Water and Sanitation in Dhaka Slums : Access, Quality, and Informality in Service Provision

Urban slum residents often have worse health outcomes compared with other urbanites and even their rural counterparts. This suggests that slum residents do not always benefit from the "urban advantage" of enjoying better access to health-...

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Main Authors: Arias-Granada, Yurani, Haque, Sabrina S., Joseph, George, Yanez-Pagans, Monica
Format: Working Paper
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/607511534337128809/Water-and-sanitation-in-Dhaka-slums-access-quality-and-informality-in-service-provision
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30242
id okr-10986-30242
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-302422022-09-19T00:15:34Z Water and Sanitation in Dhaka Slums : Access, Quality, and Informality in Service Provision Arias-Granada, Yurani Haque, Sabrina S. Joseph, George Yanez-Pagans, Monica WATER WATER AND SANITATION SERVICE DELIVERY ACCESS TO SERVICES ACCESS TO WATER SLUMS POVERTY Urban slum residents often have worse health outcomes compared with other urbanites and even their rural counterparts. This suggests that slum residents do not always benefit from the "urban advantage" of enjoying better access to health-promoting services. Limited access to water and sanitation services in slums could contribute to poor health of slum residents. In Bangladesh, these services generally are not delivered through formal utilities, but rather through well-functioning informal markets that are operated by middlemen and local providers. This paper analyzes a household survey to examine living conditions and quality of access to water and sanitation services in small-, medium-, and large-sized slums across Dhaka, Bangladesh. The analysis finds that access to water and sanitation services is overall quite high, but these services are subject to important quality issues related to safety, reliability, and liability. Although water access is nearly universal, water services are often interrupted or sometimes inaccessible. Sanitation is commonly shared, with the average ratio being 16 households to one facility. When considering fecal sludge management, the study finds that only 2 percent of these households have access to the Joint Monitoring Programme's conceptualization of "safely managed sanitation." The paper also finds strong evidence that water and sanitation services are operated by middlemen at various stages of service provision such as installation, management, and payment collection. The paper provides a snapshot of the differential quality in access to these services based on the monetary welfare level of the household. The snapshot shows that access to water and sanitation services is highly correlated to per capita household consumption levels, although quality remains low overall within slums. Overall, it is likely that the informality of water and sanitation services may exacerbate social and environmental risk factors for poor health and well-being. 2018-08-15T20:17:54Z 2018-08-15T20:17:54Z 2018-08 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/607511534337128809/Water-and-sanitation-in-Dhaka-slums-access-quality-and-informality-in-service-provision http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30242 English Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8552 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper South Asia Bangladesh
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic WATER
WATER AND SANITATION
SERVICE DELIVERY
ACCESS TO SERVICES
ACCESS TO WATER
SLUMS
POVERTY
spellingShingle WATER
WATER AND SANITATION
SERVICE DELIVERY
ACCESS TO SERVICES
ACCESS TO WATER
SLUMS
POVERTY
Arias-Granada, Yurani
Haque, Sabrina S.
Joseph, George
Yanez-Pagans, Monica
Water and Sanitation in Dhaka Slums : Access, Quality, and Informality in Service Provision
geographic_facet South Asia
Bangladesh
relation Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8552
description Urban slum residents often have worse health outcomes compared with other urbanites and even their rural counterparts. This suggests that slum residents do not always benefit from the "urban advantage" of enjoying better access to health-promoting services. Limited access to water and sanitation services in slums could contribute to poor health of slum residents. In Bangladesh, these services generally are not delivered through formal utilities, but rather through well-functioning informal markets that are operated by middlemen and local providers. This paper analyzes a household survey to examine living conditions and quality of access to water and sanitation services in small-, medium-, and large-sized slums across Dhaka, Bangladesh. The analysis finds that access to water and sanitation services is overall quite high, but these services are subject to important quality issues related to safety, reliability, and liability. Although water access is nearly universal, water services are often interrupted or sometimes inaccessible. Sanitation is commonly shared, with the average ratio being 16 households to one facility. When considering fecal sludge management, the study finds that only 2 percent of these households have access to the Joint Monitoring Programme's conceptualization of "safely managed sanitation." The paper also finds strong evidence that water and sanitation services are operated by middlemen at various stages of service provision such as installation, management, and payment collection. The paper provides a snapshot of the differential quality in access to these services based on the monetary welfare level of the household. The snapshot shows that access to water and sanitation services is highly correlated to per capita household consumption levels, although quality remains low overall within slums. Overall, it is likely that the informality of water and sanitation services may exacerbate social and environmental risk factors for poor health and well-being.
format Working Paper
author Arias-Granada, Yurani
Haque, Sabrina S.
Joseph, George
Yanez-Pagans, Monica
author_facet Arias-Granada, Yurani
Haque, Sabrina S.
Joseph, George
Yanez-Pagans, Monica
author_sort Arias-Granada, Yurani
title Water and Sanitation in Dhaka Slums : Access, Quality, and Informality in Service Provision
title_short Water and Sanitation in Dhaka Slums : Access, Quality, and Informality in Service Provision
title_full Water and Sanitation in Dhaka Slums : Access, Quality, and Informality in Service Provision
title_fullStr Water and Sanitation in Dhaka Slums : Access, Quality, and Informality in Service Provision
title_full_unstemmed Water and Sanitation in Dhaka Slums : Access, Quality, and Informality in Service Provision
title_sort water and sanitation in dhaka slums : access, quality, and informality in service provision
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2018
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/607511534337128809/Water-and-sanitation-in-Dhaka-slums-access-quality-and-informality-in-service-provision
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30242
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