ABSTRACT
In 1980, the United Nations launched the International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade in an effort to improve access to potable water and sanitation in developing countries. The mid-decade report showed promising signs for rural dwellers: worldwide, access to safe water had increased from 33 percent to 45 percent; the picture for the world’s urban population had remained static: the worldwide average being about 75 percent. However, the report also noted that the per capita cost of providing water and sanitation services continued to increase despite the development of less expensive technologies, which suggests that governments may not be able to sustain improvements in water supply.
