Fields of operation

WASH – Water, Sanitation and Hygiene

We provide support in achieving access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all:

  • WASH in urban and rural areas
  • WASH policies, strategies and programs
  • Planning of water supply and sanitation facilities
  • Faecal sludge management and utilization
  • Advice for water-related microbiology and analysis
  • Water Safety Planning (WSP)
  • Private sector involvement in the WASH sector
  • Hygiene awareness sensitization and training
  • WASH Management Information Systems
  • Management, operation and maintenance of water supply and sanitation facilities

Clean water, sanitation and the practice of good hygiene are essential for human survival and a precondition for development. This is reflected by the fact that WASH is the subject of dedicated targets within the SDG 6, but also contributes to most of the other SDGs. According to WHO, universal access to safe drinking water, and adequate sanitation and hygiene would reduce the global disease burden by ten percent. Many countries could increase their GDPs by up to five percent if losses of productivity to water- and sanitation-related diseases were avoided. However, still more than two billion people around the world lack safe drinking water and over half of the global population lives without safely managed sanitation. The concept of WASH groups together water supply, sanitation, and hygiene because all three areas support and strengthen one another in a complementary way. If one is missing, the others cannot progress. For instance, without toilets, water sources become contaminated; without safely managed water, basic hygiene practices are not possible. In order to progress towards SDG 6, public authorities often need to better program and target WASH investments and consequently monitor their efficient operation and implementation. At the same time, institutions delivering WASH services must be well resourced and dispose of sufficient capacities for service implementation.

Bastian Schnabel

E-mail: b.schnabel@hydrophil.at
Phone: +43 1 996 98 21

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