Untreated and Unsafe: - Solving the Urban Sanitation Crisis in the Global South

2 | Untreated and Unsafe: Solving the Urban Sanitation Crisis in the Global South human and household waste in natural waterways also Sanitation Conditions and Practices in 15 threatens the health of everyone who uses and depends on these Cities in the Global South water sources, because of exposure to pathogens and other contaminants.15 Climate change and the resulting increase in Based on new an. [...] While acknowledging the importance of local context and In many of the 15 cities, households use self-provisioned the diverse mix of sanitation solutions required in the short drains to dump untreated human waste and household and medium term, the paper evaluates the advantages and wastewater into storm drains and nearby waterways. [...] Sewers reduce the responsibility for and cost of initiatives underscore the importance of local participation sanitation services from the perspectives of individuals and and the need for state and nonstate actors to work together to households. [...] A persistent challenge that capture what happens downstream from toilets and the to collecting such data is that on-site sanitation practices are challenges associated with investigating the quality of on-site largely at the discretion of the household, and in cities where subterranean sanitation construction and maintenance.73 large parts of the urban fabric are constructed informally and the san. [...] A persistent challenge to collecting such data is that on-site sanitation practices are largely at the discretion of the household, and in cities where large parts of the urban fabric are constructed informally and the sanitation infrastructure is subterranean, it is very difficult to assess the appropriateness and safety of construction and maintenance.