Research problem
The problem of providing clean water and sanitation to the world's steadily expanding population has been worsened by the rapid urbanization process in the developing countries from around the middle of the twentieth century. Although the mega-cities of the developing world have attracted the most attention from various international organizations in recent years in terms of the provision of adequate water supply and sanitation services, it should be noted that they account for a very small percentage of the global population. This holds true even though they consume the lion's share of national resources in terms of the necessary infrastructure development and management (Biswas & Uitto 2000). If mega-cities are defined to be those having more than ten million residents, only about three percent of the global population lived in such large urban agglomerations. While the mega-cities present tremendous management challenges at present, and will continue to do so in the foreseeable future, much of the recent urban growth is being witnessed in medium to small urban centers in many developing countries. This trend is likely to continue in the coming decades, and may even accelerate whatever limited services may be available in the informal settlements become overwhelmed with the arrival of new people, and the limited water supply and sanitation services become progressively less and less adequate for serving an increasing population. This contributes to a progressive reduction in services that were inadequate to start with, and this deterioration in turn further increases the environmental and health risks to the people living in such areas (Chasek 2000). This paper is a proposal to create a research study on sanitation services & its impact on community health.
Aims and objectives
Literature review
Two major factors should be noted that have made the urbanization process and provision of water supply and sanitation services in the mega-cities of the developed world fundamentally very different from their counterparts in developing countries nearly one century later. The first factor is the rate of growth. The development of mega- cities in the developed world was a gradual process. This gradual growth rate enabled these cities progressively and effectively to develop the necessary infrastructures and the capacities to manage their water supply and sewerage services. It was not an easy task but it was manageable. The second major factor is that, as the urban centers of the industrialized countries expanded, their economies were growing concomitantly. Accordingly, these centers were economically able to harness resources to provide their citizens with appropriate water supply and sewerage services (Bollens 2001). Even a country could invest heavily in the construction of urban infrastructures, including water supply, sewerage, and flood drainage services, after the Second World War because its economy continued to expand significantly during this period as well. Such extensive infrastructure development and major improvements in management practices meant that water losses due to leakages from urban water supply systems could be reduced drastically from a post-war estimate of 80 percent to about 8–10 per cent, which is one of the lowest losses encountered anywhere in the world at present. In stark contrast to the above, during the past three decades economies of the developing world have not performed very well. High public debts and inefficient resource allocations have ensured that the investments needed to construct all types of new urban infrastructures and maintain the existing ones have not been forthcoming. Lack of proper planning and poor management practices have further aggravated the situation, especially in terms of the proper treatment of drinking water and the disposal of wastewater (Swyngedouw 2004).
Methodology
Qualitative method will be used in the study. Qualitative method thrives on understanding data through giving emphasis on determining people’s words and actions. Qualitative method has an orientation that it should gather data that can be acquired through quantitative methods. The tasks of understanding and presenting qualitative research can be very demanding and can be compared to the task of understanding statistics. In qualitative research, the researcher creates a natural setting which he/she can use to understand a phenomenon of interest. Even if the focus is on a smaller case, qualitative research usually unearths a very big amount of information from the respondent. . The research will make use of a descriptive research. Descriptive method of research attempts to describe a data that was gathered. Descriptive approach focuses on the questions regarding what things are like, not why they are that way. Descriptive research can be in the form of sociological studies which explains the social structure of a community, the changes that happened to society over the past years and an organization’s operation. A descriptive research deemed as competent creates a notion that the existence of problems would be more difficult to deny.
References
Biswas, AK & Uitto, JI (eds.) 2000, Water for urban areas:
Challenges and perspectives, United Nations University Press,
New York.
Bollens, JC (eds.) 2001, Exploring the metropolitan community,
University of California Press, Berkeley, CA.
Chasek, PS (eds.) 2000, The global environment in the twenty-
first century: Prospects for international cooperation, United
Nations University Press, New York.
Swyngedouw, E 2004, Social power and the urbanization of water:
Flows of power, Oxford University Press, New York.
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