Most of the world's population now lives in urban areas, and in developing regions the proportion living in cities and towns has risen from 35 percent in 1990 to 45 percent in 2010, from 1.4 billion to 2.5 billion people (Jacobsen et al. 2012). A 2008 World Bank analysis estimated that a third...

Access to improved sanitation is a major concern in the Lao People s Democratic Republic. Only 63 percent of the population of the country had access to improved sanitation facilities in 2010. Sanitation conditions are worse in rural areas. This study aims to generate evidence on the costs and...

Governments of countries of the Danube region face the double challenge of meeting their citizens demand for quality and sustainable water services, while catching up with the environmental requirements of the European Union. In general, the bulk of public investments have targeted urban areas,...

This operational manual describes the process for planning and implementing performance-based contracts (PBCs) for nonrevenue water (NRW) reduction. An NRW-PBC is a contract for outsourcing technical, commercial, and construction activities related to NRW reduction, while providing the...

This study estimates the nonmonetary, financial, and economic costs of poor sanitation in the areas of health, drinking water, and domestic water, as well as user preference and welfare. Financial costs refer to the direct financial expense paid in monetary terms by someone, such as changes in...

The present report spotlights the major challenges and the opportunities that lie ahead in fecal sludge management and summarizes the findings from four case studies that describe the current and potential market for sludge removal, collection, and disposal in peri-urban areas. These areas,...