Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) -6 refers to “Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all”. Clean water and Safe drinking water and decent toilets are vital for living a dignified, healthy life. These have a strong positive impact on health, education and development of a nation. Bangladesh has made considerable progress in the WASH sector during the MDG-era, with for example 98% of the population using ‘improved drinking water source’ in 2015 when looking at the achievement of the MDG 7 on environmental sustainability.

Despite great progress during SDG era from 2016-2030, billions of people still lack of access to safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene. Achieving universal coverage by 2030 will require a substantial increase in current global rates of progress such as six fold for drinking water, fivefold for sanitation and threefold for hygiene.

Water availability and accessibility

1.    Bangladesh has still a long way to go to realise the human rights to water and sanitation for all, and meet the SDG of providing universal access to clean water and sustainable sanitation by 2030. In 2020, the coverage of safely managed drinking water in Bangladesh was only 59%. Although it is estimated that water is accessible when needed for 96% of the people both in rural and urban areas, it is not available on premises for around 15% of the population, according to the 2020 data of the WHO-UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme ( JMP). Contamination of water due to e-coli and arsenic makes the coverage drastically lower. However, SDG- 6.1 achievement is based on 3 indicators according to JMP, i.e. i) Access to Water on premises; ii) available of water when needed and iii) free from contamination. 

2.    According to a publication in The Lancet, national instruments, such as strategies or policies or plans affecting water and sanitation do not adequately represent or mention minority ethnic people, with only some exceptions.

3.    In rural areas, the “distance” between the living rooms and water and sanitation infrastructure is not safe for women/girls particularly at night. Accessing to shared facilities in both urban and rural areas are equally challenging for them. Water logging in general make accessibility to the water sources difficult for all the people particularly girls, women, elderly, pregnant and persons with disabilities (PWDs).
Recommendations 

(a)    increase investment in water and sanitation infrastructure, particularly in areas where access is limited or non-existent;

(b)    Adopt special measures aimed at accelerating water equality, particularly targeting hard-core poor both in rural and urban areas.
Water Quality

4.    It is water contamination that causes the low coverage (59% in 2020 by JMP Report) of safely managed drinking water in Bangladesh. Looking at national coverage only, the figure would be more than 20 percentage points higher if water quality was disregarded. Among others, E-coli and arsenic contamination is relatively common in the country. E-coli bacteria is found in 80% of household drinking water, with a contamination rate that varies depending on the type of source. 

5.    Arsenic is in fact found in many aquifers across Bangladesh, with an estimated 13% of water sources being contaminated above the limit recommended by Bangladesh. It is a major public health concern already known for decades.

Recommendations 

Execute plans and strategies to eliminate e-coli contamination by establishing a proper sustainable system;

(a)     Implement a proper mechanism to reduce exposure to arsenic through drinking water and food consumption by scaling up the use of already available arsenic removal technologies, and establishing a proper monitoring mechanism to ensure provision of safe drinking water for the population in arsenic contaminated areas, and raising awareness among the population in arsenic contaminated areas.

(b)    Execute the plan of establishing water quality testing labs in close vicinity. 

(c)    Take additional measures to increase surface water treatment.

Right to Sanitation

6.    Bangladesh has made important progress on access to sanitation. Coverage of at least basic sanitation increased by 9 percentage points between 2015 and 2020. However, the country is lagging behind on safely managed sanitation. 

7.    The rate of open defecation also reduced and the practice is almost eliminated in Bangladesh. Less than 1% of the population was practicing open defecation in 2020. There is also an important difference in access to improved sanitation among the population showing certain inequalities in Bangladesh, where the proportion for Bengali households of access to improved sanitation is 85% compared to only 50% for minority ethnic households.  In certain areas, there are documented reports of unacceptable and unsafe toilets causing physical risks to children. 

8.    Another major concern with respect to sanitation in Bangladesh is the lack of treatment of faecal sludge. There is a lack of nationally representative data on emptying practices at household level, but there is evidence that in urban settings. 

9.    The low sewerage system and fecal sludge management also applies to rural areas. The absence of fecal sludge management services is affecting the sustainability of sanitation, and contributing to environmental pollution and negative health impacts Even when fecal sludge is emptied from sceptic tanks or pits, it is commonly discharged into the environment. A significant number of participants of a study conducted on water-, sanitation- and hygiene-related matters in some coastal areas of Bangladesh were not aware of the issues.

Recommendations 
(a)    Ensure everywhere the access to safely managed toilet or at least basic toilet facilities;

(b)    Take immediate steps to regulate and monitor the entire sanitation chain, through targeted measures to establish fecal sludge management services with all relevant stakeholders, and thereby prevent risks of contamination of water sources, environmental pollution and negative health impacts, and reduce water borne diseases;

(c)    Implement nation-wide awareness-raising initiatives on the importance of environmentally friendly and safe sanitation practices, including environmental friendly toilets (safely managed) and their use.

The writer is Deputy Executive Director, Development Organisation of the Rural Poor