21 The Value of Clean Water and Sanitation

My father said, “The value of a good stink-stink has always been underestimated.” Stink-stink was the term of my youth for a bowel movement, which my father took ritually each morning upon his throne. He usually took the comics with him to read while mom used the time to wash my hair in the kitchen sink. We had no shower, only a bath, so to remove the adolescent grease from my head, I’d grab a towel from the bathroom before Dad occupied it, lean over the sink, and have mom scrub my hair. We learned to warn Dad when we were ready to rinse, lest he flush and scald my scalp. The old plumbing in the house did not adjust well to the sudden change in pressure due to his flush, and the cold water would be diverted to the toilet, leaving only near-boiling water in the faucet above my head. Dad kept the thermostat particularly hot so that, mixed with cold, the hot water would last through the morning for all the family.

Nowadays I am a hydrogeologist and statistician. My training began under that faucet. Why did that old plumbing seek to scald me when Dad flushed? What were the odds of being burned, and how could I reduce them? A simple intervention—yelling to Dad ahead of rinsing—reduced my pain immensely. Low cost and appropriate to the situation. Such are the best of practices in water development. Likewise, Dad’s emphasis on a good stink-stink had profound merit. Only years later did I discover the world’s abundant lack of sanitation and the fact that diarrhea is the leading killer of children under five years of age. Dad was on to something—the combination of water resources and good sanitation could change the world.

Appropriate technology is the term used for modernization appropriate to the current conditions of a group of people. For example, installing an electric water pump in rural Haiti where electricity is often non-existent is a sure failure. However, a dependable hand pump can be a tremendous improvement over nearby streams. In one area I visited in southern Haiti, gastrointestinal illness was reduced an estimated 80% by introducing and maintaining hand pumps. If each villager keeps his or her bucket clean, the family can have clean water to drink and use around the house. The energy for pumping the water comes from the person needing it, not from some undependable far-off source over which the village has no control.

The development community moved beyond focusing on appropriate technology to sustainable development, or sustainability (See[here.]) The reason was pretty clear on my first visit to Haiti—if there is no sense of local ownership and no resources for mainte-nance, the technology soon falls into disrepair. I saw multiple failed water projects with a variety of technologies all deemed appropriate, and all having failed and been abandoned. Money is far easier to obtain for new projects than for maintaining old ones. Mainte-nance requires systemic change, education, infrastructure support, and community building. That takes too long for most Americans, who would rather do a two-week volunteer trip—a vacation that also makes them feel good about themselves but produces little lasting change. Sustainable development focuses on the longer commitment and local empowerment.

One of the biggest challenges of sustainable development is the rapid change in available technology, much of which cannot be fore-seen far into the future. For example, much of Africa has skipped the step of stringing miles of telephone lines, going straight to cell phones. Huge amounts of copper are saved in the process. It’s very difficult to predict the future use and shortages of such resources when one can’t predict the future technologies that will replace or use them. Still, to try to empower people, avoid environmental degradation, and think of future generations, seems to me to be worthy goals despite the limitations of our foresight.

Notes on Sustainability and Environmental Justice:

The 1987 Brundtland Report defined sustainable development as meeting “the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” This definition includes both a recognition of needs and of limitations, particularly of the availability of resources. A major criticism of this definition is that we do not know the limits of human ingenuity, and therfore cannot foresee the creative ways that we will deal with future resource shortages. For example, water is in short supply in much of the Mideast, but desalination of Persian Gulf water has radically increased the size population that can be sustained. However, the concept of sustainable development, if used in planning, does force us to look at impacts upon future generations. Some impacts, such as processes that pollute the air or water or degrade the soil are clearly not sustainable, and alternative must be pursued.

Considering impacts on future generations is one component of environmental justice, which according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is “the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income, with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.” A criticism of this definition is that it is focused on humans but that the environment encompasses all species. In times past, we have recognized the rights of other species, if only to exist, such as in the 1973 Endangered Species Act signed by President Richard Nixon. Still, the concept of environmental justice, like that of sustainability, pushes us to widen our discussion to include a broader set of interested parties.

The concept of considering interested parties applies to almost every student’s major. For example, suppose your first job out of college is as a police office. Who are those interested in your job performance? Your boss, certainly. Your community? State and national police organizations? The press? Organizations aiming at reducing police violence? Community-watch organizations? The list goes on. And if any of them feel ignored or are dissatisfied, you’ll probably hear about it. So searching out interested parties early rather than later is important for your career.

Throughout this section, though the focus is primarily upon water, the bigger question is about best—what is the best way to improve both people’s lives and the future of the world? How do we decide?