No pipe dream

Water, the fundamental element, flows through us and all around us. It makes up more than half of our bloodstream, covers over 70 percent of the Earth’s surface and has driven human development for millennia. 

As far back as 5,000 years ago noria water wheels transformed agriculture in ancient Egypt, turning the country into the breadbasket of the Middle East. Then came the qanat in ancient Persia, with almost 30,000 of these underground channels connecting aquifers with farm and city water supplies. 

But the most elegant innovation of all saw fresh water piped straight into people’s homes. Aqueducts became a symbol of the might and munificence of imperial Rome: Around 200 of these structures supplied fresh water to public baths, fountains and private homes all the way from Britannia to Bithynia in the northwest of Asia Minor. Rome’s iconic Trevi Fountain marks the end of an aqueduct first “tapped” more than 2,000 years ago. 

Fast forward to the present day and Pakistan’s Mohmand multipurpose dam, co-financed by the OPEC Fund, will soon live up to its name – providing not only hydropower, but also irrigation, flood control and water storage, including drinking water for millions of people in the downstream city of Peshawar. 

However, water, or rather the lack thereof, remains a fundamental problem for much of humanity. More than two billion people lack access to safe drinking water, particularly in rural areas, according to UN-Water, the United Nations agency working on water and sanitation issues. A further 3.5 billion people worldwide live without modern sanitation, mainly in overcrowded cities. That’s more than the populations of China, India and the USA combined. 

Beyond development priorities, water is also a defining feature of many humanitarian disasters. Sanae Okamoto, Senior Researcher at the United Nations University in the Netherlands, explains: “When storms or floods hit, we of course focus on saving lives. But after the initial emergency many victims will need shelter for weeks or even months. That must include Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) facilities – because people still need to use the toilet every five to six hours! More so in fact, as many people develop diarrhea or other diseases when exposed to unsafe water, which is the last thing you need, but an unfortunate fact of survival.” 

Further layers of vulnerability can be seen through a gender lens. “Floods and storms are chaotic and women and girls risk violations of their privacy and dignity, including sexual assault,” warns Okamoto. “But the risk of staying put can be equally terrible. If females fear shelters, they may decide not to leave their homes – which means some die needlessly when disasters strike.” 

Nidhi Nagabhatla, United Nations University, Belgium 

Nidhi Nagabhatla is Program Lead (Nature, Climate and Health) at the United Nations University Institute on Comparative Regional Integration Studies (UNU-CRIS) in Belgium. A systems analyst and sustainability science specialist, she holds a PhD from the Indian Space Research Organization (awarded by the University of Pune, India). 

OPEC Fund Quarterly: How is housing and urbanization tied to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 – Clean Water & Sanitation? 

Nidhi Nagabhatla: SDG 6 is a benchmark to measure what is needed to ensure our human right to water (essentially, safe drinking water and modern sanitation). For some cities that’s a challenge on many levels, which is only getting more complicated with the rise of rural-urban migration on the one hand and urban expansion on the other. 

In many cities, infrastructure for water delivery is already exhausted. Systems designed to handle up to a doubling of populations are now failing to deliver basic provisioning services, especially to slums and other informal settlements not recognized by governments. These are often home to refugees, internally displaced persons or people who have fallen into debt. 

The 2018 edition of the World Water Development Report focused on the costing and pricing of water delivery services. Our assessment noted how much poor and vulnerable people are paying to get even limited supplies of water for drinking, bathing and other household needs. For some it was between 5 and 50 percent more than rich households because the latter are on the grid. In the slums around Nairobi, for example, people have to buy water from informal tankers or private vendors. Sometimes that means people have to buy bottled water (not luxury mineral water!) – which can cost up to 50 times more than similar quality water from a municipal supply. 

As a part of UN-Water, the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNUINWEH) contributed to this global report, weighing up innovations that boost water recycling in slums and interventions that help communities do some purification by themselves (especially using local and traditional knowledge). What we found was that for big slums like in Nairobi, it’s really challenging to manage water quality. If it’s an informal settlement, the government won’t support any permanent mechanical structure for water quality management. 

OFQ: That’s surely a problem all over the world. Where else have you seen this? 

NN: For another research project in Bolivia, first with UNU-INWEH and then with UNU-CRIS, we found most wastewater management handled by the informal sector, especially in big cities like La Paz. One problem is that the capital is dealing with multiple crises, including overloaded water infrastructure. In the case of dams, engineers do long-term projections for 25 to 100 years – but their estimates are sometimes met in half or even a quarter of that time. 

