To integrate or not to integrate? Water and waste as unified basic services

Abstract

The provision of basic water and waste services, i.e., water supply, sanitation, solid waste and stormwater management, is essential for ensuring public and environmental health. These services are closely interconnected in their physical chains, creating both opportunities and challenges for service delivery [1]. Negative interlinkages can occur when solid waste enters pit latrines or faecal matter contaminates drinking water. On the other hand, there are opportunities for synergies, such as the reuse of treated wastewater or the co-digestion of faecal and organic waste. Despite these known synergies, institutional arrangements remain fragmented, and sectors continue to operate in isolated siloes. This raises the question: Should planning, implementation and management of these basic services be integrated? At the All Systems Connect Symposium 2023 in The Hague [2], six eminent speakers from academia, government, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the private sector debated this issue. This article presents the four key issues that were raised when considering integration of water and waste services in low-resource settings.