WASH 2011 conference: Erik Harvey

1. Emerging Small Towns: New approaches needed for sustainable WASH services Erik HARVEY WaterAid, UK

2. Emerging Small Towns: New approaches needed for sustainable WASH services Based on research across six countries: Small Town water & sanitation delivery, Taking a wider view www.small-towns.org Erik Harvey – WASH conference 2011, Brisbane

3. Research Framework Two key questions: What’s different about WASH services in small towns? How do other sectors provide services in small towns?

4. What’s a small town? No common definitions exist. Some contexts: 5,000-50,000 others: up to 200,000 Other indicators: density, economic activity levels

5. What’s the issue? RAPID emergence & mushrooming of small towns For every large town, there are TEN small towns Small towns predicted to quadruple (x4) in SIZE and NUMBER in next 30 years

6. What’s the issue? Often exhibit both rural and urban characteristics Emerging but weak local economic activity Rapidly changing spatial and social patterns Low economy of scale for conventional systems

7. What’s the issue? Little or no formal WASH services, or degraded old systems Insufficient capacity & resources (in conventional sense) Investments in services not keeping up May result in these towns becoming sprawling, unserved & unmanageable Can this derail the sector’s efforts at reaching the MDGs?

8. Some key findings Small towns are different to large urban and rural areas & require a different approach Scale of problem is resulting in rapid inappropriate solutions, “cookie-cutter” technologies, financing & management options Mostly bearing little relation to a town’s own development context

9. Some key findings Available funding is seen as “golden opportunity” – no consistent financing strategy Key planning & design decisions are often dictated by large urban specialists with conventional biases Economic, demographic and governance linkages both within and externally need to be considered when planning WASH services

10. Some key findings Small towns lack capacity to absorb shocks and need external support Other sector services are all planned & delivered through centralised systems – defining small towns not an issue

12. www.small-towns.org