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Over 50 percent of all water projects fail and less than five percent of projects are visited, and far less than one percent have any longer-term monitoring. (10)

Investment in safe drinking water and sanitation contributes to economic growth. For each $1 invested, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates returns of $3 - $34, depending on the region and technology. (14)

Almost two in every three people who need safe drinking water survive on less than $2 a day and one in three on less than $1 a day. (1)

Households, not public agencies, often make the largest investment in basic sanitation, with the ratio of household to government investment typically 10 to 1. (15)

Investment in drinking-water and sanitation would result in 272 million more school attendance days a year. The value of deaths averted, based on discounted future earnings, would amount to US$ 3.6 billion a year.(15)

Resource Links

References

1. 2006 United Nations Human Development Report.
2. Number estimated from statistics in the 2006 United Nations Human Development Report.
3. Asian Development Bank web site. 2009.
4. The Discovery Channel web site. 2009.
5. UNICEF/WHO. 2008. Progress on Drinking Water and Sanitation: Special Focus on Sanitation.
6. UN. 2007. International Year of Sanitation Global Launch
7. UN Water. 2008. Gender, Water and Sanitation: A Policy Brief.
8. UN Water. 2008. Tackling a Global Crisis: International Year of Sanitation 2008
9. Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC). 2008. A Guide to Investigating One of the Biggest Scandals of the Last 50 Years.
10. Rajesh Shah of Blue Planet Run Foundation.
11. World Health Organization. 2008. Safer Water, Better Health: Costs, benefits, and sustainability of interventions to protect and promote health.
12. World Health Organization Fact Sheet Health in Water Resources Development.
13. Diarhhoea: Why children are still dying and what can be done. UNICEF, WHO 2009
14. United Nations World Water Development Report, "Water in a Changing World"
15. DfiD [Department for International Development] Sanitation Reference Group. 2008.
16. 2004, Wastewater Use in Irrigated Agriculture