Safe water is becoming scarce

Aside from the fact that some regions of the world are naturally arid, the increasing, often competing demands for water are cutting into the global supply. Many rivers and watersheds are polluted by industrial, agricultural, and human waste products, while others are drying up because people are using the water faster than nature can replenish it. In areas with heavy rainfall or irrigation systems, people may waste water because it seems plentiful or cheap, ignoring how much it costs to treat the water after it is used.

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Getting water is more difficult—and often more expensive—for the poorest people. In rural areas of developing countries, many women and children spend hours—in extreme cases up to six to eight hours—each day hauling water from rivers or wells. In cities, the poor often do not have water piped to their property; instead, they must buy or take water from other sources. Chart 3 illustrates an example of where people living in an urban metropolitan area in a developing country get their water, showing that only about a third of the population has water piped to either their home or yard. People buying water from other sources may have to pay three to ten times what piped water costs in an area.

Moreover, the rapid growth of cities throughout the world can strain the capacity of governments to provide adequate sanitary facilities, leaving inhabitants, especially the poor, to live amid unhealthy open sewage ditches. Untreated sewage also tends to contaminate the water reserves closest to the cities, forcing communities to pipe water from further and further away as cities expand.

Industrial countries also are increasingly concerned about water quality and availability. Although these countries have stronger economies and greater capacity to collect, clean, and deliver water to citizens, per capita water consumption can be high as people wash cars, water lawns, and turn deserts into farmland, towns, and cities. They spend enormous amounts of money cleaning up water polluted by industrial waste, energy production, agriculture, and households.

The realities of supply and demand

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Ensuring that people have an adequate supply of safe water involves an often complex mixture of social, economic, and environmental issues. In recent years, people, industries, farmers, and governments have begun to acknowledge that water is an economic good, not a "free" limitless resource. And as an economic good, there is a wide range in the quality and level of water delivery and sanitation services that people want and are willing to pay for.

Experience from around the globe shows that when people, even the poorest, have a choice in the quality of their water supply and sanitation services, they often are willing to pay a higher price to get higher quality. For example, people who are unwilling to pay for operating and maintaining low quality handpumps and pit latrines may be willing to pay more to get a basic system of piped water and sewers that works fairly and efficiently.

On the other hand, households and industries are not always willing to pay for higher quality services if they feel that what they are receiving is already good enough. For example,some coastal communities in the United States have refused to pay for what they perceive to be unnecessary and expensive sewage treatment even though it is required by federal law for environmental protection. In the end, it appears that when members of a community—households, factories, farmers, and businesses, together with scientists and policy makers—all participate in making decisions about the most feasible system of supplying safe water and sanitation, everyone tends to be more satisfied with the quality and price of these services.