Water, Sanitation and Dignity

The term dignity signifies that a being has an innate right to respect and ethical treatment. Subject of historic philosophical debate, today dignity is often used to critique the situation of vulnerable groups (WIKIPEDIA 2011).

As the access to water and sanitation facilities is essential for human life, its improvement is also related to respect and dignity for those in need. For example, every human being deserves to be protected from the many health problems posed by poor disposal of excreta (GNANAKAN et al. 2004). But in 2010, still 2.6 billion people lack improved sanitation facilities, and 884 million people still do not use improved sources of drinking-water (WHO UNICEF 2010) (see also access to water and sanitation).

Direct contact to excreta is more or less unacceptable in different cultures all over the world (see also water sanitation and culture). The poor often must be content with polluted water and unhealthy and unsafe sanitation facilities. Not only do they face the pollution of their own defecation, but often have to live beside water bodies that have been released from urban sewers. While the rich can be identified with their bottles of mineral water, the poor must be content with polluted water from any source, mostly contaminated by the rich. Regarding sanitation, unsheltered or far away defecation options leave especially women exposed with a sense of shame (GNANAKAN et al. 2004).

This situation highlights the inequalities caused by the different access to water and sanitation. To fight these inequalities is a precondition to ensure a life in dignity for everybody.

Expanding access to water and sanitation is a moral and ethical imperative rooted in the cultural and religious traditions of societies around the world and enshrined in international human rights instruments (UNMP-TWS 2005). Both the right to water and sanitation are contained in important international legal documents. Particularly the right to sanitation entitles every person to access to, and use of, excreta and wastewater facilities and services that ensure privacy and dignity (see also right to water and sanitation).

Especially in developing countries, various societal groups are facing everyday life circumstances in relation to their access to water and sanitation which do not correspond to the concept of a life in dignity:

(Adapted from GNANAKAN et al. 2004 & UNICEF 2006)

Conventional toilets have been guilty of converting massive quantities of clean water into blackwater (see also water pollution). In developing countries, 90 % of this sewage is flushed into surface waters, polluting rivers, lakes and coastal areas. This has contributed to the spread of diseases mainly amongst the poor.

The impact of poor water supply and sanitation services on poor women’s physical security, opportunities for adult education, overall productivity, income-generating capacity, nutritional status, time, and overall health and well-being is severe (UNMP-TWS 2005).

In many cultures, girls and women wait until after dark to defecate if they have no latrine in the household, walk to a place distant from their home for excreta disposal, particularly at night, they are vulnerable to harassment and assault. Women often refrain from drinking so that they do not have to go to toilet. This practice leads to severe health consequences i.e. bladder infections, constipation, or kidney problems (GNANAKAN et al. 2004).

Girls also commonly miss out on an education if school sanitation facilities provoke sexual harassment or hamper girls going to school during menstruation. If adequate sanitation is provided in schools, attendance of girls will rise, thus enabling them to get school education (BRUECHER et al. 2005). Studies show that girls’ attendance at school is increased through improved sanitation (UNMP-TWS 2005).

Inadequate access to safe water and sanitation services, coupled with poor hygiene practices, kills about 4’500 children and sickens thousands more every day. Countless others suffer from poor health, diminished productivity and missed opportunities for education (UNICEF 2006).

Sick and elderly people face special difficulty and a loss of dignity when sanitation facilities are not available nearby. This loss of dignity is especially acute for elders, for whom honour and respect are important (GNANAKAN et al. 2004).

Attempts to increase coverage of basic services such as water and sanitation have too often marginalised or excluded the needs of disabled people. This neglect can have negative impacts on health, dignity and economic and social exclusion, especially on women. For dignity reasons, people with disabilities should not rely on anyone – not even their family – for their intimate needs (HANDICAP INTERNATIONAL 2008).

Inadequate sanitation solutions also maintain inequalities within societies. Mainly in India, but as well other parts of South Asia, several hundred thousands of people are forced to do the extremely degrading and inhumane practice of manual excreta scavenging – the practice of manually cleaning and removing human excreta from dry (non-flush) toilets. (Watch the short movie “Lesser Humans” on this topic here).

The work is done with the most archaic equipment, sometimes with nothing else but bare hands. This inhumane and degrading practice continues to exist due to the absence of adequate sanitation systems. Nearly all of the estimated 800’000 scavengers (the so called “Dalit” or “Untouchables”) in India are women (GNANAKAN et al. 2004).

Under some circumstances also municipal workers charged with manually emptying and/or transporting faeces, excreta and sludge are subject to indignity – especially when working unprotected or in dangerous situations or when they are forced to do the work because of their social status or economic need (see also invalid link).

(Adapted from GNANAKAN et al. 2004; BRUECHER et al. 2005)

By promoting sustainable sanitation, human dignity can be restored in many aspects of human life:

Health & Safety: Provision of safe toilets increases health and safety especially for women and girls and cuts back on time spent walking to sanitary installations. More and more safely constructed toilets can enable people to leave the vicious cycle of diseases and poverty.

Economy: If waste can be turned into useful resources such as compost or fertiliser, it increases the value of human excreta and the dignity of those dealing with it will be restored. Hence, ecological and healthy sanitation systems can foster economic development.

Exploitation: Sustainable sanitation technologies can help to eliminate the degrading practice of manual scavenging by proposing sanitation options which foreclose the direct handling of human faeces. The saying “Water is life. Sanitation is dignity” reflects the aim that decent sanitation can promote a life in dignity.

Education: Evidence from Alwar District, India, showed that school sanitation increased girls’ enrolment by one-third, and improved academic performance for boys and girls by 25%. Similar results from Bangladesh showed that the provision of girls’ bathrooms increased girls’ enrolment by 11% (WSSCC 2011).