Evaluation of the Costs and Benefits of Water and Sanitation Improvements at the Global Level

Abstract

This study estimated the economic costs and benefits of a range of selected interventions to improve water and sanitation services. The entire analysis is based on changes in water and sanitation service levels. For developing countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) favors intervention options that are low cost, that are feasible, and do not require heavy maintenance. The costs of the interventions include the full investment and annual running costs. The benefits of the interventions include time savings associated with better access to water and sanitation facilities, the gain in productive time due to less time spent ill, health sector and patients costs saved due to less treatment of diarrheal diseases, and the value of prevented deaths. The results show that all water and sanitation improvements were found to be cost-beneficial, and this applied to all world regions