A Silent Tsunami: The Urgent Need for Clean Water and Sanitation

This report notes that "for lack of clean water and sanitation, as many poor people are dying each month as perished during the Southeast Asian tsunami." Based on a 2005 dialogue sponsored by the Aspen Institute's Program on Energy, the Environment, and the Economy and the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke University, this report provides a series of recommendations on this challenge for governments, businesses, and other organizations. The intended audience of the report are the policy-makers in Congress and the Executive Branch.

• Clean water and sanitation must become a higher priority because they are fundamental to human health and reducing poverty. Tweet
• All schools and orphanages should have clean water, sanitation, and hygiene education by 2015. Tweet
• The President of the United States and his Administration should develop a strategy to mobilize American resources and institutions to become more involved in water internationally. Tweet
• For reasons of health, the economy, and environmental sustainability, governments must invest more in water infrastructure. Tweet
• Decisions about covering the costs of clean water and sanitation should be decided through a participatory process that ensures the needs of the poor are met and provides sufficient funds for maintenance. Tweet
• Because water and sanitation are often the responsibility of women in much of the developing world, they should become more directly involved in managing water resources and making water-related decisions. Tweet
• Development assistance should emphasize building local capacity, creating legal frameworks for managing water, and building local sources of funding. Tweet
• Promising partnerships among governments, not-for-profits, community and faith-based organizations, and businesses should be replicated and scaled up. Tweet
• Decentralized water treatment systems or point-of-use household treatment, coupled with sustained hygiene education, should be deployed more widely, especially where they can reduce water-related disease immediately. Tweet
• Decisions about managing water resources must involve all stakeholders and all relevant factors in supply and demand, with efficient water use and protection of ecosystems as central goals. Tweet