The aim of this work is to assess which topics are currently covered by the available literature and which information is further required. The reader is encouraged to contribute further input to be included in a second, enriched and expanded version of this review. Most publications can be broadly classified as dealing with economics of sanitation (whether of small or large scale projects or on the global level) or with financial management of sanitation. The outline of this review therefore begins by characterisation of the various types of costs associated with sanitation, the common methodologies employed, followed by examples of costs of various systems and eventually a presentation of financial management schemes. [authors abstract]