ABSTRACT
In a document published in 2000 the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported that 82% of the population of the world, or 4.9 billion people, had access to basic safe-water supplies, while basic sanitation facilities were available to 60%, or 3.7 billion people (WHO/UNICEF 2000: 8). Efforts by local and international authorities during the 1990s, which followed the UN International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade, 1981–90, enabled the extension of water supply services to an additional 816 million people, with sanitation services for an extra 747 million. However, owing to global population growth, from 5.3 billion to 6.1 billion, over the same period, the proportion of the world’s population served increased only slightly, by just 3% and 5% respectively (WHO/UNICEF 2000: 7).