Besides safe drinking water and modern sanitation, other responsibilities include flood, storm and wastewater management. These are particularly difficult in developing countries for three reasons. First is financial capacity, as cities can only afford to hire a certain number of water managers. Second is technical capacity because, with all the wastewater generated, pipelines need more frequent maintenance. Third is human capacity, which reflects and flows back into financial and technical capacity. These are interlinked challenges. 

OFQ: You mentioned the human right to water and sanitation. How exactly does that work? 

NN: The UN text on the human right to water and sanitation, passed in 2010, is very concrete with quantitative indicators. For example, if you spend more than half an hour per day collecting, filling and storing water for your household needs, then your human right to water is compromised. If you must travel more than 1 km from your home to fetch water for your daily needs, then your human right to water is compromised. 

Some countries, like South Africa, have taken control and responsibility after being caught short in recent years. Cape Town made global news in 2017-2018 when even affluent neighborhoods had no water for a day and some districts even went three days without. That “Day Zero” was a wake-up call for many people – that even a rich city like Cape Town could be hit like that. The government then started putting its house in order: Taking stock, investing in rainwater harvesting and trying out new ways to monitor leaks and incentivize smart water management, also at the household level. 

My team is also focusing on the megacity of Mumbai, India, home to around 23 million people and expanding. I recently met with one of the city’s urban management commissioners, who spoke about the challenges that water managers face. Over the last five years, Mumbai has invested several hundred million dollars in reforming its water supply system – a big budget for a city in a developing country! 

There are no easy answers, but what we can do is promote the use of renewable energy to power water recycling in smaller districts. That cuts the cost of laying pipelines, which can stretch up to 100 km. We need these innovations – approaching challenges from engineering, social and policy perspectives – while always seeking to improve efficiency. 

I’ve also argued for policy incentives. So as a “smart citizen” or “smart neighborhood”, you could benefit from green tax credits and perhaps get a 1-5 percent tax rebate. But that’s not an easy sell, as governments have little fiscal space nowadays. 

Water worlds: Four women’s stories through time and place 

There are countless catch-22s when it comes to H₂O, but what are the fundamental facts? Do we have a human right to safe water? What are the track records of governments over the years? In this infographic we sketch the stories of four women across four worlds: From ancient Rome to Victorian England to modern-day Bolivia and Kenya. We then take a deep dive into the links between water and shelter with an expert author of the United Nations World Water Development Report 2023. 

Rome, 24 BCE 

Among the one million citizens of Rome was a young woman named Livia, who lived in a modest insula, or apartment block, in the bustling Subura district beside the Roman Forum. Each morning, Livia would awaken to the sounds of her neighbors and the smell of the bakeries below her window. However, her daily routine depended on the aqueducts that brought water to her home. The arrival of fresh water transformed her life. She could fill her clay amphorae with clean water for cooking, bathing and cleaning without the arduous task of fetching it from the Tiber River. 

London, 1884 

In the East End a mother named Eliza marveled at the convenience of having running water in her home. No longer did she need to worry about the health risks of contaminated water. Her children could wash their hands before meals and the entire family could enjoy the luxury of warm baths after a long day of study or work. The introduction of clean water not only improved hygiene but also brought a sense of dignity and comfort to average families like hers. 

Bolivia, 2024 

Patricia navigates the steep streets of La Paz, where the bright colors of the buildings contrast with the mundane challenges of everyday life. As an aspiring entrepreneur, she hopes to open a café that showcases local cuisine and culture. However, she faces a significant hurdle: the inconsistent water supply in her neighborhood. Without reliable access to clean water and proper sanitation, her plans remain on hold. She sees her neighbors struggling as well, and she knows that the lack of these essential services limits not only her dreams but also the potential of her community. 

Kenya, 2024 

Lila wakes to the sounds of bustling streets on the edge of Nairobi. As the sun peeks over the horizon she sets off, carrying her daughter on her back, on her daily routine of fetching water. The nearest source of water is a long walk away and every day she carries back two heavy jerry cans. Access to clean water is crucial for the health of Lila’s family; without it, she and her children are at risk of waterborne diseases. The trek is tiring, but she knows her efforts are vital for their well-being. Lila dreams of a day when clean water flows freely in her neighborhood, allowing her to focus on her children’s education and her small business selling fruit at the local market. 

In Conclusion 

Oceans apart, but united in need: Lila and Patricia represent the shared struggles of billions of people across the Global South in the 21st century – struggles that people have faced through centuries of human development. All these struggles reflect the universal need for clean water and sanitation, which have always been and will always be fundamental to our health. 

The human right to water 

In 2010 the UN declared access to clean water and sanitation as a human right. 

The declaration stated that:

• Between 50 and 100 liters of water per person per day are needed to ensure most basic needs
• The water source has to be within 1,000 meters from home
• Water cost should not exceed 3 percent of household income
• Collection time should not exceed 30 minutes