3. The Global Situation For Water And Sanitation

Learning Objectives

• Develop an understanding of water sanitation, bacterial contamination, UN classifications of water provision, the global extent of mortality from diarrheal disease, and terminology used in water sanitation.

Key Concepts

Improved and unimproved water supply, water sanitation, global situation for water and sanitation.

1. Differences between the Global North and South

In the industrialized west, we generally take clean water and sanitation (in this context, sewage disposal) for granted. This certainly isn’t true for much of the Global South, where substantial parts of the population lack access to clean water, and very large fractions of populations lack even basic sanitation. This submodule quickly reviews the global situation for water and sanitation. For context, the previous submodule (2) reviews waterborne diseases and the next submodule (4) presents an overview of water treatment and sewage disposal.

2. The Global Situation For Water And Sanitation

Next submodule: Approaches for Treating Water and Sewage