UN Water Operator Partnership and the Project of Constructing Mutual Benefits in the Water Services and Sanitation Sector

The most significant public health issue facing the world today is the global water crisis; billions of people lack access to clean water and sanitation services. The Millennium Development Goals (MDG'S) formulated at the World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD) in 2002 set targets to halve the amount of people in the world lacking access clean water and sanitation by the year 2015. Current indications suggest the MDG's are bound to fail. Prior to, and since the establishment of the MDG'S, the dominant policy prescription to meet water demands has been to advocate for, and facilitate an increase in private sector participation. Evidence points to a failure of this approach with too little attention paid to social and environmental benchmarks. This paper will argue the need to re-configure water discourse away from the business model of economic efficiency where water is considered an economic good towards a social model where water is considered an essential public good and service. The paper will also consider the inclusion of social and environmental benchmarks into the water discourse, moving from those focused only on economics. By way of conclusion, this paper analyzes a current UN-Habitat initiative, Water Operator Partnerships, which seeks to initiate and facilitate partnerships based upon notions of social solidarity, mutual benefit and the free unrestrained transfer of knowledge. This examination will consider the potential to decrease negative public health outcomes by increasing the amount of people connected to water services.