ABSTRACT
Most of the world’s governments and international agencies have committed themselves to the Millennium Development Goals, one of which is to achieve environmental sustainability (see www.un.org/millenniumgoals/). A water target set in relation to ‘environmental sustainability’ is:
The World Summit on Sustainable Development, in 2002, added a sanitation target:
If these targets are achieved, it will make a significant contribution to the goal of eliminating poverty. The most recent Global Water Supply and Sanitation Assessment estimated that as of 2000 ‘one-sixth (1.1 billion people) lacked access to improved water supply and two-fifths (2.4 billion people) lacked access to improved sanitation’ (WHO/UNICEF, 2000, p1). A significant share of the ‘improved’ water supplies and sanitation facilities are still likely to be inadequate, at least in urban areas (UN-HABITAT, 2003). Inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene is one of the most important global causes of ill health, and in The World Health Report 2002 was estimated to account for 1.7 million deaths each year and 3.7 per cent of the overall global burden of disease (WHO, 2002).
