A new piece in the International Water Association’s Source magazine argues that a focus on conventional, centralised systems has failed to deliver adequate access to sanitation.

By Kala Vairavamoorthy

The United Nations Water Conference has been hailed as a landmark event. In many respects it was, being the first since 1977. But as I reflect on the commitments that were made back in March, I know that huge change must be made for progress to be delivered, and delivered fast.

The tactics of old, although well intentioned, have failed. This is not just a time for innovation, inspired funding models and climate savvy solutions – all of which are needed. More radically, it is time to change the narrative, time to fight to get sanitation to the top of the political agenda, and time to come to the stark realisation that sanitation is an issue for us all. We all have a stake in it, and this is something we forget at our peril – rich and poor alike.

Water may be the word that features in our Association’s name, but sanitation is an increasingly important part of IWA’s activities, and rightly so. This is highlighted by IWA’s first non-sewered sanitation conference held on 15-17 October in Johannesburg, South Africa, a country where the Water Research Commission is taking a lead in non-sewered sanitation and piloting a range of innovative approaches that could have global significance. The world’s leading thinkers on sanitation now see IWA as a place to invigorate progress and tackle the toughest of challenges head-on.

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